I liked the way Hartt did it last year. It started with a text to my daughter saying an important email was on its way soon - be sure to check your emails. OK - that’s exciting. Checking email begins - within an hour acceptance email has arrived - Congratulations you are admitted to the BFA MT program with a generous artistic scholarship. Celebrating ensues! Later that afternoon a nice phone call making sure we got the news and wanting to see if we have any questions - telling us to look for letter to follow. Two days later - the BIG envelope with formal acceptance letter and big booklet about the program, folder full of materials about housing, etc. All things not sent before acceptance like so many other programs that inundate you with shiny folders before you even know if you are in. It was a very nice progression!
I love that, @sopranomtmom ! Keeps the excitement coming!
@actingdreams, just want to clarify: was your son told he was accepted on the spot (at his audition)?
@bfahopeful He couldn’t remember what he had applied for (it was just a fluke for him to apply) he was given a choice between Acting the other ftvc when they were here for unifieds. I think he may have mentioned the ftvc.
@DramaQueen219 yes and it was confirmed again today with a personal followup
@actingdreams that’s pretty damn amazing!
Hello! I’ve been lurking for about a month as my son and I will be in the same boat next year at this time. I’m already so nervous about navigating all the auditions and applications. My son (current junior) wants to pursue a BFA or BA in theatre/drama. He is a pretty talented actor and has tons of confidence in his abilities. He has landed the leads in all of his HS plays, but it’s high school. We want to see how he stacks up against the talent pool out there so he has applied to Cherubs, BUSTI, and CM for the summer programs. He was accepted into Cherubs and we are waiting replies back from the other programs. His top pick is BU both for the summer program and college. Hopefully he will make it into BUSTI and we will go from there. After reading so many of you and your child’s journey through the audition application process, I am wondering about a timeline so as to not miss anything. Does anyone have a good timeline they used and wouldn’t mind sharing? Or any tips/pointers at all would be helpful. Also, how important is it to hire a professional acting coach for college auditions? I am hoping my son will get some good training at the summer program he ends up at and he will work on his monologues there. How much do acting coaches cost on average and how long do you work with them?
Congrats to everyone who has their acceptances and know where there will be training in the fall! It seems like it takes a village to get there.
@collegeadmiss, Here is my “learned it the hard way” advice:
1 - Take the standardized test sometime spring of junior year. If you need to take it again, do so at the late August date. That still leaves time for a third try in October, a date that will still make the deadline for the early action schools.
2 - Insist on having fairly good drafts of the common app essays done before school/rehearsals start.
3 - Absolutely, without a doubt, find a couple of safeties and apply early decision. I believe getting that first admit in October or early November just makes the whole process go better. Once the students knows he can get into a college, it is a confidence builder. Most of these schools that give out EA decisions that early are going to be non-audition. My son’s list included several BA programs. Our in state BFA had an early December audition date and notified by 12/15. He heard from one school in early November and the other three around 12/1-12/15. With those in the clubhouse, he could focus on other reach schools with confidence and knowing he already had choices.
4 - Even for the most talented kids, it is a crapshoot in a lot of ways, I believe. I would cast a very wide net. I wish my son had applied to about 5 or 6 more programs. We visited lots of programs that he could have applied to, but he ended up only applying to the ones he was most interested in. He probably should have applied to others he liked beyond his very very favorite 6 or 7 programs. I guess the good news is that if he gets in, he will be going to one of his very top choices. Here are some of the programs he visited and decided not to pursue - Emerson, CMU, BU, Purchase, Chapman, Pepperdine, Michigan (major legacy here), and UNC. I think he could have added a couple of those to the list and, in retrospect, been very happy if that is where he ended up. And it would have improved the odds. The school counselors all tell the kids that 10 schools is plenty. Not true for audition-based arts programs, in my opinion.
5 - Spread out the auditions. Others may disagree, but I think he learned from the audition experiences and that reduced the stress for many of the later ones. His first auditions were in December and he finished up in early February.
6 - Most importantly, schedule a 4 week international vacation from mid-February to mid-March. Someplace with no internet. Maybe an African safari or something. The auditions and the travel were tiring, but it was certainly better than the waiting around period we are all in now.
GL, BAL!!
@VASkydog you suggest in point 3 to apply Early Decision. Did you by chance mean Early Action? Those are 2 different things, and you mention EA later in the paragraph. It seems to me that applying ED to a school you’re not really interested in could be a mistake, but EA to that same school could be great. But maybe I’m looking at this the wrong way?
^^
6 - best advice! ;)
@VASkydog - #6!!! If only…
Here is thread started on the MT boards about preparing.
As an addendum to VASkydog’s points, I’d say that starting the essays spring of junior year is a great idea – the kids are in the habit of writing essays at that time, unlike during summer vacation when they’re thinking about other things. Some high schools insist on having them done that early for that reason. (It’s also why a lot of kids score better on the ACT and SAT tests during the school year than they do in August – they’re in the groove of taking tests. But, it’s going to vary with what else they have going on, not to mention temperament.)
I agree with @VASkydog with all of the above. In addition, I recommend:
- setting up an appointment with your college counselor to go over the application process. Ours do not have much experience with this audition process and were not aware of how early (D tried to have Common App in by end of September) materials need to be in in order to schedule auditions, which can fill up quickly. They also were surprised by how many schools D applied to. So meet with them sooner rather than later to make sure you are on the same page. Let them know that days will be missed in order to travel to auditions.
- Request teacher recs before school gets out for the summer, so that these will be ready to go.
- Start filling out the Common App as soon as it becomes available. It is a very long document and many schools require more than one essay (fairly short-answer). If you can do this in bits over the summer, or at the very least, compile the info, it is so helpful. While you are compiling info, go ahead and put together a resume, since you’ll need it anyway.
- Definitely plan on attending Unifieds to do the bulk of auditions, but do try to do a few on campus in the fall if you can. It helps kids a lot to see what it’s like, attend a performance, and get a few under their belt before the pressure cooker of back-to-back-to-back sessions.
My D is a tech kid, not an actor, but her process for applications was the same, save for artistic portfolio reviews and heavy interviews instead of performances.
@mychildsslave same happened to us and I also tried to get money out of them but it was a complete fail! They said that they had already given out more money than they have and there was simply no more to give! Trust me I was upset and pissed and also felt like saying “go take a hike” (that’s putting it mildly). However, when we went to visit in April there was just so much to like. And I was told that once she was a student that there would be scholarship opportunities. I just wanted them to make us feel wanted but that really didn’t happen. Even Calarts upped the scholarship after she visited which really made us feel like she was wanted, but still it wasn’t much money. She just applied for a departmental scholarship over the break and I was shocked that they only gave her $1000/semester. Talk about insulting! Crossing my fingers that they increase it next semester. I have had to consciously try to let it go though, because it’s not healthy always thinking about it. At least she is working off campus and making great money which takes the pressure/guilt off of her. But bottom line it’s an academic admit really, and they only give merit money to kids with high standardized test scores. I believe you need a 30 on the ACT. But I have to say that the school is really beautiful, the theater chair is thoroughly funny and charming, and their mission of service is something that any parent would want to rub off on their kid. So yes, the money is definitely a negative for us but there are many positives to balance it out. Don’t hesitate to send me a PM in the future if you need any additional info.
@bfahopeful @actingdreams Pace FTVC also makes a personal call. My D got one around March 10th last year.
@marg928, I’ll PM you later today when I’m home. The insulting part was my D has a 34ACT score! I really want to talk to them, but at the same time I don’t even want to bother. It really is a beautiful school though. My husband was pushing for my D to do early decision in the beginning. Thank God we didn’t!
I’m gonna take all my EXTRA money and do @VASkydog’s #6 suggestion :))
But seriously, we are planning a cruise for the end of her school year. Kind of a 18th/graduation/congratulations for surviving all this (that’s for all of us). We scored a bit of cash in a superbowl pool, so that definitely helps.
Of course she wanted to go on the Playbill cruise. But she’d have to miss graduation, so she suddenly changed her tune 
It really just made my D feel like they didn’t want her, and she visited the campus 3 times.
It really just made my D feel like they didn’t want her, and she visited the campus 3 times.