@ActingGuy101 Ditto to what @frontrowmama said. The priority hold email said even if you haven’t heard from them within a few weeks to consider yourself still under consideration. Best of Luck!
03-12-2018 at 10:26 pm
@mtmaybe Auditioned at IWU on 3/3, full day with audition & tour!
@diamondntheruff Big envelope acceptance from IWU, letter date 3/9.
(Start of copy/paste moved thread, if others want to bring their posts over…)
@mtmaybe, not only is IWU generous, but they may work with you financially after the initial offer! Although D ultimately chose to go elsewhere, it was one of her top choices for MT, and they provided more grants after her initial offer. You just have to ask and perhaps tell them what another school is going to cost you; they’re quite kind.
Terrible, devastating news today. My D did not get into Montclair. That was the school she considered almost a “safety” - if she didn’t get into her tippy top choices, she would have been happy to go there. I know, I know, no audition school can be considered a safety! But we really did think that was a “match school” for her in terms of talent, not a reach. She is in shock right now, as am I. She does have one acceptance so far, Marymount Manhattan, but she really doesn’t want to go there. I just don’t know what to do. The rest of her schools that we’re waiting on are MORE selective, so we’re not expecting any good news. 
@actorparent, don’t give up hope. There are multiple stories on here of people who get into top schools and rejected by second tier schools.
@actorparent1 I am so sorry about Montclair. We have been nursing wounds after several rejections here. Hang on, there are still more schools. My heart hurts for everyone. Of course I’m very happy for those with good news but honestly …this process is unnaturally stressful and I think looking back will give it some clarity as our kids find their way forward -even through the pain… I’ve had Flu and 103 fever for day three after caring for daughter through it last week. Hard to even type so haven’t been as active here. My heart goes out to everyone. I am still hoping (perhaps in vain?) for Purchase for both of our girls. A waitlist would even be joyous…
@#booknerdmom My D auditioned on 3/3 as well…for BFA Acting. Originally prescreened for BFA MT but was redirected to BFA Acting. We’re on the west coast so hoping there’s one of those big packets headed our way, crossing state lines as we speak…haha. It is her top choice left but even if it isn’t meant to be, she has some solid BM vocal performance options to choose from with a double major or minor in theatre arts.
She’s felt the sting of rejection from her original top choice w/a redirect to the BA program and redirects to BM Vocal Performance w/a double major BA Theatre at a couple other schools. The redirects did come with nice talent scholarships and one with a personal encouragement from the BFA program director to work hard her freshman year and audition again in 2019 for the BFA MT. She’s keeping those options open.
We entered this whole process understanding the numbers. Frankly, this journey has actually been a boost to her confidence in some respects. We are from a very rural area. No Performing Arts high schools, no drama/acting at her high school, two productions a year (fall musical, spring dinner theatre) that all take place after school so that leaves little to no time for vocal lessons, dance lessons, etc. She’s been involved in community theatre the past two years as well. She’s known the odds were stacked against her from the beginning. She was accepted into a BM Voice (Musical Theatre) program back in September and so she knew she at least had that. The fact that she prescreened into IWU and felt she was taken seriously at all her Unified auditions actually made her feel really good. She really wants to be in the midwest. She wants to eventually land in Chicago and try to break into regional theatre. It’s all about perspective! She tells me all the time that I get way more worked up about this stuff than she does! From reading through these threads, I keep hearing that from lots of parents!
COPY & PASTE to move conversation from Acceptances by School thread
@#booknerdmom Still nothing from IWU. I even signed up for USPS’s free informed delivery service where you see scans of what’s coming to your mailbox each day so at least we’ll know first thing each morning if a) there’s something from IWU and b) if it’s a big packet or a letter. LOL My D says I’m creepy. I find I can concentrate better at work if I know there’s nothing there since our mail does not get delivered until late afternoon.
@actorparent1 So sorry! Hugs to you and your daughter.
Has anyone received news yet from Ball State acting? We heard they would do notifications after their Spring Break, which was last week.
@actorparent1 and @actingdreams If my son plans to audition at ITF ( International Thespian Festival) for DePaul as Early Action would he have to apply to the school before attending ITF in June? I’m so confused. Does he have to go ahead and apply to the school prior to auditioning at ITF? I seem to recall that common app doesn’t go live until August? My older son is a physics major and handled all of his college apps himself. So much easier than having to deal with the added stress of auditions. Help anyone!
@collegeadmiss I hope someone else can help you. I did not know that DePaul Theatre School had an EA. and I’m not familiar with ITF. Hope someone can chime in
@actorparent1 I’m so sorry! Do not give up on those selective schools. We had planned on a rejection for DePaul. My S had already removed it off of his list (it was that bad) and he got in. You never know, Art, and who they feel fits is quite subjective. Your D may end up at one of those. DePaul was not a safety school for us
I just cannot look at these boards anymore.
We are devastated and so discouraged with this whole college process.
My son found his passion for theater late in high school but when he did he has been cast as leads and has won awards at festivals. Parents of last year’s drama kids (whose kids went to top colleges) gushed that my S is so good-looking, talented, a boy, and a strong baritone that he will get in everywhere he auditions. We spent thousands on private dance and singing lessons, got a monologue AND audition coach, spent money on professional video for prescreens and headshots. Flew from CA to NY 2X and to the midwest 2X for callback auditions, applied to 21 schools, was booked with auditions at Unifieds, and he has only gotten in his safety school that has an MT program but is not a well-known school for it. I don’t know what else we could have done. Perhaps his grades could have been better but the schools said his GPA was OK and he was accepted to most academically before his auditions. I feel that the universe is playing a sick joke on us. My son is such a good kid and deserves something good and this has really shaken my faith and confidence. He didn’t even get on a WL.
A kid at the rival high school that is his type has gotten in so many places already and is showing the letters on social media like trophies. My son is embarrassed and our friends/family are starting to get judgmental about all this.
So BE thankful if you got acceptances and have choices. Each moment I am on these boards I cry thinking about the hopes we had for our son’s future. He cannot audition anymore due to his Spring musical coming up and he is the main lead. And I am sure everyone will ask what colleges he got in after each performance…I dread that.
The time, money, and emotional investment we have poured into this process in unreal. I just don’t know what else to say.
Congrats to all who have gotten where you want. It is truly a miracle, a lottery win, to say the least so please don’t take it for granted.
I just cannot look at these boards anymore.
We are devastated and so discouraged with this whole college process.
My son found his passion for theater late in high school but when he did he has been cast as leads and has won awards at festivals. Parents of last year’s drama kids (whose kids went to top colleges) gushed that my S is so good-looking, talented, a boy, and a strong baritone that he will get in everywhere he auditions. We spent thousands on private dance and singing lessons, got a monologue AND audition coach, spent money on professional video for prescreens and headshots. Flew from CA to NY 2X and to the midwest 2X for callback auditions, applied to 21 schools, was booked with auditions at Unifieds, and he has only gotten in his safety school that has an MT program but is not a well-known school for it. I don’t know what else we could have done. Perhaps his grades could have been better but the schools said his GPA was OK and he was accepted to most academically before his auditions. I feel that the universe is playing a sick joke on us. My son is such a good kid and deserves something good and this has really shaken my faith and confidence. He didn’t even get on a WL.
A kid at the rival high school that is his type has gotten in so many places already and is showing the letters on social media like trophies. My son is embarrassed and our friends/family are starting to get judgmental about all this.
So BE thankful if you got acceptances and have choices. Each moment I am on these boards I cry thinking about the hopes we had for our son’s future. He cannot audition anymore due to his Spring musical coming up and he is the main lead. And I am sure everyone will ask what colleges he got in after each performance…I dread that.
The time, money, and emotional investment we have poured into this process in unreal. I just don’t know what else to say.
Congrats to all who have gotten where you want. It is truly a miracle, a lottery win, to say the least so please don’t take it for granted.
@collegeadmiss - you’re right about the theatre applications. Lots to figure out and each school is different!
Regarding DePaul - Send an email to: theatreadmissions@depaul.edu
Ask if the audition at ITF will be an ACTUAL audition for DePaul.
In my S’s experience with DePaul: In Aug or Sept, apply to DePaul. At the same time your S will need to upload the prescreen videos (monologues) and resume (details will be on the website). Next - they review the videos and will let your S know if he is invited to audition. If invited, he will have the links to set up an audition date in Chicago or at the unified locations. This year – whether the audition was last Fall or Jan or Feb – the decisions just came out last weekend. You may take early action, but they don’t make early decisions.
A few schools - Syracuse is one – want to see the pre-screen monologues BEFORE anything else. If the prescreen does not result in an audition, you don’t need to apply. (Very reasonable, in my opinion.)
@actorparent1, hang in there. My D got waitlisted at a second-tier program that we thought of as (an auditioned, granted, but less selective/prestigious) kind of a safety (nearby, small, expressed tons of interest, huge academic scholarship, lots of positive email feedback/conversation with the department over several months) but got into a DePaul (her very first audition) last week. Not to mention last month’s admissions debacle. My fingers are crossed for your family as this hideous process wraps up.
Please remember that the vast majority of these programs have a 10% or less acceptance rate! Those aren’t great odds, and they wouldn’t be considered safe by anyone outside this process (and most inside it)! Even the few outliers that have a 20% acceptance rate that are sometimes talked about here on CC would not be considered safety schools. Think about it: the difference between a 2% and 10% acceptance rate is actually pretty minuscule; it’s like splitting hairs. And, applicants in the general college population who get into schools with just a 20% chance generally feel pretty happy with their accomplishment, as they should. What these theatre students are attempting to do is huge, and odds are not in their favor. Be aware that there are no auditioned safety schools, and even if you think a program is more of a match talent-wise, that’s really just a guess, we have no idea what they are looking for from year to year (in terms of talent, looks, type, academics—whatever), and many, many people regularly get rejected from them—even when they initially thought they’d be more of a match. For our auditioners, I think it’s really safety/reach/high reach, and the lines between reach and high reach can be blurry!
For those who have yet to hear about an acceptance or one that is exciting to them, don’t lose hope. This isn’t done yet! And, even if it is, your student might attend that school she’s not over-the-top excited about right now and soon after starting there not think she could be as happy anywhere else, or he may decide to take a gap year and try next year with what are, to him, more satisfactory results, or she may just head to NYC/Chicago/LA/Philly and start auditioning right away… There are so many paths. Try to keep your head up! But, yes, in it all, remember that these are steep odds—no matter what the auditioned program is.
This Stephen Hawkins quote seems appropriate. “Be curious. And however difficult life may seem, there is always something you can do, and succeed at. It matters that you just don’t give up.” RIP Stephen Hawking
@HopeinMT I know what you’re going through is awful – and possibly even worse for you, his mom, than it is for him, in some ways. Your pain is your pain PLUS his pain, and I’m sure it feels to both of you like everything’s crashing down.
All I can say is this, and I know it’s something you know, but maybe this will help a bit: I’m a film/tv writer/producer, and I cast shows all the time. Not musical theatre, mind you, so I admit this may not be 100% the same – but I can say this: When I cast someone, I don’t give a crap where they went to school. I don’t care if they’ve gone to school at all, graduated third grade, or went to Juilliard. Now, maybe if they went to Juilliard I’d notice that on the resume and give them a little more benefit of the doubt once they walked in – but from that point on, all that matters is the talent in the room and if they fit the character they’re auditioning for.
So yes, we try and help our kids get into the colleges where they’ll have great training to help take them to that next step, but there are so many ways to go about it. I’m fortunate to be friends-of-friends of a big Broadway musical theater actor who, in his undergrad years, did NOT go to a MT school – he was a music major at a big state school – and then did more specific training in his graduate years. But he was even telling my daughter a few years back, when we were first talking about college “don’t worry about acting training undergrad. If you want to, great, but there’s plenty of time to focus in on that.”
My whole point being: this process is insane, it feels random and chaotic – and that’s the nature of the business, too. You just keep pushing at it until it breaks, through whatever method takes you there. If your son ends up at his safety, it’s gonna hurt emotionally for a bit, but I bet he’ll find his happiness. If he ends up at one of the schools he’s got higher on his list, I bet he’ll find his happy, too.
In the meantime, we’re here for you.