<p>My daughter has been accepted to both CAP21 musical theatre pre college program and also to Summer Theatre Institiute at Julliard. What are your thoughts on which she should accept? Anyone out there who has attended either one please tell me your experiences. My daughter is a high school Junior.</p>
<p>Well, if she wants musical theater, I think the choice is obviously CAP21. As far as I know, The Juilliard School doesn’t have musical theater.</p>
<p>The Juilliard Summer Theatre Institute incorporates musical theater. But CAP21 is purely for MT.</p>
<p>At the Juilliard Summer Theatre Institute, you can choose to focus on Acting, Musical Theatre, Actor/Dancer, Playwriting, or Directing, whereas everyone at CAP21 pre-college program is focusing on MT training.</p>
<p>Other differences…</p>
<p>The Juilliard program is for ages 15-19 (starting freshmen year of HS). CAP21 Pre-College is mostly for rising seniors and some rising juniors. </p>
<p>The Julliard program is four weeks. CAP21’s program is five weeks.</p>
<p>The Juilliard program provides housing. The CAP21 program does not.</p>
<p>My daughter did CAP 21 last summer and had a great summer experience! Cannot recommend it enough. My D not only had a great time, but learned a great deal. Housing can be a bit tricky. My D was not yet 16 (summer birthday) so could not stay at NYU. She stayed at the New School and found the dorms to be really nice. Feel free to PM me if you want more info.</p>
<p>My d did sti at julliard last summer and loved it, acting, mt dance, stage combat, mt,voice, did a great show at the end that the kids create…staying at julliard dorms is the best too…not putiing cap21down, just sharing this info…</p>
<p>My son did the pre-college program at CAP 21 last summer and it impressed him so much that he is forgoing the BFA route and was just accepted into their 2-year Professional MT Conservatory. It was an amazing experience for him and solidified his desire to go to a conservatory and CAP 21 is such a well respected program. We are very supportive of his decision…there is always time later to go to college! 
It took me a LONG time to get comfortable to say those words. You’re only young once! :)</p>
<p>Lesmizmom ? How was his process to get into cap 21 certificate program? My d will be applying there, i hear you about the college thing, but we know it might be the best place for our d…she is an artist first, then student…thanx</p>
<p>Please correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think the Summer Theatre Institute is a Juilliard program. It looks to me that it rents space from Juilliard, but the people who run it are not affiliated with Juilliard.</p>
<p>I did some googling, and one website about summer camps described it as the summer program of the NJ Youth Theatre, but there’s nothing about it on the NJYT site, so I don’t know if that is correct.</p>
<p>This is the first I’ve heard of this program and I’d love to hear more about it.</p>
<p>Anntoinettec, his audition was very straight forward. 2 songs (uptempo/ballad) and one monologue. No dance audition. There was a phone interview first (after they rec’d all this application materials), and then there was more talking after his songs/monologue. The whole thing took less than 20 minutes. When he was at the pre-college program, several of his faculty approached us about the possibility of his going to the professional program. We were somewhat surprised, and a little skeptical, but after we were able to observe him in all of his classes and saw what a nurturing but tough environment it is, we were sold. It did take us a couple more months to really accept that we were going to allow him to not go to college right away, but the good thing is, they get something like 70 credits at the end that transfer to over 1200 colleges in the US, so it is definitely not wasted time in that regard! I know there are a lot of parents out there who are so worried about letting their kids embark on this road, but I never want to be accused later in life of not giving my kid a chance. If it doesn’t work out, what’s the real harm? There are so many valuable life lessons to be learned in any endeavor. What’s that saying- “If you do what you truly love, you will never work a day in your life”. I am a firm believer in it. On the other hand, if my kid moves back home at age 30 because he has gone nowhere, I may second guess myself then! LOL!!! Vernon Goodman is the Director of Admissions and Recruitment for the Professional Program. He is awesome and can answer ANY questions you have. I know the program is half-full right now and he expects to hear from many more by the end of April…once everyone makes their college decisions! Sorry for the very long response. :)</p>
<p>Thanx lesmizmom, my d has cap 21 as a choice but hasn’t sent in the application…think she still holding onto colleges first, however, I think she would do best in a cap21 in her art, not college first…I feel there is plenty of time and know many college grads back at home will parents and no job…This program gets them right into the work and with transferable credits balances out the college issue for us…hopefully, she can get it together before they fill up…but it is her path…
Francesca…sti at julliard just rents the space…nothing to do with julliard…the teachers are great and the experience overall is great…any questions I may be able to answer, feel free</p>
<p>antoinettec, that was the kicker for us…why spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on a BFA at a 4-year school (well besides getting the degree of course), when spending two-years in a rigorous and highly intense, and very well-respected program, for significantly less money, gets them right into work (hopefully) and at least, in the action, so to speak. We know our son will eventually go back to school to complete his degree, but to be able to work while he is still young and save those two years of time, in our opinion, is very important. I hope your daughter finds the path she is meant to take. There are so many roads to choose from and may they lead to happiness.</p>
<p>Hi lesmizmom- Sounds like you made the right choice for your son. While our MT daughter did choose to go straight to a BFA MT program, we have an older son who took the long route thru college. He chose to work and only took a few classes here and there. When he finally did decide to pursue his degree, he was so ready for it and knew exactly what he wanted. He also found that when he finally graduated at 25, his past hands-on work experience in the field made him much more marketable in job searching. While we often worried about his choices for a few years there, it was definitely the right course for him. Some kids just aren’t ready to dive in to the whole academic college world straight out of hs. It sounds like your son is the perfect candidate for the certificate program- congratulations to you for being so open-minded!</p>
<p>Hi Take-thanks for your kind words. This is not our first rodeo. Oldest son started in a BFA MT that ended up not being a good fit for him and he left the program very disillusioned and disappointed. Instead of trying again at a different school the next year, he opted to take 9 months and get a Audio Engineering certificate (because the kids LOVES music…it’s his life) and then enrolled in a CC, where he is getting all his Gen Eds out of the way and majoring in PHYSICS. His intent is to transfer to a 4 year school to complete his degree and then go into the Air Force as an officer. How’s THAT for a digression from original plans?? It’s funny how they find their own way…although the path can get loopy for awhile. So, I know EXACTLY what you are saying about your own son. Our oldest had us worried for awhile but he is kicking butt in school now and WANTS to be there, and actually gets frustrated with the “younger” students as they are not so focused. I have to keep reminding him that he used to be one of the “younger” students. Had he gone to a better BFA program from the start, who knows how things would have turned out, but for now, the path is set and he is happy. Our younger son has REALLY wanted MT for several years now…I mean, HE LIVES IT 24/7. That wasn’t necessarily the case with my oldest. We’ve learned so much over the last several years and I have really learned to relax and accept that there is no “right” way to do anything. I think I got all caught up in the notion that “everybody is supposed to go to college” as that is how I was raised and how we have raised all of our children ( I have two daughters that are still in middle school). It puts so much pressure on all of us during a time that is stressful enough already. Son is an excellent student (AP, Honors) so it’s not like he doesn’t have what it takes to go to school, it’s just that he really has some talent, and he really, really loves performing above all else, so why not? When he finally ends up going back to school, he won’t HAVE to get a BFA for the training, he’ll already have that from CAP. He’ll have other options. It just didn’t make sense to not take this route. So many people wanted the CAP option as a BFA but didn’t have the grades to get into NYU when it was a studio there, and now he has the opportunity to attend, get all their fantastic training, and be hopefully able to work before he is 20. It really was a no-brainer at the end of the day. But, many of our peers do NOT understand this mentality and think we are crazy. I say we are being smart in how we invest our money and he is being smart with how he invests his time, and in the end, it will work out the way it’s meant to, whatever the end result may be. Thanks for letting me ramble. I have not been on CC too much in the recent months because I started freaking out about him not going to college and being on CC started to make me second guess ourselves, but it is exciting for us to be able to say, “Yes, he is going somewhere next year and while it’s not a “college”, it is a great program and he is VERY EXCITED.” There really is nowhere on this board to post our kind of news (and I understand why…this is a COLLEGE forum…) and it’s just fun to be able to share. I’ve been on CC for several years now and I will always be indebted to it for getting us through the whole process for two of my kids. Thanks for letting me post and share! :)</p>
<p>When Cap21 was part of the Tisch program, I would recommend it whole heartedly. Now that it is independent (it was last I heard, but I have been out of the loop), I would prefer to have my child go to a summer program that is on his/her list of schools of interest. It can make a difference in the app process. A slight one, but any difference can help with the odds out there. I like the CMU program the best. </p>
<p>If the student has a known weakness in an area, say dance, voice, whatever, then the program might be better to be separate sinc it would be time to build up that part of the audition and you do not want preconceived notions interfering.</p>
<p>lesmizmom, I admire your outside-the-box thinking. With kids like ours, I don’t think any path can be ignored. Where will your son live while he goes to CAP21?</p>
<p>My D loved CAP 21 summer program. It has a great reputation amongst MT colleges and she made many friends whom she is still in touch with.</p>
<p>My daughter is graduating in May with an undergraduate degree in Theatre Arts. We’re not sure if CAP 21 is appropriate since the program seems to be aimed at students who have not been to college yet. Does anyone have experience with CAP 21 as an older student?</p>
<p>Cap 21 has a summer program geared towards kids either in college or already working, I believe it may be called the Pre-Professional program. From what I could tell during my summer in the pre-college, it was more rigorous as far as how much time is spent in class and classes more geared toward working in the business NOW and making connections.</p>
<p>Calliene, my son will be living with his older brother, somewhere in NJ (they are hoping for Hoboken), close to the train/bus lines. It’s a quick train ride into the city and less expensive (although still VERY expensive) than living in the city. Older son goes to school in NJ so it works out perfectly for both. They are looking forward to rooming together…whodda thunk it, all these years later after they both complained so much about sharing a room in their early years! LOL!
JWHorses- CAP actually has a summer ‘professional’ program for those more “mature” students. I would check it out!</p>