<p>Congrat’s Touchstone!!! That is awesome and good luck with all the end of the year festivities and moving forward… we live in So Cal too, and will be in the trenches next year, with BU at the top of my DS’s list. Please stick around next year, I am sure you will be needed:))</p>
<p>Thank you 5boys!</p>
<p>Congratulations Touchstone! So glad your son has a happy final pick. We’ll miss you in SoCal, but Boston is a fabulous college town.</p>
<p>I am a late contributor to this forum, but I have been avidly reading all of the threads in this forum and the musical theatre forum for months now. I am so grateful to everyone who provided their advice, opinions, stories, and feelings over this class of 2017 audition season! I would like to share my son’s journey:</p>
<p>Applied for BFA Acting to: University of the Arts, NYU Tisch, DePaul, CMU, CCM, Rutgers, SUNY Purchase, Juilliard
Applied to one of the NY state schools (non-audition BA Theatre) as a liberal arts back-up plan</p>
<p>Accepted to: U of Arts, NY state school
Waitlisted at: NYU Tisch
Final Decision: University of the Arts</p>
<p>My son clearly chose to apply to very difficult schools to get into, and in hindsight we are thankful that he was accepted at all. The BFA world is something new to us as a family, and I had not yet started obsessively reading College Confidential when he made his list and applied to schools. I would have broadened his list considerably if I had been timely reading these forums! We live about an hours train ride from New York City, and because he is in New York City a lot, he wanted to be in a big city environment more or less in the Northeast. So he ruled out many schools that have been discussed in this forum. I think he also chose very well-known schools in part because if he had been going the liberal arts route he would have been aiming for well-known schools that are difficult to get into. He did not completely decide to undertake a BFA until the end of his junior year.</p>
<p>In the beginning he was debating whether to apply early decision to Northwestern as he felt they had a good theatre program, and his grades and test scores made him a reasonable candidate. Also, the odds of getting in to a top theatre program that way seemed much better than the odds of being accepted via audition! But he decided he did want to audition for a conservatory, so that ruled that strategy out. He auditioned to U of Arts first because we knew they would accept on a rolling basis and that would give him an early indication of the audition process. He got accepted there within 2 weeks of auditioning, and also received a nice merit scholarship, so we were spared the anxiety that many others experienced of waiting months for an acceptance, or for one that was affordable. Plus, he was pretty happy with U of Arts when we visited the campus. He had immediately liked the area of Philadelphia that the school is located in, the fact that it is an inexpensive 2 hour bus ride from NYC, and the flexible structure of the program that allows things like a minor in MT and a semester abroad, as well as an honors program option. From then on, though, he only received rejections from the other schools, and this brought on doubts about pursuing an acting career, despite understanding how few can get into any of the programs.</p>
<p>In mid-April, we visited the state school for the first time, and to his surprise, he liked it very much. That actually eased his mind because he realized that if he didnt like the BFA after a year, he could probably transfer to the state school, change his course of study, and be happy. We then went back to the University of the Arts so that he could attend an acting class and take a final look. This reinforced for him why he wants to pursue the BFA, and what he wants to do with the next several years of his life, and so we paid the deposit and bought a U of Arts sweatshirt:) His words: Im so glad thats done, that was so stressful!</p>
<p>Final note re NYC waitlist. We discussed whether Tisch would be something to consider if he got off the waitlist. My son agreed that the cost of Tisch is appallingly high, since we would not get financial aid, or merit help. He could see the difference in the price over the four years compared to what U of Arts will cost us, and he concluded that in the end it will be up to him to make things happen anyway, no matter where he studies.</p>
<p>Typeamama, thanks for sharing your story. I hope you will keep posting and let us know how things go for your son at UArts.</p>
<p>Thanks NJTheatreMom, I am looking forward to posting as a parent of a BFA student!</p>
<p>Yes, congratulations and good luck to your son!</p>
<p>I’ll tag team on Typeamama’s poste here because my son also decided to only apply to highly competitive bfa schools. If you do a search on my user name, you will find this was not his first try; he wasn’t ready for college after graduating from high school.</p>
<p>This time around, I offered advice when asked but left him alone to manage the process. When he chose these schools I obviously was stressed. I did know the odds and he did too. But he decided it was what he wanted</p>
<p>Applied to: Juilliard, CMU, Rutgers, UNCSA, BU and NYU.
Accepted to: NYU Tisch (ETW) and UNCSA
Final Decision: UNCSA</p>
<p>He initially got a wait list letter from the NCSA but got a phone call last week before the May 1 deadline. And thanks to some fantastic advice from someone on this forum (I won’t name names. Oh, ok, Actingdad, as if you all would not guess …), he attended enough classes and met such great young actors to shake off the magic of Greenwich Village. He decided hands down it’s the place for him</p>
<p>I am going to take all the money we’ve saved and travel up to NYC for a shopping spree at Barneys.</p>
<p>Thanks to everyone for the advice on the vent and discuss thread. We never even had to have that oh so serious discussion about life, money and goals but I was READY :)</p>
<p>Congrats UVaHoo87! About time we got back to some Pickles after all this talk of terriers!</p>
<p>Truth be told, I’m beginning to feel very invested in the pickle . . .</p>
<p>UvaHoo- I remember you posting when my daughter was going through this process. I think your son has made a fantastic choice!!!</p>
<p>typemama-look forwarding to hearing how your son does!!! </p>
<p>Congrats to both of you, wonderful choices, I think!!!</p>
<p>Typeamama - my son is finishing up his freshman year in the Acting BFA program at UArts. Feel free to send me a private message if you have any questions. He loves Philly. He is moving into a house with three friends, and it will actually save us money - that’s another consideration over NYU.</p>
<p>Stagemum - thanks for reaching out - I have to accumulate some more posts before I can pm you, as I only started posting. My son is already coveting the nearby non-dorm housing options. I think he is viewing the dorms as a rite of passage that he should participate in for freshman year, but after that…</p>
<p>UVA… I just happened to go to dinner last night with my S’s drama teacher and a kid that graduated from our HS and went on to UNCSA was there as well. He graduated NCSA a few months ago and WOW, what an amazing kid. He could not say enough about the program there and he is already working as an actor. He actually is living in NYC, but got a role here in San Diego at one of the top theater companies. He could not of been more charming. I had to think, that if this is what UNCSA spits out I am hoping upon hoping my S has a chance there. He gave me his email to give to my S, as he wants to convince him that UNSCA is the where he needs to be:))))</p>
<p>Here in Austin our new film maker du jour is Jeff Nichols (Take Shelter, Mud). He is a proud UNCSA graduate.</p>
<p>Congratulations, UVaHoo87! UNCSA is a great choice! I loved everything about the program when we visited. Including the nearby coffee shop, Krankies!</p>
<p>Thanks, all! and a special thanks to adaquince’s son, whom I’m pretty sure Ive seen perform and who chose to go to BU, a school with such an impressive program! As of next weekend, I will have seen high school productions at three different schools, two in Northern Virginia and one in New England. Just have to say that I’ve been thinking of all the kids we’ve met in auditions, all the kids in these shows, and realising how fortunate the kids on this forum are!</p>