Drew University in NJ 
Oh and it didn’t hurt that she received almost a full scholarship…so she will come out of school debt free
You are my people! I am so clueless about all of this! Some of the schools you all are talking about I have never even heard of! I didn’t even know there were schools who were still accepting applications. This thread is the best thing on CC. Thanks for keeping it real. Cyber hugs to all.
@4461flmom … it’s become pretty clear to me that we made some errors in this whole process. And I usually pride myself on being well prepared and researched!
Honestly, a lot (not all, but a lot) of the schools that are talked about here are akin to the Top 20 Universities - schools like Harvard, Stanford, U of Chgo, Yale, Vanderbilt, etc etc …
(And hell, I have a D at Vanderbilt - you think I would’ve known better!)
These schools are TOUGH to get into. TOUGHER than the those upper echelon academic schools.
Think of it this way. Vanderbilt’s acceptance rate last year was around 12%.
Western Michigan’s MT BFA this year will be around 5%. (They’ll see around 300 kids and will choose 15.)
THAT’S CRAZY.
And even then, with those top schools there’s a bit of a formula that if you adhere to, you have a much better shot of entrance. It’s still a lottery, but you can increase those odds. But MT programs are so subjective … it’s just the nature of the beast.
But there are lots of really great MT schools (that I’m finding out about a little late in the game but still …) that don’t get a lot of lip service on these boards.
So yeah. I made some mistakes. In hindsight, I would’ve searched out smaller programs in lesser known schools in the beginning … but how do you even begin to know how to do that? My D is not a performing arts school - and the director of the high school shows never went to college herself (she’s not a teacher but a community member) and is a certified lunatic. (But I digress.)
ALL of the information about auditioning for programs has been culled from here and various internet searches. I have never known anyone who’s personally gone through this - even the kids from D’s high school only applied to one MT BFA program. They never made the rounds on the audition circuit … they were just really lucky.
I still have A LOT of hope that D will get into a program that she likes and likes her back. But I do wish I would’ve done things a little differently …
@KaMaMom we are all rooting for you.
@ifyouonlyknew … that makes two of us! [-O<
We loved our visit and our continuing correspondence with the fantastic, friendly faculty and students at Northern Kentucky! It seems like a great program. (I actually want to write about it, but it’ll take some time. It’ll come!) So, I really encourage you to audition there. They only have two audition dates, one in November and one in April (the latter of which is for people who are currently in the BA program and want to audition/re-audition for the BFA and for current high school seniors and transfers), and they don’t go to Unifieds.
University of Alabama Birmingham is a new program for MT; this will be its second year. (The acting program is not new.) The head of MT is fabulous–so positive and enthusiastic! I don’t know as much about the program as NKU, but I will try to post when we find out more than what we do right now. I do know that the school is putting a ton of money into the program. I also know that one of my D’s coaches, someone closely connected to one of the single digit chance programs talked about here often, is very excited about the program. So, I encourage you to check them out.
Go @KaMaMom, go! You remind me of … Me!
My daughter started MT very late in the game, junior year. Last year, she was very lucky to get accepted to 2 auditioned MT programs, but they weren’t the ones talked about here. She is talented but very green not at all polished. She decided to attend her safety, with an audition later MT program because she fell in love with the school and the faculty. She is very, very happy with her choice. It is a great fit for her! You never know where this journey will take you. But if you go for the ride, you will end up somewhere perfect for you!
Thank you for the recap @bisouu
Darn it! My post (#325 about NKU and UAB) was supposed to be in the Venting, Sharing thread because it was a response to comments there. I’ll put it there, too.
An abridged version of my story is at post #260.
@destiny95 D has a friend who was accepted to BW within the last week, I have no other details though…
My S got nos from julliard, DePaul, Otterbein after a callback and U Arts. He has been accepted into 2 schools that redirected him into BFA acting and 2 MT BFA programs. Still waiting to hear from his first choice… Not sure how to take the redirect, thus whole process makes you question your child’s ability and is not for the faint of heart!.
Interesting article in the NY Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/15/opinion/sunday/frank-bruni-how-to-survive-the-college-admissions-madness.html?smid=fb-nytimes&smtyp=aut&bicmp=AD&bicmlukp=WT.mc_id&bicmst=1409232722000&bicmet=1419773522000&_r=0
martin,
It’s true this is not the for faint of heart and requires a student (and parent) to have some tough skin. I understand, somewhat, your questioning your kid’s ability/talent. However, here are a few thoughts…
First and foremost, BFA college auditions almost always involve some rejections. In fact, in most cases, there will be more rejections than acceptances for a student. This is because with single digit acceptance rates at most programs for MT, it only stands to reason that rejections are going to be plentiful, and more so than acceptances! So, one must go into this process EXPECTING a lot of rejections, along with some acceptances. And frankly, for anyone going into this field professionally, this is what to expect from here on out!
Second, in your child’s case, he is accepted already to 4 BFA programs! This really should be considered highly successful and an affirmation of his talent, given the odds of admission! In terms of MT vs. Acting, he did get into 2 MT programs so far, and so obviously he has MT talent!
As far as two programs that accepted him for Acting, when he applied for MT…first, your son must be interested in Acting programs too if he applied to Juilliard and DePaul, which don’t have MT programs and so he is willing or interested in attending an Acting program. But also, depending which BFA programs placed him in Acting, it could very well be at a school where the Acting students still can take voice and dance and are in MT productions. I have seen many very talented singers in Acting programs. Perhaps the program really liked him but had no more room in MT and offered him Acting, knowing he would still have opportunities to take voice and be in musicals at their school. I don’t think it is a commentary on “not good enough at voice.” At my kid’s college (NYU/Tisch), there are many highly talented singers who are in the Acting program and are cast in musicals and have gone onto success in MT professionally. My own kid is a singer and was in the MT studio at Tisch and CHOSE to spend her last 3 semesters in an acting studio, in fact. Another personal experience is that with CMU, my D was trying for MT but was put on the Priority Waitlist for Acting there. I don’t think this was a commentary on her as a singer. In her year, the MT program only took 3-4 girls. There are singers in their Acting track. My D is now a professional singer and so I’m just saying that this placement is not a commentary necessarily on vocal talent.
Congrats to your son so far on his acceptances!
Here is an article in the NYTimes that is worth reading, in my opinion. You could easily substitute “elite colleges / Ivies” for MT BFA programs…
I think I just posted that …. LOL
bisouu…oh, sorry, did not see that. I just signed on to post it and chose the Rejections thread as a good spot. You must have posted it on another thread. Oops.
Where is your post, bisouu?
Right above your long post in this thread
^^Oh, LOL…you posted that at the same time I posted my post #334 and so I never looked above my post! Sorry about that!