@okpackers This process can be extremely overwhelming, so you are
certainly not alone - and that’s what this ‘support group’ is all about! Congrats on the WL - and best of luck in the auditions ahead. Sounds like a great, diverse list of schools, so lots of possibilities ahead!! And, BW is still in play!
It is stressful for everyone. I can’t believe we made it through last year. But your son is a somewhat rare “type” so I think you are in good shape. Trust your son, he will make the right decision in the end.
@okpackers - Your S sounds a bit like my S’s freshman year roommate. He was a football player and wrestler in HS and didn’t get the MT bug until junior/senior year. He has a lovely voice, but had little dance experience before getting to Wright State. This fall (as a sophomore) he was part if the dance ensemble in the main stage musical and you would think he’d been dancing for ages. Congrats on the BW waitlist! My S was waitlisted there very early in the season and “released” at the very last possible moment in May. This process is grueling. Hang in there. Your S’s desires will become clearer as the season goes on. At this point in the year, it may seem like there’s no right answer, but as things shake out and the dust settles, your S’s “best fit” will make itself known.
@mtmcmt Hang in there. We all have to keep reminding ourselves that these acceptances at the small programs are like a needle in a haystack. Yet we persist. Good luck with #3!
Nice list, @okpackers. As you can tell from my pic I know a little about Memphis. Reach out when you are ready.
Thank all of you! It is great to have people to talk to. Maybe our kids will end up meeting each other and they can discuss their crazy mommas and dads! 
Waiting for the Ithaca prescreen is just torture. I’m sort of confused with how they are notifying people because a lot of people who submitted on December 1st have already heard and then a lot of other people (me included) have not.
Dear BW,
We met online. I know I shouldn’t be embarrassed about that, in this day and age, but I was afraid of being hurt and wanted to take it slow. Your profile was so great, I knew right away we’d be a perfect fit. You ticked all the right boxes and I felt as though you were speaking only to me. When I sent my first awkward text, you got back to me right away—how lighthearted you seemed, so open and so genuine. You followed up with pictures in the mail, and that’s when I began losing my heart to you. You were older than I’d imagined, refined but warm and welcoming. I pictured us together, walking in the woods, laughing with friends, picnicking on the lawn. In your very first message, you invited me to visit—I was surprised but pleased that you were the one to ask. And how you welcomed me! It was springtime and the forsythia were in bloom. You opened your doors to me and showed me your most private places. You introduced me to everyone we saw and they all spoke so highly of you. I was touched when you bought lunch for me and answered even my silliest questions. I knew right then that we could make beautiful music together.
We parted with promises, sweet and sincere. I counted the days until I could be with you again and sent everything you asked of me. I sat for a photo, my smile meant only for you. I told you of my life, my work, my hopes and dreams. I tried to explain how I felt in 500 words or less, how I knew you were “the one.” I offered myself to you. And you wanted me, too. Sweet lord, you wanted me, too. You asked me to come back and promised we would get to know everything about each other. You called and I came, nervous as a bride. You opened me up and I sang for you. Your smiles made my heart soar. I spoke my deepest thoughts and fears, and you listened. You did not ask for more, but that was fine. I knew we’d seen each other’s inner soul. And then we danced, oh, how we danced!
And then…. silence. I waited patiently, true to you and knowing we would soon be together. Yesterday, your note arrived, BW. Your words made my world stop spinning. You told me I was everything you could ever want. Then, just like that, you told there was . . . Another. Of higher caliber. You tried to let me down easy, but it’s hard to believe there is anyone else when your heart is in Berea.
I’ve thought about writing or calling. I’ve reached for the phone a dozen times. But deep inside I know it’s over. Perhaps it had never been real for you at all. But you made me love you, BW, I didn’t wanna do it. You know you made me love you. You played me, BW, like a Steinway in a practice room. You let me run my hands over you, my fingers aching with every touch. Then you slammed the lids with three cold words: Of Higher Caliber.
Your’s Rejectedly,
Moving On.
Yes, folks, my son got the “no” email from BW yesterday, too.
Do they really say “of higher caliber” in the rejection? That seems unnecessarily.
That was poetic license. They said the candidate pool was of high caliber this year (but not all high calibers are created equal, it seems). It was a kind and caring stab in the back. Sorry, I meant a kind and caring rejection. #stillstings.
I’m starting to suspect that some programs say similar things each year, when the reality probably is that the caliber doesn’t change much year to year. We also are told by some places early each audition season that the overall numbers of candidates have swelled greatly that year, only to find out post-audition season that the numbers are comparable to the year(s) before.
That’s still a stinky way to phrase the redirection letter. How snotty, IMO. It makes one feel inferior when there are actually a myriad of reasons one doesn’t get into programs. Why not just be decent and say that they don’t think it’s a good fit at this time?
Onward and upward, @claire74 and all of those receiving redirections!
@musicalkid98, I am not sure if this still works this year, but for the past 3 years you could check on your MyIthaca account. If your account has been disabled, it’s a no. Kind of a harsh way to find out, but the MyIthaca account was disabled (typically) before the kids got the letter in the mail. On the bright side, the MyIthaca account also lets you know if you were accepted (this is for after the prescreen part). They put a banner across your picture that said something like, “Accepted!” That’s how my daughter found out she got in…I got a big envelope in the mail from Ithaca, and texted her (I wasn’t allowed to open it). She asked her music theory teacher if she could check her account on his computer, and she got on MyIthaca, and the next thing I know, I was getting one of those all caps texts with exclamation points and tears of happiness and “OMG I CAN’T BELIEVE IT” texts. And the whole class celebrated with her. So…again, not sure if they still use this method, and I kinda feel bad that I’m adding another way for you guys to obsess (I know, I was there…I feel your pain), but check the MyIthaca account. If you search the MT thread for “MyIthaca disabled,” you can see the many, many discussions on this. So, bottom line is if the account is still active, you are still in the running. Break legs…it’s a phenomenal program.
@claire74 Well, I “enjoyed” reading your post - hope you keep this up through the season - I will enjoy your future spoofs of positive news too! Having three kids, the youngest of whom is now applying, and receiving many such boilerplate letters, both rejection and acceptance, I’ve always wished for one which read: “This year’s pool of applicants was particularly mediocre, and you shouldn’t be at all proud of your selection.”
@myloves PERFECT description of Baldwin Wallace MT…a little snotty (and a lot full of themselves these days I think). They are like the high school girl who became very pretty over the summer and is now basking in her newfound popularity. Everyone wants to date her.
@claire74 OK, so here’s the good news…now you don’t have to spend the next four years explaining to all of your friends and family why Baldwin Wallace (a place they probably never heard of and in Berea, OH!) is such a great place to go for MT.
“Of higher caliber”…really???
@myloves Exactly, and also, just as for regular college admissions, the fact that the number of applicants swell and the percentages of admitted students keep shrinking doesn’t mean that the same 20 kids or whatever, or same 2000 at large universities would have been chosen out of a way smaller group of applicants. It feeds upon itself: only 15 % admitted, well then I’d better throw in 5 more applications, etc. etc. I’m as guilty of falling for it as anyone else.
@shopforpunky, I took liberties. They actually said the candidate pool was of “high caliber.” It was very much a form letter, jointly from the Dean of Conservatory and the VP of Enrollment. It didn’t really jibe with anything Vickie Bussert had told us–she was clear that the reasons for rejection are most likely type and fit, not lack of high caliber! But now I’m just being bitter. Great program, sad to let it go.
@claire74 Love your writing ( I actually read it out loud to my husband as he was getting ready to go to work) and am really looking forward to future posts!!
@claire74 - your love letter made me giggle. I’m sorry that BW let you down. .
@claire74 sorry you were disappointed. Been there and will visit again before this is over.
Those dang no-account boyfriends. . .