I say the theme of MT College Auditions should be “Anything Goes!”
Shutting down your portal seems rather cold but at least you get an answer. That’s better than some real life professional MT scenarios.
Has anyone who auditioned at Ithaca on February 6 heard yet?
CCM question: do you have to be admitted acedemically to the university first before they tell you your artistic decision?
It’s funny how people from New York Unifieds are getting crickets from so many schools…I haven’t gotten anything from Ithaca yet either
@destiny95 no I don’t believe you have to be academically accepted first for CCM
Maybe someone educates me. How in the world do schools make a decision before they see everybody they offered in-person audition at various locations? Especially if it is small program and makes an offer to only 20-30 kids? (I’m referring to schools who give a result within a few weeks of audition). What if they see tons of talent at the last audition but they already made X offers to X+3 total spots?!? Is this the reason why the earlier audition date is recommended?
@katiebean thanks!
@destiny95, last year my D did not receive anything about academic acceptance or scholarships until after she was accepted into the MT program. Unlike a lot of other schools that require you to be academically accepted, it was pretty much understood that the conservatory was in control of who they admitted.
I have same question @Guppie …
@limbo2019 good to know! It was just a letter about credit evaluations towards my application, but I have not received any artistic decision. I thought they waited to review your University application and transcripts until you had an artistic decision.
@Guppie some schools have said that they make only as many offers as the spots they have, then pull from the waitlist if they need to. Others offer a larger number of kids to ‘guarantee’ a final yield of the class size they’d like (Ithaca said they do this). I’m sure they realize that many of the rockstar kids they see will be getting offers from the other competitive schools and maybe an early offer will capture those kids’ hearts and they’ll think more highly of those schools when deciding. Just having been involved with an unrelated professional interview committee, I know that there are some applicants who are an easy yes or no. If they need to consider some kids as compared to the larger pool, those can wait. Last Saturday was Ithaca’s last on-campus audition so now they should have seen all. They also seem to send out in clusters by discipline. Lots of theater tech kids were notified a few weeks ago. MT kids seemed to be next and I haven’t heard any Acting majors who have heard, so I assumed that they’re still working on MT.
Thanks, but still doesn’t answer my question… A pool of kids they see at NYC unified vs Chicago may be very different. How do they measure all kids from all auditions on a same measuring stick, without seeing everybody they are supposed to see, don’t they want to decide the top 30 or whatever# after all? I guess they have been doing this long enough to know when they see talents they want and where the cut-off line of the talents is.
So got this email today from a school
We loved seeing you. Your pieces were wonderful. (Actually named the pieces)
Thanks for auditioning. 
To me this sounds like a no…any input?
I think due to the ease of travel and the internet the number of applicants at schools is just huge and it does become a crap shoot. For all fields of study. There are different folks auditioning at different locations, someone gets sick and they call in another judge, they have just heard the same belt song 10 times in a row, the judge is distracted by a text from home or hunger or has to go to the bathroom. I think everyone gives it their best including the judges. I think you probably have some people who stand out at 18 no matter who sees, and those who are clearly not going to progress. Then you have all those with maybe the talent but we have to see, and that is where it is a crap shoot. How do you compare the kid with one show under their belt in a dramatic play, or the kid with minimal voice lessons and is still growing, etc. The sheer numbers for all schools is going to have to be worked out. I know several years ago when going to Med School was every kids goal the schools were turning away huge numbers of qualified applicants and many in the profession wondered if because Med Schools were looking at only numbers if they were missing out on many of those who brought some unique and special talent to the medical field. It is really hard. Musical theater programs at schools are increasing so hoping that will help the process over the next ten years. Just my personal musings and hope others with many years of experience on these boards can chime in. We are only a year into this world.
@Guppie Schools really don’t look at it that way…they don’t take the best 20 or 30 based on a singular measuring stick. They are looking for special talent among different types, genders, and ethnicities to bring in a diverse and multi-faceted freshman class. I think you are spot on with your thought - they know when someone has what they are looking for.
The reality is that many schools (based on the pure numbers) are only taking 1 or 2 kids for every 40-50 they see, so those that do make early offers along the way have figured it out.
I auditioned in January at Ithaca and have yet to hear anything
Backup plans/safeties are the key to survive this crazy /crap shoot processes and come out of this interesting & exciting time of my D’s life with a long-term perspective of her life and future. We are ready.
@Guppie
You broke it down pretty well. Definite Yes’s and No’s are easy. Just like at other highly competitive schools they just have far far too many solidly talented people in the middle to choose perfectly.
I listened to a podcast recently where a reporter got to sit in on Amherst’s admissions sessions. After they dispensed with admitting rock stars and declining the obvious no’s, it got depressing. There were disputes between adm. counselors based on petty rivalries and very subjective, actual inconsistent, sentimental reasoning, in lobbying for one student over another.
The whole episode showed that this process is run by ordinary human beings with strong biases and is completely out of the student’s control. You felt helpless to hear how students were chosen one over another. Not rational in many cases but that is what it is when you have too many for too few spots. They will readily admit that any one of the cases they are working on could succeed well at the school. Yet they are looking for students who have a good chance in making a name since that is what will keep their college on top. Education is a business.
But doesn’t that continue for students when they reach the real world? Anyone who gets a 2nd callback means he/she would be fine for a part. It’s the whim or the mood or other factors by the casting director that gives you the job.
The good thing for us is, within 6 weeks it should all be finished.
Here’s a thought. How does a restaurant know how much steak and chicken to buy? They have years of experience knowing what most people order and after awhile they can estimate what they need. Maybe it’s the same with admissions and accepting students early. The admissions team knows what to typically expect in a 17/18 year old MT student. They know the norm and its not difficult to differentiate those that are well above and well below. When they see someone who is way above that bar some schools grab them early. None of this is a perfect science and I am sure sometimes they don’t get it exactly right, but I bet they usually end up with pretty close to exactly what they wanted.