I would not assume that everyone who is sending their kids off to college to study MT (or any major for that matter) is paying the full price tag. My kids qualified for need based aid. My MT daughter also got scholarships. It still cost a lot, but not as much as you state.
It so happens that in my family, my MT daughter’s education cost a lot less than my Ivy educated daughter’s, because the latter daughter also went to graduate school for four years and so I paid for 8 years for her (after scholarships/fellowships), and just 4 for the kid who got a BFA, considered a professional degree.
I get the sense, however, that your point may be more about this major, or as you call it, “child’s dream.” In my view, we were paying for our kids to become educated. We really didn’t care one bit what their major was. In the end, they got a college education, which not only is of value as a person, but generally serves someone well in their future. A college education is not only about one’s major. Not all adults even work in the field they majored in college. But their education was valuable to their later success in life. That said, we felt pretty confident our child would have a life in the arts and indeed, now as a young adult out of college, she does. In fact, our kids were expected to fully support themselves upon their final graduation day and they have. In the case of my musical theater kid, she graduated college at age 20, and we cut her off after May of her senior year and she has fully supported herself in the performing arts in NYC ever since. But even if she pursued another line of work as an adult, her educated mind would be worth it, and her college degree would have value in the work place. Generally speaking, I sent my kids to college to become educated. And they were.
PS, I do want to apologize if you are not critical of spending money on an arts degree. I think you may have a kid in the arts (not MT), and I didn’t realize that when I posted, and so I may have read something into your comment that you may not have intended. If so, I am sorry.
What is the deal with all these colleges violating the ethics rules about the May 1 deadline? Someone on this thread quoted a letter from OU, and I just read another parent’s post on another thread that their school’s letter gave them an April 15 deadline.
@LBSMOM the problem really is that they hire outside choreographers who cast their own pieces. No one keeps track of whether someone was cast four times by four different choreographers or if a student wasn’t cast at all! So it’s not really a matter of favoritism, it’s simply that the program head doesn’t bother to make sure everyone gets a chance. If you’re in the program you’re good enough so there’s not that aspect. There was a situation where my D made it to the very last cut of a dance being choreographed by a dancer at NYC Ballet. At that point I felt that the director should have stepped in knowing that my D had not yet been cast in anything for that show (this was the last audition) instead of letting it go to someone who already had been cast in something else. To me that’s just common sense!
Once agin very well said @soozievt ! I do think there is a view that pursuing an education in the arts is a pipe dream and not about an education. Along with the view that to be successful you have to be on Broadway.
I feel my daughter is lucky at a very young age to find that thing where passion and ability collide. I don’t care if she ever lives in NYC or steps foot on a broadway stage. I want her to be able to have a career that she loves. So that’s why I pay for her training now and will support her getting a degree in the arts.
Hi @Artskids! Thanks for replying so quickly! That gives me a little better idea. We weren’t sure if it was one or two wait-listed per slot. I also didn’t have a good understanding of how they did the list, ie…a wait list of four boys in order of who would get any spot that’s not accepted 1st, or a one person behind each one type system. I actually thought about asking them, but I certainly don’t want to seem pushy!
@freddieggirl I know of an additional school that has done that (asked for a commit before 5/1, and stated that failure to do so MAY lead the accepted student to lose their spot) this year. I look at it like this: They wanna make their own rules? They risk getting burned-because I am certain that if something better comes along for most of these kids-they’re going to jump ship.
That said-it is an unfair practice, This process is difficult enough for 17 and 18 year olds (and their parents) without the added pressure of deciding before having all their results.
@owensfolks Exactly! We will have at least 5 schools to visit or potentially revisit in 4 different states in order to make a decision. My D has never based her school choice on some arbitrary ranking of programs. She has very specific things she’s looking for and will go where the most of those needs are met. She received 2 notifications within the last week. We are still waiting for 3. These kids are still in school. To make that many out-of-state visits before April 15?! MT/Acting kids need the May 1 deadline MORE than regular admission kids!!
For those of you who are blessed to have to make a choice on which program to accept - here are some things to consider:
Does the program offer private voice lessons as part of the curriculum?
If so, are they taught by faculty members or grad students?
Are they training both classical and belt?
If the school has a dance program, do the MT students get to take classes with the dance faculty or do they have a separate faculty?
Does the school offer a New York showcase for seniors? If so, are all MT students invited or do they have to audition for this?
Where are alumni working? Is there an organized alumni group that is there to help them network when they graduate?
If it's important to your student to be able to perform while in school - the number of the students admitted into the program will be important as the opportunities will be few if there is a lot of competition.
How does the program facilitate a community amongst the MT students? These students are with each other every day in a very competitive field. If not handled right, it could be ugly.
How much debt are you willing to incur or have your student incur to receive this degree? What is paying off this debt going to look like for them? (If they are working a lot to just pay off their debt - it will prevent them from getting training, going on auditions etc... later)
I am sure others have things that can be added to this list as well.
@japbmom We have far more requirements and interests than those you have listed, but thanks for the offer of assistance. Perhaps there are others who have not given it any thought, although at this point I hope not. I am not paying even $10,000 and committing my child for 4 years to a program she has never visited, never taken a class with faculty, never met the students, etc. And as I’ve been advised by friends who make their living on Broadway and, in fact, teaching college MT, what looks good on paper means nothing if it’s not somewhere the student feels connected.
@soozievt I certainly was not being critical. I don’t think I’ve ever seen the parents get actual credit for saving/earning/planning to be able to pay the freight. I know not everyone will pay 60K per year out of pocket by most NYU or CMU parent will have to.
4 years ago I may have thought that was insane but after having an academic son turn into a performer and meeting so many hard working awesome MT kids - I hope they all get a fair shot at their dreams.
@freddieggirl - it didn’t occur to me that someone would accept a program they didn’t visit. I agree they should go and learn what they can from a visit. But I know some schools - like NYU - don’t allow them to sit in on classes. And from my own experience - one class/one faculty member doesn’t make a whole school - so even if you do sit in on a class - it doesn’t necessarily represent the whole program. My friend’s daughter visited a school last year and got to meet the students who actually told her “the program stinks” … so she chose another one.
@2017MTMomma - Same here- on the waitlist for Otterbein last year and the first offer person took it so D was out. Wish it had been a general wailist! Might have had a better chance.
Lots of decisions to make For my D after visiting and weighing the pros and cons the choice became very very clear regardless of all the opinions out there it came down to where she felt she wanted to be and was going to get the best training
As far as visits go… Remember that this is a just a one day glimpse of the program and may not accurately reflect it; it certainly would not give you a whole picture of the program. A class/studio observed may be not an ideal one to see because of the point in the semester (as was the case in one instance for D–they were in the middle of final projects for both studios she observed at her chosen program), the head of the program may be trying to put out a fire and so is distracted (also happened to my D–but he was incredibly responsive and engaged before and after the visit in all communications and continues to be amazing), the students may seem really stressed during a part of the visit (one girl even burst into tears during a studio at one program which D ended up not choosing for other reasons–but then D was able to see how the faculty member reacted), he/she might not connect to a main faculty member (happened to my D at one program, and that did factor into her decision but was definitely a minuscule part of it), a production might be disappointing (didn’t happen to D, but it has to plenty of others)…
Have fun at the visits and enjoy finding out what you can! Also enjoy finding the good donut/ice cream/real food places around…
All we can do is re visit, talk to as many people as we can when we visit, suck up every last bit of info and …if you are a religious person… pray for the good vibe/epiphany to happen leading your kid to the right place [-O<
I mentioned this on another thread. Some kids are lucky to have that “this is the one for me” moment but not for us. We did visit schools before and after but we did not get that much more of a sense of the schools/programs other than location and facilities. All the faculty, classes, students, Presidents,Deans etc seemed pretty caring and wonderful at all the schools:) However location can mean plenty to a kid:). That is what it boiled down to for our kid.
Question: when talking to students in the current program, is it more helpful to listen to a Freshman is just finishing up? A Sophomore who may have a bit more insight or a Junior/Senior who can give more perspective on the whole gestalt of the program but might forget what it was like as a freshman?
In terms of visiting etc - I would say you do need to be careful to take things with a grain of salt and an eye on the big picture. For example, relating to my earlier comments about Syracuse - when we went to accepted students weekend, 2 of the early activities were focused on/in the carrier dome. (one was a kind of pep rally, the the second was lunch on the floor - which they seemed to be saying was a HUGE honor, and lots of people were very excited). Given, as said earlier, that D is not a sports girl - this really turned her off. She liked the aspects of things she saw when we went off to the theater dept - good meeting, nice class, friendly kids - but I think she had decided it was not “her” place already - and the school ended up trumping the dept. That to ME is where the 17/18 year old thing can get tricky - failure to see the larger picture.
Now on the flip side - we did not go to the accepted student weekend at NYU (I think it was the same weekend as Syracuse) b/c D had already done the summer program there. (Which was nice -D got to experience classes in nearly every studio even though she was in the MT program while she was there). Anyway - her experience with that university was ONLY within the theater dept - and that informed her opinion of the school as a whole.
