@momma2a that sounds like a great experience, the Annie thing! I wouldn’t be concerned about her just deciding on theatre. Seems like that happens a lot. My D is not the academic type lol . She’s smart and gets good grades but I always figured she’d stick with a performing /theatre college major.
@Mel2421 hope your D enjoys Wagner. We looked into that program at one point. The lady there was really nice. We couldn’t make it work out financially plus I think we blew the deadline for audition video, but my D is considering applying there for school.
@theaterwork we will let you know how the summer at Wagner goes. We visited in November and it is beautiful there. I like that you can take all the dance classes you want. This school is in the top 5 of her list.
Hi! My daughter is a junior at a public high school that has a half day career center for theatre that she attends. She started taking acting classes at age 6 and was in her first show at age 7. It has been full steam ahead ever since. She has been taking voice lessons since age 8 and up until now, her dance training has come from shows. This year she has pulled back from performing and has been taking dance 5 nights a week. It has been hard to not audition for shows!!! She has had some amazing opportunities to work with some professional theatre companies around town. And we are fortunate to have many high quality “community theatre” companies as well. Finances have always been an issue for us, but last year she was able to go to Interlochen for their Musical Theatre Production completely through a gofundme campaign. Like I said, our theatre community rocks and they were all there to support her! She has also had the opportunity to attend the Junior Theatre Festival in Atlanta two years. Her training has been whatever we could get scholarships for. She has also had some great master classes here in town. She would definitely be described as an actor that can sing and move. Hoping that this concentration on dance will help going into audition season!!
Thanks @titanic22 for starting this thread! I can’t believe it’s finally here. I’ve been lurking on this site for a year and truly don’t know what I’d do without the veterans here…and we haven’t even started auditioning!
We live on the West Coast and D is a junior at a very intense college prep HS. She’s had MT in her blood from birth as hubby and I met in a musical! We always thought she would do theater as a hobby but last year she informed us that she wants to study MT. She’s studied voice for 5 years, and dance since she was 4, and has been in countless shows in our area (some school shows but mostly local, community theater). She attended CSSSA last summer and this summer she says she wants to do a show with a local, professional company, no summer program for her.
We have a list, if that’s what you want to call it, that has about 30 schools on it!! LOL. She’s open to BA, BM or BFA. It’s more about what she’ll be studying. I printed up the course list for all 30 schools so she could highlight the things she loves and the things she doesn’t about a particular program. I also blacked out the names of the schools since she “has her favorites” and I didn’t want that to sway her. This essentially has started to organize our list with some very desirable, and affordable options finding their way to the top. We’d love to keep her here on the West Coast but also know that there aren’t many schools here that fit what she wants. She’s our first so the thought of her moving to the other side of the country, where ppl have actual weather, scares us to death!
Good luck to all here and I am SO looking forward to the process knowing we have virtual friends who have traveled the path as support! 
“… blacked out the names of the schools…” Fantastic tip and a great place to start. Thanks.
Hi all, We live in NC. My D goes to a public school with a strong Performing Arts program. Has danced for 10 years. Her grades and test scores are solid-I would say that CM is the only school we have looked at that we would be concerned about her academic admittance.She attended UNCSA’s Summer Drama Intensive last year, and is going to Penn Sate’s S.T.A.T.E. this Summer. We are casting a wide net in the application process. Dream schools, big schools, smaller schools, “safety” schools (yes, that term is so arbitrary when it comes to audition programs), schools we know that we can afford without aid/loans. The list is subject to change, but as it stands right now, she will apply at Elon, Belmont (visited both-love both), Syracuse, Michigan, Ithaca, Penn State, Emerson, Catawba, and ECU. BAL to all, and I look forward to having virtual friends to go through this journey with!
Just an FYI @owensfolks CMU has less rigorous academic requirements for theatre students.
Good to know, thank you!
And you really should not consider any audition school as a safety.
Also, the only programs that are safeties are the ones without auditions and are not academic reaches.
And on the topic of safeties, a safety is not really a safety unless you are positive you can afford it and are willing to spend the money to go there. So it has to be non-audition, an easy academic admit for your S or D, and affordable (and you are sure about this).
That’s precisely my point-nothin’ safe about choosing all audition programs!
You got it @owensfolks! And the wise folks on here will tell you that you must LOVE your safety. Honestly, I think finding a true safety, meeting all the criteria, can be harder than choosing 15 audition BFAs for your list but it’s a very important piece of the puzzle so that you aren’t sweating bullets throughout the whole process. We didn’t do the safety piece too well. That’s definitely something we should’ve spent more time on.
That’s cool your D is going to Penn State this summer @owensfolks . My D auditioned for it but was waitlisted 
She is going to another program as she never came off the waitlist
Quiet… Did anyone else get into Wagner’s Summer Musical Theatre Institute? Thanks!
I’ve been a long time lurker who’s learned so much from all the generous people who have gone through this already.-thank you! Can’t believe the time has come!
D attends a medium sized HS that is known for it’s athletics, not the arts. She has always loved to sing and has taken a weekly dance class almost every yr since the age of 4. Typical ballet,jazz,hiphop or tap w/recital at the end-nothing competive. She has had supporting/leading roles in her HS plays and shows and also many shows at some area children’s and professional theatres. She was also in a limited engagement off Broadway play last spring in a very small background role and loved the experience of it all! I would say she’s a singer/actor who moves well. We have visited a few schools in the northeast as well as attended SETC this past March. She received some great feedback and learned of a few programs not previously on her radar while we were there. She attended an MT pre-college workshop last summer and will hopefully be attending a college audition prep workshop this summer.
BAL to all!
Yes we found out today my D was accepted! @Mel2421
So I just read some schools have rolling admissions and we can apply as early as June or July. Can someone tell me which schools have early decisions. Thanks!
Yeah What are the schools with fall auditions?
Wright State usually has an audition the first/second weekend of November.
FYI: while some of the schools/universities may have rolling admissions, most MT/Acting programs follow the “typical” prescreen/audition/wait-forever timeline. The rolling part would generally only apply to the college/university as a somewhat separate process from the MT/Theater/Music department procedure. So you can indeed apply early to “rolling admission” schools, but that is a different animal from “early decision” schools.