@ginja17 I don’t want you to think anyone’s ignoring you. All those programs are good. It all depends on what you are looking for. Of the 3, my daughter chose Montclair (though she never completed her application to Rider after getting into to another school that she preferred) because she wanted to be closer to NYC and liked the vibe there, the campus, and the faculty she met. But you might prefer Hartt or Rider. Like I said, all are good with good reputations and all have successful alums. Visit them all if you can!
Same my D really wanted a spot at BW and could not get one
I echo the advice to get applications and prescreens in early. We set a hard deadline of Oct 31 to have everything done and submitted and we were able to get all my D’s auditions scheduled, and there were many (really, many). I took the lead in Nov. to get the auditions scheduled since the logistics of it all would have been too much for her. Nov. was a nightmare for me, but she was able to audition for 35+ programs which ended up giving her some really nice options. My advice re scheduling is to first find out which of your child’s schools have limited number of dates and block those dates first. Then build around that. Some schools will give you plenty of opportunities to audition. Some (BW & American come to mind) have very few dates available. It takes planning.
@tabers Wow…I think your child has done the most applications of any MT applicant I have heard of…35+! I can’t imagine the number of essays, let alone auditions that involved. Kudos to you for the logistics end of it too.
Curious as to your reasoning to apply to 35+, if you are willing to share. Did your D truly like all 35+ enough to attend any one of them?
Admission notifications still have a week to go, but wondering how many acceptances she has garnered already. Will you have to visit a lot of them next month if you haven’t already?
PS…I am curious, not judging. My personal opinion, I will admit, is that if an applicant has a well crafted appropriate list (including two sure bet schools), that is well balanced, they should not need that many applications to result in some acceptances, even though this is a very competitive process. In terms of the BFA programs, my statement is assuming the student is a viable competitive candidate for BFA in MT programs. I have never had a student apply to more than 14 or 15 schools. Most apply to a bit less than that.
BW had 8 on campus auditions, 1 Moonified, 1 MTCA for a total of 10 opportunities to audition. How many do other schools have?
@soozievt Not all were MT programs. About 24 were MT and the balance Acting programs. We were concerned about having a good balance and I don’t think in today’s competitive environment you can say there are any ‘sure bet’ audition schools. At this point, she has 6 artistic acceptances (4 MT and 2 Acting), is on 4 WL’s, and has 5 schools to hear from this week. Two schools she had ruled out during auditions bc she didn’t like the campus and/or people. She would have gone to any of the others. We did enough traveling, so we won’t have to visit anywhere in April. She is heavily leaning towards a top contender and has already notified the depts. at those schools she has definitely decided not to accept. My advice for parents of juniors/sophs on this board - I encourage you to have a deep list (esp. for girls!) and to start scheduling auditions early. I personally don’t think 15 schools is enough for a girl. Not today. We met other families with 30+ in our travels, so didn’t feel alone. Also, we have no regrets - no “I wish we had more schools” angst that I have seen on this board.
To people doing this next year, look up the audition dates first for all your schools. Make a list of all dates avail, get a calendar and start penciling things in , knowing you will need changes etc. if your kid is active at school this will be beyond challenging. My kid attends an arts high school with numerous performances all year that are not optional. We missed almost all nov audition dates because of her being in a show for two weekends . The nov slots are very desirable and in high demand especially for schools that do not attend Unifieds. (BW etc) we actually managed one early nov one and then one because it was close to home and she did it in the AM before her show and we had left after her show the night before because she really liked the school.
Also keep in mind if you schedule march or April auditions…your kid may be burnt out by then. Especially end of march and April. But they will be so used to their material by then that they can do it in their sleep! Lol
@tabers…thanks for the explanation.
First, of course no audition schools are sure bet schools! I think applicants should have two non-audition sure bet schools on their list.
Congrats to your D on her acceptances so far!
When you say you attended 35+ auditions, are you including group style auditions such as Thespians or Moonifieds? Or do you mean 35 separate auditions either on campus or at Unifieds? If the latter, congrats on the logistics!
Did your D also submit 35+ applications? How many total essays did this involve?
My daughter had planned on auditioning for 9 schools, but got sick and we missed Unifieds. She ended up auditioning at 6, and has one acceptance for MT at one of her top choices. She had no desire to apply to more than 10-which was good for us financially. Sure, it was a gamble, but I don’t regret it (and neither does she!)
I think the discussions behind the #s of schools are fascinating, and obviously, it’s a highly personal process. For some people the #1 priority is an auditioned BFA program, and I suppose there is merit to casting that wide net. (though I really can’t imagine completing 35 applications and/or scheduling 35 auditions) I keep wondering where it will end. If 10ish schools was considered the large end of a “normal” list a decade ago (which is my take from people like @soozievt etc) and 20ish has been the “new normal” list recently… (upped by @tabers mention of 35) where does it go from here? Are kids going to be applying to 50 schools? I cannot imagine, and am glad I won’t have to have it as a task!
@soozievt I mean the latter. My D was not part of Thespians or Moonifieds. 35+ auditions included, in some instances, multiple programs at the same school, but separate auditions (CCM & Pace, for example), but for the most part meant separate auditions. We really worked it at NY and Chicago Unifieds and spent every weekend in Jan/Feb traveling - usually 2-4 auditions per weekend, depending on how much distance in between. I agree wholeheartedly with @theaterwork - I used that same strategy didn’t go anywhere without my calendar and pencil.
The reason BW is hard to get an audition is because they do not prescreen and only take a limited number each audition day. Without a prescreen their pool is basically those who sign up the fastest. Personally I would rather do a prescreen because I would not want to waste my time or money going to a school that had no interest in my child. I truly wish that Carnegie Mellon had a prescreen as well because we spent a lot of time and money going. So my advice to upcoming parents is to get those dates on those schools first that don’t require prescreens because they will fill up the quickest.
@soozievt Sorry - I didn’t see the last part of your post about the number of essays and applications. It seemed like countless! But she started from a single basic essay premise and tweaked it as she went along. She’s also a great writer, so that part was not a problem. It was 30 college applications all in. She didn’t want a non-audition program and probably would have done a gap year if things didn’t go well.
I do not know about anyone else but for us we could easily look up academic requirements for schools and were familiar with many colleges but were new to the BFA Performing arts field. We had no idea about schools or what hard, medium and easier schools to get into even meant. Our school advisor had no experience and neither did anyone else she worked with. We did know about NYU for acting as we had relatives that attended, but over 20 years ago. We put together a list, not huge, but varied. However if we had gotten some coaching I think the list we had would have maybe been a bit different, not due to how hard, more what type of kid they often went with, a better sense of what the school was stronger weaker in for the acting, voice, dance training, etc. etc. Maybe a bit more of the campus student feel as we were not able to visit schools before making our list except for two in our area. I am not sure we would have gone with much more than our 9(one non audition) but maybe one or two more and a slightly different list.
Would like to also add that it was a little disheartening at One of our auditions to hear a parent say well I just think we won’t go to Baldwin Wallace -without obviously having any intention of canceling and just not show up because there are so many kids that didn’t get to audition at that school that wanted to. I think my S got one of the last CCM spots as well. He did come down with the flu right before and you know what we went anyway because we were committed .
@tabers, thank you very much for explaining. Wow, that is a LOT of applications and auditions. Whew.
My D only wanted a BFA in MT. Granted it was 12 years ago, though still highly competitive. There also were far fewer MT programs available. She applied to 8 BFA in MT programs and no non-audition schools (btw, I don’t recommend having no non-audition schools…I think applicants should have two sure bets, even though my D did not do that!).
If my D were to apply today, my assumption is that she would apply to 10-12 BFA in MT programs.
Everyone should do what works for them. If an applicant is truly competitive for this field, I don’t think more than 14 or so should be necessary, if the list is well crafted, balanced, and appropriate to the individual student.
Just to add, I work as a college counselor and my students have never had more than 14 or 15 schools (many had fewer than that) and don’t get shut out. But again, it is due to having a college list appropriate to themselves, some benchmarks or evaluation as to whether they are a competitive candidate for this type of program, and a well balanced list. I don’t think you need 35 schools or programs to yield results. If you want to do that, of course you can if you have the time and money, but just want newbies to know it is not necessary.
My D applied to 23 schools for straight acting and now that it’s over I regret not doing more!
@marg928 - Question (I am really interested) do you regret not doing things differently, or do you really wish there had been more? Would you change things around and do DIFFERENT schools, or would you keep all of the same ones and just add extras?
I would have done ED to Northeastern. I got in with RD but getting a decision in March was really stressful.
I’m with @marg928 . Our list was 13-all MT. Hindsight is 20/20 but when you weigh the extreme competitiveness, the chances that your 17/18 year old student will waver in their ideal school over the course of, say 6 months (Sept-Feb), the financial piece (you can dream big, but will the school come through with the $$?), I really wish that we had done more. And due to this forum, we have discovered schools over the past few months that sound like they would have been good matches-but we didn’t know about them in September. D threw in a few walk-ins, as her “ideal” was much more defined in February than it was in September.
That said-No, not all of D’s many schools were held in the same regard. And to date, her acceptances/rejections/1 waitlist kind of delineate accordingly. She got into the “safers”. She didn’t get into the “reaches.”