Class of 2022 (the journey); sharing, venting, discussing

Hi everyone. I just returned from getting my son tucked into his dorm at Northwestern. Tonight I sit down with D and figure out where we are with her applications. She says she got a lot done while I was gone. We shall see.

With S, a music performance major, I used a spreadsheet to keep track of prescreen requirements, audition requirements, deadlines for prescreens and the general app, and all those kinds of details. Does anyone have any great organizational tips for MT? I’m feeling a little overwhelmed by it - MT is so different from music performance!

@BassTheatreMom I use a spreadsheet with general information, portal log in information and dates on the main page, then I have a separate page for each school. The separate page includes audition dates, prescreen requirements and audition requirements. We are sorting out and putting onto a separate tab all the prescreen requirements so we make sure we pick up all the nuances when we are doing the filming. Once the prescreens are uploaded, we will use a thumb drive and drop box folders to contain her head shot, resumes, monologue and music cuts and school information. The idea is to have everything electronically, by school, so she can refresh the school information prior to the audition and have the cuts ready, by school. With S, we used a folder system and had both hard copy and a thumb drive. The thumb drive saved us when his headshots slipped out of his audition folder as he was getting into the car. We were able to run into a CVS to print a headshot.

Also wanted to say I didn’t mean to be totally negative about the audition process. It’s just a large degree of stress. But we did enjoy going to the auditions in different places as my D did all on campus . We saw some places we wouldn’t have otherwise & met some great people through this & CC. We met people at SETC, & just eating breakfast/ lunch food at audition parent waiting areas ( thanks U Arts, JMU, etc) . People from all over just as worked up as you are! Some parents are legit nut jobs lol but 80 % are not. Well… lol
Anyway try to enjoy as much as you can. An added benefit is after ALL the auditions your kid will be so used to them they’ll have it down to an art form!

Random thought here - I insisted that my S include at least one non-audition school on his list. He did so grudgingly. But it was by no means a safety school. So don’t assume that non-audition = safety!

Best of luck to everyone going through this process - it is absolutely a unique path for every kid - and not predictable.

@efr9598 I was also noticing that several of the schools on our list are safety schools academically and financially where D could attend a BA program if not accepted to the BFA program. Texas State is that way for us because we are in state and she has assured admission. Plus there are a couple of other schools where her academics are above the 75th percentile on the common data set, so we feel comfortable with those as safeties, too. So really, you might not need any safeties.

After my D finishes up with this initial blast of work on prescreens and essays I want her to sit down and find two or three non-audition schools that offer an academic experience that she can get excited about. I’d rather her think creatively about how she can achieve her goals than simply “settle” for something because the audition programs didn’t work out. It’s hard for these kids to think that way right now because they have been so focused on this goal for so long. But I think my daughter would be better served in a place that helps her grow as a person and an artist, (even if that means pursuing voice, acting, and dance on the side), than she would in a place that is just a “safety” (which is a very personal designation - one person’s safety is another person’s dream come true.)I hope she doesn’t have to face that situation, but we all know it’s a real possibility.

@BassTheatreMom - a potentially tricky thing with the BA safety at a BFA school is- will your kid be happy being “near”, but not “in” their original choice? D had had friends leave schools (Ithaca being one I know for sure) b/c they found it an unhappy reminder that they hadn’t gotten what they originally wanted. They transferred to a different school that was BA only, and had a MUCH better experience

^^^yep - had this very discussion with D last night and decided any safety school should not include a BFA program for which she auditions.

@toowonderful I have definitely thought about this! She says it isn’t an issue, but I am afraid it will be. Fortunately we can get the MT appications all done and still have time to focus on which BA programs to use as safeties - there is a bit more wiggle room in the timeline when you take the audition out of the equation.

Same at our house @BassTheatreMom. Have your D picture herself at one of her top MT schools in a BA program - it could tip her thinking. It didn’t really hit me until 2 years ago when D1 was applying to SUNY Purchase (they have both BFA and BA Acting). When she really thought about it, had she not been offered a spot in the BFA program, she wouldn’t have wanted to be a BA Acting student. Luckily for her, the school realized it, too. She was rejected from the BA program (she had stats a-plenty for the school so that wasn’t the issue) before her BFA audition! She was ultimately admitted (as a BFA Acting student) and we got the chance to ask why her BA application was rejected. One of the counselors said they know a BFA-desired applicant’s package when they see it and if nothing in their application suggests they would be satisfied in the BA program, regardless of stats, they don’t like to offer them a spot. It was very interesting to me since we had initially considered the BA a safety program.

In a similar vein, my S ended up ruling out his safety Pitt, because it was too close to CMU…(They are so sensitive, these theater kids.)

@BassTheatreMom I hope that your daughter includes Northwestern on her list ;)! My son is so excited to be studying theatre there - although if you’d asked him last September if he wanted to be pursuing a BA in Theatre he would have said absolutely not. BFA was the only thing he would think about or consider at the beginning of the process.

Northwestern is a different sort of BA - b/c there is no BFA in competition. Still, I would think it would be very challenging (actually, more like impossible) for that to be a “safety” - it’s an academic reach, more like an Ivy

@efr9598 My son is studying music performance at Northwestern and I would love it she could go there. But she doesn’t quite have the stats for NU. It’s definitely not a safety!

@toowonderful Yup - I know - but since this is the school that my kid decided was his non-audition school and @BassTheatreMom has a son there, I thought I’d throw it into the mix!

I have posted this suggestions elsewhere on CC, but this seems like a good juncture to mention it here. I recommend checking out Columbia College in Chicago, especially if you are already in the area looking at Roosevelt CCPA and/or Northwestern. Columbia does not require an audition for admission to their program, but it is a HIGHLY respected school with top-notch faculty from the Chicago theater community. I think it has a vibe similar to Point Park and UArts, and it thrives with a diverse community of performing arts kids. As so-called safeties go, I don’t think you can beat it, at least not for kids who want to go to college in a city with an amazing theater scene.

This could be seen as splitting hairs, but for me, it’s really the hard to see any school with an under 20% acceptance rate as a true safety, even for a high stats kid… and Northwestern’s regular decision acceptance rate was 10.7% last year (ED is higher). I know kids with 34+ on the ACT who were denied at Northwestern. I know a kid who was accepted at Princeton last year, and denied at Northwestern (not a theater kid). There are a lot of variables for admission at academically ultra competitive schools.

We looked at Columbia as a fall back option last year and they do seem to have a great setting and program. My only caution to people looking at the program is that while it appears to be a non-audition program that is a bit misleading. Everyone accepted is placed in the Musical Theatre BA track the first year - no audition required. If the students intention, however, is to gain acceptance to the BFA in Musical Theatre an audition is required at the end of the first year. Anyone considering this option needs to review the info on their web site which provides excellent detail right down to the curriculum. In fact, if you look at their curriculum all first year students take a class preparing them to audition. If you are not accepted into the BFA, your only choice is to remain on the BA track or try to transfer to another program. If you are fine with that, then it could be a really great option, but for all intents and purposes it is sort of a cut program in the sense that you may spend a year in the program but not end up with the track you really want.

@sopranomtmom That is the same at Northwestern. And I would guess there are others.

@Notmath1 yes I know here in California both UC Irvine and Cal State Fullerton require auditions into the BFA at the end of freshman and sophomore years. Again, just something students need to know going in so they can plan accordingly.

Yikes! In no way did I mean to imply that Northwestern was a safety! When I initially wrote the comment, what I was trying to convey was that equating non-audition schools for BA’s in Theatre with safety schools was not actually a precise equation. That’s all.