Class of 2024 MT Artistic Acceptance Notifications: How/When/Where

@DramaLlama18 - The BoCo call was also giving information about virtual student days, 1 on 1 sessions with faculty and students. I would guess with the campus closed they wanted to communicate that personally.

@DivaStageMom:
I don’t have a kid at Northwestern and my kid didn’t even apply there. But I know numerous kids who went there for this field and am also friends with numerous parents of students who attended and are now young adult alumni. Several of these parents used to participate here but have moved on. As a college counselor, I have had several students admitted to Northwestern pursuing MT. It doesn’t matter to me whatsoever if the program is not right for your daughter! But I do think it is important, since so many are lurking on these forums, to be sure information is correct. You talked to one student.

You mention that the theater program (not the MT Certificate) is not performance training, but I don’t believe that is true. You can focus on Acting, and with that take acting classes, voice, and movement. I believe those in this program can perform in musicals as well as take dance (and there is also a Dance Minor). The website states that “Students not accepted into the MT certificate program still have the opportunity to perform in musicals and take an array of musical theatre courses.”

You mention that many do not get selected for a cappella groups. I am quite familiar with college a cappella. This statement could be made about an array of colleges with strong a cappella groups! NU has several groups and yes, they are competitive to get into and have nothing to do with whether you are in the MT Certificate program or not. I know many who have been in NU’s a cappella groups. My kid was in a well known a cappella group at NYU all four years of college, and was its musical director, and their group placed 3rd in International Finals, and even in their group, which is hard to get into by audition, not everyone was in the MT studio at NYU. Many were in Acting studios. Some were not even in theater at all. Her group had many very talented singers. I would say that a majority of those in her group have now gone onto leading and supporting roles on Broadway and Off Broadway in musicals, even if not all were in the MT studio for their training! I imagine this to be true with NU’s a cappella groups. A cappella is an extracurricular endeavor, not run through these departments.

NU has an array of student run theater groups, in addition to departmental productions, as well as several dance troupes. Anyone can audition.

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@soozievt - Yes I do think she said everyone could do the musicals and a lot of performance opportunities. I also think everyone gets acting. It seemed like training beyond that was more individualized. There was something with dance - but this girl wasn’t a dancer so it was more mentioned in passing.

I guess in general it just appeared that because you didn’t get in on an audition, you spend a lot of time auditioning to get certain training - although to your point not all. And for us, and possibly other people who are considering this - the risk is that you don’t know where you stand talent-wise. There are at least 100 other kids in the program - somebody said 150 and they take 24 (12 boys and 12 girls) for the certificate - maybe you are the top of the talent pool, maybe not. So this is something to consider.

Obviously NU is a top school and I don’t know that you can go wrong with it in terms of a life choice - but you may be disappointed by the type of training you receive.

I know two people who were called by Boco and told they were accepted and that their official acceptance letter would be sent 3/29. One was called 2 weeks ago. Don’t know the other one:)

@mamaboyz – good info. Do you know if both were for MT or were they for MT and CT. (My D is on WL for MT, but her preference is CT, and has been in constant contact with the faculty since her audition). No calls yet though! :slight_smile:

@AnxiousNovice @allfour1 My D is in the same boat. Not sure if you’re following this thread: http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/musical-theater-major/2177498-class-of-2024-no-bfa-mt-looking-at-plan-b-gap-year-p7.html

If not, read #124 from a student who went for a BFA Acting last year because of no BFA MT acceptances, then dropped out and re-auditioned this year. It both inspires me and makes my stomach drop to my ankles. While it’s only one perspective, it was a good reminder that whatever choice my D decides to make, it’s not irreversible (even if painful). So, I will (try hard to) trust that whatever path she decides (within financial reason) will get her to where she needs to be.

Good luck to your Ds!

NYU results will be released on Monday 3/30. Good luck to everyone!!

Re: Northwestern

I don’t have a horse in this race at all but I can’t not mention this.

Consider, instead of individual programs that train a certain number of students, all of the students entering training programs next year as one big (very big) group. Say that group is 2500 people big.

Now, consider that a not insignificant proportion of those 2500, say maybe 20% of them, even in BFA and BA programs, recognize they’re not “at the top of the talent pool” AND aren’t sure they have the drive it will take to overcome those “talent differentials” with hard work and persistence. So, they decide to change majors.

Wouldn’t it be pretty fantastic to be at a school like Northwestern when you come to that realization and change your major? Walking out with both the resourcefulness of a theater student AND the prestige of a degree from Northwestern – the sky is the limit!

We all to some degree believe we know our children will stay the course and graduate in 2024 with degrees in musical theatre and go to New York and find agents and get work and EMC points and Equity contracts and live happily ever after giving regards to Broadway. The reality is that they are 17-19 years old and maybe don’t totally know what they’re getting into right this second. While I expect my child will see it through and spend at least her 20s continuing to put in the work and pursue this dream she’s had since she was 4 years old, I really don’t know anything for sure. The best thing I can do to support her right now is to model an open mind, an open heart, and a non-panicked mindset. There’s a place for her if she wants one. She also has options, endless options, if she wants a different place. The world is truly her oyster and she is positioned well to create a life for herself that is fulfilling and meaningful.

How she defines “fulfilling” and “meaningful” in 4 years or 10 years or 25 years is subject to change, is anybody’s guess, and will be wonderful.

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@DivaStageMom @SavsMom @soozievt – a daughter of a friend of ours studied Theater at Northwestern a couple of years ago and I asked her if she had had a chance to check out the new Kellogg Hub that was completed. She replied with “That building is awesome, and I’d like to cut through it to get to Wirtz (from where she lived) to save time, but they don’t like theater kids walking through there.” I told her not to take it personally. That they don’t like ANY undergraduates walking through there :smiley:

@Dance3Looks3 - this is what is now stressing me out. I agree if all things were static BU is the better choice - a program we know - but NU is such a great school - people who know nothing about this process are so impressed with this acceptance - crazy because it’s an 8% acceptance and most of the other schools she applied to were like 1-3% so technically it’s not as impressive as someone who got into CCM - but nobody outside this group understands that!

@DivaStageMom it sounds like your daughter will be just fine – and very happy – wherever she lands. The decision feels like life and death right now, but I promise it’s not! :smile:

I understand that’s what people are telling you. But your D needs to ignore that kind of thing, as well as prestige, and focus on what’s right for her and what she likes best. I had a client who got into Stanford and Brown and chose NYU/Tisch as she wanted the BFA. I, as well as my own kids, put fit above prestige. I recall when my older D examined all of her acceptances and had to narrow them down as to which to do revisits to make her final decision, she eliminated Penn, an Ivy League school, for which she was chosen as a Ben Franklin Scholar and wanted to revisit Tufts and Smith instead. She liked them better than Penn. However, she ended up picking Brown as her favorite in the end. But also while attending graduate school at MIT (and she had several Ivy League graduate school acceptances), she chose midstream to change graduate schools to focus on a preferred specialty, even though MIT was great, and went to UC-Berkeley, which she chose over an acceptance to Stanford, and left MIT for as well. It was the right fit. It doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks. It is your daughter’s choice, and she ought to tune out the naysayers.

@soozievt - I agree - Thank you - you give very good advice :slight_smile:

@Dance3Looks3 - yes - it does seem like that - she has some time before she has to let NU go - but for now it looks like BU unless something big happens to change that - thank you!

TBH @DivaStageMom - she will love either program and as long as the finances aren’t hugely different or important I think she should go with her gut. The Acting program at BU is just stellar - there’s a reason their admissions yield rate is like 70%. CC class of 2022 sent a half-dozen kids to BU, they turned down other great programs to go there and they are all very happy / exhausted / challenged / etc. NU has a bigger name outside of theatre/acting, has a fantastic record in theatre, puts a good number of acting professionals out there every year and seems like an ideal place for an actor/scholar. I don’t think you can ever get a perfect pros and cons lined up with two such different but outstanding options - you pays your money (lol) and you takes your chances. I think she’ll love either one.

I agree with what everyone has said re fit over prestige, even as BU is one of the best Acting programs!, people outside our bubble just don’t know that. I know several kids who chose their school purely based on ranking and are not happy! Kids are overly focused on brand name.

@CaMom13 - the Finances basically stinks on both! I guess NU is even more $$ - if you can imagine that!

But yes, I agree with everything you said.

Thanks for the advice :).

Ack! My DD got the same email from BoCo yesterday but didn’t see it until later today so she just replied with her info for them to call and of course, now we have to wait until tomorrow for them to call. I’m dying to know. She loved her audition there (Chicago Unifieds). I could hear them laughing (and her singing) outside the room and around the corner during her comedic song so we’ve been hopeful but trying to not get our hopes up and now I after not being on here for several days, I’m reading all of this and tomorrow can’t get here soon enough! And her dance call got changed so there were only 3 girls that got the message with the new time so those 3 (all dancers) had a really good time there and got a little more than they would have with a larger group - they all came out sweating and panting but big smiles on their face.

So
if you didn’t get an email from BoCo in the last few days, should we assume that a “no” is coming? Are these emails trickling out over time?

For Western Connecticut State
does everyone’s waitlist letter say “you are high on the waitlist.” Just curious what that means or if it doesn’t really mean anything. Thanks.