Commisserate here: Rejections...HS Class of 2008

<p>Sarasmom; Good morning, I was reading your posts, and do understand how you feel. Your daughter has a very good out look on life. Webster hasn't started sending out letters yet. This is a very good program. The people there are so nice and the school is beautiful. Keep the faith until the end of the month.</p>

<p>ChellyBelly - I love your login name. You are lucky to get into the BA. My poor daughter has poor grades in all her subjects except for music and acting so she is doubly vexed and has not received any acceptances yet. I've been corresponding with Temple that is starting up a new "musical theater emphasis" that I saw on this site. They have one audition date March 8th. My daughter and I are trying to come up with a Plan B - but I don't know about you but we are exhausted. She still has 7 schools left to hear from and I am trying to set up 4 more. </p>

<p>I still don't understand all the math calcs going on this site. Seems to me that the top 60 of the 800 or so that are applying to the same schools are getting multiple offers - so unless there is a wait list how do the other 740 get considered. My daughter mentioned something about some schools know that the best are going to go to the top schools so they kind of target a middle tier of talent. How does that work?</p>

<p>thank you, alwaysamom for pointing that out. :-) I couldn't agree with you more, though it did take us while to learn that lesson. D is looking forward to taking that step into a more professionally run program. :-)</p>

<p>Thanks for the good wishes!</p>

<p>thank you momsonfaith! Yes, Webster seems to be a very good program. She really liked the fellow who was the auditor at LA Unifieds and he was very open to talking about the alternatives, if she didn't get accepted in to MT. We'll just keep good thoughts.
I wish your son the best!</p>

<p>alwaysamom said:</p>

<p>"The reality is that it wouldn't happen on Broadway! No professional actor is going to jeopardize their vocal health by performing while sick. No stage manager, or tour director, and once a student is in college, no college director or voice teacher, would allow it."</p>

<p>(sorry, don't know how to make it format as a quote :) )</p>

<p>Sadly, that is not true, alwaysamom. I work at a major Voice Center where we see many, many patients who were pushed by top-level directors (Equity productions, yep, even on Broadway) and faculty at schools that most students here would consider their top choice to sing while obviously sick. I truly wish I could tell you specifics, but of course b/c of patient confidentiality, I can't. But here are some of the quotes that have come out of extremely respected, well-known, and PRESUMABLY "knowledgable" mouths:</p>

<p>"Strain is a part of singing"</p>

<p>"He cannot vocally rest, or he'll get fired" (or fail the course, if it's a student)</p>

<p>and the list goes on.</p>

<p>In addition, believe it or not, many Equity shows do NOT have understudies - this can happen b/c Equity makes "provisions" in certain types of contracts for performers to be "covered" - but this is by a stage manager who is on a microphone with a script, or something equally damaging to the intergrity of the production. So of course a sick performer in such a case feels TERRIBLE about calling out, regardless of how vocally compromised he is - I saw this happen firsthand a few months ago. No, those are not Broadway contracts, but it happens off Bway and in major regional theatres. And on Broadway, singers often perform while sick if they feel they can "get by" - which is totally inadvisable from a vocal health standpoint, b/c the risk of vocal hemorrhage is greatly increased then.</p>

<p>So the moral of the story is - performers must ALWAYS advocate for their vocal health, from Broadway on down - and they must be prepared for fellow performers, college faculty, and especially producers to be angry with them for doing so. It stinks, but it's a reality. :(</p>

<p>P.S. This is SUCH a reality for performers that our doctors often have to step in and be "the bad guy," speaking directly to college faculty, directors, and producers about what is at risk if the performer continues. Unfortunately, that only has great impact when large amounts of money are at stake, which most often happens with opera and pop/rock stars, where people come to see specific performers and therefore shows are cancelled if that performer can't go on - so the more that singer endangers himself, the greater the potential revenue loss. On Broadway, there are only a few performers, the "over the title" ones, whose absence impacts ticket revenue.</p>

<p>MomOfAPrincess, you've put it so well. In fact, I'm sure there's a lot of heads nodding in agreement. </p>

<p>As tough as it is... it IS an adventure, and hey... what's better than an adventure? </p>

<p>Here's hoping for the best for all our kids!</p>

<p>CoachC, </p>

<p>I suppose I should have qualified my statement by saying any professional actor whom I know. It may not be the case with every professional but I don't know any actor who has been forced to sing through sickness to the extent that it has damaged their instrument. It is, indeed, unfortunate if pros are being forced to do so in some locations, and even worse if it is students!</p>

<p>alwaysamom - </p>

<p>Sadly, I know many - including two prominent Tony nominees. The deceptive part about all this is singing through sickness WITHOUT damage to the voice is often simply the luck of the draw, and not an indication of how inadvisable it was for that person to sing. :(</p>

<p>This discussion brought to mind those poor kids on American Idol this season who had to sing through the flu.</p>

<p>I read in the New York Times several years ago that Donna Murphy sang through some really bad vocal issues during Wonderful Town and it caused her a lot of problems. If I am not mistaken, the article alleged that she was put on steroids and just had to push on.</p>

<p>I don't know about other schools, but where my S goes they seem to be very reasonable about all of this. They always have understudies for the main rolls and usually most major shows are double cast. My S just finished up a show where he had a small role, one other boy who also had a small role, so they prepared my S to be in the pit and sing for the ill boy while he went through the motions, fortunately the ill boy was much better by the time the show went on. Also during fiirst semester his freshman year he was sick alot and had quite a bit of trouble with allergies, so after a visit to the school nurse practioner he was allowed to postpone his vocal jury untill spring semester.</p>

<p>More bad news. Rejection from U Arts. My D didn't seem to be too phased by it though, so perhaps it wasn't a good 'fit' feeling anyway.</p>

<p>Still awaiting 4 answers.</p>

<p>The SUNY School she was accepted to was SUNY Cortland and it a BA in MT . It is a good program and a very talented group of MT kids.</p>

<p>But my D is really set on a BFA Program also. I liked the story about the girl at Point Park, and the idea that persistance sometimes pays off.</p>

<p>I am very happy for her.</p>

<p>Chellybelly-- I believe in fate and you have to keep hoping that something will come to you, if it is meant to be.</p>

<p>I have to remind my D of this often!</p>

<p>Just got our letter today from FSU. No suprise since they put a large emphasis on dance and my son has never had a dance lesson. At the unifieds in Chicago,at the parents meeting for Univ Mich they said they would send some type of letter withing two weeks. Either accepted, rejected, or deferred. Has anyone gotten anything yet. Would it be out of line to contact them to see if anything has been sent?</p>

<p>Michigan told the parents and kids at the on campus audition on 2/8 that it would take between 3 to 5 weeks to hear anything. I know that some kids who auditioned in late January have not heard and others have, and a few from 2/8 have heard, but many more have not. It's hurry up and wait, I guess! Best wishes to all. :)</p>

<p>I auditioned Feb 8 on campus and got my U of M acceptance through email on Feb 26th. It was also available on Wolverine access that same day.</p>

<p>Yes, I saw your post about that on another thread, bunch. Congrats! You were one of those to which I referred above who <em>have</em> heard and that's wonderful. The rest still wait ...</p>

<p>I was hoping someone could get on their wolverine access and get great news.</p>

<p>That's so nice of you, bunch. Shows you would fit right in at Univ. of Michigan -- never met such nice kids in my life! Congrats again, sweetie.</p>

<p>Well, another rejection, this time from U Mich. I know we really liked the staff from there at the Unifieds meeting. Well, the good news is that he also got accepted to UArts today so it was still a good day. Anyone know when U Miami will send out any information, I think they finished auditions about a week ago. Everyone keep hanging in there, I know I can't wait until it's all over so I can actually sleep at night :)</p>

<p>impalanut, have you guys visited University of the Arts? It's a wonderful, lively community of very talented kids and in a very artsy/theater-y (yeah, guys, I know that ain't a word, but I felt like writing it!) part of Philly. There are theaters every hundred feet or so. My D and I visited last year and then again in December when she auditioned, and each time have been very impressed with the kids, especially. Just a very nice group of young people who seem happy to be there. (Of course, MichaelNKat and mytheatremom have kids there and can tell you more about UArts than I can. But I wanted to put in a good word.) Condolences on the "no" from Michigan.</p>