Dance auditions and decisions 2017/18

@Misty14269 Some programs have placement tests in the first week, so taking the summer off is not advisable. However, D18 doesn’t want to do the Utah intensive, because it starts 1 week after HS graduation and then has a 4 week gap until fall classes start (when she would have to stay in Utah if she was seeking residency). So she will probably just do the summer program at her current studio during July/early August and not worry about residency (she has a full tuition scholarship so it’s not a financial concern anyway, so long as her GPA is high enough).

My daughter will be participating in a part time (20-25 hours) internship and taking 2 drop in classes a day at her
current training program. One ballet and one modern or jazz. Not training over the summer can lead to injuries in the fall, plus yes, there are auditions and placements in the first week of the various programs that she is deciding between.

@mom2adancer Thanks! He was disappointed but turned around and said he’s grateful because so many way more talented kids than him are going to many different programs. At least it’s not a no for him.

@homerdog @mom2adancer My son is planning on double major BFA dance/pre-PT. He only applied for USC and NYU BFA dance. NYU told him 3% students double major and it takes one more year than their 3year/2summer BFA program to finish. USC encourage them to double major and they also have a concurrent program where the BFAs can start on their master’s degree before finishing BFA (assuming they will get a BFA). One junior is currently enrolled in the master’s program in Public Administration. My son was planning to either double major in biology (he’s taken enough AP’s to allow him have time for a 2nd major) or just finish the pre-DPT requirements if he gets in USC, but he is waitlisted for dance right now…

My daughter will likely attend Utah’s summer program if she commits to the school and then take some drop-in classes at her home studio after that to stay in shape. Residency is on the table for her, given her academic scholarship wasn’t as high at Utah as it was at basically every other school, but she won’t start that until she moves in in August.

My daughter was extremely nervous going into this process, but I knew with her passion and determination that we had to try. Her top choice was Marymount and she had her heart set on it since sophomore year when she did a dance program there. She was a comp/convention kid all her life, but was exposed to modern at her performing arts high school.
We did Dancewave in October where she applied to UArts, Point Park, Adelpi, SUNY Purchase, Montclair, SUNY Buffalo, and Hofstra as well as the steps conservatory program. We were pleasantly surprised that she received acceptances to all those schools. She recieved very generous scholarships from point Park, U Arts, and Adelphi. SUNY purchase and Montclair did callbacks where they invited a dancer to come to their on campus audition with a guarantee that they would not get cut and would advance to the solo round. My DD was not too interested in SUNY purchase or Montclair, but MSU was so close to us that she did the on campus audition and was accepted. Also, she recieved acceptance to the Rutgers dance program (without applying, my DD was not interested as it was too close to home) as well as a personal email from the director at the Hartt school encouraging her to audition for them. Moral of the story is that going to Dancewave was the best thing we could have done for her because we saved a lot of time and money auditioning for all those schools in one day!! I recommend applying to more schools than you are interested in, just to have options.(My DD was only really interested in PPU and UArts)
She also auditioned for Pace at the fall intensive which she loved, but was not sure about how the atmosphere felt to her. Her last audition was Marymount (1st choice) in January with 90 kids and they cut to about 25-30. I had never seen her so nervous, but luckily she made it through and received her acceptance less than 2 weeks later with dance and academic scholarships. She will be attending as a BFA at MMC in the fall.

@dancergirl201426 thank you so much for your post. For Dancewave how does it work? Do dancers sign up to audition for specific schools or are they big auditions for multiple schools at once? How does it work?

Congratulations to your DD for getting into her dream school!

Today’s lesson, don’t trust kids to read financial aid letters. D18’s financial aid letter came in the mail from Fordham/Ailey, and what she had thought when reading online was the total merit scholarship, turned out to be the aid per semester! So that makes it a lot more affordable, but she’s still not enthused about the prospect of being in New York. Still, it gives us more to think about.

It is very confusing- especially when by “aid” it’s sometimes just lots of loans. I’m glad it worked in your DD’s favor. Choices are good! Will she attend any admitted students programs to help her make a decision?

@dudedrum I see you’re in California and your son is considering Ailey/Fordham. Any chance you’re in the Bay Area and considering the Fordham event in SF on April 9?

@Undercovermom1 thank you!
You have register online (I recommend following them on Facebook to find our when registration opens) and do it early because there is a limited amount of spots.
On Saturday there is a college fair when all the schools have booths and you can go around and talk to them. If you interested in auditioning for their program, you give them your headshot and resume. It is good to talk to the representative at the table because it is usually the person evaluating you in the audition the next day.
Then on Sunday there is a two hour audition of about 60 kids (there are 2 sessions, so 120 get to audition in total) where all the different representatives from all the colleges observe the one audition. The first hour is ballet and the second was modern. My DD loved the two classes, especially the modern!

@Homerdog The question of double-majoring came up at our Ailey audition. Several people there were interested in that. They said it would be very difficult at Ailey. Not only do you have the rigorous schedule of dance classes in a BFA program, but because the dance classes are at the Lincoln Center campus in Manhattan and the science classes are at the Rose Hill campus 40 minutes away in the Bronx, the distance would make it near impossible logistically to fit everything into your schedule and do both. Some parents were unaware that there were 2 campuses - they clearly had not visited. The point is, as others have said, you have to look carefully at each school as they vary.

My daughter is having a great visit at Utah and is going to commit once she’s home. I’m so excited for her!

Has anyone heard from UC Irvine yet (other than Regents Scholars who get early notification)? We still don’t have any decision from them.

@Pusheen1 I believe they are rolling out and trying to finish sending notifications before the end of the week…

NYU Decisions come out at 6pm today!

My son got in NYU. Not sure about financial offers yet…that’s it for us regarding dance. Rejected from the ivies…

Congratulations!

Congratulations @SCMHAALUM! How wonderful for your son!!

NYU was a no, which was sad, but quickly moved on. Luckily, we are on vacation in Puerto Rico and she is easily distracted. She loves the Rutgers/Mason Gross program and has almost made a choice. Congratulations to everyone and cannot wait to hear all decisions:))