Dance auditions and decisions 2017/18

Do do you know how they are notified?? Is it an email?

I’m not sure why my daughter thinks that or if it is correct. She suggested email.

Just confirmed on ppu website that notification will happen 3/14. My daughter got an email with a letter sent later (auditioned before December so got result in Jan). Good luck to all!!!

@izzyb1 I am so sorry. You are so right this process is so stressful. It is hard to understand when your child excels in dance and with professionals yet he/she seems to be denied what seems would be a logical selection. There really are no answers and having your kid have a broken heart is so very hard. I have had so many people tell me that a) if it’s what you really love then pursue it with all your heart and b) your child will end up at the right place and if they are unhappy they can transfer. But there also has to be a practical side and what will make sense. I hope she is able to find the right program for her. Best wishes to you both!

Yikes. I’ll have to buckle up for the ride. It’s not my daughter’s top choice, but I will feel bad if she doesn’t get in. I guess it is the real world.

I wonder if these emails go out in the morning or later? Ughh gonna be a long night.

I can’t believe it either. All we were offered was a tiny on campus housing grant. I have tried everything but I guess you are penalized for saving.

3girls2dogs that’s good to know that Pace may still be an option for us. I’m so sorry your daughter had mono during audition season, that must have been really tough and you must question the fairness of it all. My daughter is now talking about also going to Arizona anyways and “taking class” as they said you could with an undeclared major. She thinks that would put her in front of faculty and would be easier to get into the BFA program. I think it’s an incredible risk. Surely the classes, since they are for non-majors, would not be at the level she is used to. I would be worried she would loose skill or possibly be bored from not being challenged. Not to mention she wouldn’t get any performance opportunities.

In case anyone is interested, we are almost a year removed from this process (can’t believe how fast time flies) and I can give any of you who are interested my perspective. My daughter was accepted at Oklahoma, Towson, George Mason, Ailey/Fordham, Rutgers/Mason Gross, Indiana, SMU, and Marymount Manhattan, and she chose Ailey/Fordham. She knows students who attend SUNY Purchase, so I can give you feedback on their experience as well. While she picked Ailey/Fordham, Oklahoma was a VERY close second. We all loved the campus, the performing arts center was amazing. I also liked Indiana very much for the same reason, but my daughter found the program to be just a bit odd (she was applying to the Modern Dance program, not ballet). She absolutely loves Ailey/Fordham, as you might imagine. The perks of being in NYC are what you would imagine. Just a few examples include getting comp tickets to the Alvin Ailey Gala season premiere, getting to take master classes with the Rockettes on a moment’s notice, last year’s Freshman class got to participate in Broadway auditions, the list goes on. She loves the Manhattan location, it’s a rare opportunity to get a dorm room overlooking Lincoln Center. As you make your decision, do not underestimate the importance of having on-site medical support - Physical Therapy, etc. At some point, nearly every dancer will need to avail themselves of it. Rutgers, Oklahoma and Ailey/Fordham really stood out in that regard. Also, I can tell you that doing an academic minor is hard, no matter where you go, doing a dual major is next to impossible, unless you attend Summer school, or go five years. Studio time is generally fixed, and makes it really hard to schedule academics, so ask about the registration process for dancers. Several of the schools give dancers the first crack at course registration, for that reason. Fordham actually dedicates an academic advisor to the Freshman dancers. Feel free to message me with any other questions you may have, and good luck!

Curious as to why she did not seriously consider Marymount. It’s cheaper than Fordham and in the city.

Reading your story @izzyb1and I definitely can relate! We did audition for NYU because we were given the same advice,so we did tell our daughter the only way it is an option is if they knock off some tuition. I know people do get great scholarships to Chapman so it was smart to audition and know your options! My daughter has a friend there that is paying no more than 30K a year i know. Her parents told her the only way she could go there was if she got quite a bit of scholarship money. I also have a couple of friends who let there daughters go to the expensive schools and are now in debt and regret it so i am very hesitant to agree to any school over what we feel like we can pay for and not leave her with debt. My daughter felt exactly the same about PP, it is a great program though and an honor to get accepted! I hope you are able to find clarity, you are not alone for sure…many moms loosing lots of sleep right now trying to make the right decisions!

I guess what I really wanted to ask was…How did she eliminate Marymount.

@corrigg thank you. You had so much good information to share about this process with me. I hadn’t known about Rutgers and Towson before we started our process. We are still waiting to hear from Fordham and NYU but all other auditions were acceptances. You were correct when you explained to me that they are both great programs but very different. It is very interesting once you visit and audition to see the differences in all of these programs. She loves both options, but since they are each such reach schools to gain acceptance in to, my daughter is concentrating on her other options for now.

She absolutely loves the Rutgers program. I would agree that they are very dancer centered. They offer a somatic center with a full time PT and pilates center. They have an academic adviser and coordinate medical care directly for their dancers. You can tell that they value their dance department by the resources and money they have allocated. My daughter was invited to the Rutgers Honors College through Mason/Gross with a really nice scholarship. In contrast, Temple, while a lovely program (though too modern based for daughter) did not seem to have the same level of resources available. Rutgers has come out to cost less Temple (which is our in-state school).

She also loves the program at Elon. She just received notice of a scholarship from them last night. This has put the school in reach, though still more expensive than Rutgers. It has a nice balanced program and if she chose it then she would be on a slightly different path. We will see how everything shakes out and then approach them with a request for a larger/more scholarship money. Can’t hurt to ask;)

Yes, We really liked the Rutgers program, it was a close third on our list behind Fordham and OK. The proximity to NYC is helpful at Rutgers also. The New Brunswick train station is right in the heart of the campus, and in 40 minutes you can be at Penn station. The Rutgers Dance program does periodic field trips into the city, and auditions in the city are easy to get to.

@corrigg we were able to take your suggestion and stay after auditions to view any performance that the dance dept. might put on. Luckily, most programs had performances set up and they were a great way to see what the dancers look like while dancing. You also get a sense of the choreography that they use. Daughter was able to drop 2 programs based on their performance (not just the performance, but that sealed the deal for her).

The Rutgers dancers were able to talk a lot about opportunities in NYC and about choreographers coming down to choreo dances for them. That proximity is very alluring.

One other aspect to the Rutgers program we loved was the study abroad opportunity. They have partnerships in both London and Tel Aviv for study abroad in Dance.

yes, those 2 particular study abroad programs are high on my daughter’s list. Interestingly, Elon also does the Tel Aviv study abroad.

edited to add that most schools will allow you to participate in most study abroad programs, but I think it will be easier directly through the actual school offering the study abroad. Plus, some schools offer money towards their particular study abroad programs.

@amom2girls one of the things that I had heard about Elon was that the level of the technique classes was not as high as some other schools. What was your impression in that area?

@threegirlpileup I’ll double check with my daughter, but I would say that was probably true. That is why I posted that thought that Elon would be a different path. Does that make sense? The teachers were good and and the top level was good. I think there were dancers who we saw working one on one with the teachers. There are def opportunities there. It is a very self contained university. They offer really great internships in LA and NYC. They stress a world view. I think something like 80% of their students go to at least 1 study abroad. It is a big deal there. Their internship and study abroad are dance focused. I think it would be easy to double major. We were surprised that our urban daughter had it high on her list.

She did not end up feeling a fit at Towson. She really liked James Madison, but there program is a BA. She thought there was a big difference at Towson and JMU vs. other programs. She ended up not auditioning at VCU because it seemed like choreography was a big focus. George Mason has a great reputation but is more modern focused. We pulled up the night before her audition and after our drive through refused to do the audition. We cancelled our hotel and headed to Elon a day early. We had a long list, so it was ok that she was finding reasons to rule places out.

Thanks for your reply and your insight! We are close to Elon and will probably visit so we can get a sense of it ourself. It’s interesting that you say that about Towson, as you are not the first person I’ve heard that from–can you say anything more specifically? It’s on our “maybe” list at the moment. And I’m actually excited to hear that choreography is a big focus at VCU (also on our maybe list, close enough to visit easily), as that is a huge interest for my dd.

Best of luck to your dd in reaching her final decision!