Thanks. Sorry to hear about disappointments for others. However Fordham is probably a no-go, as D18 says she isn’t interested in appealing their merit aid offer, because she likes Utah more.
She also got into her academic-only fallback at UCLA tonight, which was difficult because her friend had that as her top dance choice and was rejected. But more happily, her twin brother got into UCLA as well and is very interested in attending. It’s very interesting to see how many more at their NorCal school prefer UCLA over Berkeley this year: in previous years about twice as many were admitted to (and attended) Cal.
@Twoin18 that is really neat to hear that both of your kids were accepted to UCLA. Given how difficult it is to get into many of the UCs these days, they must really stand out as applicants!
DD is still leaning toward Utah, but she has had (smallish) dance scholarship offers from a couple of other schools that make me start wondering if she should be more strongly considering going where they like her. Utah offered a decent academic scholarship but nothing from the dance department. Does she enter at the very bottom and work hard to impress those who didn’t see her potential, or does she go where they already like what they have seen and clearly would like to work with her some more? Is it better to have to fight for everything or to maybe get taken under someone’s wing and be mentored a bit at one of these other programs? Her current goals seem best supported by Utah, but I can’t help but wonder if, after a year or two, those goals are going to morph into something else that might be better supported by a different program. I suppose time will tell.
Is there any money available from the dance department at Utah? Especially OOS? We didn’t get offered any either, but never considered asking because we’ve always thought academic scholarships would vastly outweigh them. And we expected the dance departments would keep their money for students who don’t get academic scholarships. So it hasn’t factored into our decision making.
The only departmental merit scholarship D18 got was at UT Austin, which was the minimum $1000 per year plus the OOS tuition waiver. But our interpretation was that the waiver (worth $25K+ pa) seemed to be based primarily on her academics compared to others admitted for dance.
The department definitely offers scholarships and as far as I know, they are for all applicants (in and out of state). There was an essay to write to be considered that was submitted along with the audition application if I remember things correctly. I didn’t think academic and department scholarships would coordinate with each other - that seems to go against my idea of what a merit scholarship should represent. But I’m finding I know very little about this whole ballet world and that it is full of surprises and things that leave me scratching my head.
DD got waitlisted at Fordham/Ailey, so at least she is still in the game! Hoping she can move off the waitlist as this is her top choice and has been all she has talked about for the last 2+ years!
Got accepted at following as dance major-LMU, UCSB (BFA/Regents Scholar), UCSD and UCLA last night (we are in SoCal). UC Irvine portal is having problems so can’t get into it. Did not get through auditions at USC & NYU (which she was ok with at the time because she was all about Ailey, Ailey, Ailey - loves Horton/modern). Still waiting to hear from others, but Ailey is her top choice by far. Happy to have UCLA backup at least. Will turn down the others she’s not as interested in so that others on their waitlists can get moved up asap. I know lots of anxious dancers are holding their breath! I hope others not intending to take spot at Fordham will do the same and something will open up. =) Fingers crossed! Good luck everyone as we wait out the next 2 weeks of notifications to come!
Congratulations @Pusheen1. I’m pretty sure both D18 and her friend will turn down their spots at Fordham/Ailey, once they’ve had a chance to sleep on it and confirm their other options, so hopefully that will open up something for your DD.
If only we could set up our own exchanges! I’m sure D18’s friend would switch for a spot at UCLA in a heartbeat!
@pusheen1. Congrats on wait list - be sure to call Ailey and let them know they are your number one choice and maybe you can move up on the wait list? We are also turning down all our offers except PP - just waiting on NYU before committing to PPU - but we will not be paying full price so even if we get in highly unlikely dd has also mentally committed to PPU - so many of her friends were rejected that it helped move it up in her mind. (Still grieving MMC)
@Pusheen1 Fingers crosses your daughter gets off the waitlist! I’m curious how the waitlist works. Are you admitted to Fordham but waitlisted at Ailey, or the other way around, or waitlisted at both? It’s confusing with the dual acceptance.
Good luck @Pusheen1 it sounds like many will get offers off the waitlist! I was curious how waitlist work also! Do they give you a date they will tell you for sure or is it a rolling waitlist? If you are waitlisted can you still receive dance scholarship money?
Thanks everyone! What they told parents at the LA audition was that some years they do draw some people off the wait list and other years no one gets off the wait list, it just all varies by year as to who accepts offers and how the chips fall.
The letter was a little ambiguous about whether the wait list was referring to Fordham, Ailey, or both. We have a message in to her college counselor to see what his interpretation is, however I would find it very strange if she didn’t get into Fordham for academics as she was well over the average GPA accepted and top 1% in test scores, plus great EC’s. If she got into UCLA (with a record 113k applicants this year!) and got Regents Scholar (top 1-2% of applicants) offer from UCSB, I can’t imagine she doesn’t meet the bar at Fordham. But there are a lot of things that don’t always make sense in this application game! Uncertainty is the only thing that is certain, LOL! You never know what exactly they are looking for. All along we thought her hurdle there would be Ailey/dance, not academics. I suppose we’ll find out more on Monday as I’m sure her counselor will call and get clarification. Counselor/daughter have told admissions it’s her first choice, but I’ll make sure they remind them : )
I don’t believe they gave a date but I’ll have to go look. I imagine you may still get scholarship money, but my understanding with these private schools is that the earlier the better as far as the money handouts - first come, first serve. As the money runs out as time goes on so if you arrive late in the game (as a waitlister would) there may not be much if any left in the pot for you. So the sooner you can get off the wait list the better your chance of getting some $. Cannot count on it…
Hey @3girls2dogs. Wondering if you or anyone else has heard from Pace. My daughter similar to yours. Nothing yet in mail. Also was asked to short interview after audition. Thought that was positive but based on last year and calls going out already we’re very nervous.
Did anyone else attend the Parent Information Session at the UCLA audition? They told us how many freshman and transfer applicants they were looking to take into the dance program, but I can’t remember how many they said. Does anyone remember?
@1dancer2swimmers no news here yet from Pace. Hubby was texting “mail of no interest” updates all weekend as I was out of town LOL Good luck to all of our dancers still waiting! I am hoping they receive good news soon!
@izzyb1 hoping your daughter hears good news from Pace soon! Some days I think there is no rhyme or reason to any of this! It is hard because I know calls have always been made ahead of letters in past years. I’m continuing with no news is good news until we hear differently. And trying to keep my sense of humor
