Congrats @spicynoodles!! Who knew it may not be a phone call. I’m sure you were nervous getting the mail!!! Referring to previous years you’d just figure they’d follow a similar process. Did your D also make it to the interview portion after the dance audition? Also. They are just back from spring break. Maybe will also call her.
Congrats @spicynoodles!!! I’m happy to hear that some on this thread are getting good news! Keep the faith, everyone!
@1dancer2swimmers and @Pusheen1 thank you! yup, very nervous! Yes, she and others had a short interview too.
@pinkribbonmom Regarding Marymount, they hold both BFA and BA auditions during the same time. So some of the dancers making it to the solo round were candidates for the BA program. I was confused about this last year during my D’s audition as well, until I had a good look at the list and noticed they were grouped by BA and BFA, with the BA program not being as competitive as the BFA.
It may seem like there isn’t any rhyme and reason to who is admitted and who isn’t, but the programs not only need to look at the skillset of the individual dancer, but at the makeup of the program as a whole. They need to be able to have a set of dancers that fit each other physically, skillset wise, energy wise etc.in order to maximize the potential of each dancer in the program and put performance pieces together. For example, female dancers and male dancers need to be able to partner, so if the program may not admit a top female dancer that is too tall to partner with any of the male candidates.
This is a very stressful time for you call. Parents and dancers alike (sometimes I think harder on the parents due to the financial aspect). Lots of big decisions and a long waiting game.
At last year’s NYU audition last the department chair met with the parents and told us that if the dancers were at that audition than there was a place for them in the professional dance world if they wanted one. It was reassuring to me that despite some successes and some disappointments, ultimately if they work hard and learn as much as they can regardless of which program they are in, they can find success in the professional world.
Good luck to all!!
Thank you for your insight. What school did your dancer decide on? Are they pleased with their decision? It is nice to hear from people that have gone through the process.
@Misty14269 My D is at University of Arizona. She is pleased with her decision, feels the program is a good fit for her and loves the university in general. She’s not super strong academically so some of the other schools would have just been way to much academic pressure on her. She didn’t get into Fordham or NYU academically even though the auditions went very well. A blessing in disguise for me but smart for the schools to not admit kids to those dance programs who would struggle academically.
One other thing to be aware of with PPU. They also have both BFA and BA programs. I know some dancers got a letter of acceptance and it was for the BA program even though they auditioned for BFA. It wasn’t clearly called out so if you just read the first line, “Congratulations!” and stop reading, you could end up with misinformation.
Now that could have been changed since last year, but wanted to throw it out there;)
Also, regarding tuition. Even if they don’t get a dance scholarship, a lot of these admission departments will work with you on additional $. Some of these super selective programs are viewed in the University as such an honor, they will work with you to find more $, but you have to ask. Don’t be afraid to ask. The worst thing they can say is “no”.
I’ll post more if I can think of things from our experience. If you have specific questions, ask. I’ll see if I can help.
Congrats @spicynoodles. Seems like we are all moving into the final stages.
D18 heard back from Indiana last night, which was her last audition at the beginning of March - it was a no, but that’s something of a relief at this point, given they didn’t offer any academic merit money. So we are done with dance program results (although Chapman was a waitlist) and still set on Utah, despite Oklahoma (modern program) throwing in a small dance merit scholarship yesterday to add to her academic merit scholarship. Just Berkeley and Princeton left as her academic backups. The first will be an easy one for her to say no to, the second (though highly unlikely after SCEA deferral) would be a much more difficult decision. So once that’s all done next week (and we have the Utah Eccles scholarship outcome in hand), we will sit down and go through all her offers and make final decisions.
Hi, I’m late to the conversation. My daughter was accepted at Towson and PPU. She was also accepted academically at Marymount, Buffalo, South Carolina and Montclair. Her auditions were cut short because of an injury. Her first choice was always PPU and luckily it landed in her favor. Her letter of acceptance and info packet from PPU had her return a “letter of intent” and check off what she would like to pursue BA or BFA. She auditioned for the jazz concentration but it did not specify that in the letter. She chose BFA. She received merit aid, talent aid and grant money. Good luck to everyone still waiting, the process was worse on me than on her, lol
Welcome @njmm3d ! Congratulations to your daughter on her acceptances and even better, choosing a program;)
@njmm3d Congrats on your daughter’s acceptance with scholarships at her top choice program!
@spicynoodles Congrats on Pace!
@twoin18 Glad to know your daughter is getting close to her decision 
We are still anxiously waiting for USC and NYU. My son has only got into his backup academic programs so far at UCLA and UCI.
Wanted to share with everyone an anecdote while waiting. USC is my son’s #1 choice. He went to their Discovery/Open house day in his junior year and fell in love with the program and the amazing facilities, which is why he decided to pursue dance! He didn’t have as intensive training as most dancers, so he decided to move away from home last summer to attend Orange County School of Arts (OCSA) and Dmitri Kulev Ballet Academy (DKCBA) after school to focus on dance. If you ran into some of these kids at auditions or YAGP, you probably know they are very good. My son was placed at 2 levels lower than most seniors at OCSA and dances with sophomores. He was really surprised he even passed the prescreening of USC. At the USC audition late January he was very nervous and said he messed up some parts of his solo. His ballet teacher Dmitri encouraged him to participate in YAGP after teaching him a couple of months back in November. He reluctantly agreed and complained several times to me that he shouldn’t have. He was not confident about it and afraid to make a fool of himself. Last week after his 1st YAGP competition he texted me ‘YAGP is worth it’ and I found out that Jodie Gates who directs the USC dance program was one of the judges so my son got another audition He said that he would not have regrets now and if he doesn’t get in, he is just not ready or not a good fit for now. USC is supposed to come out with their decisions this Friday and we are both losing sleep. Yes he needs a lot of luck!!
@SCMHAALUM I love your stories about your son and his path in dancing. He seems so committed to his training and very balanced in his approach to this BFA process:)
So happy to hear some good results! The Marymount ba vs bfa audition method is confusing! My daughter was aware of it but chose to only audition for bfa (they make you self select on common app). DD has heard at Marymount they consider you “second class citizen” because the talent gap is large between bfa and ba. Nancy addressed this point at the parent meeting and she said there is never any guarantees you could bump up to bfa and many ba dancers end up leaving after attempting and failing to move up. In fact they used to allow you to change status on audition day but they stopped that practice. my daughter wants to be a dancer - not just involved in the field of dance. She still second guesses this decision since she feels they did not see her best at the audition and that she would have jumped to bfa track. It is so hard when you are “stuck” on a program and it’s a “no”. But alas it’s real life and there is no second chances with these auditions.
My understanding is that ppu has changed their process and they now evaluate everyone for bfa level. They then let you self select once you are admitted. The artistic director told me that ba and bfa track are considered the same talent wise and that the individual choice becomes based on your future goals.
Meanwhile tick tick tock - waiting on NYU so we can know with finality the choice and move forward.
My daughter will be making her decision soon. She goes back to visit Utah in a few days, and that will help in the process. She was looking at the alumni pages of the school websites yesterday, trying to see where people go after graduation, and Utah far and away has alumni doing what she wants to do. She really wants a shot at a performing career in ballet before doing other things, just like grit2018 talked about. I imagine, unless something really crazy happens, that she’ll be committing to Utah next week.
That is great that you are coming to an end of the process.
This forum is great! Wish we would have found this earlier. Our son is right in the middle of the same process you guys are all describing. He’s definitely a competition/convention kid but has also done high school dance team and IB dance program. He’s decided to continue to pursue dance so we went a little crazy and had him apply at a ton of schools, not knowing where he would sit in the talent scale. So here’s the update: Like many of you, he did not get into Pace, which is unfortunate as I think in his heart of hearts he wants to be a commercial/working dancer (just got the letter yesterday). He also did not get into UCLA or USC. At the same time, he did get into Chapman, UC Irvine, Cal State LB, Cal State Fullerton, Arizona State, Oklahoma and our current favorite, Fordham/Ailey (like I said, we went a little crazy). He was accepted to University of Arizona academically but he had reached his limit on auditions and it didn’t feel like a great fit so we have scratched them from the list.
As parents, we love the idea of UC Irvine as it’s a great school, is in-state for us so WAY cheaper and gives him lots of options outside of dance if he so decides. However, we’re hearing that it’s very focused on ballet which isn’t where his interest lies. Anyone have any further info on their program?
Like some others who posted, we were a bit shocked that, after getting sizable scholarships from PACE (academic), Fordham and ASU, Chapman has offered zero, nothing, nada. And they don’t seem too interested in discussing it. We could write for hours so will stop there and look forward to getting any thoughts anyone can offer (and we’re happy to share further on anything and everything if someone needs).
@dudedrum I don’t think you went a little crazy at all! Our counselor told my D to apply to more because the odds are tougher with the auditions in the arts, so you need to expand your options. She applied to 13 or 14 (can’t recall, I think she dropped one in the end). Congrats to your son! I am wondering how you know about UC Irvine? We have not gotten a decision yet - we keep checking the portal because it was supposed to come out early March and there is nothing. She also has a friend who applied who hasn’t heard yet either.
@Pusheen1 My son was accepted at Irvine Biology a few weeks ago. It was their version of early acceptance for honors students I guess. He didn’t apply for dance so I can’t comment. Wait for @Twoin18 and @dudedrum to comment. Congrats @dudedrum!
@pusheen1 I believe we just checked the portal but I will double check with my wife to confirm and let you know.
D18 got her UC Irvine dance admission along with her Regents scholarship. Regents and CHP were announced last month.
@dudedrum my daughter applied to 11 schools. Some were for dance (BFA mainly, some BA) and others were schools she’d enjoy attending that were near good training. I think with the nature of arts auditions these dancers are wise to cast a wide net!