<p>I second the hooray!!! So glad to hear that it is wonderful so far.
Can’t wait to hear more. My son will be at Ithaca Today as well prntosome.
My husband is taking him this time but hopefully I can meet you all in August.
It’s such a fantastic program!</p>
<p>So happy for you and your daughter–and SO glad you got to see “Spring Awakening”!</p>
<p>Thanks, Monkey13 – I read your report aloud to my son, who will be at Ithaca in the fall, and he said “I’m glad I’m going there!”</p>
<p>Okay, Ithaca part 2! My D sat in on 4 classes today. After the first 3 she was … nervous. The students and the teachers warned her not to be intimidated by the first class, but she was. She started feeling like she wasn’t good enough to be with these kids. The acting classes are very intense, and my D has never had an acting class in her life. But then she had a voice lesson, and attended the MT class, and everything was fine again. She LOVED the voice teachers, loved the MT class, and felt better…the kids here are so supportive, told her not to worry, she would be fine. She is just so stunned by the talent level but a little scared by the intensity of the acting classes. We talked, and she realized that being pushed is the best thing for her. </p>
<p>Since her friend is in the show again tonight, she is hanging out with a bunch of theatre kids while he is in the show, then they are taking her out after the show. She is spending the night in the dorms with a girl who took her under her wing. The kids here are so, so nice. </p>
<p>Then…we went to the bookstore and bought Ithaca Theatre Arts apparel. I think it’s official. 99 percent sure. We just heard from her last school today (wait listed at Syracuse) so we now have all the information we need.</p>
<p>Other odds and ends: the tunnels connecting all the buildings are phenomenal. If weather is bad, you can get all over campus without going outside! The dorms are nice. The bookstore is amazing.</p>
<p>So she just texted me and said she is having a blast. I asked her if Ithaca is “the one,” and she replied, “YES!!!” So, I guess that is that. </p>
<p>She was so impressed with the voice teachers, the classes, and the show. And the people!!! The students, the professors, the administrative staff…fabulous. I couldn’t be happier for her. Prodesse, md311mt, and prntosome, I cannot wait to meet you and your kids. I am really glad we made the trip…it cemented our feelings about Ithaca. We’ll have to figure out how to get together in August during move in day!</p>
<p>I’ve been checking back for the “yellow ball” next to Ithaca. I must be nuts because I got goosebumps reading your entry here! Yahoo! Believe me, what you are reporting is helpful to all of us who feel that Ithaca is the right place, but can’t get there to do what you are doing. This is so awesome of you to share! I’m happy to report in on what Ithaca Today tells us if anyone needs more info - but what you are sharing is just so, so great!</p>
<p>LOL…glad it is helpful. I’m sure Ithaca is not for everyone. But for my D, it is the perfect blend of right size, right concentrations, right atmosphere. Of course, she was hoping to get out of the northeast weather, but you can’t have everything. I think she realized today that this is going to be incredibly hard work, but it is work she will love. She was also a little freaked out about the sophomore review, but the kids told her that it is a good thing. They said the constructive criticism is so helpful. The one thing that surprised me is the kids’ frank admission that “schools make mistakes.” They admitted that Ithaca, and most schools, do make mistakes in admissions…they can take someone they shouldn’t, or turn down someone they should have taken. They cannot do anything about the latter, but they can do something about the former. And, they continued, don’t you WANT them to? I tend to agree. Your child has to have faith in himself or herself, work their tails off, and hopefully it will be enough. Because after all, if they aren’t good enough, they won’t get jobs in this crazy business. Almost every school seems to have an evaluation after freshman or sophomore year, but it is a good thing. (Not the arbitrary cut programs, but the real evaluations.) </p>
<p>So, yes, is whole process is scary, but to work with such talented people will be a dream come true for her. :)</p>
<p>monkey, it is great to read your “report.” Your daughter has clearly found her place! It really sounds ideal for her. That’s a great feeling. </p>
<p>A little bit ago, a local mom in my small community posted on FB from the intermission at Spring Awakening, because her D, a senior at Ithaca, who I know as well, is in the production. She posted that it was an awesome production.</p>
<p>Monkey13- Your post made me so happy(and nervous) that I have the privedge to attend Ithaca this fall!!! Can’t wait to meet your daughter, even though I have a feeling I have since I do MTCA as well!</p>
<p>Ah, dreambelle13, I’m sure you two do know each other! You guys will have so much fun…so happy for you all.</p>
<p>One thing I forgot to mention that may be important…the kids said that if someone applies for MT and gets into Acting, they should come anyway. They said there is not much difference between the two. And, in fact, there were a ton of acting students in Spring Awakening. When I get home I will count and report back.</p>
<p>Soozievt, what role did she play? They were all so good.</p>
<p>Wow monkey13!! Thank you for the excellent report! So exciting to hear about all the positives about Ithaca! We are still in the deciding stage but Ithaca is definitely in the top choices for us too. Unfortunately we won’t get to visit ----really wish we could be there for accepted students weekend but my D is in her high school production of Evita and it opens April 24 so there’s no way she can miss rehearsals at this point. It runs through May 4 so no visiting time at all. But she said she is comfortable accepting somewhere without visiting although I think part of that is because several kids from her high school have gone to Ithaca so she feels like she “knows” that school so maybe that’s where she gets the confidence to say that. Have a safe trip back and hopefully we will get to meet all you Ithaca parents in August if that’s where we end up!!!</p>
<p>Monkey13, sounds like your daughter came away with the essence of IC’s program, much as my daughter did 3 years ago after a very similar visit. I too got goosebumps reading your post and I am so thrilled that the cast rocked in SA…wish I could have seen it. My daughter cannot wait to start her senior year next fall. The spring in London has been incredible but she does miss Ithaca! If I can be of any help, please pm me. And to all others whose sons and daughters ultimately decide on Ithaca…congrats! You are in for a great four years and so are they!</p>
<p>Momarmarino, we are in the same situation about visiting, so our first chance actually to go to Ithaca will be one of the freshman orientations in the summer. But my son is unconcerned, he knows he wants to go to Ithaca. In the meantime, he has rehearsals every day but Sunday for the spring musical, “Grease.” </p>
<p>Because of that, we are very grateful for these thorough reports such as Monkey13’s. We are fascinated about the tunnels!</p>
<p>By the way - I will know when my D has chosen her school for sure once she buys some sort of school logo wear. She would not buy even a t-shirt of any school she visited over the years saying, I need to wait and see where I go. I’m wondering if we’ll come back with something from Ithaca!</p>
<p>Almost forgot…in Ithaca’s Spring Awakening, 10 of the cast members were MT students, and 7 were Acting. (All 6 of the understudies/covers were MT students). But, I guess it goes to show you that the Acting students get to do musicals.</p>
<p>It would be interesting to know how many of the acting kids originally auditioned for MT and how many only auditioned for Acting.
I bet the number for MT is a lot. Could be why they are all able to sing so well. I know all 4 of the kids from our town who got in this year auditioned originally auditioned for MT. 2 were accepted for MT 2 for acting. The 2 for acting are also very good singers. I just posted this on another thread. It looks like they are all going!</p>
<p>Looks like they are making some specific events available for theatre students at Ithaca Today. My D will join an Acting workshop on Saturday and will hopefully get to see a studio production of “My Children, My Africa” (not sure if they will let me see this also - I’m hoping as I love Fugard’s work!). We are off tomorrow to see a few schools winding up at Ithaca last on Saturday. This feels so much easier than the last trip - with auditions behind us!!</p>
<p>Let us know how it goes, prntosome! I’m sure they will let you see the production as well.</p>
<p>My D and I attended the Ithaca Today last Saturday. We arrived on campus late Friday, and were invited to sit in on the “song sharing” for the Freshman and Sophomore class. The room filled up with upper class mates and acting students. They cheered for the line of students who came into the room, for their performances. What a supportive and great group of kids! There were only 10 sophomores, but about 22 freshman (they have a larger freshman class than typical). Not sure if the sophomores have dwindled or if some of them couldn’t attend. I will say that there were some voices that stood out amongst the crowd - but each and every student had the gift of acting the song - really selling it. </p>
<p>Most of what we did and saw would not be that interesting to report on. I will tell you what we learned about the dance. My D is a dancer and was worried about Ithaca’s poor reputation for dance. Many students come in with little experience and they will graduate with capability. Perhaps not top notch dancers - but a strong foundation in dance. For those who love dance and come in as already trained, they can audit higher level dance classes, and in some cases they can test to a higher level. The school doesn’t seem to like the testing up and out - but the dance teachers will create a higher demand for those who are better dancers.</p>
<p>The students we talked to were amazing ambassadors for the program. The best description of the Ithaca program is that it is an ACTING program first and foremost. I was surprised to learn that they only get a half hour voice lesson per week, but they do additional vocal work on their own with the use of an accompanist (who you must pay for separately).</p>
<p>prntosome, we heard that the incoming freshman class is bigger, too, with more girls. When you say the school doesn’t like testing “up and out,” does that mean testing out so they take no dance? B/c it seems to me that the ideal situation would be for the dance teachers to create higher level classes for those kids…that would be great! And it seems that the dancer kids would prefer that, too.</p>