<p>Hey!</p>
<p>I was wondering if, aside from the extra training, having a summer program on your app really puts you over the edge. Do most people who get into the MT programs have experience at summer programs?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>I know that there were a lot of kids from OCU’s summer program that were accepted into their program this year (I only have knowledge of my D’s session). But there could have been an equal number not accepted that didn’t advertise that fact. :0)</p>
<p>I’m not sure if participating in a summer program gives you an edge or not in the audition cycle, but I do think it gives you a good idea of what your competition is and where you (or your child) stacks up on a national level.</p>
<p>My D did Carnegie Mellon’s pre-college program and loved it. She learned a great deal about preparing for her auditions. I can’t say if it helped but a significant amount of her friends from it got in to good schools. Hope that helps!</p>
<p>kksmom, I don’t think the OP is asking specifically about if she were to attend a particular pre-college program if it would help her to be admitted to that same college. Rather, I think she is asking if attending ANY summer MT program (not even just pre-college ones) is necessary in order to get into a ANY college MT program. My answer would be NO. </p>
<p>Bway:
The issue is not really which “credits” are on your resume. The issue is more that you are adequately trained enough to be competitive artistically when you audition for college. There are many ways to train such a local classes and lessons and/or summer intensives, etc. The main point is to train in voice, dance, and acting in some capacity to obtain a certain level of skill to be competitive in an audition room. It doesn’t matter as much what the resume says but typically someone with several things on a resume is simply more trained or more prepared by the experiences they have had that end up getting listed on a resume. It’s the experience that will help you, more than what the resume says. </p>
<p>There are, however, many benefits from going to a summer MT program (doesn’t have to be affiliated with a college). It gives you the opportunity to get a lot of training. You get to meet others who share your passion and who are talented. You get to self assess against a more concentrated talent pool than most have in their local community or school. You get to experience what it is like for full time MT training immersion and see if that is the kind of thing you want to truly do in college (BFA programs are particularly intense). </p>
<p>So, the important thing is to be training, no matter how you accomplish that or where you do it. Summer intensives are one good way but not the only way. It’s the experience you will gain that will benefit you, not so much what you can put on the resume. That said, when a college does look at the resume, they can get a sense of the training you have had, the production experience you have had and the level of commitment you have made to this field, not to mention any accomplishments of note. The audition will count more than the resume. But again, the experiences you actually attain when you build a resume are what will help you to be well prepared and skilled in a college audition. Typically, those who have trained in singing, dancing and acting have better odds of admissions into a MT college program than those who have no training and just natural talent, but there are always exceptions to that. Training can only help!</p>
<p>PS:
My understanding is that you have been admitted to the summer program at Emerson which leads me to believe your parents are willing to send you. I don’t know your other summer options but if there are none, I would recommend going to the program at Emerson. I know kids who have gone who have gotten a lot out of it and landed in BFA programs in college (though were not admitted to Emerson itself).</p>
<p>I agree with Susie- I don’t think that attending a summer MT program gives one an edge in being accepted to MT programs. I know my daughter did not have any summer programs on her resume but was accepted into most of the programs she applied to. However, I do think that any training you can get, whether it be by summer MT programs, community or regional theater, summer camps, summer dance programs, etc. will help you train in various areas of MT and as a result be more competitive artistically when it comes time to audition for college programs.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the help- I am very trained in voice, dance, and acting, and have done several productions a year all through high school and earlier. I have opportunities lined up, but I just don’t know if spending 6+ thousand dollars and more than a month away- eliminating any job possibilities- would hone my skills any more than working with a coach would.</p>
<p>$6,000 is a lot of money for a 4-week program. Since you have already had a good deal of training, I think the money would be better spent (actually, it would cost much less) working with a good AUDITION coach, and spreading those sessions out over about a year prior to the start of your college auditions. FWIW…</p>
<p>No.
Some of the training you would get might help - but attending a summer program in and of itself does little or nothing for your acceptance into a MT program. The one exception might be if you attend a program hosted by a particular school and then apply to that same school - you might have the advantage of some faculty knowing your work better (if the faculty deciding are the same as the faculty teaching the summer program -often not the case).</p>
<p>I would like to augment some of the above posts by sharing my daughter’s experience. My daughter attended a 4 week summer program when she was a rising junior and a 6 week program when she was arising senior, both run by universities offering BFA MT programs. My daughter was accepted at both schools but the vast majority of the rising seniors in the programs who applied to the respective BFA programs were rejected, in much the same ratios that you would find among the general applicant pools in each school’s audition process. At other schools to which she applied, her involvement in the programs was simply viewed as one indicia, of many, demonstrating the consistency and extent of her involvement in theatre. So, did her attendance at the programs give her a leg up in the admissions process at the two schools (beyond the benefit of the training and experience)? Conventional wisdom would say “no” and the rejection rate from among the program attendees would bear this out as a general proposition.</p>
<p>However, in certain respects, there’s more to the picture than just that. A summer program can enable you to get a feel for a particular school, what it focuses on in an audition, guide you as to how to tailor your audition prep to the school’s priorities. It can enable professors to get to know you and your work ethic and provide you with a comfort level about auditioning at the school. All of this can enhance your audition experience and if the audition panel you draw includes any of the summer program faculty, their knowledge of you as a performer will be much more in depth than a 5 minute audition.</p>
<p>In this regard, at 1 of the schools where my daughter attended a summer program, during her audition, one of the auditors, as my daughter was a quarter of the way through her ballad, audibly stated to another auditor “She doesn’t have it.” To this day we don’t know whether the comment was actually about my daughter or was an ill-timed comment about something else but in any event, my daughter became extremely rattled and upset and after her audition was convinced she had blown it. The 3rd auditor on the panel was one of the senior full time MT professors at the school and had been one of the main instructors at the summer program my daughter attended. He had expressed to us at the end of the summer high regard for our daughter’s work ethic and abilities. Shortly after my daughter’s audition, he exited the room, saw how upset my daughter was, came over to her and told her not to worry, that everything would be all right. And it was, she was accepted. Was the professor just being nice or was he sending a message that he was going to make sure that his knowledge of her from the summer program would outweigh any problems that had arisen in the audition room after the comment was made. At the 2nd school I referenced, my daughter was given very positive written evaluations by 4 regular professors at the end of the summer session. These evaluations were included by us in her application materials. Again, an acceptance. Coincidence? Maybe, but it certainly didn’t hurt to have 4 regular professors state in writing that she was a strong candidate for a BFA program and that they would welcome having her in their classes.</p>
<p>What I have taken from these experiences are the following:
- First and foremost, do a summer program because you want to have the training and experience. Do it because it would be an enjoyable way to spend the summer.
- Do not assume that doing a summer program at a particular school will give you better odds at an acceptance than the next person, it just isn’t so.
- If the summer program is staffed by regular faculty, doing a summer program at a school that you are interested in attending makes sense because you get to experience the school environment, its educational culture, it’s faculty and the learning environment in a way that can greatly assist you in determining whether the fit works for you. It also gives you an opportunity to do onsite “due diligence” regarding how to best prepare for school auditions.
- Last, and probably the least, you never know when the connections and relationships you develop may be of benefit. While there are certainly no assurances, in this extremely competitive process, you never know what might tip the scales in your favor.
- If you conclude that a summer program is something you want to do for its own intrinsic value, then choosing one at a school to which you are likely to apply has merit for all of the above stated reasons.</p>
<p>Agree with all of MichaelNKat’s points. </p>
<p>Keep in mind, to any of those still in high school who are reading this, there are also summer programs of value for MT experience, that have NO affiliation with a college. My own daughter attended a summer theater program for 8 summers and it was not a pre-college program or connected to any colleges. But it had value in her MT training and immersion. It didn’t connect with anyone at any of the colleges when it came to admissions but the experiences were invaluable.</p>