I have a junior in HS. She is planning on applying to major in MT in college. She has been doing local theater the past 3 summers, school musicals since 6th grade, is a dancer (8-10 hours of dance a week) and takes private voice lessons. Last summer she did a Broadway Dreams program in Philadelphia. She hasn’t done a summer intensive at one of the colleges she’d like to attend mainly because of the cost. We already have one who’s is a freshman at a private college and the cost of the summer programs are a lot. I would love to get feedback from people who have been through the process before; do most kids attend the major summer MT intensives over the summer and does it help you get into those particular colleges? For example: I want to go to U of Michigan so I should do the summer intensive at U of Michigan if I can? If we have limited resources would it be better to spend our money on an audition coach and more local programs?
This isn’t much to offer, but I have heard that Michigan and Texas will give an automatic prescreen pass if you have done the summer. Others may be the same. Anyone weigh in?
I know several families who bitterly regretted allowing their kids to become too attached to one particular college MT program, by paying big bucks for a summer intensive.
Rejection is always bad, but it is a million times worse when it feels so personal.
Top MT schools are more selective than Stanford. There are factors beyond one’s talent, also (type, for example). Nobody can count on getting in at a particular school. Don’t set your kid up for the worst heartbreak.
That said, intensive programs can be beneficial in teaching skills, determining whether that level of intensity works for the student, and interacting with peers. And they are fun, too!
If you want to spend money on an intensive summer MT program, find one that isn’t part of a college, or is at a school the student would not want to attend.
At Catholic Univ if you do their summer program you can audition for them at the end of it for admission. I thought that was cool
I have also known people in situations like @prodesse described, fell in love with School during summer program… devastated when rejected. BUT, on the flip side, I have known kids who did a summer program and are CONVINCED that the extra time with professors is what helped put them over the top and get accepted- they’ve known you for more than 5 min.
For my own kid- her summer program at NYU was indeed key - b/c sending her for 4 weeks helped ME realize that college in NYC could work. (Overprotective midwestern mama, I had been adamantly against the idea) I also know that D’s summer program was important b/c it showed her that studying theater in college is NOT like being in your HS/community/summer camp show. Again, I have seen kids get into great programs and the leave b/c they had no idea of the WORK involved
@frisbee3 - there is no right or wrong way. You might want to look at schools where the intensives are “less” expensive, like BW’s or CCM’s.
My son did BW’s week long program this summer. I can answer with both the good and the bad. Good - they helped with picking great audition material for him, showed him great sources for monologues, and he got a taste of what college training would be like. The bad - we are both in love with the school and he’s currently on the wait list. Well, wait list isn’t bad - but it is more anxiety and waiting and it’s not the accept that we were hoping for.
Overall, he has done two week long intensives. One in NYC with Open Jar Institute and the other at BW. Both served to give him increased skill, more confidence - particularly in dance, and solidified his desired direction of MT. I would not change doing them for anything. That said, know going in that doing an intensive at a school doesn’t guarantee an acceptance or necessarily even increase your odds.
Best of luck!
My opinion is that I don’t think it increases your chance at that particular school where you do the intensive, but it is helpful for the following reasons:
1.) Gives your D or S an idea of what being a MT major in college is like. Lots of getting up early and staying up late rehearsing, dancing, etc.
2.) Helps them pick and refine material
3.) Some programs actually film the pre-screens which helps kick off the college application process
I believe the money is well spent attending one of these intensives. The application process for these actually start now and the filming of audition pieces takes time and is great practice for Sr. year.
Best of luck!
Another option for a summer intensive is a program like TPAP Panorama - they are not affiliated with just one school and bring a variety of folks from many top programs to the intensive. (In the past, Kaitlin from TSU, Gary from CMU, Joe from WSU and I’m sure more that I’m forgetting)
Agree with the above. I’m not sure you get must of an edge, other than (perhaps) a very long audition. Keep in mind the summer faculty is not necessarily the faculty making admissions decisions. Most (maybe all?) the kids who did the CMU program this summer got passes on the prescreen and their summer evaluations get passed along to the faculty as part of the application material.
I did feel the CMU program was great for working on material but I felt D was behind on the application/essay portion. Also, they worked a number of across the floor combinations in their jazz classes. It would have been extremely helpful to have those filmed! All in all it was very beneficial to D - but she had to really hustle when she got back!
Thank you everyone who responded,that was helpful info. My daughter did Broadway dreams in Philadelphia for a week last summer and commuted into the city by train every morning with another girl who did the program as we live 45 minutes outside of the city. She to be up catching an early train every day and be rehearsing and going to classes every day with her days ending at 10pm some days. It made her love musical theater even more than she already had. My worry is that there are so many people that are able to do these intensive programs that cost $5000 I worry that it’s a disadvantage that she hasn’t done them but from what everyone seems to be saying doing some sort of intensive where you’re auditioning for colleges getting feedback and rehearsing at a regular schedule gets you somewhat ready mentally for the process. Thank you for all of your advice. This process is a stressful one with very few guarantees but I guess that’s what they love- the thrill of the process and the love of the stage!
I heartily second everything @SAS0792 said above. My daughter was very fortunate to be able to do two different summer programs, CMU and Pace. It helped her mature as a performer, work on her material and decide whether an MT focus was right for her. At CMU, she worked directly with faculty like Gary Kline and Don Wadsworth (this was less the case at Pace, where summer faculty was mostly different from the full time faculty) and got a sense of what she needed to work on. It did help her chances of getting into either program, but I think it did help get her into a top-tier program that she’s thriving at.
To share our experience, before D’s junior year in high school she spent two weeks at Pace (MT) and one week at Broadway Artists Alliance. She applied to other intensives as well, but combination this was less expensive than many of the others that interested her. It was extremely valuable: provided a dry run for the prescreen and application process (most of the programs she applied to required a video or in person audition), gave her feedback on her audition pieces (things that were new and rare regionally were considered overdone on a national level), and gave her a chance to see how she liked the New York vibe and how she felt being part of a cohort where she wasn’t the most outstanding. In her case, she also dealt with the difficult feedback of should you be an acting major vs an MT major, and she chose MT feeling that she’d rather work on her areas of less prior training.
As far as getting into programs, exactly zero students from my D’s summer were accepted into Pace for MT. Some ended up at other university programs for MT, cinema or dramatic acting, two or three that she knew of went into related non-performance fields, and at least one has already been in a TV series.
Every family’s and student’s situation is unique, and only you can decide if a different intensive would add benefit to her Broadway Dreams experience or whether to choose working with one of the national coaching organizations, which also seem to offer some weekends and workshops.
@CTDramaMom did you mean to say it DID help? It did help her chances of getting into either program
No thanks for catching my mistake. I meant to say it DID NOT help her chance of getting into either program. But overall I did think it helped her be prepared for both auditions and the rigor of a BFA MT program, and it helped her land in a good one.
Our D participated in college based summer programs after both her freshman and sophomore years in high school (OCU and mPulse at Michigan). Both were valuable experiences. It gave her a sense of what it would be like to study MT as opposed to just enjoying being in shows like she was doing in high school. It gave her a sense of what two very different types of campuses would be like (small private school and large public university). It allowed her to make tremendous friendships she has kept to this day, most of whom are still in the same field which makes for great networking (although very few of them ended up at the same school for college)… So lots and lots of positives about participating in a school based program. She did choose to work with a national coach (Mary Anna Dennard) rather than attend another summer program the summer before her senior year. And we feel that was the right choice for her. She was able to focus on choosing and learning audition material, work on college applications and essays, college lists, etc… We found Moo’s guidance invaluable.
I think there is benefit to both types of experiences. It really depends on what you are hoping to gain from the experience. I would agree if you were to do a summer program that some of the ones that expose you to faculty from a number of different schools may be advantageous. (TPAP and Artsbridge come to mind) Or we have friends who did Broadway Theater Project who both ended up in great college programs and have had some terrific opportunities having been part of that program. One thing I would say is never attend a school’s summer program thinking it will give you a leg up on the competition in getting into that particular program. You will see case after case where that just isn’t true. And often it can create heartache if you really fell in love with the school during its summer program but then are not accepted to the program for college. Go for the training. Not because you think it will help you get in that school.
Having said all of that – I do not think it is necessary to attend any summer program nor is it necessary to use a national audition coach. We were not in an area where we had access to people familiar with the college audition process so using a coach and attending camps was a way for us to get training not otherwise available to us. But if your teachers do understand college auditions and you are getting great training where you are, you can be successful in this process without the summer programs and audition coaches. Just make sure the people advising you truly do know their stuff. We found there were a lot of people out there who thought they knew college auditions who really don’t. So do your research. If you do, you will be fine.
Here are two past threads on this topic:
There is not a “right” answer - there are many paths
I believe that summer programs (with competitive-entry auditions) DO help with college entry, but not for the reasons that you think.
In my opinion, there is a huge benefit related to your son or daughter seeing the talent-level of kids from all over the country. My kid did two different summer programs, and the first year was such an eye opener! Seeing just how good the competition is can be instrumental in spurring a teen to step up their game. Or it may be the impetus for your family to seek some outside coaching. Or it may serve as a healthy dose of confidence for your kid. All this depends on where they are in their journey of course.
Another unexpected benefit is having those friendly “fellow-camper” faces at college auditions. Many of those same faces will end up with your kids in audition rooms in NYC (or wherever!) too.
Like others have said, in so many words, there’s no guarantee that the “recognition factor” will help you kid get into a college program, but I think there are other surprising benefits.
I think attending a summer intensive at a program you are seriously considering helps a lot…for lots of reasons. My D attended the 5 week combined VP/MT program at OCU after her Junior year and was subsequently offered admission the following Spring (along with at least 6 other campers from her summer); such programs DO serve as recruiting tools, although a good intensive pays for itself in training and experience. Personally I would never suggest attending a College based summer program where the faculty weren’t the same people who will be training the Undergraduates (and making admission decisions). D didn’t end up attending OCU, but the summer program was superb, and she learned A LOT, most importantly, perhaps, that she wanted to focus on VP/Opera. I can’t say enough about the experience (which was a financial stretch for us). If you’re thinking of sending a kiddo a plane ride away for college, it’s really good to have a dry run.
The deadline to apply to the Muny/Webster intensive is December 15th. If you can afford it I would highly recommend it! You not only get an MT intensive with Lara Teeter at Webster, but you get to be in the Muny production of Annie this summer along a Broadway and Equity cast and learn what it’s like to put up a full scale Broadway show in 11 days! There are also master classes after rehearsals with some of the Broadway cast. Christopher Hanke who your daughter may know from Broadway Dreams was Corny Collins in Hairspray my son’s year and did a workshop for the EYA’s (emerging young artists) and ended up being his private audition coach in LA. It is a one of a kind program…nothing like it and the kids all got into great programs (3 in Elon, Baldwin Wallace, Syracuse, Texas State, Boston Conservatory, NYU Steinhardt, UNCSA etc.) I think the experience of having the Muny on your resume also helps with summer stock auditions as a freshman and probably helped my son and his roommate both get cast in Newsies last summer. They only accept 6 boys and 6 girls in the program so it is very competitive and going into it’s 4th summer. I can’t speak highly enough about the experience.