<p>I am not sure exactly how much merit or talent aid they do offer but I have heard that for musical theater they offer three talent awards. I also know friends children who were offered softball scholarships, volleyball scholarships etc. So there is some aid available there.</p>
<p>There are some talent based scholarships, although not many. Unfortunately, Elon doesn't have a lot of money to give away, mainly because our tutition is so cheap to begin with. Just because you don't get a huge scholarship does NOT mean Elon doesn't REALLY want you. They only accept 16... so if you're chosen, they LOVED you... scholarship or not.</p>
<p>Elonactress--Does the department want letters of recommendation from performing arts teachers (in addition to the counselor recommendation for admission)? Do you remember?
Also, last year they started the auditions in September. Did anyone get in who auditioned that early? Is there a preference for early or later audtions, do you know? Thanks for letting us pick your brain LOL . . . .</p>
<p>Elon offers a number of merit based scholarships. Check the website for information on the Presidential Scholarship and the various Fellows programs.</p>
<p>Their science programs look pretty nice. The science building is pretty new and is well equipped. I think they are one of a handful universities with a cadaver lab..</p>
<p>If you strip away the communications and business sections, you are left with a very high quality liberal arts college. (without graduate students teaching!!)</p>
<p>Scholarships - I forgot to address that question in my previous post to you. I'd like to echo Elonactress' comments. Elon is among the most reasonable priced of the schools we are looking at. I believe the only schools we're considering that are even a little lower priced than Elon are OCU and Point Park, but they are all in the lower 20s based on last year's US News & WW college guide. Also, my notes from the Elon visit said that about half of the MT students get scholarships. This may be a combination of merit and talent scholarships. My notes mention the merit awards and that you can combine the two if you are also offered a talent scholarship.</p>
<p>Also, mtmommy, in my notes, we were encouraged to come to a fall audition. If you are selected in the fall, you hear before Christmas. I'd also like to hear Elonactress's comments on how many are really selected in the fall.</p>
<p>You can absolutely send letters of recommendation. I don't really know how much weight they carry, but a lot of people include them. Yes, people who audition early hear early. In December they send out a lot of "No" letters, a lot of "maybes" and very few "Yes" letters. I think maybe 4 this year... I really don't remember. There isn't necessarily a preference to early or late auditions. The February auditions usually have 40 + auditions... so they get to be late... but besides that it's all the same.</p>
<p>Yes, there is quite a bit of academic scholarship. And McMichael, our science building is pretty fantastic... I try to avoid going inside as much as possible... but its a great building. And yes, one of 5 schools in the country that teach anatomy on human cadavers (my freshman year roommate did it!)</p>
<p>I don't know much about Elon's MT program, and I think those who have posted have given a thorough description and lot of info. I can tell you that I know several kids there who are not in MT and they find the school wonderful. That can be an issue when looking at MT programs--whether a good program is worth it if you don't like the school housing it. Schools like CMU, Syracuse, Michigan are top picks because the schools themselves are well known and are considered "good". I have been eyeing Elon for a while, and have watched come up, up, up in the ratings and name recognition. It is a good value school. My only reservation is that the school seems a bit light on the liberal arts.</p>
<p>Jamimom- I have to disagree with you. We have to take quite a bit of liberal arts even in the music theatre program. There are 4 freshman core classes. Then throughout your four years you have to take two classes in each of 4 categories, science, civilization, society, and expression. It's not a TON, but it's a bit. Freshman year is about one semester music theatre, one semester liberal arts, then after that you have to take about one academic class per semester. And the classes are really good! The academic classes I've taken have helped me improve my craft and make me a more well rounded person!</p>
<p>If you look at the percentage of non liberal arts majors for Elon it is a vast majority. It is surprisingly higher than many like schools. I would have to investigate the quality of offering in the liberal arts carefully because for some reason they are not attracting or retaining those kids as major and that is something that I examine in a school.</p>
<p>We were fairly pleased with the mix of liberal arts courses and MT courses at Elon. This is something newcomers should check out - each school has different requirements for courses taken outside of MT. At Elon and other places, they would recognize many of my son's AP classes to allow him to receive credit for the many of the required courses, and the schedule may be flexible enough to allow him to pursue a minor in his particular other area of interest - studio art. We got a special tour of the art facility after the campus tour from the student who took us on the group tour and is majoring in art. Every area we saw there was most impressive.</p>
<p>My D has decided just this week to attend Elon in MT starting in the fall!
She is very excited and has turned down FSU, Tisch/CAP 21, and Illinois Wesleyan (excellent programs) to do this. Elon is just the right fit with excellence of training, individual attention, performance opportunities, professors and the overall college experience she is seeking...the price isn't bad either!</p>
<p>AUDITIONS..my D's crazy audition schedule, like everyone else's, only allowed her to audition at Elon on the last big day...March 11th. She was the next to the last person to audition. She sang one song, presented one monologue and then performed a dance she'd choreographed. She forgot some of her choreography, although we don't think anyone would have really noticed since it was hers. It really upset her. </p>
<p>She had taken her tap shoes into the audition (at my insistence) and after she "thought" she'd blown her lyric/modern dance asked if she could tap for them. They said "sure". She tapped without music for about 1 1/2 minutes. There were a few questions...there were quite a few faculty and a few students in the audition...the students may have just been the guides for the day. </p>
<p>It was a long ride back to GA that night. She did not think she'd done well and had fallen in love with the school, the teachers and the program as we'd waited all day. I've said this before, that she got nervous for the first time ever because she'd forgotten how much she loved Elon and now really wanted to get in. </p>
<p>We also realized how much an early group dance audition has put her at ease at her other auditions. She wasn't afraid to present her own dance for Elon, it just created a different level of comparison (basically NONE) and confidence (all based on those 10 minutes with the faculty). This is something to consider if the audition-day schedules are different at each school...how will it make you feel if you don't know going into the singing/acting audition how you stack up to the others in dance? My D usually had some confidence behind her by the time she went in to sing and act because she's an experienced dancer.</p>
<p>Anyway, the next day was decision day and she got the call (message) by noon. We were floored and she was thrilled. </p>
<p>I too asked about early or late auditions when we were mapping out the audition calendar. The administrative assistant said it really doesn't matter. We were worried that all the spots would have been filled by March, but that was not the case. We feel very good about the timing...now that it's all over! Of course, its easy to say that now. But my D was the next to the last person to audition and she got in.</p>
<p>I don't know if this info helps anyone. My D got into the first and last schools she auditioned for (Nov. and March) with two other acceptances and two rejections in between. Who knows about the timing? </p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>My s also received "the call" the day after the department met to choose the students for the fall of 2005. I was stunned to receive a personal call and couldn't wait to tell my s. We couldn't be more thrilled. It is a BEAUTIFUL campus and the cultural arts building is terrific.</p>
<p>We had the BEST day in Elon when he auditioned in February. Along with about 25 students, he attended an acting class, and went to scheduled rehearsal time with the pianist. We both attended an info session where 2 junior male students performed a selection from The Secret Garden called Lily's Eyes. We were so impressed to see how talented they were. We met more females than males at all 4 of his auditions so it was nice to see other young men who are part of a program where he'd like to attend.</p>
<p>Later we ran into one of the performers and joined him and another MT student for coffee where they talked about Elon in general as well as the program. That really gave that personal touch to the process!</p>
<p>He loved the actual audition. It was held in a nice small modern theatre setting on stage with professors and students in attendance. He was escorted in by a current (male) student (also a nice touch). He sang parts of 2 songs and performed a monologue. They asked him to then sit on a chair and do the monologue again in a different style. He hasn't had any formal dance training but moves does freely on stage for his characters. This was all followed by a question and answer period. He had prepared 2 questions and felt very confident. </p>
<p>I was a wreck for a month following the audition knowing that this was absolutely his (and my) first choice school. He was accepted into 3 of 4 MT programs and the 4th school accepted him into his 2nd choice major. He only applied to 1 non-MT program where he was accepted but not until March 31st!</p>
<p>There is a lot of anxiety wondering if the school will accept your student and THEN if the MT department wants him! I would advise students to apply to a rolling admission back-up school before getting involved in the audition scheduling. Knowing that you have SOMEWHERE to go if all else fails could be a good thing!</p>
<p>Bumping for Megsmom60 so she can read about Elon.</p>
<p>NJmtmom - Appreciated your contribution to this thread, and congrat's on getting his first choice! We loved Elon also (my son is a junior), and I was the one who started this thread.</p>
<p>This is most definitely my first choice school... however, I don't want to get my hopes up....</p>
<p>How many people generally audition every year? I'd just like to know the percentance that get in so I can think about my choices.</p>
<p>ElonActress - Are you allowed to double major in musical theater and something else at Elon? My parents would really like me to have a "fall-back" incase acting doesn't work, and I agree with them. I would like to double major in MT and Psychology. Let me know!</p>
<p>Question: is Elon in the middle of the countryside as it looks from the map? What is the nearest city? Where do kids go for "city" stuff? thanks</p>
<p>I'm probably not the best to answer any of the above questions, but I believe they told us that in the past 150 or so had auditioned (maybe a little less than that), but they are having increasing numbers each year as more people hear about them. They take 16 into MT each year.</p>
<p>I believe they do allow double majors, but you need to check with them. It think it would be a difficult schedule.</p>
<p>Elon is 20 minutes from Greensboro and 45 minutes from the Raleigh-Durham airport. I think that puts them about 30 minutes from Chapel Hill, a little farther to Durham, and probably an hour or less to Raleigh. It is also about an hour the other way (west) to get to Winston-Salem. When we visited there, we had lunch with a student (not in performing arts) who would now be graduating, who was from our home town. In the almost 4 years he has been there, I think he said he has only gone to Greensboro about twice a year. He finds very much to do on campus and in town. Students are mostly from out of state. Everyone stays on campus on weekends, and it seems that they have tons of student activities on the weekends.</p>
<p>My s was told that 265 auditioned this year and that they accepted 16. At least one of the 16 (who we met at auditions) chose another school...</p>
<p>My s asked about double majoring with Education - it seems a logical pairing but he would probably have to do student teaching following the 4 year MT curriculum. We will research this further once he is there! His 1st semester is the usual mix of theatre and required courses...</p>
<p>I know several kids attending Elon that love it. However, My D. looked at it and felt it was very small and had a high school feel to it. She really disliked it.
My friend said that when her son went at the start of the school year they dropped an acorn and talked about helping the student grow like the acorn, which sound kinda young to me. However it seems like they are very supportive of the kids.
I dont know alot about admissions to MT. My friends son got in ED for a different major with very average grades and not alot of activities. Once at the school he had some trouble in one of his classes because they kept changing teachers..I think one quit and one got fired..not sure. He ended up flunking the course and has to retake it. ..but my thoughts are he was probably goofing off ..but the teacher situation didnt help.
I think thats a school that you will either really like the small feel or you wont..and a visit will let you know right away.</p>
<p>Angstridden, you can't compare the admissions to Elon or any other college with the admissions to its BFA in MT program. The selectivity for the BFA program is much more difficult than the college/university at large. For instance, a person who knew nothing about MT BFA programs would tell my kid upon hearing she was applying to Penn State or Emerson or Ithaca (examples here) that of course she could get in because they were assuming that a kid with her academic profile would easily be admitted to those schools. And yes, she knew she could academically get into those schools. However, most are not aware that even if a school has something like a 65% admit rate overall, its BFA program might have a 5% admit rate (most of these do) which is worse odds than Ivy League admission odds. So, you can't compare the credentials of a kid who got into the regular college for a different major at Elon with a kid who had to be selected into the much more selective BFA program there. </p>
<p>Another thing in selecting where to go for a BFA....it is very very different in terms of college criteria than most kids need to think about when selecting a regular college. I know this having two kids go through this now. One did the selection process like most kids...she established her criteria (all the usual things like location, size, level of challenge/academics, EC offerings, social scene, etc. etc. etc.) and narrowed it down. She perused very thick college directories, narrowed it to 30, then to ten to visit and then to 8 to apply to. But for a BFA in MT kid....for one thing, the list of schools must be culled from a fairly small list of programs available. I felt my D's list was created rather readily and was similar to many of her theater friends (unlike other D whose list differed greatly from her peers). She was not as concerned or able to use things like size, location, Greek scene, etc. in making her list. Rather, she had to look very closely at the BFA program...things like curriculum, performance opportunities, training, philosophy, amt. of liberal arts, dance offerings, etc. She had to weigh in on conservatory style or within a university, stuff like that. It was a very different type of selection criteria. It was very very much focused on the actual program, much more than the college itself. That does not mean that she never thought about location and size of the school or the atmosphere at the school at large, but these were secondary to examining the BFA program and fit with that program because when you enter a BFA program, it usually represents approx. 75% of your curriculum at college and it is pretty spelled out for you so you have to make sure you want that very specific program as there is not as much choice involved in picking courses like for other majors. It is a little like engineering programs. The kid is commiting to this specific program, not just the college. So, when getting first hand accounts from kids who go to these colleges (always important), it is quite critical to get these accounts from kids in these specific BFA programs, not just kids who attend the college itself. It is related but still a little like apples to oranges. </p>
<p>Here is one example....and I hope I don't offend....but take CCM. It is one of the top rated MT programs in the country. Many kids who apply there or who attend, likely would not have picked Univ. of Cincinatti as their college of choice had they not been going for a BFA. There is NOTHING wrong with that university but merely saying that some of these kids are likely academically overqualified for that college but picked it SOLELY cause of its BFA in MT program which is about 90% or some such of their program while there. So, they had to examine if they wanted the intense conservatory style training offered there, much more than looking at Univ. of Cinci as a whole (not to discount that they should ALSO look at that but I feel pretty sure that was a secondary consideration for some of these kids). </p>
<p>So, a kid looking at Elon for a BFA in MT MIGHT not be the same kid who would have looked to apply to Elon otherwise. I hope I am not offending because Elon itself is a very good school. Just saying that picking a BFA program is NOT the same as picking a regular college. </p>
<p>Susan</p>
<p>Oh Susan you are so knowledgeable.</p>
<p>As I mentioned in my post..I dont know alot about admissions to the MT program there. Just that general admissions dont seem to be too hard.</p>