<p>I totally agree with Evasmom about the independence and the lack of need for us parents! My D was happy with the water I brought for her fridge and the clothes and shoes shopping, but other than about an hour and a half she and I spent at a coffee shop on Friday night, we spent no time together. I was thrilled to see the Talent Show on Saturday night, because the level of talent was varied and impressive (including my D's dance!). There was a reception afterwards, at which I kindof felt like a third wheel, because she is so happy with all her friends (very nice kids). Anyway, I do not think if I had it to do over again I would have gone, except for seeing the Talent Show. A lot of travelling and cash spent for very little time with her. She is great and doing amazingly well and you are correct, the next 3 weeks will fly by. All of you parents who did not go, don't worry about your children, they are doing fine. Cathy</p>
<p>I concur with those who felt as though their presence at Family Weekend wasn't necessary. We, too, felt as though we spent very little time with our S. The time we did spend together, he seemed anxious about monologues and other work he had to do.</p>
<p>The talent show was great. I was amazed at the talent of the kids and enjoyed it.</p>
<p>I am so glad that everyone had such a great experience at Parent's Weekend. I wish I could have gone! Thank you to Evasmom for including my daughter in Forbidden Broadway and dinner on Friday. She had a great time! I know my d is loving the independence too....less than 3 weeks to go and I know she is going to hate to leave!</p>
<p>haha glad everyone's having fun.....i'd love to note how last summer the new harry potter book came out during parent's weekend. i don't know how one of my 2 best friends managed to read the whole book, hang out with her parents, and get her pre-college work done that weekend!! but she did haha. my other friend and i read harry potter as well that weekend, but we didn't have our parents visiting.</p>
<p>BroadwayWannabe, don't all the precollege students participate in certain performances/demonstrations that weekend for parents, or is that not something everyone is involved in?</p>
<p>From what my D told me, participation is voluntary, and not all students did participate.</p>
<p>yeah, not all students participated. the augosto boal (sorry i'm butchering the spelling. it has been a year haha) workshop was optional. for the other demonstrations, teachers just asked around if anyone was interested in performing for the parents.</p>
<p>In my S's directing class, the group had several scenes prepared. Each pair performed their scene and the group voted on the best to present to the parents.</p>
<p>BroadwayWannabe - When my D had to work last weekend, I found it helpful to remember your posts from last year about how much work everyone had to do and wondering how they could get it done over last years' Parents Weekend. Thank you! </p>
<p>Has anyone else heard stories about crawling things in the dorm? My D had an episode last night that sounds like a Lucy and Ethel episode, complete with locking themselves out of their room at 2 am.</p>
<p>She also shared that one of her professors has given them a packet with all sorts of audition info for other colleges. She says I will love it and has been swapping mother organizational tips with other students.</p>
<p>Has anyone decided yet exactly when they are picking their kids up? I called Carnegie yesterday because I was confused about what the information booklet said. She put me through to the drama dept. and I was told that the auditions will be scheduled for Wed., Thurs., and Friday mornings, and that everyone had to be out of the dorms by noon on Saturday at the latest, which is what the booklet said. She also said that the audition schedules should be given to the students by Monday or Tuesday of next week. I am going to talk to D hopefully tonight or tomorrow about this so I can try to plan. Just thought I'd share what little I know! Evasmom - thanks for the info on the audition packet. It is comforting to know how much they are being helped with the audition process there. Makes the cost easier to bear!</p>
<p>dancermom
My D plans on staying until the last possible moment! I thought that I would drive down on Friday and start packing her up so that she is all set to leave on Saturday morning.</p>
<p>Last year people talked about an admissions interview but I haven't heard anyone mention it this year. Are any of your kids planning on talking to admissions? And what are the benefits of doing this?
Thanks</p>
<p>i did an admissions interview. i think it is beneficial to do at any school if you have the chance (even though i did not get int CMU) because it does confirm that you are interested in the school. That said, i felt that of all the schools I applied to, CMU was the school that cared the least about my grades, SATs, etc. So probably that interview is not the be-all-end-all. For better or for worse, CMU says that the audition is 80 percent of the audition process. It was made very clear to me that it is a rare student who gets "accepted" to the drama program, but doesn't get in because their academics are just really really bad. So, this interview is probably not going to be the deciding factor.</p>
<p>However, i still suggest to do it because it is good practice. I was asked typical "interview" questions at a lot of my auditions (they were just more relating to theater....what are your career aspirations, dream roles, etc). so i say go for it if you can. but if not, that's ok too.</p>
<p>but schedule it soon if you choose to. as i recall, a lot of people from precollege and elsewhere scheduled them for over the summer.</p>
<p>BW, is this a REAL admissions interview that the kids get to do, or is it intended as "practice" for the upcoming senior year <em>real</em> admissions interviews?</p>
<p>Also, did they ask you what other schools you planned to apply to/audition for? I am still stunned that kids have to figure out how to navigate that question gracefully ... telling the truth without showing their whole hand, if you will.</p>
<p>Did you find the interview stressful, BroadwayWannabe, or was it more relaxed, as you had just spent five weeks with these people?</p>
<p>And does doing an admissions interview (if it was the real thing) at the end of the CMU pre college session mean you did not have to do another later?</p>
<p>Sorry for so many questions!</p>
<p>While my D did not attend CMU Pre-College, she did have an interview with an Admissions Officer from CMU who was conducting interviews for applicants in our region. This interview is what I think BroadwayWannabe is also discussing. It is not with the Drama Dept. but with Admissions. It is really like ANY college interview and not focused on the artistic stuff so much (nor the question "where else are you applying"). While CMU's admissions is heavily weighted on the audition, there still is a small percentage weighted on regular admisssions review....academics, application materials, etc. It can never hurt to do an interview. Besides, it is good practice. You can get into a college without an interview. However, when one is offered, it is good to do it and like she says, it shows interest in the school. My D's interview was like most college interviews. She also brought her activity resume (not to be confused with a theater resume, though her performing arts activities were on it) and this particular interviewer also asked questions right off of her perusal of it. Since CMU takes SO few students and many have the requisite talent to get in, you never know if academic criteria, application materials, recs, interviews, etc. can make the difference between one candidate or another. I don't recall admissions interviews with my daughter's other BFA schools, however. CMU offered one by the admissions officer who came to our state to conduct interviews and I always would recommend taking up the offer. My D ended up waitlisted at CMU. My other D, who applied to regular colleges, did interviews for about 3/4's of her schools (all that offered them).</p>
<p>My guess is that by doing the admissions interview in August following Pre-College, one would not do it again in the fall. The idea would be to have the chance to do it while on campus. This IS the real admissions interview. By the way, it wouldn't be with the people they had spent five weeks with but I believe this is an interview with the admissions officers in the university's admissions office. Also, like BroadwayWannabe says, even if you don't do admissions interviews at the other BFA programs, often the audition can include some interview types of questions, though it is briefer and more artistically focused. People get better at interviews (and auditions) through practice.</p>
<p>Thanks, Soozievt. That makes sense. It seems to me that any student at precollege who is going to apply to CMU should go ahead and do the admissions interview while he or she is there. Why not? As you say, if nothing else, it's practice for others upcoming, and at best, it will show your level of interest in the school.</p>
<p>If I remember correctly, it was rather difficult to set up an admissions appointment at this point in time (after 3 weeks at CMU pre-college) when my D went. They were all booked up for the rest of her time there (of course, she could have been fibbing on that one!) It is good to get it done while the kids are in Pittsburgh, as it's one less thing to do at a later point in time. I believe CMU was the only application that really highly recommended or required an interview. My daughter was scrambling at the last minute back home trying to meet up with a woman from our state. Eventually they had a phone interview instead. Like I mentioned, if possible, get it done now, while it's more convenient.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the input. Does it look better if D makes the appointment or can I call? Also, as she won't know her audition schedule until next week it might be hard to know when to schedule the admissions interview? Maybe I'll call just to check on availability...</p>
<p>yes, this was a formal admissions interview...so it was with someone who worked in admissions who i had not seen at all during the summer. i agree with everything soozievt said. it doesn't hurt and make sure to have your activity resume. i say go for it if you can. </p>
<p>evasmom, i don't think your daughter should have any problems scheduling it herself. the admissions office is right next to the theater buliding, so she won't have any problems finding it. if she accidentally schedules it during her audition, the theater dept is totally flexible about changing audition times. i had to change the time my dance audition was and they were so nice about it....</p>
<p>I also asked my d if she had scheduled her interview yet and she said she knew nothing about it! I think she was expecting a sign up to be posted like everything else has been. I will tell her to contact the office directly (If she can still get a spot). </p>
<p>My d also wants to come home at the last possible minute! We are planning to do the same thing: pack some Friday night and leave Saturday by noon. D was thrilled with her tap class this week and is still having the time of her life! She is so excited to be going to Cedar Point Amusement Park in OH tomorrow (even if it is over a 3 hour bus ride each way!). She is a roller coaster enthusiast and getting the chance to ride the top 3 coasters in the nation is extremely exciting to her! Tonight is the last CLO show for her....Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. She is looking forward to seeing it and has been incredibly impressed by the talent there and what it takes to put those shows on in so little time. What even impressed her more is that a beautiful girl who is in MT at Michigan was at pre-college doing the same thing she is doing only a few years ago! My daughter would LOVE to be working at the CLO some summer! </p>
<p>I asked my daughter about the audition packet. She said she did get it with lots of info but it isn't near the info that I had already printed out and organizaed for her! It does help to read this forum to put things in order. The file folders are ready, spread sheet together and calendar ready to put dates on it. Secretary is a good job for me!!</p>
<p>How are all the CMU kids doing? D is doing fine and just got her audition times for next week. She is in the last group (group 11), so she will be auditioning all three days! Dance on Wednesday, Songs on Thursday and Monologues on Friday. We will be there before her auditions are even completed!! I guess we should just take our time driving up! She said that many of the kids in the first groups will do all three auditions on Wednesday. That will be nice for those students to get them over with! </p>
<p>She said this is a busy week for everyone (not that the other weeks haven't been), but the students are performing their songs, monologues in class to prepare for next week's auditions. My d went to a wonderful workshop the other night on Acting a Song, given by Gary Klein that she said was amazing! Last night she was going to watch Evasmom's D and others at the Boal workshop. There seems to always be so much going on and plenty of opportunity for extra classes and workshops. </p>
<p>For anyone thinking of going to pre-college next year, my advice would be for your child NOT to do the Cedar Point Amusement Park trip. That has been my daughter's worst experience so far (which was something she was really looking forward to)! Over a three hour drive each way....100 degree temperatures and absolutely mobbed! Her group got on three rides the entire day!! (would have gone on a fouth but after an hour and a half in line, it broke down!). It certainly wasn't worth the $40 to go! Are all of your kids doing the cruise next week? Hopefully that will go better as their last big event together! </p>
<p>I hope all of your kids have a great experience auditioning next week and that things go well for them! Hopefully I will get to meet some more CC parents at pick-up next Friday and Saturday. Safe Journey!</p>