Congrats @MomofJ5 What a great story and audition year! I wish I could take those two acceptances from you - NYU and USC! Your S must be extremely talented!! Sounds like he found a great fit!
@MomofJ5 I keep forgetting which group I’m posting in. D applied for MT only for Michigan, and dropped the ball on their acting application (then it was too late). Passed the Michigan MT prescreen though.
There’s definitely a difference between confident and cocky. She absolutely knew that the numbers for actual auditionees after prescreen was still pretty high; for example, everyone that she knew that prescreened for CMU passed, in acting, MT, and vocal performance. Knowing it was their first year of prescreens, it didn’t make us feel that confident (but it was better than not passing).
Congrats to all the upcoming acting majors!! My d has valued her acting training/experiences so much (in HS), and I really feel like it’s made her a much stronger, more professional performer overall. At first, acting classes seem weird to many kids; a lot of focus on movement, posture, speaking, and weird stuff (for some). Our collective pet-peeve is when people say to her “I could never be an actor, because I could never memorize all those lines”. That’s only the beginning. It is so intense. In the end, she really wanted this level of training and discipline in all three aspects, hence the reason her primary focus was on MT for the next level of training.
Since my D was looking at acting and MT, and (spoiler alert, committed to an MT program) I posted her final decision story on the MT side, if anyone is interested (I hope this link gets you there).
http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/21504970/#Comment_21504970
@DramaQueen219 - my D was academically able to pass any “prescreens” and passed very few! She did pass CMU and that was nice bcause she knew some folks who did not but her “cohort” is kids who have done theater programs at academic schools so the training level of the kids we know is relatively low. I saw your decision story - WOW. Your daughter is a trooper and I am so happy she’s ended up at a GREAT program.
@CaMom13 thanks! It has been quite the journey (for all of us, as I read the decision stories on both sides).
It was very difficult to gauge the meaning of passing some prescreens and not others. Most of the kids who ‘dared’ to send in prescreens for CMU were the ones who (subjectively, or according to my child) were the better actors in her cohort. But with other schools, some made it through, others didn’t 
This is going to be long so I apologize in advance. (posted in MT thread too)
My son is not the typical acting/MT kid. He has no theater/singing/dancing background at all. He attends a public high school that is sports heavy though it has a strong drama department. He was the 2nd football quarterback and a JV volleyball player his Freshman and Sophomore year. He had no idea what he wanted to do after high school and his grades were mostly B’s and C’s. He had little motivation, hated attending sports practices, not many friends, and was shy. Then one day he decided to see a school production for extra credit. And the bug bit him…hard. His younger sister is involved in community theater and both my husband and I have been as well so he contemplated if he should try out for the next musical. He did and he wowed everyone. He even got a callback for the lead. He finally found a group of kids that were enthusiastic and made him feel welcome. He instantly quit all his sports teams and was finally excited to attend school and rehearsals. He got all leads in his Junior and Senior year and won a few awards at local competitions. He fell in love with the craft. He found his passion. Finally.
He decided he wanted to major in musical theater at the end of his Junior year. I didn’t know where to start or what to do. I, myself, was a failed actress who pounded the Hollywood Blvd pavement, did work-study at Stella Adler, and just wanted to be a soap opera star in my youth. I knew how hard it was in the real world. I couldn’t imagine that life for my kid but he really loves it so what can one do?! For guidance, some drama moms who had already gone thru the process told us the names of some helpful people and said that “he would pass all his prescreens and get in everywhere he applied”. I took that to heart…stupidly. My S is a tall caucasian brunette Baritone and they are a dime a dozen in this biz. Yet we forged ahead and compiled a list of 20 schools. Most of them were “Reach” schools as I was (again ignorant) told that grades would not matter for theater. He applied for MT to most programs and a few redirected him to Acting (CMU, Texas State, Rider). We paid for a monologue coach to help him with selections, hired a wonderful group to film his prescreens, got a dance teacher to help him create a dance for the prescreens, and paid for extra singing lessons. After all the applications were filled out and submitted by Nov 1, we waited…and waited and received many rejections from the prescreens. We decided that his song selections weren’t very good so we re-did them for the auditions. We then hired a coach to get him polished. And we found out, a bit too late, that even with family legacy’s, grades were indeed very important. One of our legacy schools, U of M, rejected him as soon as they saw his 3.1 GPA and didn’t even look at the prescreen…as he got the email within a day of submitting it. We have a good friend in the regular admissions dept that asked the drama dept why they rejected my S so quickly and that was why - grades! The MI prescreen rejection had to be one of our top most painful rejections as we have all our extended family living right there in Ann Arbor. We just wanted a shot at an audition. To try and fail is one thing but to not get the chance to at least try?! Ouch.
Programs Applied to:
Arizona (safety school), USC, Texas State, TCU, OU, CMU, NYU, Rider, Pace, Ithaca, BU, Boulder, DePaul, Rutgers, Michigan, FSU, Miami, Penn State, Elon, Northwestern
Auditions at:
Pace, TCU, OU, BU, NYU, Boulder, Rider, Elon, CMU, Texas State, Rutgers, USC
Continued-
Continued-
His first audition was in January at USC (both my husband and I are alumni) and although he auditioned for the BFA I thought for sure he would at least get an acceptance for the BA. NOPE. That one really really stung. However they currently keep e-mailing him and offering him a spot on the Trojan Transfer Plan and to transfer in Sophomore year but it wouldn’t be for acting. We will keep this option as a back-up just in case he changes his mind and wants to come back to LA. The second audition, Boston University, started our week in February at Los Angeles Unifieds. I signed him up for BU because I wanted him to audition at a school in that city so I chose that one randomly. We both knew nothing about the school until I made him apply. While at the audition info session, I remember Ms. Donovan talking about the school and grades…I looked at my S and thought perhaps we should not audition since they are grade-heavy but he wanted to at least practice since we were already there. We figured BU was way out of our league and put that school out of our mind. Texas State was a great audition. My S was in the room with the guys for over 30 minutes chatting. The main guy texted my S afterward saying he did a great job and hoped to see him again…and yet that was a NO. (gee thanks for getting my son’s hopes up) And on the auditions went. He had one scheduled with LIU for late afternoon but was SO tired after 6 auditions on one day he just couldn’t do it. I regret that. He had the opportunity to have done a walk-in with Hartt but my husband was with him and didn’t push it. I regret that too. After Unifieds were over, he flew to Colorado Boulder for MT (they are not a well-known program but the college is popular within his high school) and they gave him an acceptance on the spot. He flew to the University of Oklahoma (we have legacy there too) and he said he killed it but they rejected him and it sucked. He flew to Elon and Pace and he said those were his best auditions ever…nope, rejections from there. The rejections just kept rolling in and we were getting so frustrated and depressed…until one morning while he was in TN for a journalism conference I decided to look at a Reach school’s portal thinking ”let’s just get this rejection over with.” (I did get his permission first! LOL) I opened BU’s portal and saw the “Congratulations.…” I had to read it over many times! I texted my S and he responded, “Holy Crap! Yes, Yes, Yes!” That was a good day. We visited Boston over Spring break and it was snowing and my S just loved that. We were dressed poorly for the weather and freezing in our SoCal sweatshirts but he was OK with it. He shadowed a student and had a great time.
Accepted to:
Arizona (BA Theater), Boulder (BFA MT), Rider (BA Acting), BU (BFA Acting)
Waitlisted: NYU (absolute DREAM school)
Rejected from: everywhere else
Coach: Reel Creative Media - Ashley Daniels
Summer Programs: didn’t think about it except for community theatre
We were bummed with the rejections from Pace as he got a fantastic scholarship. He applied to two of their programs and we spent money to fly & audition there in person. His Aunt graduated from there and wrote a nice letter - didn’t help him in the drama dept apparently. We were disappointed with Michigan due to it being a favored university and he has grandparent legacy & family there. We were crushed by USC because it is the only CA school he applied to and we are alumni. We were saddened with Texas State as he was treated so wonderfully and given false hope. We were devastated with OU & Elon because he thought he did so well. And we were annoyed with TCU because we paid for submitting an Acting prescreen and never heard from them about it! It just got lost I guess and by the time I remembered it was too late. He did audition for their MT program though.
If I could do this again (which I will with his two younger sisters who want to pursue this life path) I would have him apply to more schools in his GPA range. There are so many wonderful programs! I would have taken off Penn State, Northwestern, CMU, and the two Florida schools. They are just out of his league. I would have started researching schools earlier & start the prescreens and get coaching the Summer before Senior year. I would have found these boards at CC earlier! I would have made him get better grades!! I would have him apply ED to schools. I also would have had him do more auditions at either Chicago or NYC Unifieds. We packed 14 auditions in 3 days at LA Unifieds and it was too much.
This was THE most frustrating and excruciating thing I have ever been through as a parent so far. I would not wish this on anyone. It is hard; the constant rejections and not knowing. The waiting. The friends & family who continually question this path and just do NOT understand the process no matter how many times it is explained to them. The money spent. Ugh, all that money spent. And the time to help him edit essays, monitor submissions, plan his calendar, watch his prescreens with a keen eye, and try to keep a positive attitude about it all when he gets bad news. But he was so resilient. He was so strong. Both my husband and I will cherish the times we had with him this year and through this process. It is character building and life changing. Thank you CC’ers for being there - for me to feel the pains with you and for letting me share in your joys. I really don’t know what I would have done without all of you.
Final Decision: Boston University BFA Acting!!! (unless by miracle our dream school - NYU - pulls through and accepts him from the WL. Then we have a big decision to make…crossing my fingers.)
He chose Boston U for the chance to be at a large university. He wants to join a fraternity and attend sports games. He loves the program and how he can get an MT concentration. He loves the chance to study abroad. He likes the crazy cold weather and the urban feel. We are very excited!
@HopeinMT - Another long and wild ride, but with a happy ending! Congratulations on BU and thank you for sharing your story. We learn so much along the way, right? We just want to share the knowledge with those who follow! Thank you for always being kind and supportive!
@HopeinMT - I think I offered to trade those to you for your S’s BU acceptance.
@HopeinMT - weird / 1/2 my post got cut off. I had a smile face after the trade line to show I was joking.
@HopeinMT Congratulations! BU is a dream school for many kids! You can’t go wrong with either NYU or BU. I’m sure your son will thrive anywhere
@HopeinMT What a journey and you told it in such a genuine, heartfelt way! Your S is going to an amazing program! Congratulations!
@HopeinMT - and Congratulations!!!
@HopeinMT Thank you so much for continuing to share your son’s story, even when you were down and looking at no viable acceptances. Your story was one of the first ones I read here on CC, and I was quickly sucked into the stories of all these kids since! I’m learning so much, but I’m sure when it’s my D’s time, I’ll find a way to mess some stuff up. Your final outcome gives a lot of people hope! Best of luck to your son!!!
@HopeinMT This process is so hard, but so glad it worked out in the end. BU seems like a perfect fit for your son at an awesome program - I’m sure he will thrive. Thanks for sharing and congratulations!
@DramaQueen219, Michigan is one of the schools where you have to pass the academic test and talent test. When my D was there for an MT audition, the head of the program congratulated the students in the info session because he said they were not only talented but also academically qualified. I think Syracuse, Florida State and Penn State also require you to meet their normal academic standards. Someone please correct me if I’m wrong. CMU does not require Fine Arts students to meet their academic requirements (thankfully since it’s mostly known for engineering). For future applicants, it would be smart to research each school and their requirements so you don’t waste time and money applying to schools that won’t be a good fit academically.
On a side note, the Michigan MT department head said some things that shoukd be taken to heart even by those who are pursing straight acting. He said that probably 275 of the 400 kids who passed the Prescreen were talented enough for their program but since he only had 28 (?) spots, he wanted to spend the info session talking about what to look for in a program. His suggestions were to compare curriculums, look at the working actors from the program (both recent grads and those who graduated 10+ years ago, make sure the same people who taught those successful actors are still at the school, look at the depth of the network and listen for signs that the network is actually helping recent grads. He said to look for signs that the existing students get along and support and encourage each other because if they aren’t learning the value of collaboration now they are unlikely to help each other after they graduate. tHe also said there were excellent programs all across the country and not to get fixated on any one program. It was a very classy and informative session.
Yes, that is correct about Michigan. From my list, it was definitely Michigan and UCLA that had an academic prescreen before acceptance for audition. I am unclear about any others.
@HopeinMT - BU IS a dream school! My D was devastated by her rejection there - and she’s (very happily) going to NYU! She thought her academic record would help her at BU - she’s an excellent student - and she had a really positive audition experience but she didn’t even get the WL so it just goes to show there is no descernible rhyme or reason to who gets in where! We are fortunate that our kids’ BFA acceptance (singular in my D’s case) put them in wonderful programs where they can grown and thrive. I guess acceptances are a little like studio assignments at NYU - you have to trust that the people making the decisions know more about program “fit” than you do. 
@dramamama2022 and @FourStars then I guess mine made the academic cut! We missed the welcome part of the audition day (as we were delayed in the snow).
It’s just something that I’ve wondered about, since she didn’t get in (and you can’t help wonder if there were things like this that were part of it, or just all the other mysterious unknowns). She is not an A student, so in theory, it could have been a factor.
Congrats @MomofJ5, @HopeinMT, and @FourStars! I love reading these final decisions.