MomofJ5 English literature, UVA. Funny story. Dad (yours truly) forbade him from attending a conservatory b/c I wanted him to get a “well rounded” education…something he could fall back on…I am sure you have heard this before. S dutifully obliges but proceeds to find his way into school drama/musicals, community theatre, and even Shakespeare student run features. Then gets into RADA semester abroad (run by NYU) and about that time I get the impression this acting phase is not going away. Next thing I hear he is applying for Yale MFA. Three call backs and a weekend in New Haven later…he starts in August. Sorry for the long answer.
@3puttcol Wow, what a story! That is amazing! Thank you so much for sharing and best wishes to your S!!
@3puttcol – Love this story and your son’s perseverance!
Congratulations, @3puttcol! Wonderful story!
Congratulation, @3puttcol. I hope you come back and share more of your son’t journey. Such a great story!
@3puttcol - Congratulations on a Yale MFA! Thank you for sharing your journey with your son. So many of us tussle with balancing academics and an artistic degree. RADA is a pretty special place too, my D spent 5 weeks there this summer at age 17and after that, there was no stopping the train. I would just love to hear updates. Enjoy the ride!
@ginaf1102 ahhh I thought about you guys all week! Must feel great to have a final decision!!
Applied to BFA Acting Programs: The New School, Juilliard, NYU, Pace Acting, Boston University, Carnegie Mellon, U Michigan, U Minnesota/Guthrie, U of Hartford (Hartt), U of the Arts, Rutgers, Montclair (withdrew), Emerson, Fordham (BA), Loyola Marymount (BA) and Muhlenberg (BA).
Prescreens: Passed all
Accepted to: The New School, Hartt, U of the Arts, U Minnesota/Guthrie, Emerson, Loyola Marymount, Muhlenberg, Boston University, and NYU (Stella Adler)
Waitlisted at: Carnegie Mellon (released 5/4)
Rejected: Pace, U Michigan, Julliard, Rutgers, Fordham
Coach: MTCA. Couldn’t imagine doing this without them. We used a monologue coach a few times, mock audition and brush up coaching while at Chicago unifieds.
I will never forget the day I read on CC (about 2.5 years ago) a comment that said something to the effect of: While you think your kid is the next Tony winner, she is not. There are plenty of kids out there just as talented (or more) than your kid and it is best to go into this process with an educated, humble mind. There has been AMAZING advice on this forum, but that was the advice that drove our process.
Background/Training: My daughter came out singing. She was obsessed with Annie and sang “The Comin’ Out Song” daily, from ages 2 - 5. By some perfect storm, my husband lost his job and we moved to an area of the country where theatre experiences are vast. At ten she was cast in her first community production as July in Annie - how perfect. That was the start of her life on stage. She has been in community and equity productions every year since she was 10. We are lucky to have the BEST chorus teacher at our public, medium sized, non-PA high school. She has trained my D for the past 4 years - taking her to competitions, All-State Chorus and even singing in London and Italy. She has cast my D in lead musical roles since 10th grade. The other experience my D has had (and changed her forever) is extensive Shakespeare training at Shakespeare & Company. Each fall the 10 high schools in the county do “Fall Festival of Shakespeare”. Each school gets two directors from Shake & Co and they put on a full Shakespeare production. Then each school performs while the others are hooting, hollering, hissing and completely supporting each other. It is a very proud weekend (10 shows), with a 25-year history, and won Shake & Co a Tony award.
I always thought my D would pursue musical theatre, but after all the Shakespeare experience, she wants to be an actor first. She (just like many of your actor kids) has a beautiful voice and will continue vocal training but wants to delve deep into the art of acting.
Summer Programs: Summers have always been home doing equity/community theatre summer-stock work - Shakespeare and MT. She was just cast as Medium Allison in Fun Home. Come visit!
Our audition journey: Our journey started with The New School. My D loves TNS because of its dedication to social causes. It was her first audition and first acceptance and we cried like babies in a neighbor’s bathroom when we opened the email. Our mantra to this point was “You only need one yes!” My girl was going to college. Hartt audition came next and boy did I really love Alan Rust’s perspective on the importance of actor training. That acceptance came with a boatload of money and I really thought that was going to be where she ended up. Having two yeses in mid-January is a huge help in the process! Boston University next - where we fell in love with McCaela Donovan (kinda literally) and the BU program. The strong artistic and academic combination definitely put BU at the top of the list. My D thought she had an OK audition, certainly not her best. That yes came with more scholarship money than any other program - which definitely speaks loudly! We didn’t do too much at NY Unified - UARTS, Rutgers and Pace. She got a quick and dirty rejection from Pace that day and the later rejection from Rutgers really hurt - she LOVED Rutgers. Back to NYC the next weekend for Juilliard. I already wrote details of that day - boy was it amazing. I think it was the best-case scenario, honestly. To be called back is so great - what a day! And Annette Benning! Ha ha! But that type of intense training may have taken a toll on her (although she would have certainly not turned down an offer) and she would miss the academics. Fordham was a great audition, passed from room to room - but ultimately denied.
We were then off to Chicago unifieds - what a blast! She had UMinn Guthrie, CMU, and Michigan. All auditions went well, but the CMU one was entertaining. She first went to Barbara MW who asked her to sing. Barbara MW said - you must apply to MT. D said no. BMW was like, what? (does anyone say no to BMW?) They went back and forth, and D told her she wanted to be an actor. She sent D to Don who was very kind (as most people say about the CMU audition). Don said why do you want to go to CMU and her reply was “I want to take a calculus class and have a theatre kid beat all the engineering kids”. That was her answer - not because it is a top acting school and all the alums work, but because I want to take math. LOL. It must have worked because she was waitlisted at CMU (we all know how that ended). All the remaining auditions went well. She was fortunate enough to get called back to Guthrie and really enjoyed meeting many of your kiddos. Turning down Joe Price’s offer was a really hard part of this process.
Ultimately, BU’s program won out. She loves the innovative artistic feel, the required academic courses, and McCaela and Yo-El Cassell were a big draw (google him - amazing). As a parent, BU’s scholarship allowed us to breathe and not fear drowning in debt. Plus, she is only 2 hours away! Yay!
Final Decision: Boston University
Fabulous story @ginaf1102 ! So very happy for you both! She had so many great programs to choose from but I think she definitely found her perfect school in BU!
@ginaf1102 Thank you for the details, I love reading everyone’s play by play, gives the future readers a sense of the rollercoaster we are on. I lived in Boston’s back bay, and later in Allston, which is BU territory, and loved living there. I miss it. Great college city.
Congrats, i think we are sort of neighbors and hope to see your daughter playing in the Berkshires some day. You did say W. Mass. Ithink?
Huge Congratulations to you @ginaf1102 So glad that your daughter found her happy place! I’m sure BU has a fantastic program and Boston is beautiful. Can’t wait to hear about her doing big things
@ginaf1102, it has been so much fun following your daughter’s exciting journey all these months. I am so happy for her! My favorite moment was when she shouted "Thank God!"on hearing that she didn’t get off the CMU wait list, because she loves BU so much! It’s so wonderful to see kids find their perfect home! Congratulations!
@3puttcol We have enjoyed having you son in Charlottesville. He is an inspiration to the high school kids in town who wish to pursue drama. Gotta go! Off to my son’s final high school performance!!
@ginaf1102, FABULOUS journey-and great choice. Re McCaela Donovan: My D and her dad fell truly, madly, deeply in love with her at Chicago Unifieds. Dad, who has never weighed in; remotely, re ANY MT/A decision, was suddenly 100% invested in BU (and the loans that we would have to take, for D to go there.) I am glad (and relieved?) that D chose a more regional and affordable program-but had she been accepted to BU-the script would have probably flipped.
@ginaf1102 Fantastic and congratulations on a wonderful choice! Beautiful story and you’re so lucky she’ll get the best training and still be close! What a great year you’ve had. Bravo!!
Congrats @ginaf1102 We will see you and your D at BU! What a neat story and the amount of amazing programs she got accepted to! She must be extremely talented!!
I fell in love with McCaela, too! I’m pretty sure everyone does! Hopefully she’s back in the fall!
@ginaf1102 woohoo!! I really enjoyed our BU visit, and my sister had a wonderful experience while a BU student. Fun to cheer for hockey, too!
@ginaf1102 - What a wonderful journey you and your have had! Clearly the combination of talent and humility combined with a great mentor and training at quality theaters were unstoppable. I know I have enjoyed your thoughts all year and couldn’t be happier for your D to have landed so strongly at program that sounds like a perfect fit. Congrats on BU!