I think one they started last year for their group was both MT & Acting. I’d be interested too!
I’d love to be part of that continuing update group. Btw: We know NOTHING about summer stock (I have no idea if this term means all regions or just one). Is there a cc thread on that- or is it not sufficiently college related?
@MomofJ5 Summer Stock refers to professional theaters that offer summer employment. It could be one show or it could be a whole season; it could be two weeks of work or a whole summer. Most large communities have a summer stock theater. Some audition locally and some audition in NYC. I am pretty sure there is a Cc thread with that same question. You could probably type it in the search bar and search for it.
I loved your D’s story and how you as a mom supported her. I am still recovering from the audition months myself and ready to tell our story soon. I love Hartt’s vibe and my son’s vocal coach graduated from Hartt. It’s an amazing place! It is a true conservatory program and it seems she’ll be able to pop down to nyc for some auditions and the regional theatres up there are tip top! It sounds wonderful ! I was reading the Pace plot twist when you posted and was silently rooting for Hartt, because it sounded more of a serious, classical training program. I think she is going to be very happy. You are an awesome mom. And your D talented, clearly.
Long time lurker but I really wanted to share my journey in the hopes it might help someone. My mom and I are so grateful for all of the information we have found here during this journey, and I hope to stick around to give advice to any future auditioners!
Background/Training: I attended a regular public high school but was very involved in the drama department and community theatre. I have been in over 40 shows and trained with local regional theatres but did not do any college summer programs. I knew I really wanted a school with strong classical training, strong academics, and ideally in a city on the East Coast.
Programs Applied To: Emerson College, Rutgers University, NYU Tisch, Boston University, SUNY Purchase, Hartt, Point Park, Ithaca, University of the Arts, UCLA, Rider, Roosevelt, Montclair, Viterbo, LMU, CMU, DePaul, Syracuse, Marymount Manhattan, UC Irvine, Drew University, Southern Oregon University
Walk-Ins: LIU Post, Ball State, University of Utah
Prescreens: Ithaca, CMU, DePaul, Syracuse, Marymount Manhattan (regional) [Passed Ithaca]
Accepted: NYU Tisch, Rider, LIU Post, Viterbo, LMU, and Drew
Waitlisted: Emerson and SOU
Rejected: Everywhere else
Academically Accepted: Every school where academic was separate from artistic
Coach: My College Audition- Can not recommend Chelsea and her team enough. Their help with the monologues, picking out schools, interview prep, and overall support and guidance was so helpful for me. All of my coaches were so supportive and loving throughout the process and I am so grateful for all of them.
Final Decision: NYU Tisch, BFA Acting!!!
This journey was absolutely wild from start to finish! I did NY and LA Unifieds, with Emerson on-campus and UCLA at a regional audition. Although there were plenty of difficult rejections, I firmly believe I couldn’t have ended up in a more perfect place for me and am over the moon excited to start at NYU in the fall!
Tips for Future Auditioners
-Cast a wide net. I probably didn’t need to apply to quite so many schools but it’s important to have a very balanced list and not just the most competitive schools.
-Make sure you know if the schools you’re applying to have what’s most important to you. I really want classical training so I didn’t apply to schools that were more contemporary and/or experimental even if they were super amazing because they didn’t fit my criteria.
-Get ahead with monologues, essays, and scheduling over the summer; it will make your fall so much easier.
-Read as many plays as you can. Even if you don’t find a monologue you like, you’ll get a better idea of what you want in a monologue.
-Give yourself enough time to get from place to place at Unifieds but don’t give yourself too much time. I found I worked best with using the momentum of other auditions.
-Make color coded flashcards with all the info for each audition on it so you can easily check the requirements before you go in.
-Prescreens were definitely a weak spot for me, so I’d recommend having a friend with a camera film them if you can, but I know different things work for different people.
-Have one of your safeties be a school with rolling admission so you can have a for sure acceptance early in the game.
-If you can, be in a show after auditions while you’re waiting to keep yourself somewhat occupied.
-Keep an audition journal so you can look back at your experience when audition season is over.
I absolutely can’t wait to be a Violet in the fall and many thanks to all of you for sharing your knowledge!
@shakespearegirl - Congratulations! My D is also attending NYU-Tisch next year and she couldn’t be more thrilled. So glad your audition journey came to such an happy ending - and provides you with such an exciting beginning in August. 
Congrats, @shakespearegirl! Thank you for coming on board and sharing your journey and decision. It is definitely helpful to those of us just learning. My daughter loves your color-coded flash card idea!
Congratulations, @shakespearegirl! NYU sounds perfect for you! I love seeing everyone find thrir place! I admire your stamina amd determination in auditioning for 23 schools. Love the helpful tips for future auditioners too!
@Notmommarose, thanks so much for the kind words and the opinion on Hartt! I really appreciate it! (And I love your line “I am still recovering from the audition months myself” - it’s so true, it’s such a stressful ordeal! I think we all deserve a vacation lying on a beach sipping mimosas, lol!)
Congratulations, @shakespearegirl. I am so happy you found your place. And what a place you found! NYU -NYC - so awesome!!! And thanks for the list - those are really practical tips and I agree with all of them. Keep in touch and let us know what it’s like to be a freshman in the big city.
@shakespearegirl So happy for you! Huge congratulations. Tisch is amazing and you’ll get to live in the coolest neighborhood in the most amazing city while you get excellent training and and amazing education. The world is your Oyster!
That list will be incredibly helpful. Very very wise.
Future posters and lurkers heed this list - everything on it is spot on!
@shakespearegirl - congratulations!! You landed a great program and having all those Auditions probably helped each of the auditions. How did you film prescreens? You recommend going “rough” as I also recommended, but wondering for future cc-ers what you did. Thanks!
Thank you all so much! @CaMom13 @NoMoreDrama @actorparent1 @ginaf1102 @laylamom @MomofJ5
@MomofJ5 I filmed my prescreens on my phone but I wish I knew more about the technical side going in. My mom and I are not tech-savvy at all so I think we messed up a little on the direction and lighting part of it.
@actorparent1 @rutgersmom321 great stories! I so enjoyed following everyone’s journeys this year. You won’t believe how fast this next year will go. My D arrived home Friday…freshman year is over! I feel like I just wrote our Final Decision story!
Well I am a one finger typer and I tend to go off on tangents and I know I’ll forget things but I would like to share our journey. My daughters name isn’t Layla and my brain feels like a sieve but here goes-
A very small non- performing arts HS. I would almost say un-arts because they are terrible in this regard. They have good academics and a very diverse and lovely community. They have a tiny black box theatre. They do a musical every year and also a play. Everyone gets a part…it’s like that. My daughter made THE MOST of this. She really has poured herself into every production since about the fifth grade. She knew it wasn’t the best but she always gave it her all.
My daughter had only school plays and musicals and one community theatre ensemble listed on her resume (performance wise). It was pretty thin haha. I say this so up and comers know that it is really OK. She did study dance (all kinds) at a local conservatory about 4 days a week from about 4th grade until the end of Junior year. She began as a dancer. In middle school did summer intensives-3 weeks at American Academy of Ballet (on SUNY Purchase campus) . When she entered HS her passion morphed and it was all about wanting to act. She also began private voice with a local but very experienced teacher and did well. She is a developing singer. She has a lovely, strong voice but lacks a bit of confidence there.
I’m a widowed single Mom so I needed help with our journey. I looked into the names I had learned here on CC and we went with MTCA. They were a WONDERFUL choice for us. I love them and we could not have done this without their help. They were like a partner for me as a parent and I appreciated this so much. We struggle financially and they understood and were helpful. I love Ellen and Leo and my daughters acting teacher Ryan. They were amazing. They saw my girl…they understood her and they helped us both.
Summer Intensives- knew we would need 'cuz our HS and area not great…
Emerson pre-college Musical Theatre (5 wks as a rising Junior).
Stella Adler Teen Conservatory (5 wks. rising Senior) Both were wonderful in very different ways. I would have done something much shorter the summer before the college stuff were I to do it again though. End of summer was jammed and stressed.
D participated in Masterclass weekend with MTCA in late august. Highly recommend. She realized that she loved the learning, exploring and working her monologues more than the singing (or dancing). She also really felt the straight acting kids were her tribe. I’m sure some of the AMAZING singers floored her and she likely felt she wasn’t quite where they were as well.
She made a firm decision (also loving her Adler experience) to go for the Acting BFA and not MT. She did one MT audition at Emerson (this is where they thought she should be based on her summer there).
Daughter and I were both prepared for lots of rejection. I’d been reading CC since she was a Freshman and the numbers are so staggering. So we applied to (too) many schools
Applied- Columbia College of Chicago, Drew (these were safeties) DePaul, Purchase, CMU, Juilliard, Emerson, Baldwin Wallace, Elon, Marymount Manhattan, NYU/Tisch, Pace, UNCSA, U of Arts, U of Minn. Guthrie, Ithaca, BU
pre screens- Elon (early), Ithaca, CMU, DePaul, Syracuse (didn’t list because she never finished supplements), Pace
Passed- Elon, CMU, Pace, Syracuse
Did not pass- DePaul, Ithaca (early rejections sting but I believe were somehow also helpful)
*Future CC’ers. Do not need to spend $$ on pre-screens but DO make sure they are strong. Our homemade for Elon was far better than the unexciting ones done by a “pro”. The natural light and the iphone on a tripod works very well. My daughters pre-screens were pretty sub-par. We were eager to get them done and we rushed it and also did not trust our instincts. Just make sure to capture their essence and what makes them special.
We did first audition in early Nov. Elon and she was accepted EA not long after. That was worth it’s weight in gold. She could let go of the uninspiring safeties. Her experience was very positive and she really liked it there. The next was Emerson MT on campus and then Baldwin Wallace. These were all a yes and this was a huge confidence builder. We were happily shocked.
During NY Unifieds she did Guthrie (poker faced woman freaked her out)- she did not like the feel in the room and no call back- great program though. Marymount, NYU and Pace (fun- did get call back). Loved her NYU audition and interview…good vibe.
Somewhere around this time we squeezed in Juilliard. No callback. Very stressful day and experience. It was just an off time. No Annette Bening (I love her).
We did some at Chicago Unifieds at Palmer House and Hyatt. D loved it being very condensed like that. It was great to have MTCA people there for moral support and she had a great coaching session when we arrived with a truly magical woman who was beyond helpful.
Loved the BU info session but her audition was with the young man and it was very short. She wished it was with Mckaela (I butchered that spelling I think) .
Also did U of Arts, CMU, and fell head over heals for UNCSA (best info session and audition for her).
Early on she got acceptances- Elon, BW, Emerson MT. This held her and really helped ease the sting of the coming rejections.
Juilliard, CMU, Guthrie.
She knew when she left Chicago that UNCSA was for her. It became the dream. After the info session with Quin Gordon and Scott Zigler she was aglow.
The waiting months are awful. I know we had some early nice ones but she knew that she wanted the super strong Conservatory programs and they were rejecting her. She was confused. I was in a perpetual state of worry but my kids would say that that is my nature and I know they’re right.
D did her school musical in the tiny black box theatre. Rehearsals began after Unifieds and all she had left was Purchase (we slipped that in- it was a nice closing audition- felt good) The timing was great for diverting and shifting focus. She was Sally in Cabaret and she relished it. She seemed to pour the angst of this insane process into that.
The worst was the week when UNCSA calls were happening. It was awful. Her phone glued to her side and she was shut down emotionally. Her rejection letter when it came was kind and different encouraging her to reapply next year. It was still the most pined for rejection and it hurt a lot.
Then a Tisch acceptance- not expected but was very exciting. She really began embracing this idea. Than a Purchase waitlist than AT THE MID-END OF APRIL a call from Quin Gordon and an acceptance from UNCSA. Whoever thought this happens?! Exuberance and joy unconfined - a quick trip to NC. An acceptance call from Purchase but by then there was no other school for her in her eyes. We’ve had a challenging decade and I did not expect this extraordinary
wonderfulness but we’ll take it…gratefully.
Final Decision- UNCSA BFA Acting
Never in a MILLION YEARS did we see that coming and we both still feel as if it can’t be real.
Anything can happen.
Advice for future cc’ers:
Balanced school list
No audition school is a safety
Your wonderful kid will hurt because rejection sucks, especially from beloved programs
There IS light a at the end of the tunnel.
Be very prepared, Start early, Do some early auditions.
There will be highs and dreadful lows
The talent pool is fierce!! AMAZING TALENTED KIDS!
Protect your heart
Ground yourselves often
Know that they can handle it and often better than we can
Thank you CC fam for sharing your amazing journeys and I’m SORRY I RAMBLED ON SO…
@laylamom What an exciting ending!! I’m so thrilled for your daughter! I remembered her wanting Purchase for a long time. My son did too (for a very long time) but after the acceptance he had grown to look at the programs and really see where he fit in during a few accepted days. I’m so happy for her! I know that she will do well. I can’t wait to see how she lands after school. Hopefully it’s on the Big Screen right along with @FourStars beautiful daughter. Congrats again!
@shakespearegirl what a ride!! congratulations! It looks like you’ve landed exactly where you’re supposed to be. There is nothing like NYC when you’re young and creating a future.
I LOVE your story @Laylamom! I love her drive and determination in seeking out training even though her high school wasn’t strong in arts. So inspiring!
My absolute favorite thing is the unexpected last-minute acceptance to the dream school after the initial rejection! It’s like a fairy tale happy ending - so magical! I love that they saw something special in her and she stayed in their mind, so when the slot opened up, they knew it was hers!
You have been such a kind and supportive presence on the board - you and your D deserve every happiness, especially after going through tough times. Congratulations!!!
Thank you @actingdreams so much and @actorparent1 our girls have both been so resilient and focused…I recognized this in your journey. I know both of your amazing actors will grow and astonish. I really really really want our year to have a FB page so we can stay in touch, support and celebrate. I do not know how. I’m hoping we will do this before years end. We all deserve a damn medal !!!
Yay @laylamom ! What an inspiring beautiful story!! Congrats to your D!