Congrats @okpackers’ S - sounds like a perfect fit!
@okpackers Belmont is a WONDERFUL school! Our friend is president there and their MT and overall music program is both nurturing and challenging. Kudos to your son for finding the best place to integrate his faith and learning!
Congrats @okpackers Belmont is beautiful! You must have been there in January when we were there so much snow on the ground it was gorgeous!
Background: My S attends a public high school with a very good drama/musical club, but they do not offer any acting or theater classes or training. Member of high school select choirs selected for All-State, All-Eastern and All-National High School Honor Choirs. White male tenor with a young boy next door look, mature voice, average height and slim build. Nothing “unique” about his look. Began performing in 4th grade. Performed in school, community and regional professional productions plays and musicals, as well as a Public Service Announcement and a print/billboard ad campaign. Also participated in special events such as Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade and three NY Pops Annual Galas at Carnegie Hall. Pulled back from performing outside of high school productions in his junior and senior year so he could focus on training and auditions.
Training: Voice lessons since 5th grade (combination of classical and musical theater). Dance lessons since 9th grade. Began working with an acting coach on monologues for college auditions in Spring semester of Junior year. Also attended broadway workshops (acting/audition/dance) in middle school and early high school.
Summer Pre-College Intensives: New York State Summer School of the Arts School of Theatre (before junior year) and Carnegie Mellon School of Drama Pre-College (before senior year).
Coach: None
Schools: Applied to 20 schools. We cast a wide net. He was mostly interested in reach schools and at a visit at Penn State when he was a junior, she said a boy who can dance is a great thing, but apply to at least 12-15 schools. With the number of reach schools he had on his list, we felt we had to add additional schools so that he didn’t end up without any options.
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Baldwin Wallace – This was not originally on his radar, but got added after talking to other kids about where they were applying over the summer. Auditioned on campus. He really loved the director and the program and we saw In the Heights which was amazing. Accepted Academically. Rejected artistically.
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Boston Conservatory – Auditioned on campus. This was the only true conservatory he applied to and we weren’t sure how he was going to feel about it. But, he loved this school after the audition experience. He really connected with the director, faculty and students. Accepted without a scholarship. This ended up being his 4th choice as he decided that he wanted a more traditional college (vs conservatory) experience and he was concerned with the size of the class (approx. 60 students), plus without a scholarship it was the most expensive school in the end (even more than NYU).
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Carnegie Mellon – Visited his junior year and during campus tour, he turned to us and said this feels like home (before he had even seen the performing arts building and meeting with the Drama School) to which our reply was this is the hardest school to get into in the country, don’t get your heart set on it. Attended Pre-College for six weeks and loved the school, program and Pittsburgh. Definitely his top choice, but they were very honest that of the 93 MT kids, at the most 1 but probably none would be accepted. Auditioned on campus. He walked out of audition and said well I’m not getting in for MT. This was based on not being asked to sing additional songs or go to sing for the other person and seeing his score for singing at his monologue audition. When the decisions came out he was rejected. Not as disappointing as you would think since he already had written it off after the audition.
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Cincinnati Conservatory of Music – Visited his junior year but when we showed up for the visit the school was actually closed due to ice after a snow storm. The admissions team was there and did take us up to the President’s Office to get an aerial view of the campus. He actually loved the campus. Auditioned on campus. Still loved the campus. Knew the odds were slim as they had 800 applications for a small number of spots and they were pretty clear they’d only accept a couple kids per audition. Rejection came four days later. Honestly appreciated the quick rejection – peel off the band aid and move on! Wish other schools would do that because you know there are kids they know they are rejecting but the kids end up waiting months to find out.
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Elon – Auditioned on campus. His cousin is a current student in the business school and loves this school. This was definitely a great choice. We all loved the campus. He had some mixed vibes at the audition. When he was done singing one of the faculty was staring at him in a funny way. Almost like a surprised way. And the she realized it and said, Oh, that was great. thanks. So he wasn’t sure what that was all about. Accepted Academically. Rejected Artistically.
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Emerson College – First college visit his junior year and first college audition his senior year. Auditioned on campus in November early action. Deferred to regular decision. Regular decision Wait List. This was originally a top choice as he has friends that go to Emerson and he loved the program and facilities (everything is very new). Plus he loves Boston. However, as he got further along in the process, he started really started leaning towards wanting a true college campus which Emerson doesn’t have which put it lower on his list.
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Florida State – Visited junior year and loved the school and campus. We visited the day before Thanksgiving so we weren’t able to meet with the Theatre department. Passed Pre-Screen. Auditioned on campus. We saw Legally Blonde opening night and were impressed. Academically Accepted with 50% out of state tuition waiver. Accepted artistically. He received the phone call while he was at rehearsal for his school musical. He called me immediately after he got off the phone with FSU and the excitement in his voice was undeniable. It was clear from the day he got that phone call that this was the school to beat and that every acceptance from that point forward would be weighed against FSU. He has a couple friends who are in the Theatre department (1 acting and 1 musical theatre) so he was able to get good information from them on the program. After he was accepted we went back and visited so he could sit in on classes.
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Hartt – Auditioned on campus in December. Thought the audition went well but not the best as his voice cracked on his song. Unexpectedly received a phone call two days later saying that he was accepted. (We didn’t expect to hear until mid-January.) While not at the top of his list, it’s a great program and it was his first BFA MT acceptance and his reaction was a relieved at least I know I am going to school for a BFA in MT. A nice surprise early in the process. The theatre building is off campus but does have campus dining on site.
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Ithaca College – Visited junior year and loved the campus and program. He knows a couple current students. It’s my alma mater, so I’m definitely partial. Passed Pre-Screen. Auditioned at NYC Unifieds during blizzard because all the on campus auditions conflicted with other on campus auditions. He felt the audition went well. Wait List.
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Muhlenberg – Visited as a Junior. This was definitely his safety so he decided to wait to audition for a talent scholarship to see if he had acceptances at other programs first. After the Hartt acceptance, he chose not to audition as he knew he would choose Hartt over Muhlenberg. Accepted.
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Northwestern – Safety in terms of no audition, but a reach academically. Rejected.
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NYU Tisch – Auditioned on campus. Didn’t love the audition experience honestly, although he felt the audition went really well. The building is older and the floors (including the dance floor) “creak.” And the personality of the faculty in the audition rooms were a little too laid back for him. Plus by that point he was really leaning towards a traditional campus and was thinking he wanted to wait to be in NYC until after graduation. Accepted with a nice scholarship and placed in New School on Broadway studio. Attended NYU accepted students weekend and saw Kiss Me Kate. He was impressed with the show and ended up really liking the school, students and faculty. It was a totally different experience and feeling than his audition. And he was surprised by how much more of a campus feel it had than he thought it would have being in the city. Washington Square really becomes almost the campus center. This ended up being his 3rd choice. His biggest concern was size of class (64 in his studio) and he really wanted the traditional college campus vs being directly in NYC.
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Pace – Passed Pre-Screen. Auditioned on campus during the NYC blizzard. Accepted academically to Honors College with large scholarship. Rejected artistically. He has a friend that goes to Pace and his voice teacher has connections to Pace. This was disappointing as it wasn’t the outcome he expected, but by that time he was leaning towards a more traditional college campus and waiting to be in NYC until after graduation so he was okay with it.
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Penn State – Visited Junior year and loved the campus and program which is amazing since we actually toured the campus in -26 degree windchill and snow. Passed Pre-Screen. Auditioned on campus. The day before auditions, the students were invited to sit in on several classes and meet with the new director. Great opportunity to see the school, experience the classes, meet the other students. Definitely worth auditioning on campus and going the day before. It confirmed that this was a school he could see himself at. Excited about the changes the new director is making and his connections to NYC. The audition went well and he was excited when he was one of only 4 boys invited to stay for an interview. But when he auditioned, he knew that 6 boys had already been accepted from earlier auditions so he wasn’t really sure there were even any spots left for him. This was always one of his top schools so he was hoping that he would at least be offered a wait list spot. Accepted academically. Rejected artistically. Definitely a heartbreaker.
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Point Park – This was added because friends were applying here and it was in Pittsburgh and he loved the summer he spent in Pittsburgh. Accepted academically with a nice scholarship. Cancelled audition after he was accepted at Hartt as he couldn’t see himself going there over Hartt.
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Rider – He has friends that attend Rider. 1 is a freshmen who loves it and 1 transferred to another school the spring of sophomore year. So he was getting mixed messages about the school which made him question whether to audition. Auditioned in NYC Unifieds during Blizzard because their on campus audition dates conflicted with audition dates at other schools. Academically Accepted with a nice scholarship. Accepted artistically about a week after Unifieds.
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Shenandoah – This was a last minute add to the application process as a family friend recommended applying as their friend attends the school and loves it. Passed Pre-Screen. Auditioned in NYC Unifieds during Blizzard because on campus auditions conflicted with other auditions. Felt the audition went well. Wait list.
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Syracuse U – Visited as a junior and said during the campus tour that he could definitely see himself there. And then we went down to the Theatre building which is actually the Syracuse Stage building many blocks down a steep hill off campus. It’s an older building and there is no SU dining available in the building. He wasn’t sure how he would like that in winter or when he’d be spending all day in that building without food. So that moved it lower on his list. Passed Pre-Screen. Auditioned on campus. Had a great audition experience and connected with a couple of current students. Accepted with a nice scholarship. Went to see Spitfire Grill and he was impressed by the production. Went back again for SU accepted students Own the Dome (kids sleep overnight in the dome with other accepted students) and he sat in on a couple of MT classes. This ended up being his 2nd choice. He really liked the students and program. It’s a medium size program (23 MT students) in a large university on a traditional campus. The added bonuses are the ability for a term abroad in London as well as the Tepper Semester in NYC the spring semester of senior year and the affiliation with Syracuse Stage. His concerns were still the distance between the theater and campus and dorms, the lack of food, the age of the facilities and the weather (even though he lives in upstate NY).
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Texas State – Not on his original list since it was so far away. Added after his acting coach did a college webcast talk with Kaitlin and he really liked her and what she shared. Passed Pre-Screen. Auditioned on campus. Accepted academically to Honors College with in-state tuition scholarship. He fell in love with Texas State during his audition. Large university with a small MT program (12-14) and a nice campus. I have to say, Kaitlin is the nicest and most personable director you’ll ever meet. She walked up right up to him the night before the audition at a workshop they hold for auditioning students. She already knew his name. She made him feel welcome. It is clear that she and Jim have a very personal relationship with every student and the students love them. The students are a cross section of real people not a set type which was nice to see. His audition went really well. They asked him to do another monologue and asked him to sing a pop song which was a good sign based on what others said. Jim actually came up to him after the audition and said that he really enjoyed that audition and he was a great actor. The dance person came up to him and asked him who he studied with and commented on how impressed she was. He left feeling great about his chances. That night we saw Spelling Bee and were really impressed with the production. The next day he received notice that he was one of 40 priority hold. He was so happy. A week later, he was in the first group of 20 to be released from the Priority Hold. Talk about a roller coaster, another heartbreaker.
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U Michigan – Rejected Pre-Screen for MT. The pre-screen rejection was honestly upsetting. He passed every other pre-screen and everyone else he knew passed their pre-screen. His voice teachers and acting coach were equally confused as they felt his pre-screen should have passed. He has a more classical sounding voice which they are known for liking and he’s a strong dancer which they are also known for liking. They are known for being sticklers on following pre-screen directions or having your pre-screen rejected instantly. We’re still wondering if something was submitted wrong on the pre-screen. We know we did attach the wrong resume format as they changed the requirement from a standard resume to a resume with additional information required after we had pulled the requirements in mid-August. But, would that really be enough to reject? Or was it something they saw or didn’t see in the pre-screen? We’ll never know.
Final Decision: Florida State University. As he went through this process, it became clear that he wanted a small intensive BFA musical theatre program in a large university on a traditional college campus which is exactly what he gets at FSU! And the warm weather doesn’t hurt either. He loved the campus on our very first visit. He really liked the freshmen and junior musical theatre students he met while sitting in on classes and he really felt like the teaching style he saw in classes would work for him. The accepted MT students also had a group chat and he really felt like he connected with the other accepted students and that he could see himself being friends with them. In the end, it came down to Syracuse and FSU and his gut said that FSU is where he was supposed to be.
@SeekingMT - BOOMER SOONER!!! Welcome to the OUMT family!!! Your story reminds me some of our journey. OU was not super high on D’s list. Then, she visited and saw La Cage aux Folles. Talk about being blown away by a college production! Until she stepped foot on their campus, she had not felt that “click” people mention, not even in the school she had up to that point thought was her dream school. One year later, my D is happy as a clam with her decision. This school has been such a blessing in her life. A perfect fit for her artistically and academically and our family financially. She feels valued and wanted and has already grown quite a bit as a performer. FIT is the magic word as far as I am concerned! May all our kids be blessed with their special fit in life, not just college!
@MTMom98, really love your format of breaking it down by school. I might imitate that myself! And congratulations on having a decision made!
@boatmom thanks, I was worried it was too long!
Well, I didn’t think so 
Someone wrote a hugely long one once, and I found it fascinating. Kid really wanted Texas, ended up at Ithaca – it was quite the saga! Well written, too!
@MTMom89, big fan of long posts here!
@MTMom98 I really LOVED the format of your post! Very informative and enjoyed reading it! Congrats to you and your son!
Agreed - I LOVED that saga @boatmom
@MTMom98, I also enjoyed reading your post. For all the time we spend on this process, I think a detailed story is appropriate. Congrats to you and your son!
I agree that the detailed stories are most appropriate and the most fun! Keep these decision posts coming, everyone–long or short!
Jumping in the fray of final decision sagas!
D Applied to: Ball State, Belmont, Coastal Carolina, NYU - Tisch (all studios), Northern Colorado, Ohio Northern, Pace, Rider, Sam Houston State, TCU, Texas State, University of Alabama at Birmingham, University of Central Oklahoma, Miami (FL), University of Oklahoma, University of Texas at Arlington, Western Michigan, Wright State
Academically accepted to all except for TCU (she withdrew her app after artistic rejection).
Auditioned for but did not academically apply to (b/c application requirement was waived for one reason or another and/or decided not to pursue after audition): Drake, Montclair, Viterbo
Did not audition for Belmont
Prescreens - Coastal (passed), NoCO (passed), Texas State (did not pass), Oklahoma (passed), Central Oklahoma (passed)
Artistically Accepted: Ohio Northern, Sam Houston, UAB, Central Oklahoma, Miami, UT Arlington
Artistically Waitlisted: NYU Tisch, Wright State
Final Decision: UAB! (I’m sharing that early for the folks who don’t want to read my ridiculous novel!)
I won’t go into great detail about D’s history & training, but just say that she has taken voice since 2nd grade, was in her first community musical production in 4th grade, participated in a local theatre school for children, attended MTI’s Junior Theatre Festival 4 years, workshopped MTI’s new Peter Pan, Jr. in NYC one summer, attended Texas Musical Theatre Workshop, and took part in every musical production she could in middle school and high school. She attends a large public high school w/strong support for the arts. She has taken part in One Act Play competitions the last 2 years and made the Texas All State Choir this year. It may be important to note that she is a pretty, tallish brunette soprano, so we knew going into this the competition would not just be stiff, but rock hard.
She worked w/Dave Clemmons, whom she met at TXMTW. He saved my sanity more than once in the past 2 years & was an invaluable source for her. She decided early on that she didn’t want to jump into the fray for the “holy trinity” schools so her list is a little different from many of the people posting here. Since she participated in Moonifieds, she had early acceptances, callbacks & painful rejections (Texas State… We knew it was a longshot but MAN that stung…). She had acceptances from ONU & UTA b/f Christmas (nice!). She braved the blizzard of 2016 to audition at NYU Tisch, but developed a frustrating cold as we were leaving for Chicago Unifieds. Chicago was not a complete loss though, w/her voice cooperating beautifully in some rooms (hello, Miami & UAB!), & not in others (sorry you had to hear that, Ball State). She was unhappy with how her callback went at OU, and heard the message someone said above “we are only taking 12 and it’s probably not you…” loud & clear (and that’s OK, b/c her Longhorn granddad probably w/h disowned her if she’d ended up there!). As rejections began pouring in, the second guessing was relentless…but then an acceptance from a school like Miami and wait list from NYU Tisch & Wright, and incredibly encouraging personal emails from UAB, made it better.
As everyone here can attest, weighing options at decision time is agonizing.
-Miami is a well-known program & her walk-in & their dance call at Chicago Unifieds became one of her absolute favorite audition experiences. I can’t tell you how our hearts leapt when we checked her portal & saw she was accepted. However, when the school didn’t come through with merit aid, we just couldn’t justify the price tag (even after they offered her a generous artistic scholarship), b/c we are adamantly opposed to getting significant loans for college. This one will probably give me the most “what ifs” for a long time to come…
-Central OK has a phenomenal faculty - vocal training is top notch (it’s a BM-MT though it is structured like a BFA), & they have a good track record of turning out working actors – it’s a relatively competitive program & she came off their waitlist. We REALLY like their dept head, Greg White. They don’t get enough love on CC - so people, tell your friends to check them out next year. This was our closest option to home, which I liked. Central is pretty generous w/academic $, especially if you live in a border state. Something to think about. When D told Greg she had chosen another school, he was the only one to respond expressing disappointment and wishing her well. That gave me some pangs.
-Sam may be the best kept secret BFA-MT-land. They don’t go to Unifieds but still draw students from outside of Texas. Their faculty is impressive and their facilities are exceptional. We gather that casting directors are fans of the quality of the training & they have lots of working alumni (I have heard them equated to the level of training received at Wright State). Proximity to Houston gives students lots of additional performance opportunities, & it’s inexpensive. This one was also very hard to say “no” to.
-D ruled out ONU and UTA early – they just weren’t fits. We don’t expect her to come off the waitlists at Wright State or NYU, but either way, we felt those were nice affirmations of her talent.
Which brings me to UAB. We had never heard of the school, much less the program, before D signed up for a walk-in with them at Unifieds. Valerie Accetta and Carolyn Violi were so engaging; they took time to give her some direction, ask her questions, and then pulled me into the room to talk more about the school & their plans for the relatively new BFA MT (their BA Acting is well established). We walked away thinking “that was nice, but we have bigger fish to fry this week…” and that was, we though, that. But Valerie emailed D the next Monday w/a personal note that made it clear she remembered her & had taken an interest in her. There is absolutely something to feeling wanted, so D & DH scheduled a trip to B’ham to check it out. When she visited the campus, she was torn between Central, Sam, & Miami, but the weekend mad UAB not just a contender, but sealed the deal. She loved their production of Spring Awakening, the class she observed, & the facilities. Not to mention the fact that the departments seemed to work well together, and Valerie (who my husband grilled with every question ever asked about an MT program) answered every question to our satisfaction.
In the end, “fit” was absolutely the determining factor…she felt at home…so much so that the fact the program is not “renowned” just didn’t matter anymore. Also, she adored Birmingham. If you had told me a year ago we would be sending our daughter 4 states away to a school that was not on our list, much less our radar, at the beginning of this process, and that we would forego a bigger name school w/an established reputation, I would have told you you were crazy. But she’s excited and ready to be there NOW. Go Blazers!!!
@mtmom98
I loved the way you broke it down. Was so informative and helpful! My daughter is a junior and we went on a spring trip and had exactly the same feelings about Syracuse , Boco, CMU . I wanted to ask you a few questions about the CMU summer program. D is going there this summer. Are the teachers actually the teachers you audition for? Do you feel S recieved good training and was prepared for auditions? When we walked in D said the same thing yours did… This is home. I had the same reaction to her you did to S!! … It’s a lotto don’t get set on it! But she loved Boco and Ithaca. Emerson and Syracuse… She Had similar Reactions to campus your S did. But actually I think a lot of it is who actually gives you the tour! ( and walking the mile in the rain to the theatre at Syracuse didn’t help) But you helped put many on our list that we will be looking at. Did your S only want mt or would he have considered and acting/ theatre Bfa? TIA! Everyone’s posts Are so educational! Moniter should this be moved off this thread? Sorry
@WTXMom glad to hear even more positives about UAB. My D spoke with them @ SETC after her junior audition & it’s looking like she’ll audition there this fall… It’s a bit far away though…
@musicmama123 He would tell you that CMU Pre-College was the best six weeks of his life. While it didn’t get him into CMU, it definitely prepared him for auditions. Most of the faculty at auditions (but not all) were faculty at Pre-college. The woman he sang for at his audition was at Pre-College but was not one of his teachers so she didn’t know him. He had requested to go into the other audition room where the accompanist was one of his teachers at Pre-College, because he really wanted them to see his growth since Pre-College. But unfortunately, the student brought him into the other room when the door opened and he didn’t feel like he could remind her at that point that she said he would be next in the other room (he was disappointed but perhaps a good lesson in the need to stand up and advocate for yourself which he did not do). Who he auditioned for wouldn’t have changed the outcome, but I think it would have been a more positive experience to get validation from the faculty for what he had done (he worked extremely hard in that 6 months to improve in all the areas they recommended, including following their recommendation to get a more advanced musical theatre style voice teacher). In addition to everything he learned at Pre-College, he met a lot of great kids several of whom are now very close friends of his even though they live in different parts of the country. Feel free to message me for more info about the summer program. He always knew he wanted a BFA in Musical Theatre, but he did pre-screen and audition for BFA Acting programs at a few of his top schools. He passed all 4 pre-screens for acting, but did not get accepted to any of those BFA Acting programs after auditioning. But honestly we kind of expected that as he’s definitely strongest in singing and dancing. Good luck to you and your daughter next year!
Ditto for my D at CMU last summer, @MTMom98! The best part for her was the detailed feedback she received (both in class over the summer and from the panel at the end). It served her very well throughout the audition season.