Another terrific “homecoming” after a long arduous journey. Congrats!
Congratulations @MontclairDiva and @MVYMom
@MVYMom are you sure about that dance minor at Pace? My daughter is a Commercial Dance major there and I am certain there is no dance minor. Unless there’s something special for the BFA FTVC…
@TaylorsmomWI, I have thought the same thing. Our school makes a big deal about athletes signing to play any sport for any division. There is a reception, there is a photographer, people give speeches, and tears are shed. As it should be, it’s a long road, too. But, as the parent of kids involved in the arts and not in sports, I found myself asking, “Do you know the odds of the BFA MT world?” They are clueless and should be celebrating these kids just the same!
@marg928 - She was told she would have to audition, but that she could have a dance minor if she was in the school of the arts.
@TNMTDAD , my D was just saying the same thing last week after watching her school fawn over the athletes. She’s the first in her school district ever to be accepted into a BFA MT program but even her theater director acts like it’s not that big a deal.
So…I am seeing a pattern of Montclair auditions being annoying…and that they dont contact in a timely manner afterward…did previous people auditioning there have not that great experiences?
@theatrework–Yes, Montclair was my son’s worst audition. He was rushed into the vocal audition directly from the dance call, only to see one of the auditors pick up his phone and start texting throughout his audition! He was so angry when he came out that he swore he wouldn’t go there. We received no notification and had to call to find out he was rejected, yet we still received emails and a phone call to remind him to accept university admission by May 1. I’ve heard wonderful things about Montclair and I’m sure they are all true, but the audition experience needs consistency.
@theaterwork, impressions seem very mixed. My son loved his audition on campus at Montclair. They spent a lot of time with him and he didn’t feel rushed. Everything was well organized and on time, and the students helping out were friendly and kind. The dance call was great. The auditors were very gracious, and sent him a decision within two weeks. So our experience was entirely positive. But clearly others weren’t so lucky.
Auditions just seem to be such a very individual thing. 5 minutes after my son emerged steaming mad from his Rider audition, a girl bounced out beaming, saying gleefully, “I nailed it!” Clearly she felt she had had a terrific audition, with the very same people who had rubbed my son the wrong way.
In short, the whole process is all just so weird and unpredictable. I wouldn’t rule any school out – or in – based on anecdotes about other people’s audition experiences.
@MVYMom wow I had no idea. I looked at the website and they don’t list it as a program but under the FAQ they said MT students who are advanced in dance can minor in Commercial Dance. My HS Junior D is looking into the Acting for Film/VO major at Pace
Just a general note. We found campus auditions to be a totally different animal than Unifieds:) We also found that the older more established programs had their Unifeids figured out in terms of organization and making kids feel welcome, Some of the younger programs were clearly playing catch up to the demand. We only did 8 auditions so a very limited exposure to the process, 4 on campus and 4 at Unifieds.
This is out of order. I am replying to @artsykidsmom about schools being clueless about getting into the arts programs. Our daughter had the same experience, her counselors had no idea or told her, well if you have not been pursuing this since the age of 8 then forget it. None of her classmate have any idea of what it involves.But frankly a year ago neither did we:)
@boatmom - The day we were at Montclair they had an afternoon performance and I think everyone wanted to get out before the call. It doesn’t change the feeling she got from the experience but it explains it. If other people were there that day, I’m sure they had the same experience. I would suggest to anyone who is really interested in Montclair try not to go on a day they have a performance, also since it is rolling admissions earlier in the process is probably better. Our audition was at the end of Feb. and I think they had filled lots of their spots. For my D it wasn’t the right fit, if she was meant to go there, it would have gone differently. Congrats on your son finding his fit at Montclair.
@MVYMom We auditioned at Unified’s and my kid had a fine experience but they were not the most organized and we also had to email them to find out a decision. I know the auditor at the LA Unifieds was very nice but they were a bit disorganized with the whole application/audition process. I agree with the rolling auditions they may be one to audition for early:).We really like the program, but did not get a yes.
My son is finishing his Freshman year at Montclair. He auditioned on campus mid February of last year. There were many people auditioning that day so the halls were crowded. He did his song and monologue first. They also had him sing for range and I believe they asked him a few questions about music theory. They also discussed his resume with him. After he had his dance audition…first Theater dance, then they had an additional dance call for those with who tap. My son enjoyed his audition at Montclair and felt like he “connected” with the auditors.
My son got his acceptance letter about two weeks after the audition. However, when he was first applying to the school…before he set up the auditions…it is true that the admissions office had some mix up with his applications. We had to call them to get it all straightened out. So for a while, in the beginning we were in the dark a bit about what was needed and what they had. Finally, my son’s guidance had to call them and get everything straightened out. But the Admissions Office is separate from the Theater department. We learned that if there is EVER a problem with the applications…or you seem to be waiting a long time CALL them. They deal with many, many applications.
I’m glad we did get it all straightened out. My son is very happy there
FWIW. our daughter got her school admit and a generous merit scholarship promptly. You are right, calling is always a good idea.
It seems that maybe Montclair is good about contacting admitted students (logically), but not those not admitted sometimes. My D had to call admissions 3 times before receiving a decision, and they kept saying different parts of her file were missing even though everything had been turned in early in the fall. We’d re-send one part of her file, and they would say her file was complete, then we wouldn’t hear a decision, D would call again, and the whole thing would start again. We had to send her transcript 2-3 times in addition to the original time in the fall, each time after getting confirmation that they had it and all was good with her file. It was frustrating. However, I wouldn’t base my impression of them artistically or even academically on that.
In the audition room at Unifieds, it was organized, but there was absolutely no spark between my D and the auditors (in either direction), so she wasn’t shocked or bothered much by the rejection. That’s such a personal thing that is different for everyone, though, and not feeling a spark is not a sign that one won’t get into a program or even necessarily that it will not be a fit later if admitted.
Just this year, someone on this forum who had high hopes for UArts had a completely flat, disappointing audition experience there, whereas it was one of my D’s favorite auditions because she connected so much to the auditor. That happens everywhere, and example after example could be given. I admit, though, that, last year, I was glad that D didn’t audition for two schools that had more a few or more auditioners in tears or steaming mad at mean comments made during the auditions and the arrogant attitude presented by the auditors.
@theaterwork I did a walk-in for Montclair last Chicago Unifieds and they ended up losing my headshot and resume (in May) so I never got a result and also, they did not specify what they wanted to see in the room! So I had to awkwardly ask the auditor what he wanted to see. I was disappointed after paying a good amount money for the walk-in/university application.
That being said, one of my friends had a very pleasant on campus audition… So who knows.
Thanks to all who have shared their stories! We discovered cc a little late in the process, the advice and information here has been so helpful the last few months. Here is our story…
Background: My daughter has been doing musical theatre for about 7 years. Earlier on we knew she had natural musical ability, but didn’t focus on music until much later. She was a normal kid - took dance, played a variety of sports, and school came pretty easy for her. It wasn’t until middle school that music and theatre began to be her thing. I actually suggested she take voice lessons, and try for the middle school choral ensemble which she did and loved! From there, she started doing community theatre and took off. After that time just never allowed for dance, will get to that a little later.
She was already a pretty seasoned performer by high school. Had been leads in a lot of children’s community theatre and middle school productions. We live in an area where there is basically no professional theatre opportunity and no PA high schools. However, she has been fortunate to attend a public hs with an excellent program and director. The house will typically sell out for the annual musical(3 shows @1000 seats) and has a great local reputation. She was cast as a lead in all of her hs productions, which left little time for any outside activities other than voice lessons which were sporadic. Summers were spent doing local community theatre and during soph-jr year she attended our state’s governor’s school for mt. She did local competitions a few times and won a scholarship and some awards, did all east and all state chorus for several years. All in all, she has been in about 12 productions through community theatre and school over the last 7 years. Took voice for 7 years. Took some dance classes, private and semi private, just to have basic skills. She considers herself a “mover”. This made dance calls pretty interesting to say the least…
Applied: 15 schools total
Original list: CCM, Pace, CMU, Shenandoah, Michigan, Texas State, FSU, Juilliard, University of Memphis(instate), Baldwin Wallace (video audition), Northwestern, BoCo, and added Penn State, Ithaca bc she finished apps ahead of schedule.
Walk in: Manhattan School of Music
Prescreens: Passed all
Accepted artistically: Shenandoah, Pace, BoCo, Memphis, MSM
Priority Hold: Texas State (released)
Waitlist: Baldwin Wallace (released)
FSU: Withdrew
Coach: Local voice teacher and hs mt director only
Summer programs: Gov school instate
Auditions…
BoCo: On campus, went pretty well overall. Fell in dance call, but had fun and made a lot of friends here that she followed throughout the process. Would have liked it here, was accepted with scholarship but still too much $ in the end.
NYC /Unifieds: Juillard, went well, no callback. Shenandoah, went well. She really clicked with faculty and loved this program(one of the few we visited ahead of time). Dance call was very positive and fun. Ithaca went fine, nothing good/bad either way here. Penn State, did not go well. With the blizzard she was late, had the wrong shoes, and a terrible experience in the dance call. The auditors did not even look at her during her audition. Pace was the last NYC audition and it went great. It came right after the Penn audition and so spirits were not great going in but she was ecstatic when she came out. Had a great connection with faculty and students(we had also visited 2 years prior and loved the school itself). Dance call was difficult but had a positive and supportive feel. Funny story here, she got to Pace and discovered her leotard was missing. Someone at Pearl had warned the kids that to keep up with their stuff, that kids sabotage each other by taking their stuff! Who knows if that really happened or in a fluster she dropped it but at any rate, I stripped off my own cami off and gave it to her for the dance call! She was ready to throw in the towel but everyone there was so nice, helped me find her and give it to her just in time.
Chicago Unifieds: First rejection came before we left. Penn State. I did not tell her until after her auditions were finished. Then came Ithaca while we were there. Again, did not tell her until after the last audition. Here she had the “trinity”. CCM, Michigan and CMU. She had visited CCM in the fall and thought she would love it, but didn’t feel it while there. The audition confirmed this, not good/bad just eh. First audition in Chicago was MSM, a last minute walk in at my request. I had just heard about the new program and thought since she had extra time it would be a good idea to add. It went fantastic and she loved Luis Perez. Then came Michigan, another great audition. CMU was probably one of her best, she was vocalized and asked to sing Summertime. She auditioned for Gary and he wrote a lot of stuff down. But knew it was a long shot.
Texas: Long story short. Originally planned to do this one in Chicago but after some really nice emails from Kaitlin Hopkins and a large academic scholarship to Texas State, she wanted to go in person to audition. Problem was … she had to cancel the Baldwin Wallace audition to do it. I didn’t like this idea, but it was her decision ultimately. She sent a video submission to BW and we hopped a plane to Texas. As many others have said, Texas leaves you feeling very warm and fuzzy. Would have loved for her to go there. Great show and facility, the town was great too. I for sure fell in love there, but she wasn’t all in and was surprised she got a ph there. If she had gotten in, we would have probably pushed for Texas. But ultimately she was released. She got her first acceptance while we were in Texas, which was Shenandoah.
The biggest surprise came when she was wait listed at BW from her video anyway. I think she would have liked that program had we visited. We tried to go but with her performance schedule, time did not allow. She was released from the wait list at the end of April. By then she had already narrowed her choices down to 3.
Acceptances: A few days after the Texas trip she called me with news. I thought for sure it was Texas, but it was Bob Cline from Pace. She had been accepted! She was thrilled! Later, mixed rejections, most were no surprises. Final audition at Memphis was late in the season, with acceptance following. This is an up and coming program to watch for. I was impressed with the program, they offer quite a bit of scholarship money and the school itself is reasonably priced. BoCo and MSM acceptances followed.
Decision time: Came down to 3, MSM, Pace and Shenandoah. Then narrowed it to NYC, she always wanted to be there from our first visit till the very end. Loved MSM and Luis Perez but just could not beat the deal at Pace. Biggest offer (she large academic scholarships there) and the location, faculty, and students were all a fit.
Final Decision: Pace!
Our Montclair experience couldn’t have been better. That being said, I believe there is a bit of a disconnect between the MT Department and the University Admissions Department. Our matriculation to MSU has been very positive thus far.