Final Decisions Background, Class of 2020

Looking forward to reading this thread!

Daughter applied to: Elon, Western Carolina, Coastal Carolina, Ithaca, Texas State, Texas Christian, Belmont, Alabama, CCM, Otterbein, FSU, Ohio Northern, Wright State, Point Park, Roosevelt and Montclair (academically accepted to all- but deferred to spring at Elon)

Prescreens: Passed all 6 prescreens. Filmed at the studio with help of her instructor team.

Artistically Accepted to: Coastal Carolina (BFA MT), Wright State (BFA Acting), Texas Christian (BFA MT), University of Alabama (BA MT), Ohio Northern (BFA MT), Belmont (BFA MT), Western Carolina (BFA MT)

Waitlisted at Ithaca (BFA MT) and Priority Waitlisted Texas State (BFA MT)

Coach: Dave Clemmons

Training: She left public high school her junior year to attend a daytime musical theatre conservatory, P3 at The Performers Warehouse. She took classes online and trained three days a week. It was a big leap for all of us but she is involved in outside activities so we did not have concerns about social life, performance opportunities, etc. After doing this for two years, she knows she wants to do it every day in college. Through the P3 conservatory program, she was exposed to many different acting methods, dance styles, and vocal technique and health. The school hosts showcases to make sure the kids stay on stage and not just train. (I know that has been a hot topic here)In addition she had private acting and vocal lessons weekly. The instructors and administrators are excellent and incredibly knowledgeable about the college audition process. It is a rigorous and challenging program in a positive environment and we will be forever grateful for the friendships she made and the training that she received there!

I started printing curriculums for her the summer of her junior year when she started her audition list. I would white out any names and just let her read over them. Her daytime program also had a good many of them and knew info about the colleges. She knew she wanted a strong acting program, so those stood out for her. Dave Clemmons also was very helpful. I highly recommend him! (and PW if you are in ATL) Dave and her instructor team, really let her be herself through this entire process and make choices where she would likely be a good fit.

Like most, we have had a great time travelling to/from auditions together! We travelled to some as a group too, which was a blast. We have sure seen some beautiful colleges and loved Chicago Unifieds ! This site was very helpful too, knowing that I wasn’t the only one freaking out at times. We have met really great people along the way. PW has alums in tons of programs and I feel sure I will see some of your kids in a performance sometime when we visit other friends.

So….D has chosen a program at the first school she auditioned for and first school to accept her also @rampions! She was notified of her acceptance the first week of December! The campus is lovely, not too big, not too small. It is almost 6 hours away, the perfect distance in our opinion. It is an acting based program, (what she wanted), but is well-rounded in its excellence in dance and vocal training .The on-campus audition experience was top-notch, as many have noted here. The acting, dance, and vocal workshops they attend on audition day really give students a feel for the program. They have a NY showcase for seniors and the graduates work professionally and during the summer. The students and faculty were very welcoming and friendly at auditions and on the tours. She has seen 3 performances there over the last two years and was impressed every time. Her quote yesterday when she told me she was choosing the school and taking her name off another waitlist and emailing her other schools was something to the effect of “they liked me and I love the program.” Something in me knew she was going to go there from the beginning… Proud of my new Coastal Carolina University Chanticleer!

Congrats to your daughter, @crc500. That sounds like a terrific program out of all your good options! And well done to you, for making it through the process with such great results!

Congrats to your D, @crc500!

Congratulations @crc500! I have a home close to CCU, and have seen several of their shows over the years. Wonderful program!

A great story, @crc500 - and yes, so similar to ours! Sometimes the rejections and weird auditions and all those things just serve, eventually, to make the path clearer and that’s most important in the end.

This thread is lonely. I-) Come on. We can’t wait to read these happy endings. <:-P

Congrats @rampions and @crc500 -happy endings & great journeys!!

Our journey… I can 100% say that I had no idea what this process would be like. I did not know about college confidential or that college coaches existed. My daughter picked all of the schools she wanted to audition for on her own. She had a list of 16 which I originally thought was crazy… the cost and the amount of time traveling seemed overwhelming so we had her cut her list down. I don’t remember which ones she cut with the exception of Penn State (of course!!! My husband works for PS Hershey medical center and we would have gotten a 70% tuition break). She just really didn’t want to go there! I think because so many people from her high school go there as the med center employs so many. She completed her applications fairly early, but didn’t film her pre-screens until the last minute. Her voice teacher filmed them in his studio on her phone- very low tech. She scheduled all auditions on her own.
Originally Applied to Ithica, CMU, CCM, Hartt, Indiana U, U of Michigan, U of Miami, NYU, Emerson, Rider, Baldwyn Wallace, Point Park, and Pace. She was accepted to all schools that do a separate academic decision with scholarship money.
She passed the prescreens for all schools that required one with the exception of Ithica… she seemed ok with that.

She goes to a non PA high school. We entertained the idea at one point- but driving her to school 45 minutes away seemed crazy. She has been performing in community theater productions since age 6. Both her dad and I are involved in theater (not professionally) so she grew up with it. She has never done her high school shows because they are not very strong and she was usually involved in another show outside of school.
She has taken voice since age 12. She danced a few years on and off, but never really trained until the past year and a half… She has been doing private lessons with 2 different dance teachers 2/3 days per week. She has done random acting classes and masters classes through her voice studio and the Ephrata Performing Arts Center. She worked professionally at the Mt Gretna theater last summer and did one independent film that was submitted to the Sundance film festival.

First audition was early decision on campus at Hartt. She thought she blew it! Accepted with talent scholarship.
CMU on campus was next. She came out feeling like she did the best she could and was passed to all rooms. It has been her dream school since the age of 9. - Rejected
Next, Pace on Campus - Blew the dance but felt good about the rest - Rejected Artistically- This one stung because of the huge academic scholarship money
Then, NY unifieds (miami, emerson, rider, CCM) Decided to do a walk in at Temple… They told her to apply so she did. She was on hold for CCM until the very end but rejected, Accepted to Miami with presidential scholarship, Wait list at Emerson and she never did the dance audition for Rider so, while she was rejected, she doesn’t “count it” because she didn’t complete the audition. She also didn’t have 16 bar cuts recorded- she thought they were going to have an accompanist. She sang one song (32 bar cut ) that she had that recorded for a different audition. At that point she also knew that she would choose Hartt over it. She cancelled her Point Park audition for the same reason. Temple- wait list
NYU on campus - accepted … Indiana on campus- short list… U Michigan on campus- Rejected. Her father drove her to Baldwyn Wallace but she had such a horrible migraine that she couldn’t audition. They decided to leave before she could sing… It was going to be a long day with a long drive home and she was in too much pain.

Her second dream school was NYU (right behind CMU). That acceptance was greeted with a huge celebration. She immediately pulled herself off of wait lists for Temple and Emerson and declined Miami. So we were left with a decision between Hartt, NYU, and Indiana if she comes off the short list (we really LOVED that program and the staff).

Plan was to sit in on NYU classes friday… go to accepted weekend… then sit in on classes at Hartt on monday. Fortunately before I booked hotels - She said “Let’s face it - I want to go to NYU! Purple is my favorite color and I want to live in NYC more than anything” We had a discussion with our financial advisor and a long family discussion… and SHE IS NYU bound!!!

What I would do differently… Hire a college coach! I had no idea they existed until cc. D got great feedback from the auditors on her song selection, but I will probably always wonder if it would have made a difference at CMU.

Pick at least one safety - We were very lucky to get an acceptance to Hartt as her first decision letter. BUT I would have been freaking out if we hadn’t.

Go to a great summer camp so you know what you are getting into ahead of time. D was supposed to go to Stagedoor Manor 2 years ago, but was in the hospital and on a feeding tube so I lost 6000. I was afraid to try to send her the next year bc her health still wasn’t great at that point.

Be prepared with both 16 and 32 bar cut recordings -You never know when a BLIZZARD is going to keep an accompanist from attending the audition!

Try not to get caught up in auditors responses. Those who were the most complimentary ended up being rejections or wait lists and those who said very little were acceptances. That was just our experience - but one can drive themselves crazy trying to “read” reactions.

It is painful to turn down scholarship money at other schools, but after much deliberation we are very happy with our decision

HAVE FUN! With 3 trips to NYC for 3 different auditions - we saw a bunch of shows and ate some great food!
I enjoyed our travel adventures… I became obsessed with cc as soon as I knew it existed and overall, I enjoyed the ride! Thanks to all for the support! xoxo

I also wanted to mention that 17 year old Jonathon Groff was the main reason she fell in love with theater. He was Ugly in Honk at the Ephrata Performing Arts Center. We lived in Ephrata at the time and took her to see it almost every night bc she couldn’t get enough of the show and of him. She was 4 and he talked to her every night after the show. Her junior year he let her “job shadow” him for a class and they ran around the city together while he recorded something for the Frozen ride for Disney, showed her around the Public while Hamilton was still there (she signed in Lin Manuel), and took her to see The Visit. He wrote her a letter of recommendation and previewed her pre-screens before she sent them. He is a class act! So humble!

Sorry for spelling Ithaca wrong! Ok- I am done now!

Congrats to you and your daughter @sleepymom . We are doing this next year. Thanks for the advice about a coach.

Congrats to your daughter, @sleepymom! What a ride. I hope your D enjoys NYU/Tisch as much as mine did. I also hope your D is healthy now. My D got her acceptance to Tisch in the hospital. She is fine now.

I’m surprised to hear you lost the money to Stagedoor, because of backing out of plans to attend, as they typically have a long wait list and I would think would have been able to fill her spot.

Amazing journey @sleepymom ! Congratulations to you and your daughter!

@soozievt - sorry - I should have specified Steinhardt - BM vocal performance/ Musical theater. Your input about NYU in general has really helped me along the way

Ok @sleepymom we are officially jealous!! Your d had excellent taste as a 4 year old and it paid off!! LOVE him and the story!! Congrats and thanks for sharing

“The List”: Baldwin Wallace, CCM, Montclair, Texas State

Walk-in’s @ Unifides: Ball State, CAP21, Oklahoma Acting, Viterbo

Did not pursue Oklahoma or Viterbo (although they were very nice and gave good feedback.)

Accepted at Ball State and CAP21.

On-Campus Auditions: Texas State & CCM (Rejected by both)

Video Submission: Baldwin Wallace (Wait List) *through a series of circumstances (our schedule and BW’s glut of auditions/lack of Unified presence) we submitted videos. It was more of a due-diligence move. We did not think he would get anything, but he got on the waitlist…

Scheduled Unified Audition: Montclair State (Received Accepted 2/29)

Wes received his Texas State rejection on 2/11 and his CCM rejection on 2/23. You know how it is, he started questioning himself and his ability and was this even the right thing to pursue, etc. Then on 2/29 he got the big packet from Montclair with his acceptance. While he was opening the envelope his cell phone rang with his acceptance from Ball State. All was right with the world.

Final Decision: Montclair State

No coaching service, however, we are a theatre family and we’ve been through the process before.

Deciding factors: The balance of money/training quality/post graduation career placement. We are still in the midst of paying another Parent Plus loan, and we have another BFA student graduating high school in 2018, so money is the over-arching static factor. Hence, Texas State & Montclair being on the top of my son’s list. Texas State is a hot commodity right now without the benefit of a long graduate placement track record. Montclair has had a very good couple of years of their graduates working. We felt the cost/risk benefit of Texas State was worth the pursuit. It ended up being a moot point because he was not accepted (Tip Alert: If your kid is sick, don’t let him try to “gut it out” anyway. Reschedule if you can.)

CCM & Baldwin Wallace were pursued by the behest of out older son (who is a currently working actor.) But there were a lot of factors that needed to fall into place (like scholarships, etc.) Again, son was not accepted by CCM. The BW waitlist was for MT-Vocal Performance emphasis.

Montclair offered all the things my son was looking for: affordability, growing track-record, and a solid dance-training reputation. He is very happy.

congrats @ManVan !!!

@manvan Congrats!!! Is Montclair generous with Merit scholarships? Also, how many freshman does Montclair typically accept? My d is interested in Montclair, but she is a junior… we are just starting this process:)

@momma2a Montclair gives in-state tuition to those accepted to BFA.