Love all these happy endings! Keep them coming!!!
Awesome, @MTheatreKid! Now my son has two cc classmates (of course, he will never know that as he thinks he has banned me from the site). And huge kudos to you for figuring this out on your own!
I just want to say THANK YOU to everyone who has taken the time to share their story! It has helped me so much to see how it all works !!! Thank you!
@MTheatreKid what a fun story to read…congrats to you! We have a friend at point park that is currently a freshman in MT.
@MTheatreKid I am so proud of you! You are an amazing young man with a great voice. You will be dancing in no time with your work ethic. I can’t wait to meet you in person when I make my way to PPU to see you perform. PM’ing you now.
@claire74 - that made me chuckle. My D teases me all the time about my “internet friends”!
Congrats to all who have been making Final Decisions!!!
To those still deciding - no worries - My D’s year - she didn’t even get an offer from the school she now attends until 10 days from now! And she didn’t commit until 11 days later. (If you are doing the math - she committed with 2 days to spare before decision day.)
Having so much fun reading these – and trying to remember all of your individual posts over the past few months and match up the final stories to some of those posts. Point Park sounds like it has some great students coming in!! @MTheatreKid as blizzard veterans here we were far luckier - having forgotten that Syracuse was at Ripley Grier rather than Pearl, there was a moment of panic upon arrival, but handily we only had to trudge through the swirling winds for just one block!
Great to read the words “happy ending” so often.
Congrats to everyone on their acceptances and having survived the journey! Love hearing the stories. This class has talent and determination!
Congrats to all making those final decisions. Now enjoy the rest of the school year and save up your energy for dorm shopping!!!
@claire74, @CTDramaMom, @MTheatreKid Welcome to Point Park!!!
D applied to JMU, Elon, Catholic U, OCU, Oklahoma, Indiana, TCU, Texas State, PSU, Michigan, WMU, Montclair, Rider, Coastal, Wright, Ohio Northern, Viterbo,
2 non audition safeties - Muhlenberg and College of Wooster
Prescreens - Michigan, Indiana, - did not pass either. The other schools that require a prescreen she did as a live prescreen at Moonifieds. Thank goodness ,since I now believe that our prescreens were not good. I rushed her to get them done in time for the early deadline of Michigan with the thought that if she didn’t pass, we could add a few more schools. I also had poor lighting and the piano was too loud. Don’t do this! So we didn’t pass and added 2 more schools to take their place.
Academic acceptances to all that did academic separate from artistic
Training - D started in local neighborhood theater in 4th grade. Nothing fancy. Then in 6th attended an acting program once a week that had one musical/year. No dance or voice training. In 9th grade she started attending an all day Saturday class at a city PA school taking her first dance classes of ballet and jazz, group voice, acting, MT Rep, and performing in 2 musicals. In 10th she added 2 afternoons/evenings a week and got in her first Professional show and 2 musicals. While all this is going on, D is attending a very small rigorous academic school and also made the high school basketball team. She would go back and forth between basketball games and practices and the PA school and shows. She could not decide between the two. Finally late Spring she announces she wants only MT and wants to switch to the public school so that she could attend a pre-college half day program that the PA school she was going to was offering from 1-5, M-F! Holy heck! She had been at her private academic school since 2nd grade. This was a major announcement. I had no idea if she really had the talent to make putting all your eggs in one basket the right thing to do. I knew though that she needed to start private voice lessons. We did a very serious search for a classical voice teacher who could also help with developing her mix and ended up with two because we couldn’t pick between them. This was a very good thing, and it ended up working out very well. This was also when I found CC. Thank you all who have gone before me.
So in 11th grade she walks into our public school not knowing a single person. Takes half day classes and leaves to go to the city to take a slew of classes from ballet, tap, jazz, to sight singing, music theory, acting and audition technique 4 hours/day for 5 days/week plus her two private voice lessons. They put on 3 student shows and 3 professional shows a year. All of them with a 3 week rehearsal schedule and then tech/show week. She loved it. She was exhausted during a show month. Still loved it. Made friends at the public school and kept up her grades. All good.
So I thought I would test the water with a summer MT application for after 11th. She got into OCU summer MT and loved it. I got to see her there in Legally Blonde and a tour of the Bass School of Music is impressive. This was definitely a top choice for her but very far away from where we live.
The List - in making the list, she wanted a balance of academics with conservatory style training. I made her pick only one of the tippy top schools, she chose Michigan. I wanted to make sure she had plenty of safeties (Muhlenberg, Wooster, and U. Kentucky-which we later didn’t finish that application) and a well balanced list and I was concerned about expenses in application and in travel. On top of that, the PA program is not that helpful in picking songs and monologues. This is when I decided to hire Moo in late Spring of 11th grade. Although at first I really was not sure if spending the money on a coach was worth it, but it was not long before I was so glad that I did. Her online site was very informative and user friendly for setting up your list. The monologues and songs that D got from her, she perfected over the summer and used at all of her auditions. My stress level went way down. The one big decision I made that saved us money, but limited her, was to choose to only go to Moonifieds, plus OCU. Since she did not have any NYC or Chicago schools on her list anyways, this worked out.
Results - Her first audition is at OCU in early November. She loved it and she was so relaxed since she knew so many students, faculty and Dr. H. head of MT. Then Moonifieds in mid-November and she passed PSU, Oklahoma, Coastal and Viterbo on-site prescreens and is invited to on-campus audition at those. Right before going to the Viterbo’s December 3 call back audition, she gets an offer from OCU! With a substantial talent scholarship! Although she loved Viterbo and the audition at moonifieds, the cost of flying there could be saved. So we cancelled Viterbo trip. They were so nice about it. She also then cancelled JMU, WMU, Coastal, and Catholic in order to save money. A week later she got offers from Ohio Northern and TCU and a waitlist at Montclair. We had the chance to visit TCU while at Moonifieds. She really loved this campus and the high academics offered there. By Christmas she had 3 offers and a waitlist. She told Ohio thank you and no.
Her top most competitive auditions were set for February. Elon, Penn State, and Oklahoma. She had visited Elon back in 10th grade and loved the campus. Very oddly though, when she auditioned she did not get a good vibe. We also noticed from the show we saw and meeting students that they had a lot of shorter girls in MT and my D is 5’8”. Not saying that was why she was rejected, just sharing an observation. Penn State was another odd one in that she did not think she would like such a large campus. She ended up loving it, and loved the audition there and the people. Totally clicked. She made it to the end where they interviewed her and only 4 other girls. This was their final audition date and they had already made some offers. So she felt good to get to interview. We got excited about this school, more so then we should have. The fact that we could drive there made it even better since she was now getting cold feet about possibly being so far away. She was rejected. This one hurt a lot and we cried. Last stop back to Oklahoma for OU audition. At the last minute before heading there, I arranged for D to do an all day visit of classes at OCU the day before OU. She confirmed that she still really liked it there. GREAT! The OU audition day was great and again she liked a big school. Unfortunately rejected. She got her academic acceptance and awards from Muhlenberg next. Along with having OCU and TCU, she had three to choose from.
Final Decision - OCU BM in MT - First love, First offer, great talent and academic money offered. A closer look at OCU academics, and the Honors program they have, boosted her confidence to choose them. Even though she started her voice lessons last in the training sequence, her strength is voice. She expects great things to occur there from all areas of MT training, especially her voice training. Also, she loves the BM degree and the chance to be music self sufficient in reading and playing piano. The dance program is one of the top in the country. The school has been around a long time and has a vast network of alumni. She loves Dr. Herendeen. I remember after the tour of the PA facilities saying to myself that this place drops a huge amount of money into the facilities and the faculty are really nice. So I am happy that she is going there. And more importantly - she is happy. Only downside is flying a lot to get there and back. Frequent Flyer Miles Baby!!!
Congrats to everyone and thank you CC and all of the CC mom, dads, D and S who have gone before us! PS - I loved the travelling part with D. It was the best part. Embrace it.
Congrats, @momma2four !!! OCU is a fantastic school. Your D will be well taken care of there. We love Dr. H and Dr. Crouse, especially. My D did their summer program as well (the year before yours) and made many long-life friends. The memories of the wonderful time and people she met there one summer will be with her for a long time.
@MTheatreKid What an amazing story! I am so impressed! Way to go!!
Yay! Congratulations on your D being a “Star”! She will love it! Our experiences sound so similar - including the Penn State experience (D was one of final 3 held over her audition day and was so sad when it didn’t come through). But alls well that ends well because OCU has been a wonderful place for her. If you have any questions, feel free to PM us and we will do our best to answer. Congratulations to all of you!
We were also like many before us that didn’t think this process would be so hard for our daughter. All her coaches, artistic staff at theatre and professional acting classes stated she was beyond ready and would do well. SO here’s a slice of our story.
Daughter applied to: All BFA MT and one BFA Acting ~Marymount Manhattan, Ithaca, Texas State, CMU, Emerson, Point Park, Minnesota Guthrie, U of Michigan, Baldwin Wallace, Syracuse, Indiana, UCLA (for me), Indiana, and Elon
Canceled: Elon and Indiana because of expense to travel and timing.
Walk In’s: Northern Colorado, University of Utah
Prescreens: Passed all prescreens. Filmed at home and in dance studio. LOW QUALITY
Artistically Accepted to: BFA MT Syracuse, BFA Marymount Manhattan, University of Utah
Waitlisted at BFA ACTING Minnesota, BFA MT Ithaca, BFA MT Texas State, and BFA MT Northern Colorado
Coach: Alison Pierce MTCA
Our story is much like many of yours. I’m no writer but will do my best! Bella attends a non-PA all girls’ catholic high school. She has been performing since she was six. She didn’t participate in HS shows as sleepymom states because they were not strong and she was performing in a regional theatre house which tool up most of her spare time.
Bella started taking vocals at the age of 12 but didn’t find her current vocal coach until she was 14. Her original vocal coach destroyed her voice with his belting style and she had to re-build which was completely devastating to her at that time.
She has been dancing on and off in MT performances since she was 6 but professionally started training in ballet at age 12.
She also belongs to an incredible theatre company called Sacramento Theatre Company, which is an ensemble company that feeds into the regional house, and Music Circus. The students of STC take acting and dance classes, throughout the year.
Her 1st audition was in SF for Marymount MMC and LOVED everything about this program except the location and no campus life.
MMC: ACCEPTED with huge scholarship.
She started the rest of her auditions at the Chicago Unifieds, where we flew in late to the Texas State dance call. I fell in love with this program immediately as they knew the names of almost every student sitting in the dance classroom. MY KIND OF PEOPLE…
NORTHERN COLORADO: Her first audition at Unifieds, where she walked into Northern Colorado. Great experience…great guy 
I think his name was Matthew. WAIT-LISTED
POINT PARK: Loved. REJECTED
EMERSON: Liked but not warm and fuzzy. REJECTED
MICH: LOVED and had a great connection with staff. REJECTED
PENN STATE: Did not enjoy the panel in this audition. REJECTED
TEXAS STATE: Great Audition, but left with the feeling of not wanting to get her hopes up. WAITLISTED
UCLA: Loved the experience. REJECTED
ITHACA: Worst auditions EVER!
MINNESOTA: BEST Audition but SUPER NERVOUS?
SYRACUSE: ACCEPTED
BW: On CAMPUS: Did not love town but loved their style of teaching REJECTED
CMU: REJECTED
I’m sure I’m missing something but that’s not important.
Her TOP 2 schools were waitlist’s, TEXAS STATE & MINNESOTA , and we weren’t sure what she was going to do. With Syracuse having a 78% crime rate in our nation my stomach was turning at this possibility, so I reached out to some Syracuse families. They eased my heart and mind so the next step for me was to find $$$ for the 68,000 tuition. If anyone is going to Syracuse I have the best family for you to connect with…
Minnesota Guthrie was amazing and basically assured her of a spot on April 1st. but I was eager to see if given the opportunity to come off Texas State’s waitlist if she would even like the school. So I booked travel plans for their accepted week and we flew to TEXAS. Everyone kept telling us that no one comes off this waitlist so we both decided that this would become a learning experience, an opportunity to learn from some of the best teachers in the MT world and network with future colleagues. She had an amazing attitude and instantly fell in love with the program. Thankfully she was offered a spot during our visit, and accepted before we left. While Minnesota’s program was her other TOP choice the bond, tuition, honors program, and weather assured her this was the right decision! GO BOBCATS!
What I would do differently: Apply to some tier 2 and 3 schools, so the moral during this process is higher. She does not agree with this statement and that’s why I’m a teacher and she’s an actor. I would also get the contact numbers of the very cool families that I met at Unifieds.
Copying from sleepymom: Try not to get caught up in auditor’s 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.
I shared some of the BEST times with my daughter during this process! It was FUN to travel with her and the baby. I loved helping her to stay organized and focused.
I also love CC but hate that I don’t know who I’m talking to, so if you want to FB me, my email address that’s associated with that account is serina@abclittlefeet.net
Thanks ~ Serina
Also, if anyone lives in Seattle and needs a vocal coach, I fell in love with a gal by the name of Anne Evans. She was wonderfully supportive to all her students and extremely helpful to me.
Great stories everyone. Great kids! Terrific choices!
Truly great stories and acceptances here! And so many Point Park new friends. @GSOMTMom the more my D hears about this program, the more excited she’s getting.
My son met J Groff at Hamilton, thank you for the story it confirms why I liked him
Son applied at BW, CCM, Ohio Northern, Wright, Anderson, SCAD,Roosevelt, Ithaca, MSM, LIU Post, Otterbein Point Park
Wait listed at Wright, Accepted at MSM, Ithaca, Liu Post and Anderson all MT
Not a strong academic and was rejected at the others because of that.
I thought this process was like a roller coaster ride so glad it is nearing an end.
My son started in theatre at age 9 when someone suggested he audition for a summer show at one of our community theaters. He has done a summer show every year since.
He started attending a PA arts school in 6th grade and has had most of his dance and acting training there. He has taken private voice and dance. We didn’t hire a coach because his Advance Acting teacher coached all of her seniors.
I’m proud of my son because he has taken the rejections very well. His top choice was BW, and I know that one stung. I think he has done way better than me in all of this. I really enjoyed Chicago Unified auditions. It was a great experience and all future his acceptances came from auditions there.
He wants to attend Ithaca, but we are waiting to see what the financial package looks like. I’m secretly hoping Wright takes him because it is less expensive.
Wishing everyone well and congrats!!
So here we go…d started with a list of 18 schools compiled over several months late in junior year. She narrowed it down to 8 because of time and travel, and mainly expense. We both researched each one to ensure her list was one she could be happy with. We felt like it was a good variety of locations and campus types. And scholarship possibilities were a key factor. She wanted a MT program, preferably BFA, but no straight acting. She decided late middle school to pursue the triple threat training route after dancing since toddler years and being on pointe and in a jazz company, and dancing 5 days a week. She came out of the womb singing. Lol! But we waited till early high school for formal private voice lessons. And she discovered acting in middle school, saw more shows in NYC and at our local venue, and so the obsession began!
Applied to: U of Michigan, Syracuse, Hartt, Rider, Montclair, FSU, East Carolina, and U of Alabama. Different list from many I have seen. Made some tough decisions to get the list smaller and she was very brave in doing so few compared to some other kids. We figured that if this was truly meant to be, she would find her home and make her way. Her conservatory director wisely told her that she has true potential, and that someone will see something in her and a connection will be made, as long as she chose her schools well based on her needs. She will land where she is meant to be.
Auditioned at all 8 , and all required prescreens were accepted! Great academic profile and all the other extras resulted in honors college and scholarship offers at all schools except for the couple tied to program admission.
U of Alabama was the only BA program but has an MT track. After her audition and 2 days there, she fell in love, and felt really good about the faculty and quality of students. This was a safety since they also have a theatre non audition track. She loved that with her AP credits, she could double major. I must say it is a beautiful campus and would have been a great fit for her. I secretly hoped for it to work out. After being in the running and some nice correspondence, she was waitlisted.
Fast fwd to January, when most of the others occurred. We scheduled the last 3 weekends and knocked them out. First was the trip to Michigan. Time to explore, as we added a day in front in case of snow flight delays. Ann Arbor was great, and the people were so nice everywhere we went! Felt great about her audition but the odds…got home and left next day for Rider on campus audition. Thought that would have been a good fit, but never really felt a good connection with teachers or campus, despite two visits-just not that warm fuzzy feeling that she was so hoping for.
Next came the blizzard at NY Unifieds! Was a great experience once we finally made it- we almost had to drive due to a cancelled flight but this determined mom got the last two seats on a flight from an airport we were not even aware of 1.5 hours away, the night before the snow started in our area, which was the day before NYC. We made it at midnight Thursday with no place to stay but we MADE IT! Found a room, then headed to original hotel the next morning. Lots of adventures-I’m sure we saw many of you there! Though we are (mostly) southerners, we did ok, because I had been living in Philly 20 years ago for that blizzard. She showed true grit and determination and did not flinch. She trudged through the city in her new snow boots (emergency purchase) like a pro. It was meant to be! Auditions went well and we had a blast. We made the most of it. Flying home was a big mess, but oh well. Was all worth it!
Road trips to FSU and ECU. And done!
Then the wait…First official yes was from Hartt and it came quickly. She had that one yes!!! And it was one of her top choices! The rest took forever, and we still have not received a letter from Montclair. Only knew it was a no after two emails to the dept. They seem to have had some unfortunate paperwork issues according to many of us. Hope next year’s class fares better. Also accepted at ECU , and a waitlist from Bama, but invite to join the theatre department. She would have to piece together a program, and would have to pay for private voice lessons. So waitlist would not do it.
She was very excited about Hartt, so she was content, though we all want lots more yes’s, right? Drove 11 hours to Hartford to be sure, and she was hooked. The connection with teachers she felt at Unifieds was still there, and the warmth of students and the work that was being done in the classes made her realize she had found her home. The fit was like a glass slipper. And now we will add a nice long puffy coat to go with those boots! And she will minor in something complimentary and do the honors track. She is excited to be a Hartford Hawk and is having fun chatting with future classmates and a possible roommate! The look of relief on her face when her decision was made was priceless! She can now enjoy the rest of senior year! So hard for mt’s bc the process is so long!
Found this board 2/3 through auditions, and you all have taught me so much! Also kept me from checking each portal at 2 am every night when I would wake up and not wanting to go back to sleep without checking again just to be sure! (I bet most of you did this too) . Oh, the agony! Thanks again, and may all these kid’s career dreams come true! After all these kids have been through to get to this point, they will have so much fun, and are blessed to do what they love! And we parents deserve some treats now too.
P.S. Who misses checking portals and the mailbox? Haha haha!!! Not this family!