Happy Decision Day everyone!
@daughtersdreams â I agree, itâs cruel to turn off a candidateâs music during the audition! Every year, there are legions of stories about auditors who tell kids theyâre amazing, theyâre shoo-ins, etcâŠand then the rejection or the re-direct comes, and the kid is dumbfounded. For most, this whole process is an anxiety-driven horror from start to finishâŠthe schools shouldnât make it even worse.
@CentralOHmomof4 so glad things worked out for you guys ! Have a wonderful year at Molloy!
@theaterwork this quote: âMost important ⊠& I say this nicely and with respect⊠your kid is NOT as good as everyone says they are⊠well for the most part⊠unless they could replace Idina Menzel or Corey Cott in any given afternoon ⊠they are not going to get in everywhere⊠itâs not going to happen⊠IGNORE anyone telling you this. The well meaning voice teacher, the drama teacher whoâs had your kid in shows since elementary schoolâŠyour in laws, the âBroadway veteranâ you know from social circles⊠BLOCK THEM OUT⊠smile and say âaw gee thank youâ and remember that your kid will get in somewhere or even a few places if you craft a reasonable list with lots of optionsâŠâ
This is it! Totally! I get it. My kid gets it. It reminds of me of (dare I use this awful comparison) American Idol. When they whole family is standing outside the audition room and expecting the person to come out with the âGolden Ticketâ and they show the video package where everyone says how great the person is⊠and we hear them sing, and they are⊠well⊠theyâre just NOT #-o
@DramaQueen219 One time, I asked my sonâs vocal coach to be âSimon Cowellâ and tell it to me straight. Did I need a wake-up call or did my son have what it takes? :))
There are some excellent programs out there, folks, that tradition or conventional wisdom may not consider to be âtopâ programs. Graduating from a âtopâ program is no guarantee of success, either⊠success in this crazy business takes timing, hard work, luck, perseverance and a thick skin as well as talent. This is a very unique college experience â your kid will be eating, sleeping, and learning with the same small group 24/7 for the next 4 years. He or she had better feel comfortable and LOVE IT. My D, for all her insistence on a âtopâ NYC-based program, absolutely hated her visit to the #1 on her list â and said she wouldnât attend even if accepted. There is a program out there for everyone â all you have to do is find it. And when you do, and your kid loves it, then that program is a âtopâ program!
Looking at alumni is always suggested, but in reality, if a program has been around for 20 years and is graduating 15 people a year, having 8 - 10 people who have been on Broadway is still only slightly better odds than what our kids are facing to get into the program in the first place!!
The percentage of students making a survival wage in the field would be a much greater recommendation, in my book.
@marg928 The MTCA acceptances are impressive and your daughter is a cutie! However, 33 MT acceptances to BOCO? Thatâs nuts. Guess the wait list will be opening up.
Agreed with @KelviVan 100%. Take a look at a program thatâs been around for 50 years and they should have many people on Broadway. Take a newer program thatâs only had a BFA for around 5 years but 80% of those grads are doing paid theatre? That is just as impressive to me. And thereâs a LOT of those schools out there. 
What is the class size at BoCo? @BeBop1
@marg928 From what I have heard the final class size is generally 40-50, but they accept nearly twice that many in order to get that yield. The class is then broken down into smaller units of 10-12 for classes and those groups get remixed every year so that the kids get exposure to a wider range of classmates.
These acceptances and WL are such a numbers game. I wonder how many kids TOTAL are out there in the mix applying to these audition-based schools. 500? 1,000? 2,000? more? The colleges that my D auditioned for (that shared the numbers) said that they saw 500 to 900 student auditions. But of course the same student would be counted in the numbers for 5, 10 or 20 different schools. Iâm no statistician, but I wonder if anyone has any figures on this?
There was a thread awhile ago that talked about the aggregate numbers - @Emsdad - was it one of yours? Just guessing, but after all, you are the master of the stats!
I donât begrudge anyone the choice to use a coach but it gives the wealthier families an advantage, just like SAT coaching. The rise of coaching has contributed to the rise in the number of auditions because the coaches advise applying to 15-20 schools. If BOCO makes 75 offers to yield 50 and 33 of them come from one coach, but only 3 accept, it affects all the other kids who were rejected. I donât know what the answer is. Note: We did not use a coach and had great offers, but my D lives in NY and had access to good training and advice. Even her school, which most would consider 2nd tier, had 1,000 auditions for 25 spots. They accepted more and ended up with a freshman class of 50 because all accepted. I think that is because the number of applications has shot up in general and all of the coached kids are applying everywhere. I believe around 20 kids from MTCA got offers from my Dâs school this year and only one accepted. The coaches get paid, the schools make money from more applications, and kids are heartbroken because they did not get in. I donât think anything is going to change because if you want a chance at an MT BFA you will have to get on board with coaching.
âI donât think anything is going to change because if you want a chance at an MT BFA you will have to get on board with coachingâ
If that is true, I think it is incredibly sad. If a talented kid cannot find ANY acceptances without paid guidance, there is something wrong with the process
@toowonderful I agree, but if you look at the numbers, the coached kids have way more options. Are they more talented? i donât think so. We know many coached kids who we would not consider stars but they got into great programs. Itâs about learning the game.
@toowonderful --I think thereâs a lot wrong with the process. Stunts like turning off audition music mid-song, intentionally getting kidsâ hopes up, intentionally discouraging kids by having existing students tell applicants how horrible the workload is (this happened to D), marathon auditions designed to test nothing but stamina â these have no place in the audition process, IMHO. That being said â this is what itâs like to be a working actor. They have to learn to deal with rejection over and over. But I do believe there is a place for every wanna-be MT who is willing to cast a wider net than the so-called "topâ schools.
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I donât think thereâs much difference in the application/audition process of MT BFA programs and the Ivies (and other tippy top academic programs w/ insanely low acceptance rates.
For both you have to have to be talented - in the arts or academically - and thatâs the basic requirement. But simply being talented wonât get you in. Have an uber talented performance kid choose the wrong performance audition package that doesnât allow them to showcase their best ⊠he has a pretty good chance of being shut out.
Same with academics. Simply by having a perfect ACT/SAT score wonât get you accepted - you have to craft your package in a way that showcases your abilities.
In both instances, wealthier families have an edge because they can afford the coaching, the extra curriculars, the lessons, etc. Not to mention the application fees.
Thatâs not to say that thereâs not lower income/middle income kids who gain admittance every year to the Carnegie Mellons and the Harvards because of their talent ⊠but I would guess even those kids have some sort of hook.
I have no idea what the fix would be - and I suspect there really isnât one. I do think it will get A LOT worse in the coming years though.
I have some thoughts on this, as a parent who did use a coach for their child. Not every kid who is coached has a boatload of acceptances and âway more options.â Just like with kids who arenât coached, thereâs a mix. Thereâs always a handful who seem to get in everywhere, but most are more like my kid, who had three BFA MT acceptances and two BA offers. MTCA coaches a lot of kids every year, so their overall numbers are going to be impressive. That doesnât mean every kid is walking out the door with ten or even five BFA MT acceptances. Note: my child was coached, but we did not use MTCA, so I am not speaking specifically about MTCA just coaching in general.
You have to remember kids who come from not so wealthy backgrounds have access to great SAT Prep programs for free. For example Khan Academy and such. Also most Big Coaches take on a share of âScholarshipâ kids. So donât think that not having a lot of money automatically singles you out. There are options go out and seek them. They are out there.