Welcome to BOCO you and your daughter will love it!
Hello
Posting for son who will be attending Molloy/CAP21 this fall!
Schools applied to:
Boston Conservatory (BOCO)
Boston University
Carnegie Mellon
Chicago College of Performing Arts (CCPA)
Five Towns College (FTC)
Ithaca
Marymount Manhattan College (MMC)
Molloy College/CAP21
Montclair State University
New York University (NYU Tisch)
Shenandoah Conservatory
University of Michigan
Auditioned at Chicago Unifieds
Arcadia University (BA Acting)
Drake
Long Island University Post
Accepted into
Arcadia University (BA Acting)
Chicago College of Performing Arts
Drake
Five Towns College
Long Island University Post
Marymount Manhattan College (from waitlist)
Molloy College/CAP21
Not Accepted
Boston Conservatory - no, after audition in Chicago
Boston University - didnât pass prescreen
Carnegie Mellon - no, after audition in Chicago
Ithaca - no, after audition in Chicago
Montclair State University - no, after audition in Chicago
New York University - no, after audition in Chicago
Shenandoah Conservatory - no, after virtual audition
University of Michigan - didnât pass prescreen
Our experience
Mom and dad were a bit worried about this process because the covid/remote learning years were pretty hard for our son. His grades dipped down, he struggled with depression, and he just didnât have a ton of enthusiasm for anything, especially anything remote. Some of this really set the tone for his application and audition processes. He didnât put a ton of effort into parts of it, especially essays. His attitude was this laissez-faire âmeh, whatever happens, happens.â âŠthat is until we visited colleges.
He completely became excited and focused after college visits. We had pushed off visiting college until he knew which were his top few choices in terms of both his preferences and what we could afford. In hindsight, for us it would have been nice to visit colleges earlier to spark that excitement, it just wasnât in the cards for us financially.
These colleges didnât make his short list:
Arcadia: his contacts at Arcadia were fantastic but made it clear they were an acting school with not a ton of singing and dancing training. After some thought they were crossed off the list.
CCPA: again his contacts were great and he really liked Chicago. Finally it was too much of a stretch.
Drake: none of us loved the mid-west location and son in particular wanted to be in Chicago or New York.
Marymount Manhattan College: also a bit of a stretch financially and son didnât love the MMC dorm/college split as much as he liked the idea of being on long island a couple days a week and down in Manhattan a couple days a week if he chose Molloy/CAP21.
We ended up visiting Five Towns, LIU Post, Molloy/Cap21.
Here are my reviews of each
Five Towns
Very small campus, 600 students total in the school. Clean dorms, one single food option on campus, no frills in terms of sports ball arenas, Greek life, etc. Located on superb on Long Island, no walkable stores/restaurants/etc. Has a public transit bus line stop.
Dance studios, and MT classrooms were also no frills. They did have a decent ~300 person theatre on campus.
All the students at the school are doing arts/communications/music. No business majors, nurses, etc. We heard from multiple people the students are close, almost family-like.
LIU Post
Gorgeous campus also in a suburb of Long Island with no walkable stores/restaurants nearby. Much more traditional college experience with sports ball athletes, Greek life, tons of college students hanging out on campus, etc.
They several dance studios including a newer (very large) one. For performing they had a small black box theatre. Son was a little bummed it wasnât bigger/nicer. They do have a large professional theatre on campus but itâs run by an outside professional acting company and didnât sound like the MT program got to use it much, if ever.
Molloy/CAP21
We toured both the Long Island campus and the Manhattan studio. Both were fantastic. The campus had several options for food and several dorms, including one that had practice rooms in it for singing. Molloy is also in a suburb on Long Island but arenât as isolated feeling as LIU and FTC. They have a shuttle that runs regularly to the beach, a nearby mall and Target.
There are a couple of theatres on campus although we only got to see the larger one.
The Manhattan location was a great, both because of the facilities and the location in New York.
The final decision was for Molloy/CAP21. Even though FTC and LIU post were cheaper due to the offered scholarships he just felt right at home on the Molloy Long Island and CAP21 Manhattan campuses.
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@enqueue - Congratulations and welcome to the Molloy/CAP 21 family! My daughter was a member of the first graduating class (2018). This program is AMAZING. My daughter is currently a lead singer on the Celebrity Beyond, her third contract with Celebrity. Except for COVID, sheâs been employed in the biz since graduation day. If that isnât proof of a great program, I donât know what is. The CAP 21 method is unique⊠if you can get to NYC to see their shows, I highly recommend itâŠyouâll be blown away. Settle in and enjoy the next four years!
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Ok! so my process was very daunting, quite crazy haha (mostly because I almost didnt get in anywhere at all, but yeah. phew. Didnt happen). but whos isnt? I applied to something like 25-27 schools, and had prescreen passes/no prescreen at
BOCO
Ithaca
Molloy Cap21
UW - Stevens Point
Viterbo
Baldwin Wallace
Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama
Royal Conservatoire of Scotland
Columbia College Chicago
RWCMD gave me a second round audition offer, but that resulted in no eventual offer. BW was my dream school going in, and sadly I got rejected, but I know that I just wasnât a fit for the program they are building for '26! I travelled in person for any callbacks (within the country, at least) except for BOCO, Ithaca, and Viterbo which I did online.
and initially got a waitlisted from UW Stevens Point, Molloy, and Viterbo, with a BA offer from Columbia Chicago, which I was ready to accept would it have not been for the lack of aid and the expense of their dorms!
Last week I was accepted to UW Stevens Point for my BFA in MT and committed there on decision day yesterday! The program is such a hidden gem in Wisconsin and Im going in with one of my good friends, so I am excited to get my feet in the water and dive into my BFA!
My biggest piece of advice is to be ready for rejection, especially at a Covid time like this where the statistics are as low as ever!! Most classes are 12-22 people and that is MUCH smaller than you think.
and DO NOT be afraid to take a smaller program! Point was originally something I was a little wary of just because it was much smaller than some of the other programs I applied to, but after talking to current students, alumni, and going to see their show I am 100% sure it is a great place for me and for anyone who wishes to attend!
Iâm not sure what else to say but Yeah! roll dawgs!
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Midwest nice vibe evens out the bfa mt drama. Fun college town. Enjoy Stevens Point. Its a popular college for our school as they recruit heavily for sports.
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Wow! What a journey! I am so glad this is over, and cannot wait for our daughter for this coming fall! We didnât apply to a tremendous amount of schools, but are very happy with the ones we did! So, without further adu, here are her stats!
Applied:
Juilliard (withdrew application because of covid requirements)
Carnegie Mellon
UNCSA
Rutgers
CalArts
Florida State
University of Texas
Azusa Pacific University
Chapman
Pepperdine
SCAD
Prescreens:
Passed all but Florida
Offers:
CalArts
Azusa
Texas
Pepperdine
SCAD
Waitlists:
UNCSA
Chapman
Rejects:
Carnegie Mellon (this one hurt the most. She made it to the fourth round and crushed the audition, but botched the interview! She said she had just couldnât âthinkâ that day)
Rutgers
Florida (didnât pass prescreen)
Final Selection: Azusa Pacific University!!!
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Congratulations!
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So curious to hear final decision from so many of you who were active on this forum over the past year (you know who you are). Even though my daughter is finishing her Freshman year in college, I love hearing the stories and what went into the decision making process. So, please, share (if you want)!
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Lol, I am one of those who havenât posted yet. My D has committed and is thrilled, but we are waiting on 2 more results before making the final decision post. I was hoping to have all of her stats first. She is supposed to hear from those schools anytime, so hopefully it wonât be much longer.
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Haha, yes, youâre one of the ones I was anxious to hear about. Congrats to your daughter on being thrilled with her choices. Canât wait to hear where sheâll be heading off to in the fall!
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I havenât posted in a while, but wanted to share that my daughter was accepted to NYU Tisch last week, and has sent in a deposit. Weâre very excited for her.
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I havenât posted much about my D but we did come from a different perspective. D is more vocal oriented than dance or acting, which is the reverse of where she was at the beginning of Covid, but in a sense, the results show this move.
MT Applied:
Manhattan School of Music
NYU Steinhardt
Pace
Marymount Manhattan
BoCo
Emerson
Ithaca
Pre-Screens Passed:
All but Pace
Unified Audition:
Hartt
Offers:
BoCo
Rejects:
Ithaca
Emerson
Hartt
Waitlist:
MMC - Came off in March
NYU - Came off in May
MSM
Vocal Performance Applied:
Curtis
Juilliard
MSM
Mannes
Bard
Purchase
Queens
Montclair
Pre-screens passed:
All but Curtis
Rejects:
Juilliard
Offers:
MSM
Mannes
Bard
Purchase
Queens
Montclair
Decision:
MSM Vocal
D got a better scholarship from MSM than most and also is in the vocal studio of someone who was in West Side Story and Candide on Broadway, as well as Classical. This is honestly, where D is at her best at this point. Weâve spoken to the MT head at MSM and there seem to be opportunities to audit classes. And of course in NY there are other local dance and acting schools with classes if she feels the need to augment. All in all the best decision she had, and a great one, but not where we thought this was going to go last fall.
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ALL ACTING
Applied:
Elon (early)
Syracuse
DePaul
UNCSA
Julliard
Catholic U
Chapman U
GUTHRIE/U Minn
CCM
Fordham
Webster
NYU
Wright State
BU
UMICH
CMU
Ithaca
Prescreens
Syracuse
Elon
DePaul
Catholic
Chapman
Guthrie
CCM
Fordham
Wright State
Not passed: BU, CMU, UMICH, Ithaca
Auditioned early for Elon and was accepted in first week of Nov.
The. cancelled auditions for: Fordham, NYU, Webster, Wright State
He loved Elon. Everything about the school and program when we auditioned. He cancelled auditions for schools he wouldnât chose over Elon and I asked him to continue through the process to the end with other schools. Word to the wise: do THIS.
Was so glad he had the Elon in person audition and acceptance b/c in December Covid returned and most auditions went online again. Julliard was interesting b/c after the student zoom chat he was turned off (seemed intense etc and not his cup of tea in a program). Was not called back- maybe 100 kids and they called back 4.
We did two in persons at NYC unifieds in a MAJOR SNOWSTORMâŠSyracuse (which I kind of told him to audition for he wasnât interested) and UNCSA (great audition was somewhat surprised when he was rejected). Syracuse rejected him on the 3rd Friday he wasnât upset
Rest were online. He loved CCM professors right from the start and was so excited when he was randomly one day accepted (weeks before they said they would start notifying
He was accepted to Catholic but almost immediately said he wouldnât attend over Elon. Last audition was Guthrie which was fine. He liked doing the stretch monologue but then felt almost rushed off. Week later he was waitlisted. Chapman came in as an acceptance too with a big scholarship (Would still be more $$ than CCM with their scholarships).
After the spring musical we had to visit those contenders as heâd never seen campuses. We had annoying flight cancellations to accepted student day at CCM. Many cancelled flights meant we landed Friday am at 10 when it started at 9. Day went well but after we watched a rehearsal at night. That rehearsal sealed the deal for him. He was really close to committing to CCM after that point. On Monday he was going to accept CCM and the call came in from Guthrie that he was accepted. He basically still decided to commit to:
CCM ACTING BFA
Best of luck to anyone here who is starting the process. If you are finding this post on a search please DM me for more details if you want. Iâd like to âpay it forwardâ
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My D cast a very wide net (too wide). I read horror stories of talented kids getting no offers and also stats saying expect 1 offer for every 10 auditions. I wanted my D to have choices, so we started out with 35, then went to 45 and added more after her NATCA audition. Our goal was for her to have at least 5 offers, so not knowing any better, I thought that meant around 50 auditions. Her final number was 56 applications, I believe. She passed all prescreens, except CCM, CMU, and Elon. She also got one acting redirect, Emerson, which she did not pursue. Once she had all of her auditions and callbacks scheduled (52 of them), she became overwhelmed quickly and ended up canceling 13 after some early acceptances. All auditions were virtual, none in person. So here are her final stats.
BFA MT acceptances (except where otherwise noted)-
Emory and Henry
Auburn
Stephens Conservatory
Siena Heights (BA MT)
Anderson University, SC
Sam Houston State
Belmont (BFA and BM MT)
Lindenwood
Nebraska Wesleyan
AMDA
Manhattanville College
BoCo
Florida Southern
Oakland University
LIU- Post
Anderson University, IN (BM MT)
Slippery Rock
MMC
University of Utah
Drake
Montclair
Roosevelt
Rider
UArts
Temple
Point Park
Pace
Waitlists-
MSM (BM MT)
Otterbein
U of Miami
Syracuse
Redirect- Hartt (VP)
Rejections-
Ithaca
Texas State
U of Oklahoma
Shenandoah
Webster
UMich
Illinois Wesleyan
Background-
My D began ballet classes at the age of 3 and theater when she 9. Once she discovered musical theater, she was hooked and grew up being involved in youth theater and continuing in ballet. At the age of 16, the pressure of ballet really hit her. She knew she wanted to pursue MT as a career and not become a ballet dancer, so she quit ballet, but remained dancing. She really wanted to focus on theater and started branching out and performing with adults in local community theaters, while continuing her training in voice, acting and dance.
As far as her look and type, she is a POC (half- Filipino), very long black hair, brown eyes, petite, mezzo soprano.
Sheâs had many highs and lows over the past 11 years in MT, but knows this is where sheâs meant to be. After highschool, she began attending community college (while still performing and training). Because of Covid and health issues with my mom, she didnât want to go away to school quite yet. Her goal was always to eventually get her BFA in MT and thankfully we were able to go through that process this year with her as a community college transfer student. She got most of her gen eds completed, so even though she will still have to spend 4 years in the BFA program, her schedule will be freed up and more relaxed. Still, what a process it is! We had no idea what kind of a roller coaster we were going to be on. We were pretty much navigating it ourselves, as my D had no coach or help. She was her 100% genuine self in prescreens and auditions. She had no one advising or guiding her. She did her best and succeeded and failed on her own merit, abilities and personality. She was like, âHere I am, take it or leave itâ. Some took it and others left it, lol.
In the end, she had many great offers that she was extremely thankful for.
Final Decision- Boston Conservatory
She is so excited to attend her dream school in the fall. We werenât sure if the financials would work out, but they did!
Best of luck to anyone going through this process in the future!
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Epic journey and great outcome! Thanks so much for sharing.
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It was certainly a long and exhausting journey with my fourth âartskidâ. This round was much different than the previous three (the next last one graduated from BU this year). COVID and the almost universal prescreen really forced the process to start much earlier than in the past. For reference, my S audition season was 2013-14. He had to do two prescreens (Michigan and maybe Ithaca if memory serves me) and he submitted them just before Thanksgiving. He only applied to 7 schools. Fast forward to 2021-22. D started âthe processâ in January of 2021.
Because of the insanity brought on by the new requirements AND the uncertainty of COVID, we used a coach (College Audition Coach â Mary Anna Dennard) and I am SO glad we did. I really forced her to on the ball early and she got the opportunity for a number of in-person auditions at Moonifieds. She ultimately applied to 21 schools (mix of MT and Acting). Passed all prescreens except Texas State and we thought Penn State. However, she got a letter AFTER May 1 stating they had never heard from her on the invitation to audition (which she never received). Accepted everywhere academic acceptances were separate from artistic acceptances. She withdrew three apps once acceptances started to come.
Acceptances:
Ball State (MT)
Molloy/Cap 21 (MT)
UNCSA (Acting)
Otterbein (Acting)
Roosevelt/CCPA (MT)
Viterbo (MT)
Muhlenberg (BA)
Waitlists:
BW (MT) â turned into an Acceptance
SUNY Purchase (Acting)
Guthrie (Acting)
Wright State (MT)
Final Decision: UNCSA â best mascot ever
She had her mind made up (and SWAG on the way) when she came of the BW waitlist. We are HUGE fans of the program (S attended and itâs an hour from home â we got to see everything) and love the BM (she is also a musician â I would have loved her to continue to grow in that area). She went on campus and stayed with another student at UNCSA and just fell in love with the campus and the people. She made the very difficult decision to decline BW and is off to Winston-Salem in the Fall.
The best advice I give is to start EARLY. Get everything done that can physically be done before senior year starts (school research, list, headshots, base essays [which, of course, need to be tweaked for every school LOL] and the common app). Material should be ready to shoot in September. Apply very early to non-prescreen schools (BW!) so you can obtain an audition slot and do some early auditions (or mock auditions if that can be arranged). Perhaps not an early audition to a dream school but itâs good to test the package! If a mock audition can be arranged before shooting final prescreens, that is a HUGE bonus. We used a coach for this but of course, itâs not necessary. However, the feedback was extremely valuable and allowed D to adjust the prescreens before they were submitted.
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Welcome to the pickle family! My S is so happy there, please dont hesitate to message!
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have been away from this thread for a while, but wanted to say superhappy for you as a fellow dad, I get it, & congrats on finding your perfect fit.
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go pickles :)!!
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I signed in JUST to see the story! Welcome to BoCo and thanks for sharing so much of your journey.
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