FINAL DECISIONS THEATER DRAMA MAJORS, COLLEGE CLASS OF 2019

College Majors Theater/Drama Majors
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I saw one of these posted on the musical theater forum and I thought it was such a great read! It’s a great way to celebrate final decisions as well as to stay in touch with other kids/parents who are going to be at the same college, and also provides great insight into each person’s journey. It’s been so wonderful having everyone on this forum for support! my son and I have learned so much from each and every one of you! So…here goes…

USERNAME: thestage603’s (Son)

BACKGROUND: I call him my singing and dancing football player. First performance at age 7 when he signed up for our local summer theater kids group. Many plays, but his first Musical, “Guy and Dolls” age 13, followed by “Les Miserables” when he was cast as Grantaire (and the foreman, and a sailor) at age 14. He jumped into the car one night after a very long rehearsal where the cast and directors spent a long time breaking down the music and told me enthusiastically “I know what I want to do with the rest of my life”. And we were OFF. It all came full circle (as much as it can at 17 years of age) when he was cast as Jean Valjean (a dream!) last fall in his high school’s version of Les Mis. Although challenging, he was amazing at balancing the crazy football schedule with performances and his school work, not a stellar student, but he does well. He decided to go with the BFA Acting track vs Musical Theater because he wasn’t particularly strong in dance and had very little training in dance except for a little tap, and whatever he would learn for each show. Hindsight being 20/20, maybe he would do things differently now, but then again, maybe not.

SUMMER INTENSIVES: none really. Beginnings Workshop with Peter Sklar, summer 2012

COACHING/TRAINING: 2 years of voice lessons. College audition coaching from his high school theater teacher and her husband a vocal coach. They were awesome!! And super reasonable $$

COLLEGES APPLIED TO: Plymouth State University, Columbia College of Chicago, Salem State University, Wagner College, University of Rhode Island, Pace University, Marymount Manhattan College, SUNY Purchase, Rutgers, CCPA at Roosevelt University, Point Park University, Emerson College, the Hartt School at University of Hartford

REJECTED: Wagner, URI, Pace, SUNY Purchase, Rutgers, Emerson (some he was accepted academically, some not)
still haven’t heard from Salem State, but they were a back up, so to speak, anyway.

ACCEPTED: Plymouth State University (BA Theater Acting), Columbia College Chicago (BA-BFA Theater), Point Park University (BA Theater Performance and Practices), The Hartt School (BFA Acting), Marymount Manhattan College (BFA Acting), CCPA at Roosevelt (BFA Acting)

FINAL DECISION: MARYMOUNT MANHATTAN COLLEGE BFA ACTING

We are looking forward to going to accepted students day in a few weeks!

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Could an admin please pin this thread?

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So happy for you and your son! I think another coffee (and possibly something stronger) is in order. Go scrappy kids from rural nowheres making their way! (Er, I mean, go NH!)

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Yes on the coffee AND something stronger! @jkellynh17

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Congrats, and here’s to actor/football players, too! :smiley:

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Congratulations to you and your son!!!

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Wonderful! Nice to see another BFA Acting major at MMC!

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USERNAME: cjenny2’s S

BACKGROUND: My son started out working Tech for shows in middle school mainly because his older brother was in the shows and he had to wait after school during rehearsals with him so he figured he might as well do something while he waited. He worked backstage on about 4 shows during that time. His interest grew in High school and in his junior year he transferred to an all arts magnet school in our area and majored in Technical Theater. He worked on many shows at school along with working in community theater.

SUMMER INTERNSHIPS: He had an internship at our local community theater last summer where he participated in all aspects of Technical theater.

COACHING/TRAINING: None. He started his portfolio last summer and took quite a long time to put together. He had his Technical theater teacher review it for him.

COLLEGES APPLIED TO: UNCSA, SUNY Purchase, Otterbein , Pace, Coastal Carolina, ECU, WCU, Greensboro College

WAITLISTED: Pace

ACCEPTED: all other schools

FINAL DECISION:

             UNCSA  ( BFA Scenic Technology)

It was his top school from the beginning. He is thrilled!

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So awesome! I wish him the best and hope to run into you at MMC @cjenny2!

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So great @cjjenny2, how did he ever decide with all those terrific options.

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Yay!! Congratulations!!

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@JKellynh17 It was not an easy choice. We narrowed it down to UNCSA, SUNY Purchase, and Otterbein. We are very thankful to have had so many choices. :blush:

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My D was accepted to the BFA Acting & Film program at Relativity School in LA, California! SO excited for her. She will be transferring there in the fall. She’s hightailing out of Rider University … can’t wait for her to leave that school in the dust!

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@dreamsiklz - can you offer any thoughts as to what your D did not like at Rider…

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Username: Yardley Sisa

Background: My daughter started in drama in Junior High. She got the lead in her 8th grade musical, and we were all stunned that she was so good at it. We had no idea. She started with voice lessons in 8th grade, and began dance that summer. She took local acting classes (a joke), as well as 3 weekends of training in NYC (helpful).

She also had excellent experiences in the PA Thespian Conferences, and at International Thespians as well. (If your schools participate in this, I highly recommend doing “I.E.s”(Individual Events) as a preparatory activities prior to college auditions. My daughter has presented 3 IEs now, all of which were judged superior and allowed her to go to Internationals. This was a great confidence booster, and allowed her to see where she stood via a national group of thespians, and not just her high school. More importantly, IE adjudication is very similar to the college audition process, so it was really good preparation for her.

Summer Intensives: Rutgers (excellent), CMU (expensive and I’m not sure it was worth it), Broadway Dreams

Coaching: Yes, during the fall of senior year. Definitely worth it.

Colleges applied to: ( My daughter was accepted to CCM during college auditions at Internationals the summer before her senior year. Knowing she was already accepted into a great program, she limited her picks to only very top notch programs that she thought she might prefer to CCM.)

  CCM, Boston University, Rutgers, SUNY Purchase, Julliard, DePaul (walk in), U of Minnesota, CMU, UNCSA.

Call-Backs: DePaul

Rejected: BU, Rutgers, SUNY, Julliard, DePaul, U Minnesota, CMU

Accepted: CCM, UNCSA

Final Decision: UNCSA

Auditions were a crazy process. Although I “knew” that it was so competitive, I know, in retrospect, that I didn’t fully believe it. I think I thought it would be different for my daughter, to be honest. It was a very anxious time, going through auditions and receiving the rejections. In the beginning, I am not sure that my D brought her very best game to each audition. I think she had gotten accustomed to being seen as the very best, and didn’t realize that this was a whole new caliber of competition.

Unifieds were very stressful and painful, because of this. But somehow, it seemed like it was all meant to be when we got to the last day of auditioning, and we went to the UNCSA pre-audition orientation. The meeting was so informative, warm, respectful, collegial and impressive. After the orientation, my daughter and I looked at each other and I said, “this is your school. This is why everything happened the way it did. This is your program.” She said, “I know.” She went in to the UNCSA audition and did her best work of the week, and received extremely positive feedback immediately. UNCSA called her not long after, and intimated that she was one of their top choices, and she was admitted not long after.

In conclusion, I thank all the many people on CC who have posted their experiences and shared their wisdom with me. I learned a great deal from this site, and I know that I wouldn’t have been able to help my daughter position herself nearly so well without all of you. We are thrilled that she is heading off to UNSCA in the fall, and I thank all of you for your role in helping that happen.

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Congratulations - and best of luck on the stage of the journey!!

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Congratulations yardleysisa! Great school! Now you can relax and enjoy the rest of senior year!

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Congratulations, what a terrific program!

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Congratations @YardleySisa! Great program and sounds like the perfect fit!

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Congratulations!