Congrats! Please make sure to post as she gets started - I know a lot of people are interested in that new major at boco!
I sure will! Wasn’t it you @toowonderful who originally posted about it? I am thankful every day for that post. Once my D read about the program, it shot to the top of her list. When I asked her a year ago “what college looked like for her,” she described that program to a T, and we didn’t even know it existed yet.
She is over the moon to be involved with the program from the onset and help shape what it becomes.
I did start that thread - and if it had been around a year earlier it would have been on my kid’s list for sure! So excited to hear what the future holds!
USERNAME: RALdad
BACKGROUND: Acting in school productions beginning in 7th grade. Did a couple of community theater plays. Took every class in theater and TV offered at his school. Had a role in every production during HS (some were small, some were big). Spent senior year as a TA for the Drama Teacher. Participated in several Drama competitions in HS.
SUMMER INTERNSHIPS: None
COACHING/TRAINING: Worked with HS Drama/Theater teacher on audition prep.
COLLEGES APPLIED TO: University of Southern California (USC), UC Los Angeles (UCLA), Chapman University, Loyola Marymount University (LMU), UC San Diego, UC Santa Barbara, UC Irvine, University of San Diego, University of Nevada-Las Vegas (UNLV) and San Jose State University.
WAITLISTED: UC Irvine
NOT ADMITTED: UCLA & Chapman
ACCEPTED: at the other seven
FINAL DECISION:
USC ( BFA Acting)
He was overjoyed to read the acceptance letter to USC and in total shock that he was admitted to the BFA program. He thought he might be in the running for the BA, but didn’t think he “nailed” the audition well enough for the BFA. He also really liked the program at LMU (BA). These ended up being his final two options. Very different programs, but both outstanding in different ways. Both have highly regarded film programs and that played a role in his narrowing it down to these two. We did second visits to both after admission and he ultimately went with USC. I think he would have been very happy at either one even though the schools are so different.
Woohooo! Welcome, RALdad and S. My son is so happy at USC…I hope the same for you! It’s been a great freshman year.
Wow RALDAd, what a journey! Congratulations on a wonderful set of choices for your S and for his ultimate decision.
(I think it IMPERATIVE to mention that I applied to all these schools as a TRANSFER.)
USERNAME: tonictristan
BACKGROUND:
- Graduated from a private high school abroad (my high school history is quite complicated: I went to school in California for the first two years, but finished junior and senior year in Asia); HORRIBLE performing arts department, basically non-existent; I started out as a kind of journalist/Eng. Lit./writer type.
- “Discovered” acting JUNIOR year in high school when cast in first play; fell in love with it; got cast in three other plays after that.
- Initially entered college (UCLA) pursuing a COMMUNICATIONS major, but decided to transfer out to a BFA.
- While in college, took a few classes here and there for theatre.
- Moved to NYC SUMMER of 2014 and worked (“gained life experience to inform my art” I wrote in one of my essays) while preparing for auditions.
COACHING/TRAINING:
- VOICE: trained a couple of times with a local professor in California (Linklater technique) a few times before moving out to NYC.
- ACTING: aside from the few classes in California I took after high school, none, really.
COLLEGES APPLIED TO: The Juilliard School, NYU, Boston University, SUNY Purchase, Emerson College, Carnegie Mellon U, Marymount Manhattan College, Pace University
WAITLISTED: Carnegie Mellon University (I didn’t want to go the school after auditioning anyway - most of the young men they accept [from the senior showcase photos from the previous years] seemed to be of the same type: tall and handsome and… Caucasian.)
NOT ADMITTED: SUNY Purchase (DIDN’T GOT TO THE AUDITION - Oopsy!), Juilliard (I got same-day callback, though.)
STILL WAITING (but will withdraw application): Emerson College
ACCEPTED: Boston University, NYU, Pace University (NOT FOR ACTING BUT FOR THE SCHOOL IN GENERAL), Marymount Manhattan College (I felt bad because: I submitted my tuition deposit, then I found out that I got admitted somewhere that I wanted to go to more than MMC. So, I pulled out. The counselors at MMC, though, were very kind and understanding.)
FINAL DECISION: Boston University (SUBMITTED DEPOSIT TODAY - Yayyyy!)
(Fun tidbit: I mustered the courage to do a female classical monologue for the auditions that required a classical; I did Juliet from Romeo and Juliet.)
Great story! So bad@$$ that you did a Juliet monologue 
I’m sure you will have a wonderful time at BU!
Great story! So bad@$$ that you did a Juliet monologue I’m sure you will have a wonderful time at BU!
No spots opened up for waitlisted directing majors at Carnegie, which means DePaul it is! No disappointment here. Honestly, DePaul’s program suits my needs basically to a “T,” and, looking back at my lists from throughout the year, DePaul was always my number one choice while Carnegie was my number two. I got too caught up in the Carnegie prestige, to be honest.
I love DePaul. I love the faculty with whom I’ve interacted, I love the new theatre building, I love the city, and I LOVE the curriculum. I’ll have the opportunity to concentrate in directing while still taking plenty of acting classes, and that’s super important to me. It has the conservatory intensity without the rigidity, and I am really excited about the next four years!
So excited for you @HannahMTheatre !
Best of luck to you, @HannahMTheatre! I’ll be looking for you in the Jeff nominations.
CMU definitely took one from the priority waitlist for directing and I’ve heard one for MT.
Oh, hm. My letter on their portal changed to saying the class was full before when they said they would be notifying waitlist applicants, so I assumed that meant the original admitted students had accepted, but I could be wrong. Either way, what’s done is done at this point, and, like I said - no disappointments.
Hannah- Congrats!!! What an amazing program and it sound like the perfect fit for you!!!
THAT IS ALL THAT MATTERS
@HannahMTheatre - by the time you have been at school 2 weeks you will be unable to imagine yourself anywhere else. One of the things I worried about last year (it goes on the list with pretty much EVERYTHING connected to the college process) was that there would be lingering regret or doubts for D about whether or not she had made the “right” choice. I asked her about that when she was home this year- and she said that if she was suddenly offered a place in every school she applied to last year (which includes CMU) she would stay exactly where she is - b/c is it HER place.
@HannahMTheatre - You have such a great attitude. I think we often get caught up in the prestige of things and lose sight of what really is right for us. Watching my student go through this process has been so interesting. I was really surprised when she ended up turning down offers from NYU, BU and Fordham for a LAC where she can major in theater and also have a minor in another area. I know it sounds crazy but after the auditions she did not see herself at any of the before mentioned. I know she made the right decision and it’s great to see you have too.
I would hardly say DePaul suffers from a lack of prestige- it’s one of the best theater schools in the country…
No doubt DePaul is one of the best theater schools in the country… just think it’s easy to get caught up in the same phenomenon that the ivies have created. Not everyone who is qualified can go to one of the eight ivies because of the finite amount of spaces (simple supply and demand). The same holds true for the CMUs of the world. What is true for sure is that there are other amazing opportunities that lead to success in both traditional education and theater.
This entire process is essentially getting caught up in the “phenomenon” that is the ives. Why wouldn’t it be? Ask any parent or student here and we all have our “top 10” list largely based off here say, public opinion and the dreaded alumni list. So much of this business in terms of success is measured by accolades that never seem to ever stop. Right now we’ve all finally finished the seemingly insurmountable hurtle of getting into a program. Prestige worthy or not regardless it’s still merely influenza.
What’s scary is that this isn’t even half the battle and to add salt to the wound or fuel to the fire, there will still be a Jennifer Lawrence or Emma Stone for every Meryl Streep and Viola Davis. Not diminishing the talents of the former but they didn’t go to school for theatre like the later. I guess what I’m trying to say is to go off a bit of what @theatreisfun and @toowonderful touched on. DePaul is fantastic so is CMU and so is some other school out in Alabama I’m sure. It really doesn’t seem to matter too much. No one ever cared about George Washington University until Kerry Washington made it big 10 years after graduating…no body mentioned going to George Mason University until their NCAA team made the sweet 16 a few years back.
To keep marginalizing these schools and to a point the students that make it into these programs. Has got to stop at some point, because while I can show you a playbill of Zachary Quinto among others that attended CMU and are making millions from landing blockbuster roles. We can all look at his same graduating class roster and pick out plenty of names none of us have ever heard of. The same goes for every other year.
Full disclosure I can say I’m beyond over joyed to be going to DePaul next year, but that’s because I’m a first generation college kid. I’m just thankful to move beyond a community college or trade school in my family. (not that ANYTHING is wrong with those) However name recognition or not I can honestly say after doing this whole process a second time and learning so much each and every time if it weren’t for them awarding me nearly all of my tuition in scholarship I wouldn’t go. Because having raw talent or not, attending a top tier school or one with no name it all still seems to be luck at the end of it.
@HannahMTheatre I commend you on being thankful for your opportunity and recognizing for a moment you were caught up in the elite 1% influenza. Let’s face it we all do at some point. Eventually though we have all got to help each other get out of it, because it seems to just be a huge detriment. I hope I didn’t offend anyone it was just a point I’ve been stewing on for a bit and just made to my mother a few days ago that I wanted to share.