congratulations!
Programs Applied to:
Catholic, Marymount Manhattan MT, NC School Arts, Carnegie Mellon, Hartt, Point Park, Western Connecticut State, Emerson, CCM, BoCo, Millikin, Muhlenberg, Baldwin Wallace, Wagner, LIU Post, Wright State
Prescreens: CM
Accepted to: Catholic, Marymount Manhattan MT, Hartt, Wagner, LIU Post
Rejected from: CM, NC School Arts, Emerson, CCM, Baldwin Wallace. Still waiting on BoCo, D elected to skip PP’s dance call following her reaction to them in the NY Unifieds audition room so she took herself out of the running. D dropped Millkin, Wright State, and Muhlenberg auditions after acceptances to schools higher on her list
Wait-listed at: Western Connecticut State BFA MT
Coach: My D put together her own team: a dance teacher who has choreographed some of her shows, vocal coach for song prep and interp, and a local acting teacher
Summer Programs: Marymount Manhattan pre-college summer musical theater
Final Decision: Making deposit this week for Marymount Manhattan!
Lots2learn, S
OK– all decisions have been received, campus visits completed, financial aid packets reviewed, schools notified and FINAL DECISION made! Sorry this is so long, but whew! It has been quite a ride.
Schools (MT unless noted): CMU, Michigan, CCM (Acting and Musical Theatre), UNCSA (Acting), Texas State, Otterbein, DePaul (Acting), Coastal Carolina, Point Park University, Shenandoah, Western Carolina, Webster, Wright State, Baldwin Wallace, Elon
Prescreens: passed all (9 schools requiring)
Withdrew before audition: Western Carolina – original December audition was cancelled for weather and by the time late March audition came around, he had already made his decision
Rejected: CMU, Michigan, CCM (MT), UNCSA, Shenandoah, Elon, Webster
Accepted: CCM (Acting), Otterbein, Coastal Carolina, Wright State (Acting), DePaul (Acting), Point Park, Texas State
Waitlist: Baldwin Wallace
Background:
S has always been interested in theatre and we encouraged through local summer camps and the school musicals starting in middle school. I am impressed with his acting (including comic timing) and singing, but I also recognize that I’m his mom, so I kept that in perspective. He never took dance and that is definitely the skill that he needs to develop as he continues his training.
At the end of sophomore year, he told us that this is what he wanted to pursue so we started looking into opportunities to help him achieve the next step of getting into a BFA program. He started voice lessons in junior year. We also found a performing arts HS for senior year and he applied and was accepted there.
Choosing schools: Now, true confessions (as if you couldn’t tell from his list of schools), he had no safety schools. The Plan B was a gap year and working with a national coach if he wasn’t successful this year. I was ok with the plan given the fact that I felt like he has not had a lot of formal training and if he needed an extra year, we would make it a productive one. That being said, this experience was so intense and draining that I spent a good three months dreading that we might have to go through all of this a second time. A safety school might have let me sleep a little better at night. And on the flip side, two of his rejections were from schools that never should have been on the list. I don’t mean that after auditioning he discovered they weren’t good fits, I mean that he never had any real interest in the school and/or knew that they weren’t good fits before auditioning.
So my bottom line advice is reach schools are great, but really look at them to make sure that your son/daughter is totally excited about the school and program, not just about the name. And on a more humorous note, if your son has a “Frank Sinatra” type voice, maybe the pop/rock school isn’t the one for him. Both are incredible schools/programs, but ultimately a waste of time and energy for my S.
Audition/result highlights: I know that I have mentioned in other threads that we really talked about trying to get through the audition process without falling in love with any particular program. He did well with that for a while and really came out of most auditions with a positive feeling about each school and a general philosophy of “wow, I would be lucky if given the opportunity to train there for four years”.
Results came in the following order (I thought that folks might be interested for next year)
CCM MT (auditioned at NY Unifieds – rejected 2/2 via email)
CCM Acting (auditioned at NY Unifieds – accepted 2/2 via email) – You have to register and audition for Acting separately from MT. S really liked the CCM Acting team and it was so nice to head into Chicago Unifieds with an acceptance under his belt
Otterbein MT (auditioned at Chicago Unifieds – accepted 2/15 via phone call) – S is not a dancer and the hardest dance call he had by far was with Otterbein. He tried his best to keep up but really felt that his lack of training hurt him most in that experience. He may or may not have made a passing comment to another auditionee that he really wanted the dance call to be over so he could go get some donuts. In his defense, the donuts in Chicago were pretty amazing. He was blown away when he received this call and really excited about the program.
UNCSA (auditioned January on campus rejected via mail 2/22) – This was a tough one - incredibly impressive program. Not a good day in our household.
Coastal Carolina (auditioned January on campus, accepted via email 2/28) – From a parent standpoint, I loved the on campus Coastal Carolina audition process. After private auditions, the students participated in a dance call, voice and acting master classes where parents could watch. So much fun! This was another tough dance call. S really liked the crossover opportunities in the physical theatre program and study abroad option.
Shenandoah (auditioned January on campus, rejected via email 2/28)
U of Michigan (auditioned Chicago Unifieds, rejected via email 3/2)
Wright State (auditioned February on-campus, accepted to BFA Acting via snail mail) – S was very impressed with the film opportunities, the crossover opportunities between MT and Acting and the vast number of student productions
Carnegie Mellon (auditioned at Chicago Unifieds, rejected via email/Accepted 3/12) - He truly enjoyed the Carnegie audition – I would concur with those that say if you are going to shoot for one reach school, do Carnegie because it is such a validating experience for the student. As long as it seems to be a good fit of course!
Continued…
Baldwin Wallace (auditioned February on campus, WL via email 3/8) - S really liked this program especially the marketability of the students. He was hesitant that he wouldn’t be a good fit because his acting is really his strongest skill and they seem to prioritize singing first. He was pleasantly surprised to receive a WL from them.
DePaul University (auditioned at NY Unifieds, accepted 3/9) – He liked the DePaul audition, but was a little overwhelmed and didn’t have a great feel for whether he was bringing what they were looking for. When we were in Chicago he visited the campus and saw a show there. He came back really impressed with the talent. When decisions were released, he was out with friends. He called me to ask “Can you just check the portal so I can get the denial and move on?” So this was the biggest surprise when he was accepted. I felt like this one jumped ahead of all other acceptances to date and I started wondering if he was going to end up in Acting instead of MT.
Point Park (auditioned NY Unifieds, accepted via Acceptd on 3/14) – S had such fun at this audition and felt like he connected with the auditors.
Texas State (auditioned Chicago Unifieds, Priority Hold 3/4 accepted via phone call on 3/15) – Remember all that talk about not getting your heart set on a particular school? Well, then came Texas State – and all bets were off. From the information session to the audition experience, he was hooked. He came back after that audition flying high and convinced that Texas State was the place for him. Well, I have obsessed over these boards enough to know that Kaitlin is known for providing an incredibly supportive and nurturing audition, but she still only accepts 14-16 students. So I went back to losing sleep for a while until I realized that whatever happened in this process, S was going to be fine. There were going to be next steps regardless. OMG! I think that we are all still in shock that he got the call. S believes it is the perfect school for him.
Elon (auditioned on campus in February, rejected via email 3/16)
Webster University – auditioned at NY Unifieds, rejected via snail mail on 3/19) S really liked this audition and was hopeful for a positive decision here. Ultimately given the TXST acceptance, he told me that he was grateful that he wasn’t accepted because he liked the program and would have felt badly declining. I then realized that everything in life is about the timing
FINAL DECISION: Texas State University – go bobcats!
Final thoughts: Thank you, thank you, thank you for the fellow moms and dads that have shared the stress of this season and the seasoned parents who have been where we are and have done your best to talk us off the ledge when needed. Within this experience where we have little to no control, it was so helpful to at least have a way to get information. And if no information was available, it sure was nice knowing that I wasn’t alone. I can’t wait to read more of these stories and hear about everyone finding their “perfect school”!!
Congratulations @lots2learn!
Congrats @lots2learn!! I loved reading this thread from years past and think it’s a great way to celebrate all you’ve overcome and succeeded at while passing on some valuable info to next years hopefuls! I can’t wait to read more!
Congratulations, @lots2learn!
Congrats mtmom911!!! My D is on Wagner WL. Here’s hoping!
Congrats @lots2learn – so happy he ended up at his dream school!
I really loved the Wagner campus and program! Sending good acceptance energy for your D!!
As requested:
Background: S started performing about 7 years ago, first on a whim then quickly as a passion. (He had been the starting center of his youth football team for a few years before that!) At first mostly local community theatre, then added in middle school productions. At 12 he was a founding student of an arts academy started by longtime stage professionals (Broadway, tours, professional training, etc). Quickly started taking the leading man slot in the productions as it’s his “type”. Tried the local high school advanced drama department in 9th grade, got bullied by the very people who were supposed to be his family, and went sideways. Nearly quit. We pulled him and he’s been doing online school since. Grades are low-average but the trend line is up. Rededicated himself to the arts academy exclusively full time (spends 10-25 hours a week there depending on what’s going on). I can only say that he does not consider this thing called theatre as a fun or social outlet. To him, it’s truly “work”. Yes his entire friend group is there, but this is clearly his calling.
Prescreens: I forget, it was so long ago! But I think Moonifieds was more powerful for him than prescreens
Accepted to: Shenandoah, BW, Pace, Rider, Montclair, Oklahoma, Missouri State, Western Carolina, Point Park, Ohio Northern (All BFA MT)
Rejected from: Emerson, CMU, Ithaca, Texas State (PH until 4/2)
Coach: Mary Anna Dennard
Summer Programs: Local community and youth theatre (we live in a big city), as well as his arts academy
Final Decision: Shenandoah, which captured his heart early and it just became obvious is perfect for him.
Other stuff: It bears repeating (see my other thread) that we consider training to be absolutely essential to success. Our arts academy is a very high performing company of students, and they only do one show per year. They train from August-December, find out the show around New Years, and start off-book rehearsals early January. They do the show in April. While training, they DO NOT use material from the show, they use material meant to teach them a certain set of skills.
Also, with the industry connections that the leaders of our academy have, my son has been able to take regular master classes from current, working Broadway performers. Usually 1-2 per month. They additionally have a large fundraiser every summer which brings in some Broadway vets and local performers, and have the opportunity to work with them in that setting. All of these things help in teaching work ethic and the “organizational culture” of working MT performers. Also very helpful. As a result, my son has done a couple of new work Equity readings in NYC over the past years, and recorded the demo for an in-development work.
Last thing: I’m sure you can tell - Mom and I LEANED INTO this with him. We love that he has this passion. We never questioned whether it was worthwhile or reasonable. This can be so important - more than money, your child needs your support and time.
Congratulations @FirstLobster ! He had some great choices:)
I found this forum very late in the journey and I’ve been reading and been fascinated - so figured I’d throw in my D’s quick story.
Danced for 10 years until burned out, then moved to theatre the beginning of 10th grade. Worked her way from tech/makeup to ensemble, a bout of student directing, and then major roles. HS theatre program is not well supported, but she loves it.
Toured Auburn in early fall, including an individual tour of the theatre department and was sold on the MT program while on campus, so she put all of her eggs in one basket. Accepted academically in early October.
Completed prescreens with assistance from a choreographer and her voice teacher. Got invited to audition in January and was accepted with scholarship to the MT program late February.
Part of me is glad we didn’t know more. Also glad the program is a little under the radar.
The decision has been made, here is our journey! D had been active in all types of music and musical theatre since 4th grade, but didn’t tell us that she wanted to go to school for MT until the beginning of her junior year, although I think she knew for a while. We started a little late for school and audition prep. You’ll probably think I’m nuts, but I gave my D a 6 hour travel time limit for her future college. It had to be less than 6 hours away from home. Luckily we live in the Northeast, so that still gave us lots of options. I let her lead the way on college visits, prescreens, applications, and auditions. (Although I really wish I knew about CC when this process started!)
Programs Applied to: SUNY Cortland, Nazareth College, The Hartt School, Boston Conservatory, Point Park University, Ithaca College, Syracuse University, SUNY Fredonia, Baldwin Wallace, Penn State, Rider University, Carnegie Mellon
Prescreens: With two quick prescreen rejections from Carnegie Mellon and Rider University (with a suggested redirect to acting, which we declined), we got a little nervous. But then came prescreen passes from Syracuse, Ithaca, and SUNY Fredonia, which made us feel a little better. A last minute add right before the deadline of Penn State was also a rejection.
We ended up with only 9 auditions, which was a little worrisome to me, but felt great to my D. I tried to get her to do walk-ins at NY Unifieds, but she wasn’t interested at all.
Accepted to:
SUNY Cortland - a local audition BA safety (Auditioned December, admitted snail mail early January) - a great first audition experience, for an up-and-coming local program.
Nazareth College - Auditioned January, admitted snail mail mid-February - really enjoyed the audition experience here. Loved the connection to Merry Go Round Playhouse.
SUNY Fredonia - Auditioned early February, admitted the following week, snail mail - wonderful state school program, great audition experience. Both of us cried when we got the acceptance letter. It was the first artistic admission that really mattered. We were so relieved.
Hartt School - Auditioned at NY Unifieds, admitted March 1st, snail mail - this was a really exciting admit to a really wonderful program.
Point Park - Auditioned at NY Unifieds, admitted March 14, email - her favorite audition experience by far. When she came out of the audition room, she looked at me and said “that was amazing and so much fun”!
Rejected from: Baldwin Wallace, Ithaca College, Syracuse University, Boston Conservatory
Wait-listed at: None
Coach: None. She had 3 years of private voice lessons, about 8 private acting coachings to help choose monologues and prepare her audition, about 6 months of private dance lessons in ballet and jazz to prepare for prescreens and auditions. (Although she was a gymnast, so she’s very flexible and moves well.)
Summer Programs: Syracuse University Summer College for Acting & Musical Theatre
Final Decision: Point Park University, and she couldn’t be happier. After her audition, she knew that this might be the one, and her admitted student visit to campus sealed the deal!
Programs Applied to: Tisch, Ryder, BoCo, LIU, U of Arts, Ithaca, Manhattan, Montclair, Syracuse
Prescreens: Ryder, Tisch, Ithaca, Syracuse
Accepted to: Ryder & Montclair but not in MT or anything related, LIU for MT
Rejected from: Tisch, BoCo, U of Arts, Ithaca, Manhattan, Syracuse
Wait-listed at: none
Coach: none
Summer Programs: none
Final Decision: LIU
LIU is a gift. We were encouraged to let D apply for MT - told by her teachers that yes she has what it takes, but we were mostly on our own for figuring out how to navigate the whole process. Because we were so ignorant, we ended up with a gap year - we needed a year to prepare for auditions! D graduated in 2017. She did part of her junior year and almost all of her senior year of high school at the nearest community college. Our small high school has very nice, but very overworked people in the guidance department and they have no experience with MT hopefuls. She didn’t take the SAT’s because we thought she would be considered a transfer student after doing so many classes at community college and the SAT’s wouldn’t be necessary. This eliminated some other schools from her application list almost right away. She did manage to get ACT’s at the last minute and some schools accepted those. We didn’t know about coaches until too late. She participated in local community theaters and for 3 years she did a workshop culminating in fabulous Broadway reviews. That workshop was several hours a weekend for about 5 months. She had 5 years of tap lessons which we had to give up when the rehearsals and private voice and acting lessons made scheduling everything and affording it all impossible. (We have 2 other daughters, one older, one the twin of our MT daughter.) We drooled over the summer intensives and I would have given almost anything to have had the financial means to send her to one. We didn’t sign up for unifieds - like everything else we learned about them too late. We did send her to unifieds at the last minute to try to get some walk-in auditions.
This was a terrifying moment for me - putting my girl on a train alone (neither my husband or I could go) and sending her off to a big city. Fortunately she had a friend in college nearby who let her crash on the sofa. I’m glad I choked back my terror and let her go because I found out she could handle herself.
LIU was one of the 2 walk-in auditions she got. None of her prescreens netted her a live audition. We took her to Uof Arts, Manhattan, and BoCo for auditions.
Then the rejections started rolling in. D has struggled with depression off and on for the last several years and it just kept getting worse. I was furious with our life circumstances- for not having been able to make a more financially comfortable life to give our kids every opportunity. (She has recently seen a new doctor and is now on new medication for mood regulation and doing well.)
We really thought she had a good chance at Manhattan because that audition seemed to go so well, but no.
Then, on Monday this week, unbeknownst to the other, her voice teacher and I both called LIU to find out when we would hear. Her voice teacher felt it had taken too long. She knows the MT director there. I called because I just wanted to get the last no over with so D could mourn … and then we could move on to figure out plan B. Husband and I had started a list of alternatives to the 4 year college plan and found a coach who would take payments as we went along and we were determined to do anything we could for her even if it required a steady diet of PB&J for the next 10 years.
What the teacher and I both discovered was that D’s transcript had never arrived. Thank God we called! The situation was remedied immediately and 2 days later she got her acceptance. I am sure that a personal recommendation to the director from her teacher was influential. I am unbelievably grateful that we had that one advantage. I feel a little guilty about it, but I know she still had to be found qualified and talented enough to be accepted and I know that her teacher would definitely NOT have recommended her if she had any doubts about D’s ability to handle it or her talent.
So, from an afterthought, to the one and only yes, LIU is now our school. Her dream school was initially BoCo, but every day we learn more about LIU that makes all of us sure that the gods were looking out for our D - that this is exactly the right fit for her. When I think of how close we were to never applying or following up with this school, it gives me goosebumps!
PS I would love to hear from anyone familiar with LIU!
@NewEngMTMom Congrats! Which I’m sure can’t even touch upon your excitement! I’ve heard from a student’s grandmother how happy her GD is at LIU - we live on Long Island. Besides the training, her GD particularly loves the proximity to NYC and the ability for students to work at the Tilles Center which is nearby, affords good experience in theater environment. S didn’t have it on his list because it would’ve been a potential 4th school within an hour of home!
My S17 was accepted to LIU (which we call Post because that was the old neighborhood name before the two schools merged) for this year’s BFA Tech class. We are very familiar with the campus because we have attended many functions and activities there over the years. My oldest son danced in The Nutcracker at age 8, the kids attended “Saturday school” there, day camp, performances at Tilles and the like over the years. The campus is lovely, very bucolic. After my son was accepted, we attended visiting days and even a formal dinner for accepted theater students. The professors and other people we met were lovely and approachable. The program seemed very nice. Unfortunately, the money just didn’t work for us, so my son is 8 hours away at SUNY Fredonia. With the money I’ve saved, I have been able to fly him home for breaks (he takes the school sponsored bus back). In retrospect, although I miss him terribly, I think it’s been good for him not to be 15 minutes from home.
I am glad that your D has a great choice that she is happy with.
This article popped up on my FB newsfeed today, very timely!
@mtmom911 What a great article! thanks for sharing. Love the student perspective and hindsight.