Well, it’s our turn! Sorry for the length, but I have found this sort of info helpful in the past, so decided to keep it as is. This board has been such a tremendous source of info (as well as an occasional source of anxiety, LOL)!
D has done dance and children’s theatre since very young, and we realized she had a singing talent in elementary school. Got lead roles in musicals since middle school, and started getting cast in (adult) community theatre, including lead roles, after 8th grade. Drama in HS, but had to leave at the end of 10th grade due to health issues, was out 11th grade but finished up HS on time as a dual enrollment student at local community college. Took some hits to GPA due to her issues.
Took the year off after graduating; did not want to pair trying to get through college classes and keep up GPA while going through the audition process. I only knew how grueling the process was from this board, so THANK YOU!!! She has been working two flexible part-time jobs this year. D was not able to do theatre this year; only thing available was our one small community theatre, and couldn’t do that because of being gone for auditions.
I developed her college list for her because we have a very limited amount we can afford out of pocket, and was not willing for her (or us) to have to take out loans. We would not qualify for PELL grants or other need-based aid. I provided her with a list of places we could either definitely or likely afford (since she was done with school and had a final GPA, it was pretty cut and dried), then let her research and pick from there. We are in the southeast, so I ignored the western U.S. except for Texas (because of great merit aid), since the list seemed to be plenty big enough.
So in our situation, that knocked out many colleges I see mentioned a lot here. With her GPA ( will share here in case he helps give someone an idea of what to expect; her stats are 3.51 weighted, 3.11 unweighted, 1290 best SAT) the ones we could afford were generally state universities that gave good merit aid and OOS tuition waivers at that level. Left a couple of private schools on the list; one of them it turned out we couldn’t have afforded (U Tampa, never heard back from them but did not follow up), one of them she got enough academic scholarships that we could have (Ohio Northern, but she wasn’t accepted).
D realized that she was starting out kind of behind because most of the other auditioners were performing and training every day, and she felt very rusty (hadn’t been in a musical since Fall of 2016, for instance; hasn’t had any formal dance training since 8th grade.) She was just hoping to have a choice, and she did, so goal accomplished! I am glad we concentrated on the less-known/prestigious BFA programs because those gave her the two “yesses,” and one of them was very early so it took the stress off.
The 13 auditioned for were all BFA MT (or BFA Theatre/MT Concentration). The “backup plan” was attending as a BA Theatre student at one of the programs, which would have been fine.
Training: Fairly regular voice lessons since 7th grade (tapering down to “occasional to prepare for auditions” during the last year). Dance (ballet, tap, modern) from K-8th grade. Attended week-long Vocal Intensive at Belmont University summer after 11th grade.
Prescreens: None
Coach: LOL,that would be me listening to monologues in the car. Voice teacher was extremely helpful though!
Accepted: Southern Illinois University Carbondale, Austin Peay
Waitlisted: UW Stevens Point
Withdrew before audition: Montclair State (figured odds not worth expensive trip to audition).
Never Heard Back From: U Tampa, Local State University (nameless in an attempt at preserving anonymity). Fairly likely to be accepted at Local State, think they are just slow or notification was mis-directed, but did not follow up because she preferred another college anyway.
Rejected from: Wright State, Ball State, U of Oklahoma, Ohio Northern, Coastal Carolina, Missouri State, University of Montevallo, Sam Houston
Final Decision: Southern Illinois University Carbondale!
SIU is a VERY small program and not well known. That is just fine. She liked the faculty, felt comfortable with them, and feels like they are very invested in the success of their students and will provide great training. She also likes that it is a joint program of the Music and Theatre departments. Pretty much all the students are in every show. She just wants a place where she can work all day, every day on her voice/acting/dance skills (and hopefully those pesky Gen Ed classes will be mostly covered by her dual enrollment credits)… They also have a professional summer theatre on campus.
One thing about that campus she liked is that it “didn’t feel like high school.” There appear to be more older students and the student body seems much more diverse than some of the other places she visited. It doesn’t seem like everyone is between 18 and 21. A “high school” like atmosphere might make some people more comfortable, but is kind of anxiety-ridden for her; she is far happier in a very diverse (age and race) environment that seems more like a “job” than like school. Also, the area is pretty and scenic! On Amtrak line to Chicago (but 5 hours away). Was surprised by town, seems to have everything you would need, and campus adjoins the downtown area.
Merit aid excellent for her; they do not have out of state tuition for anyone anymore, but watch out for the fees (but remember you can deduct $1200 if you have your child already covered by insurance). Even got a $4000 housing scholarship.
Biggest disappointment of the process was a “no” from Missouri State. She loved the campus, city, faculty, students, and everything about it. That was the only tough “no.”
Got some awesome financial aid offers! Folks in our situation—good but not amazing GPA/SAT, don’t want to take out loans, aren’t rich, LOL–should check out University of Montevallo (Alabama), SIUC, Missouri State, Austin Peay (Tennessee), Sam Houston. University of Montevallo left us with the least out-of-pocket. (D didn’t “click” there and didn’t enjoy the audition experience, but there was nothing wrong with the program. Just wasn’t for her. Other folks should check it out!)
So we are happy and excited for D to begin life as an SIUC Saluki next year!
