@speezagmom - Congratulations! I also have a S with no dance background and found that the MT Prescreens didn’t work out so well for him either. The websites all say they are just looking for the body’s line (or something like that), but I think the competition is such that they can be much more picky when it comes to dance training and background. Even CMU (with no dance component to the prescreen) asks how many YEARS of dance training they’ve had. It sounds like your S was wise to have an open mind and he landed well!
Many congrats, @speezagmom! Your S chose well; he will love Molloy/CAP21!!
@owensfolks My daughter is a sophomore MT at ShenCo!! Your daughter will love it there! To those with children going to Hart, we have a friend who is an MT freshman there and she loves it!! Congrats to you all!!
@speezagmom Congrats to your son on his decision!
Re: the lack of coaching: I’m noticing that this (and the acting decision) thread has a number of kids getting acceptances without coaching. I’m also noticing that some of the kids who have the ‘big name’ coaches are not getting multiple acceptances. There’s a lot we all don’t know about each other: our kids look, vocal range, abilities, experience with previous theatre (HS or community). It is so subjective, and there are no guarantees. My d didn’t have a coach (in the way that some here did; I’ll elaborate when I share her decision). Some may argue this is why she didn’t have as many acceptances. The truth is, we’ll never know.
Congrats, @speezagmom ! I am sure the Class of 2023 parents will learn a lot from reading your story!
@DramaQueen219 - I totally agree with you. I think the look (including sex!, height, weight, hair color, maturity-look, white/URM) all are probably very important and we can’t “control” for most of these on cc. The PA background, dance skills (for MT) all are also really important. Plus, many of the schools place importance on academics. A “hook” in any of these areas could make the coach less necessary, but you’ll never know.
@owensfolks I am so excited and happy to finally see this post. Such BIG congrats to your bright, talented, and beautiful daughter!!! #AdvancedWeatherForever
Re: To Coach or Not to Coach? This comes up every year. There are some (like me) that had no idea that coaches existed. There are others (like me) that couldn’t afford a coach. There are quite a few (like me) for whom it didn’t matter in the end. There are quite a few (like me) that believe their kid would have had an easier, less stressful experience if they had had a coach… not necessarily more successful, but less stressful due to better preparation. And there you have it.
And now a word about coaching once you’re actually in an MT program: D is about to graduate and just wrapped her Senior Showcase last night. Never have I seen such preparation and coaching for one 50-minute event. The entire semester was spent in preparing, rehearsing, and rehearsing some more. I asked D, who chose your song? The surprising answer was, the faculty did because they know what they’re doing and how to literally showcase my best stuff. In addition, each senior was assigned an audition coach to give guidance as to what to do, where to go, and how to do it in the great big competitive world of booking work. Bottom line: coaching can’t hurt. Those on the inside of MT training use it and give it.
We don’t post often, but have benefited greatly from many of the comments and experiences that are shared here – so want to share a summary of our daughter’s journey.
Programs Applied to: Baldwin Wallace, Boco, Catholic, Emerson, Ithaca, Missouri State, OCU, Otterbein, UNCSA
Prescreens required/passed: Ithaca, Otterbein
Accepted to: Boco, Catholic, Emerson (BFA Acting), Ithaca, Missouri State, OCU
Wait-list: Otterbein
Coach: Our daughter did not have an audition coach, but she did have an amazing voice teacher/coach (that she got to know thru our local regional theatre company) – and she attended two summer programs (the summers before her junior and senior years in high school) that helped her build her rep book. She also received some great outside input on her monologues from her high school drama teacher – and other acting friends. (We also leveraged a local college arts library for hard-to-find sheet music; copies were free assuming you used a USB to store scanned images.)
School screening/selection: We worked hard upfront to select a relatively small group of schools we thought were the best fit.
Audition lessons learned: In hindsight, it was really helpful to have auditions starting in the fall (versus waiting to start after the holidays). Not only does it spread out the travel schedule, but it also helps build early confidence, especially if early auditions result in one or more acceptance. On that same point, it’s not a bad idea to schedule a safety school early if possible. (FYI – our daughter’s auditions included 5 on campus, 3 at NYC unifieds, and 1 at NTexas Unifieds.)
Summer Programs: OCU, Ithaca – For what it’s worth, though we agree going to a summer program won’t guarantee admission to a college, it could break a tie – plus it gives your student a chance to get to know some faculty and see if the school is a good fit.
Final Decision: Ithaca BFA MT!
Best wishes to all as this crazy season begins to wind down!
Well the deposit has been sent and the housing questionnaire filled out so I guess we are ready for the final decision post! My D has been involved in MT in one form or another since the 4th grade. Her training has been primarily at one PA studio with different dance components and a few community theatre stints. My D has always considered herself an Actor first but through this process it became apparent that she really wanted Musical Theatre and not a pure Acting program.
Programs Applied to: Michigan (Acting & MT), Texas State, CMU, CCM, Otterbein (Acting & MT), UMiami, Wright State, Ball State, Penn State, FSU, Shenandoah, Pace, Elon, Ithaca, Emerson, Illinois Wesleyan, Molloy/Cap 21, Drake, Millikin, Western Michigan, OKC
Prescreens Passed: Michigan, Texas State, CMU, Otterbein, Shenandoah, Pace, Ithaca, Penn State, Illinois Weselyan, FSU, Wright State (All but Elon)
I will interject here and say that after she passed so many prescreens we were feeling confident and we decided to eliminate some schools from her list. This might have been a BIG mistake. I say this because I thought the prescreen was indicative of future success. For us it was not the case! In hindsight I would have kept all the schools on the list. The ones we eliminated were Wright State and OKC because neither went to Unifieds (we did both NY and Chicago) and it was hard to figure out when we would have been able to fit in going to the campuses. In hindsight I would have skipped trips to some of the bigger name schools and the conservatories since having a good academic university was something that my D really wanted.
Accepted to: Drake, Molloy/Cap 21, UMiami, Millikin (redirect), Illinois Wesleyan (redirect)
Wait-listed at: Otterbein (Acting), Western Michigan
Coach: None but used current vocal coach and acting coach
Summer Programs: CCM, Triple Arts
Otterbein was originally one of my D’s top choices but when the waitlist came through for Acting and not MT that really threw her – she just couldn’t wrap her head around not having as much of the dance and vocals (even though that program would have allowed her to do a dance minor and private vocal lessons) and she was concerned that their program was becoming a bigger program than it previously was – so she did not pursue that as much as she might have if it had been the MT waitlist. Drake was a good possibility because it would have provided her with a strong, traditional academic setting which was appealing to her but she was concerned about the lack of dance in the program. Illinois Wesleyan was high on her list and she would have gone there very happily so the day they called her she thought it was the one – but they were calling to invite her to come to the school for a BA in theatre arts. That wasn’t a good day in our house! At this point it was mid March and I can tell you that the stress level in our house was very high but my D had a really good feeling about Miami and so did I so we kept hoping that a yes would come through. When it finally did – on March 28th we were ecstatic! The Molloy/Cap 21 acceptance came not long after but I’m pretty sure by that point my D had her mind made up! The visit to Miami only solidified her initial good feelings. It’s a perfect choice for her because it’s an acting based program in a university setting in a major city. And we have family close by so that makes it more attractive for Mom!
Final Decision - UMiami for MT!!!
@JayCee17 Congratulations! Although my acting D went to NYU Tisch, my younger D who is not an Acting or MT major is a freshman at UMiami and loves it!!! She is a dancer and does dance on their dance team which has been a great experience. I know that the MT program there has a great reputation! Please feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions about the U that don’t pertain to MT(since I can’t answer those! LOL). I hope she loves it!
Yay more good stories! Congrats!!
Congrats, @JayCee17 !
That’s great @JayCee17 ! Congratulations! I love reading these stories!
@JayCee17 Welcome to UMiami! My freshman MT major loves it there!
@MaybeThisTimeBW - Congratulations! You had a lot of great options there.
@jaycee17- My son loved his Miami audition - and the location is perfect. I’m sure you’ll be happy to visit in January/February! Congratulations on finding a great fit!
Background: Female, 3 years voice, 1 year of formal dance while still in elementary school, but didn’t like the dance competition world that her younger sister has lived in for the past several years. Spent 6 weeks last summer @ CMU Pre-College drama, which we credit with helping her to stand out in the crowd during audition season as we felt it showed to her adjudicators s a level of commitment to the MT “craft” Fell in love with Broadway musicals after being cast as a “lovely lady” in Les Mis SE @ 12 years old (the director thought she was 14)…lead (Sarah Brown) in “Guys and Dolls” in 7th grade; then captured female lead both Jr (Brenda Strong in CMIYC) and Sr (Aida) years of HS. One of two girls to ever make her school’s varsity show choir as a 9th grader, which kept her dance skills somewhat sharp.
Originally Applied for MT at: Nebraska Wesleyan, Ball State, CMU, CCM, UM, BoCo , OU, ONU, Otterbein, CCPA, and Webster
Lesson learned: If your S or D is really good at MT, be prepared to spend a lot of time and $$ from February-April of their senior year on airplane tickets, hotels, rental cars, and application/audition fees.
Prescreens: UM (Did not Pass)
Video Auditions: BoCo
Auditions, Acceptances, Wait Lists, and Rejections:
Academically accepted to all schools that gave a separate academic result. Made Honors Program @ BSU.
NWU audition was on campus, won $10K Scholly in a contest but D felt it was too close to home…All auditions except BoCo done @ Chicago Unifieds. BoCo was a video audition as they didn’t have any slots left @ Chicago; Recalling her UM prescreen experience, D didn’t feel a video would get her accepted to BoCo MT - but lo and behold on 3/31 she received an acceptance from BoCo for MT; she was over the moon - her mom and I not $o much but we were happy for her as we felt she deserved to be accepted into at least one of her “Dream Schools”.
Rejections: CCM, CMU, OU
Visited (in order): Ball State - Great program for the $$, but D wanted a bigger “host city” that was closer to a major airport; ONU, Otterbein, BoCo and finally Webster.
Final Decision:
D fell in love with BoCo during her visit and felt right at home with the other prospective and enrolled MT students & professors @ BoCo in the Fenway district…BoCo won over her mom too (Dad was in town for the visit but had to work from the hotel room); it was one of her “dream programs” all along, so of course her mom and I will continue to be working hard to make her dream a (financial) reality. BoCo MT program directory Laura Marie Duncan really made her and her mom feel welcome on the tour and she likes the opportunities to develop skills (and maybe make some $$) in Dramaturgy, as writing is very important to D. Mom has submitted the paperwork to BoCo ($1K deposit on it’s way at EOM) ; D can’t wait to finish HS and actually make a bit of $$ this summer, then get moved into the Brownstones in September and joining the “Jazz Cat” community!. A happy ending to a very intense and expensive process…
@JayCee17 Congrats to your daughter! When I saw the long list of applied schools and passed pre-screens, compared to the acceptances (and the triple arts summer program, and her perceived strength in acting), it reminded me quite a bit of my daughter. The passed prescreens did really get her hopes up. She only bowed out of one audition after that (and for other reasons, since the bad news had already started to trickle in). I had also prepared her for the reality that she may get redirected to acting, but she really wanted the triple threat training and not just ‘more acting’. I’m hoping I can share her full story in a few days!
Excited to finally be able to share our journey…
Background:
My D has been singing since childhood, and at the age of 11 was cast in her first musical, but really didn’t discover her “passion for theatre” until freshman year of high school. She has been taking private voice lessons since middle school, but only started dance lessons sophomore year of high school (one “musical theatre dance” class her sophomore and junior year, and then a few beginning ballet lessons her senior year before having to drop due to show rehearsals). Throughout high school she participated in both community and school theatre productions.
We were very new to this world and didn’t discover CC until way late in the game, which is really too bad because we definitely could have benefitted from all the information in this forum before embarking on this crazy journey! So, we were rather naïve to this whole process. I had an inkling as to how stressful this was all going to be, but not to the extent I should have. Had I known, we probably would have started earlier, trained more, and sought the help of a coach (although not sure we could have afforded one). Her ability to prep for college auditions was also hindered by the fact that she was in back to back shows (like literally overlapping shows) for the last year and a half, which in hind sight was not smart! Great resume building experiences, amazing opportunities, but time consuming and definitely interfered with her ability to thoroughly prep for auditions. Oh well, live and learn!
So here’s our story…
Coach: none
Summer Programs: just a local summer program for the last 2 years – “Broadway Intensive” (non-auditioned one-week summer camp where they bring in Broadway professionals to teach the camp)
Programs Applied to:/color
Arizona State, Boston Conservatory, Carnegie Mellon, Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music (CCM), Drake, Florida State, Millikin, Molloy/CAP21, NYU – Tisch, Webster
[color=blue]Prescreens:
Florida State (passed)
Carnegie Mellon (offered acting audition – was on waitlist for audition at Chicago Unifieds, was eventually offered a spot but had to decline as the time conflicted with another audition appointment – so ended up not auditioning)
Rejected from:
Millikin (on campus) – first audition, good learning opportunity, but she didn’t feel she gave a very good audition – redirected to BA Theatre
Florida State (on campus) – struggled with the dance audition so was not surprised
CCM (Chicago Unifieds) – in hindsight, not a good fit for my D and should not have been on our list - she came out of this saying “yeah that’s going to be a no!”
NYU-Tisch (Chicago – during Unifieds) – did not have high hopes, but she actually felt good about her audition, enjoyed the process and liked the adjudicators!
Boston Conservatory (Chicago Unifieds) – an interesting audition – one of the adjudicator’s phones connected via Bluetooth to the speaker they provided and ended up ringing in the middle of her audition! Luckily it happened between her 2 songs but still awkward – and at the dance call they were asked to freestyle it at one point which totally caught her off guard and really hiked up her anxiety since she’s “not a dancer” – she left that saying “definitely another no!”
Webster (Chicago Unifieds) – this one stung a bit – She really liked this program, felt her audition went well and really enjoyed talking with Lara Teeter
Waitlisted: none
Accepted to:
Drake University (on campus audition) – This was our first “yes” (via email 3/2/18)! We were so excited to have a “yes” as we were really concerned we would not have any acceptances, especially considering the high number of reach schools she applied to and the overall low number of programs she auditioned for. And the offer came with a really nice scholarship too! Our D enjoyed the audition process and the instructors and people she met (it’s a school that is close to home so she knew several students already in the program and as well as some auditioning).
Arizona State University (on campus audition) – Our second “yes” (via email 3/14/18)! This program is not well known but I think it is a great program and an up and coming contender. We really liked what we saw! We loved the campus, the weather, and was excited for the partnership with Phoenix Theatre that the MT students have. It is a BM – Music Performance/MT degree, but Brian DeMaris is working to create a really wonderful MT program. Their MT program is also connected with their opera program giving MT students who might also be interested in opera opportunities to explore that as well. We discovered this program via a thread on CC: http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/musical-theater-major/1923496-arizona-state-university-musical-theatre-p1.html
I highly recommend anyone who is looking for next year to check out this program!
Molloy/CAP21 (Chicago Unifieds) – This was our final notification (4/7/18 to be precise). We discovered this program very late in the game once again via CC (thank you @EastchesterMom !) and contacted Rebecca to see if she had any audition spots still available for Chicago Unifieds. She did so we quickly applied and added an audition to our Chicago Unified schedule. The more we researched this program, the more we fell in love with it. This was probably the most exciting acceptance! We all 3 cried tears of joy when we received the news! However, we had to wait to see what the financial package was going to be to ensure we could make it work financially before making a decision (the other 2 schools included fairly substantial scholarship offers).
Final Decision:
Since we got acceptances relatively early from Drake and ASU, for the last month or so we were weighing pros and cons for each program and trying to decide between these two good options! We even wrote the pros and cons list up on our big chalkboard wall so that we could add items as we thought of things, and my D could make a case for either school depending on the day.
But then we got that last notification – the acceptance from Molloy/CAP21! We were not able to visit the Molloy campus or the Manhattan studios due to the cost of travel (we live in the Midwest, and the cost of this whole audition process has definitely left a mark on our finances!), but due to all the amazing information and testimonials of @EastchesterMom and @CentralOHmomof4 (and several other CC parents on the Molloy/CAP21 thread) we feel like we already know so much about this fantastic program! It has so many positives: small campus life paired with big city experience, rigorous training from seasoned professionals, caring and nurturing staff who are there to support and help their students learn and grow while also challenging them to push themselves to new levels, location and access to industry opportunities, and so much more! So, once we finally got the financial package from Molloy/CAP21 (which took another 2+ weeks due to a FAFSA school list issue…), we could make a final decision…
And – we are happy to announce that our D will be attending Molloy/CAP21 in the fall!! She couldn’t be more excited to begin this next exciting chapter in her life at this amazing school, and we couldn’t be happier for her!