Final MT Decisions Background - Class of 2024

College Majors Musical Theater Major
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Before the show finished its run, he auditioned for the high school fall show in our area. Now, this school has 6,000+ students. So, getting into a show at all is very difficult. Getting in as a FRESHman was even more impossible. Well, he beat all of those odds and was cast as John. One of only 2 freshmen who were cast. Sadly, the school does not do but two main shows a year (as opposed to most of the schools in our area that have 6-8 in their season). The spring show was the musical and he did tech for this (since, of course, he couldn’t sing). He was also cast in Senior directs and ended up being chosen Best Actor of the freshman class that year. I also got him involved in Destination Imagination. The first year he participated (and every year since), the team went to Global Finals! This particular year, they competed in Improv in the high school level (although he was the only one actually in high school) and ended up being the youngest competitor in that category at the international level!
That summer, he was not able to do my summer show, because of some transportation and family issues, but I ended up getting to use him as a student director about 2/3 of the way through the show. He did a great job leading and teaching and was absolutely amazing at keeping the show running backstage. I helped him get jobs as theatre camp assistants where he also got to perform in the productions. One particular improv camp that he worked with produced some of the funniest original comedy sketches I have ever seen. And he helped write several of them!
 
The next year, he was cast in the plays (fall play, OAP and senior directs), but when auditions for the musical happened, he came to me to get a song prepared. Again, he insisted he couldn’t sing. So, I found a few novelty songs for him (since comedy and character acting was his strength). Pulled out “Les Poissons” from Little Mermaid. After a few notes, I had to stop. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing?? “Who told you that you can’t sing??” “My sister…she used to yell at me to stop singing.” I grabbed “Corner of the Sky” sheet music and got him to try that. I got chills. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.
 
I then worked for 4 months to get him into voice lessons with the best local teacher I know. I won’t go into the personal reasons, but it was a huge issue for him to be able to do this. Not only did the voice teacher have a two-page waiting list but the student didn’t have the family support (financial or otherwise) to do this, either. I finally got the teacher to listen to him. I told him that he needed to hear him – he would WANT to hear him. And, I was right…the minute he heard him, he called me and said “where did he come from??? I want to work with him!” I worked with him to get him into lessons. It was hard in the beginning but it finally worked. I believe he started lessons in February?
 
From that point on…even 6-8 weeks later, his vocal talents exploded. After only a few months of training, his instructor recommended he audition for the Golden Voices competition where students from all over the world compete to be able to perform at Carnegie Hall. The first time he sang in public with his own, legit voice (not a character voice) was at his recital in May. The second time was on the stage at Carnegie Hall a few months later in December (he placed third in the Broadway category).
 
After that, he starting piling on academic work (he is GT and was an honors student in HS), theatrical productions and other extracurriculars like Destination Imagination, Thespian Society and PALS. To say he was probably the busiest, hardest-working high school kid I have ever known would be an understatement.
 
Once he really started to believe he could sing (and it took awhile to convince him of this…even after performing at Carnegie Hall!), he continued getting roles like Edna Turnblad in Hairspray (which a local DFW theatre critic chose him as one of the top 33 performances by any performer in Dallas-Ft. Worth for 2017), Gomez Addams in The Addams Family, William Barfee in The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee and Trunchbull in Matilda, but also learned that he really could use his legit voice and became one of the best Sweeney Todds I have ever seen for a local production (It is one of my favorite musicals, so I am a harsh critic on this one!). At his high school, he was King Triton in “Little Mermaid” and was nominated for Best Actor in a Musical in one of the regional high school musical awards.
 
I worked with him a lot for acting throughout all of these years – but in all of the productions I direct, I teach acting as well. It isn’t just “here’s a script, get off book, block and go!” I actually want kids to work on character development and learning the art of acting.
 
Through all of this, he wasn’t sure he was really good enough to try for a musical theatre major and career. He doubted himself and wanted to make sure he could take care of himself as an adult. Initially, he had considered Engineering for college. He would have easily gotten into almost any program – but his heart is with performing arts. I believed that he was. I am generally pretty honest with young people. I encourage people to follow their passion, but they need a backup plan also, I believe. No one gave me THAT bit of wisdom when I came through and I wish they had!
 
So, this may interest some of you who did ask about the gap year he and my other student took. This student was very heavy academics in school. His senior year, he wanted to take 5 AP courses. And he wanted to continue theatre productions and enjoy his senior year. (And did I mention he does Destination Imagination??). He helped start the new WINGS Leadership program at his high school senior year and I’m sure there are 5 more things I have left out. After some serious consideration, he decided to take a gap year. Initially, he was worried about it. How it would be perceived by his peers, schools, etc. In the end, I think he feels that it made his audition year turn out the way it did. His quote “I wasn’t auditioning during school but during life.” He was learning to get a job, get a car, work and pay bills. He took some dance lessons to help him prep and he had time to work and evolve his material. This very-overbooked student (IMO) would not have had the results he did if he had to cram it in on top of senior year.  
 
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Over the summer, I worked with him and the other student on research, school lists and prepping for their first auditions. I suggested that he attend Tracy Jordan’s College Audition Prep Weekend (Mock Audition) he holds every year. Directors from Texas State, Missouri State and other colleges would be there and he would have an opportunity to hear real feedback from them. They can be very candid and open with their coaching and feedback (some more than others!) and I felt it would be an important first stop in audition season. Turns out that it was the right thing to do! He got some important feedback on his selections (all but monologue had to be scrapped and started over) and he ended up meeting someone that would change his life.
 
He really connected at that Mock Audition with a few directors. One, in particular, Dean Nolen from Texas Tech, was assigned to his group and got to work directly with him over two days. Dean gave him some important redirection and advice. He was so personable and seemed to really care about these kids very much. Thomas walked away really enjoying his time with Dean and a few others as well. We immediately went back and started hunting for some different song choices.
 
First in-person audition was for one of the schools from the mock audition. I had heard some great things about the director and the program and suggested that he audition there. So, in October, he drove by himself up to University of Central Oklahoma and did his first audition! He had an awesome experience. Greg was everything we had been told he was and more! He felt like he really connected with him and the school.
 
After that, he started getting ready for the CAP auditions in Atlanta. To be honest, I think that was one of the best experiences we had this year, but I wish it hadn’t been so early. I think a lot of the schools were not ready to make decisions then. A few people got offers from that, but most got callbacks. He did get callbacks from some schools (LIU Post, Ohio Northern, University of Northern Colorado, Otterbein, etc.) and got to have some conversations, but it did give him an incredible chance to do a group audition and get “stronger” at the audition process. He really connected with Thom from Otterbein. They really clicked well and he was very encouraged and started corresponding with him. Thom seemed to see a lot in him that I saw. Being a strong character actor is sometimes hard to demonstrate in an audition where you aren’t allowed to use dialect or character voice and it is a very short format.
 
Less than a week later, he did the NTDA auditions in Dallas area (also a “group” audition) and got even more callbacks! (Including some schools that had seen him at CAP Atlanta but not called him back). He did change his material for NTDA to something different. I actually spoke to some of the directors at NTDA callbacks (they are all in a huge open room and you go table-to-table for interviews) and they were very impressed with his song choice, acting and delivery. It was “Dust and Ashes” from “Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812.” Not an easy song to perform or to accompany! About 10 seconds into his cut, the accompanist STOPPED playing. But, as we had discussed it, he kept singing. From what I was told, didn’t miss a beat. Apparently, the accompanist had been messing up all day long and several directors told me that his ability to not only keep going but also sing it beautifully a cappella without even showing a hint of nerves was pretty amazing. So, after that…it became one of his audition cuts. At NTDA, he got a lot of callbacks (he counted 31, I counted 34 – LOL). Some were for some general theatre BA programs, but he picked up Hartt, Nebraska Wesleyan and a few others there! He also got to see Dean again from Texas Tech and Tracey from Hartt (who said she thought she had called him back at CAP) and others. Great way to make connections.
 
Before Unifieds, he went to audition for University of Alabama (from a CAP callback) and loved the experience. He auditioned for both Acting and MT. Other than a tornado situation where they were all sent to the basement in the middle of the audition, it was a great experience!
 
Through all of this, he kept passing prescreens. All submitted prescreens he passed. At the CAP auditions, he did live prescreens/ auditions for callbacks and did not pass some of those.
 
At Unifieds, he had some tremendous opportunities to audition for so many schools. His first audition was on Sunday for Millikin. It was a very strange audition and he walked away from it not sure if he did well or not. He was called out of the dance portion (before it was taught) to go back and work with the acting facilitator some more…by himself. He got back into dance about 10 seconds before they finished learning the combo and since he isn’t a dancer, he felt pretty stressed. But apparently, that did not matter. He got a quick acceptance for MT after Unifieds.
 
He had callbacks for Temple (one of his favorite auditions and the best accompanist he experienced), CAP 21, Otterbein, WMU and more. He did walk-ins with Utah, Stevens Point, Baylor and more. He really loved the auditions with Nebraska Wesleyan, Ball State, Temple, Western Michigan and a few others. The one he was really hoping for was Otterbein. He had scheduled that for the last day, thinking it would allow him to get some audition practice in. Unfortunately, he got sick and did not do well for that one (which is good to note – don’t save the one you’re hoping for the most until last!).
 
After Unifieds, he came back to Dallas and flew out to Florida State callback the next day.
 
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He also had done a callback with TCU for Musical Theatre and Acting in-person. Then, he also did a callback for Texas Tech (even though they had seen him several times throughout the year).
 
After that, he waited and waited…slowly, the results started coming in. I think Millikin was the first acceptance. Then Temple. And gradually they started coming in a little faster. Some of the schools he was initially interested in didn’t respond (like UCO), so he was worried a bit that he needed to refocus his efforts.
 
COVID hit and a lot of the results seem to slow down and delay. Dates that departments had announced came and went. It was awesome to have a few acceptances but some of the ones he was really interested in the most, he didn’t hear back from.
 
He got accepted into several Honors Colleges (like TCU) and was hoping he would make it in artistically. He did, but in Acting.
 
Finally, I think it was the second or third week of April, and suddenly there was a lot of movement. He heard back from Texas Tech with an acceptance (for 1 of 3 male spots) and some others. Now, what to do??
 
The initial list of criteria I had him make at the beginning – what is important to you? I made him and my other student revisit. Now that they had spent the year immersed in auditions, had their criteria changed?? It had. So, slowly he started narrowing the list. Financial aid was very important – not going into debt for a performing arts degree was extremely important. But he also wanted an environment that was collaborative, he wanted somewhere that did new works. He wanted to make sure he could get the dance training he needed. He wanted a director who was a positive role model for training, preferably one who had success and could help him after with finding opportunities beyond college. And he wanted to be able to double major or minor in something as a back-up.
 
Temple was a leading contender, but the amount of any scholarship he could get there did not allow him to consider it. Many schools offered him almost a full ride, but Temple did not. He hung onto Temple until the fourth round of his cuts. He really wanted a miracle to happen.
 
After 5 rounds of cuts, he ended up with: Ball State (Acting), Millikin, Ohio Northern University, TCU (Acting), Texas Tech, University of Central Oklahoma, Utah, Western Michigan
 
The plan was to go visit these schools…and then he couldn’t, so he booked calls with the directors and set up time to talk so he could get to know the programs better. He also talked to students in the programs to get an idea of it was a good fit for him.
 
It was an extremely difficult decision to make – he truly agonized over it. I had told him and my other student in the beginning, I would never tell them where to go (I knew one of them would ask! LOL). But we did have a lot of discussions and I asked him questions that would help him choose what was right for him.
 
The sixth round ended up being Ball State, TCU (Acting), Texas Tech, UCO and Western Michigan. After more correspondence and him considering what he really wanted to do and who he wanted to work with, the last three were TCU (Acting), Texas Tech and Western Michigan. Financials came into play heavily. Western Michigan couldn’t do anymore and as much he really liked Jay, he didn’t feel that he could afford four years there.
 
So then it was down to TCU (Acting) or Texas Tech. Since the beginning of this year-long journey, he had felt a connection with Dean at TTU. He had seen him at auditions 3 or 4 times. He had felt TTU was a longshot, considering their small class size, but he felt that he and Dean clicked. The Sunday night before he made his decision, he really went back and forth on it. TCU had the Honors College he was accepted to. He had been told that they had the money for financial aid. But, he was also told that he was seen by them as an actor – especially Shakespeare – and not MT. I think that made the decision for him.
 
The intimacy of Texas Tech was a real draw for him. It may be a large campus, but the theatre classes are close and that felt comforting to him. Tech has around 15 total for MT and Acting (6 for MT) each year. Around 60 students total at a time. He felt like he would not be known as “that boy with red hair in the freshman class” but as Thomas. He knows he will get individual attention there to help grow his skills. He won’t be just one of many.
 
FINAL DECISION:  Texas Tech (where he will be heading Aug 20).
 
Afterward, he gave his declines and saw some interesting things happen. TCU offered him MT when he declined Acting. Western Michigan said they could probably get some additional money. And several schools that had previously rejected him like Hartt offered him MT acceptance. If some of those had happened earlier, I’m not sure if that would have changed anything, but…who knows??
 
It was an odd aftermath and one that made him spin a little…but I believe that Tech is the absolute best place for him. Everything I have seen of and about that program is amazing. Dean is building a great program and it is obvious he cares and nurtures his students. Just as it should be!
 
As a sidenote, Thomas is very happy to answer any questions anyone has now or in the future or offer info about his journey or process for anyone going through this. He felt his journey was somewhat “peculiar,” but the destination was the same. Just DM me and I will be happy to give you his info!

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@onette thanks for sharing, thanks for all your contributions all year long, I remember early on when some people looked skeptically at you as a coach & that you would be soliciting or some other less than savory behavior, but you showed that you are truly a gem for these kids as a pseudo parent/mentor & with nothing but the best of intentions!! thanks for being on the ride and I hope your story will spur a few more late additions to the 2024 final decision thread!! CONGRATS to you & to Thomas!

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@onette Now that’s a story (and well worth the read!). Thank you for sharing and your constant support of posters in this genre. You have been very helpful to many here, and reading Thomas’ story, you clearly go about being helpful in life. It’s in your being and likely what you were put here to do. That’s a great thing. We need more people like you in life.

Thank you!

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@NYYFanNowMTdad @rickle1 Thank you so much!! I appreciate the sentiment. I do care about kids!! All of them! A lot of what I do is born from the fact that if I had someone to guide me through and help me make better choices, thing would have turned out differently for me. The arts is a hard area to navigate, especially if you are not making good choices. I am always happy to help anyone or give my opinion (which, of course, is one of MANY). I did feel hurt when was I was kicked out of another group, who believed I would be recruiting students. (I guess they could not imagine someone doing this out of the goodness of their heart? Even after several of my parents spoke up in my defense.) I do what I do because of my passion and caring. Not for money. Any of the kids I have worked with (and their families) can tell you I have never taken a dime from them. (I do have one girl now, who is a Senior and just starting, who I have known since she was in first grade! Her mom cannot stand not doing things back for people so she makes food and sends it to my house sometimes!! LOL (We’re both from the South, though…and that’s just how it is sometimes.) I am very happy to be able to post his story that will hopefully help others! And, I love that he wants to help future auditioners with their process.

We talked about it yesterday and he is very eager to answer any questions about his auditions and experiences and what he felt worked and didn’t! Just DM and I am happy to give anyone his contact info. I told him the only payment he ever has to give me is to pay this forward to someone in the future.

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Paying it forward is what it’s all about, or should be.

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I haven’t been on here in quite some time and it just so happens that the day I check in there’s another story! Huge congrats to Thomas, @onette! What an incredible “Pay it Forward” that was and thank you for being a wonderful resource all season.

Rather than take away from 2025 I thought I’d keep this question here, since “Final Decisions” for 2024 still seem to be solidifying…on the schools end at least. How’s everyone holding up? Last I heard, only @rickle1 ’s D was going to be remote this year? Has anyone else since decided not to be in campus? If so are your kids doing their performance classes or instead choosing to work on Gen Ed’s or a Minor this semester? So far, D’s school is opening campus. While many of the other students she’s gotten to know in other majors are showing a lot of virtual classes, D’s schedule is still showing in person performance classes…but I’m hearing about changes from surrounding schools and general “buzz” from fellow parents daily. It all still feels very un-finalized. Perhaps it will feel that way all year.

I happened to stumble upon the CC COVID thread. Yikes! I could devote a whole day to that thread and still not read it all. None of it really seems to address the unique circumstances of theater training over Zoom.

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@Sitzprobe - Thank you so much!!

Both my students are going to school. Right now, at TTU, there will be a mixture of online and in-person classes for theatre. Currently, they are planning to mount productions but they will be modified. COVID tests are optional but recommended. They will have free ones for students there.

The other school that the female student is attending has a smaller population and is requiring COVID tests prior to arrival for all students. They (so far) are planning to offer everything in-person.

It’s going to be a very “improv” kind of year…thinking on our feet…

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@Sitzprobe we know a friend going to BOCO- all on line. My Daughter is headed to BW in less than 2 weeks with a mixture of in person and remote, she only has 1 gen ed ( Fr English) & the rest performance classes which appear for now to be in person?? the total student body is only around 3000 and its a small town so fingers crossed, they have been good about parent zoom sessions/ town hall type meetings with administration. the only thing that feels curious to me is that there are students coming from all over the country to BW, some from states that Ohio has designated mandatory 2 weeks quarantine- the move in is 8/19-8/20 and classes start 8/24 so??

I have 2 other kids ( Non MT) Kent state is 95% online and University of Delaware which is doing " mostly online with some animal handling and music classes in person"…its a crazy time for sure with no clear answers…hoping for the best for all of us…

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S also begins at Baldwin Wallace (Acting BFA) in a couple weeks! English is in-person. His 4 acting classes are split into 2 groups and they are rotating between in-person and synchronous. He is so excited… was surreal to see his schedule with those college acting classes listed.

Also have a S mostly through stem program at state uni (25% FTF) who is staying in his off campus apartment. Good situation. And my D is halfway through Masters of Music at a NYC music school (“99%” online). She is doing some classes/lessons online from home.

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S is heading to Emerson in 2 weeks, so hearing BOCO going online was nerve wracking for us!! He has 4 performance classes and 1 Gen Ed this fall; all appear to be in person (they are offering hybrid for the year, but his schedule lists buildings for location and not remote, so it seems his professors are planning to do F2F). MA has some super strict quarantine mandates for out of state travelers, but luckily Emerson is having all students test at Tufts on move in day and then standing weekly appointments for the year and one of the exceptions to the quarantine mandate is if you are coming to MA and will get a test and quarantine until the results come in (all students must stay in their dorm room until the test results are provided - 24 to 48 hours; the college is delivering meals during that time). Ridiculous amounts of communication from the school makes it easier to believe it will all be OK, but still crossing fingers!! Wishing all the parents and your kiddos good luck this year!! Stay well!

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@onette congratulations to you and Thomas for a wonderful journey, loved the whole thing. What a wonderful partnership you two had! I’m so glad he ended up somewhere that will nurture his artistry and will be financially reasonable!

Aw feels like the gang’s all here! We are in our hotel room, move in Monday! It definitely feels surreal! It felt like every day we were waiting for an email that plans were changed. They still might but we are hoping for the best. We finally got to see the campus today, lol, it’s lovely. The film school area looks like a mini movie lot, so fun! I keep saying to myself, uh they are gonna LIVE here… sinking in slowly! Classes are hybrid, one academic class. They’ve upgraded a lot of the classes to improve cameras, internet and sound, in addition to reassessing based on the experience last spring.

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@intheburbs - How exciting! Your comment about finally seeing campus made me sigh and smile. I can’t imagine how Summer has been for you guys knowing you wouldn’t set foot until Move In. I admire the leap of faith. I so hoping we will experience the same level of surreal in a few weeks as well. Hope Monday is an incredible milestone day for you all.

@NYYFanNowMTdad , @prarie , and @theatrekidmom- your schedules sound identical to D’s! We are also over here checking the portals daily for changes and crossing fingers and toes for a safe, productive semester. I really think so much of it is going to come down to culture and how well the students rally as a community to follow the rules set forth by the colleges. I’ve always felt that kids involved in the arts, in particular get the sense of responsibility to causes greater than themselves. I hold on to that knowledge when I start to stress about D on campus.

@onette - I love your description of a Improv Semester. I’m so glad 2025 is going to have you as a resource as we all continue to “think on our feet”.

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Thank you @Sitzprobe! They did an amazing job with move in, so well done, much easier than I imagined. What a journey it has been! Can’t wait to see what the next four hold. Just to add to the drama, there was an earthquake (and we weren’t too far from the epicenter), the largest in recent history on Sunday morning, after we drove in from the tail end of the tropical storm in the east My kiddo will be battle tested and ready to adapt to it all! Sending love to all the 2024 families and kids as they start their next phase, whether it is at home, on campus or a mix, may they flourish as artists, make new friends and make more art!

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@onette Thank you for sharing Thomas’s story! I haven’t logged on in a while. I was so curious how everything worked out. I know his choices overlapped quite a bit with my D’s. We had many of the same feelings as he did about each program. It is so great that he had you to help me through this. Best of luck to him at TTU!

My D is moving in to her apartment at Temple on Tuesday. She will have a hybrid schedule with a few in person classes. Her roommate is also MT so she will have a buddy for her online classes. They tried to align their classes as much as possible. Interesting times for sure. I wish everyone the best of luck!

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@onette congratulations to you and to Thomas! Phew! What a journey. Sounds like you have more than earned a spot in heaven for guiding these young people in such a dedicated and caring way. I hope TT is all he hopes it will be.

My D is moving into her dorm at Pace tomorrow. Her roommate is also an incoming BFA MT gal. They will have ballet and music theory in person. My D’s other classes are going to be online. We can’t wait to hear from her about how the wonderful artists at Pace and in NYC continue to create. Best of luck to all.

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@onette; great story! Congrats to Thomas and your other student. My D was scheduled to move in to her dorm at Belmont today, but they pushed move in until first of September (apparently per city of Nashville’s request???). Since it was a last minute pivot and they didn’t want to mess with the school calendar they decided to start online on the original start date (8/19) and then beginning September 7th classes will be a mix of in person and hybrid. My D is fine with whatever as long as she gets to go; she is READY! She’s taking 2 Gen Eds and then the rest are all performance based. I have been extremely impressed with Belmont’s communication and plans to make this all work. The university itself has been extremely communicative as well as the College of Music (had a parent Q&A zoom a few weeks back) and the MT director. She’s stayed in touch with all the kids all summer via email, zoom, group texts… She’s also posted copies of some of her communications with the kids to the MT Friends and Family page so the parents also have an idea of what’s going on. It’s obviously not going to be a typical year, but from everything I’ve seen it’s clear they’ve all been giving 110% to making this work.

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@Sitzprobe I love this and agree wholeheartedly!!! Best wishes for a fantastic semester for all!!

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For those who have chosen to attend Pace University, I highly recommend checking out the instagram account “@seeourtruths” that I came across.

There is clearly deep-rooted systemic problems with program head Amy Rogers and assistant JV Mercanti. I wonder how these instances of problematic leaders, faculty, and guest artists will affect future enrollment now that these issues are public.

I stand with the students hurt by the program at Pace and every MT program troubled by systemic problems.