Hello all! We’ve survived the craziness of the 2020-21 MT audition season! Now it’s time to tell your talented thespian’s journey and final landing spot! Remember these experiences will help the Classes that come after us!
Please cut and paste the list below.
Programs Applied to:
Prescreens:
Accepted to:
Withdrew:
Rejected from:
Wait-listed at:
Coach:
Summer Programs:
Background:
Last Thoughts:
Final Decision:
@skieurope - Sorry! I honestly thought I was done! If you could pin this one I would be grateful.
My girl is a MT girl who only applied to acting programs so I thought I’d post in both groups. Here we go. She applied to 10 schools. I’m going to list them in order of audition and say a little about each one. That really helped me in the past when I would lurk on these threads so I’m trying to pay it forward lol
She passed all of her pre-screens.
Juilliard- Looking back maybe she shouldn’t have done this one first? Hard no out the gate. Didn’t make the first cut. Didn’t really connect with the people in the room. Just all around a nope. I do appreciate the fact that they don’t make you sit wait and wonder for months she had her rejection email within the hour.
Montclair state acting- She added this one to her list late in the game. Her PA school tries to get everyone to apply to one local school. She didn’t so Montclair was added because they give instate tuition to BFA kids. She absolutely loved her callback and the women who run the program. Had a great conversation with her and left feeling great. She got her acceptance email 3 days later.
DePaul- loved how they ran the callback. Loved doing the partner work. Didn’t really have any kind of interview. Waitlisted.
UNCSA- Liked that everyone auditions with the same 2 people. Really felt like they wanted to get to know her as a person and artist. Overall amazing experience. Got a call In February telling her to save the date for accepted students weekend then got her official acceptance call a week later.
Webster- This one is funny. Didn’t click with them from the jump. Her outgoing voicemail message was very old. It was her saying “hello? Hello?” and pretending not to hear. The lady who called to schedule her callback didn’t appreciate that at all 
Guess we were lucky it happens early and she changed it. Audition went well. Got an email 2 days later saying she would be a great fit for the program and that kids who stay in touch with them rise to the top of the applicant pool. She sent a thank you message but that was it. No more contact. Rejected.
Pace- Added this one late after doing a workshop with a faculty member that she really enjoyed. Loved the way they did the callback. Loved the students helping out. She made it to the end of the day and was told she would either be in or waitlisted. She really felt a connection with this one and was a little surprised that she was waitlisted.
Rutgers- Quick and easy. Loved the audition. Got invited to callback weekend. Full disclosure callback weekend was after her acceptance to the school that she ended up choosing and her heart wasn’t really in it. She enjoyed it but she didn’t really click with the students or faculty. Rejected.
Emerson- Loved it. Got some super fun adjustments and had a great conversation. Really liked the questions he asked her. Admitted by email.
BU- Horrible storm the day of audition and internet went out so she missed it. Emailed Them ASAP and they were super understanding. Ended up auditioning with just the department head a few days later. Loved it. Loved her. Awesome conversation. Overall great experience. Got a call from a current student letting her know she was accepted. Got official acceptance the next morning.
Minnesota/Guthrie- Callback weekend. Really got to know a ton about the school. Loved getting to know the current students. They really went above and beyond to make them feel welcome and tried to make the whole experience fun. Loved getting to do a stretch piece for them. Had a great interview with the faculty. Accepted by phone call.
I think her love of performing started in dance class. Danced competitively for 10 years. Started doing musical theatre camps in 3rd grade and that was it. Private voice lessons started around 4th grade. Did a local summer acting intensive in 7th grade and realized how much she loved it. She is definitely an actor first. She started doing professional work around our city when she was 11 and has stayed consistently busy with that. She is lucky to go to an amazing public PA school that helps them through the audition process. She started there in the prep program in 7th grade and has been a full time student since Freshman year. They have a scholarship fund for kids to do summer programs and because of this was able to do the UNCSA summer intensive before Jr. year and Artsbridge before senior year. Artsbridge was invaluable. She got to know faculty from a lot of her top schools and it really got her in the right mindset for auditions. No Coach. Her list made me very nervous. She didn’t cast a wide net or have a safely school she said from the beginning that she would only apply to schools that she loved and could picture herself going to so her “safety” would be staying home and working for a year. Thankfully her gamble paid off 
FINAL DECISION- UNCSA!!! She’s a pickle! This has been her absolute dream school since she was 12. The curriculum is perfect for her. She wanted to be in a place where she could focus solely on her art. She was emotionally committed as soon as she got the call. She accepted as soon as she got her scholarship offer. We are absolutely thrilled 
Best of luck to all of you!!
WOOHOO and CONGRATULATIONS! So excited to see our first MT 2025 Final Decision post! I love that your daughter has had a place in her heart for UNCSA since she was 12. Wishing her the best of everything as she starts her journey! 
Hi Folks,
I want to continue the great tradition of providing information to the good parents of MT college application land. We live in a western flyover state with no MT degree at any state school. DS graduated in 2020, and committed to WMU to start Fall 2020, BFA MT. When he decided to take a Covid-related gap year, he hadn’t realized he’d have to re-audition, but he did. He had graduated from a very small, private prep school in our less than 100k population town, but an amazing school drama teacher produced a middle school and high school musicals for the last 20+ years. Middle school total enrollment about 100, HS enrollment, about 150. Small!
DS didn’t study dance and didn’t take have voice lessons until his junior year when he was nominated for our state’s Jimmy Awards. That changed his life, and he did a 180 and decided to attend a school with MT major, and ultimately wanted a BFA in MT as well. See our journey in Final MT Decisions Class of 2024. This form is for the re-audition, re-application ‘bonus’ COVID year.
Programs Applied to: WMU MT, NYU Tisch (MT studio only), Penn State MT, Texas State MT, U AZ (MT only), CMU, MT and Acting, U Mich BFA MT.
Prescreens: passed all but Texas State and U AZ; passed CMU for acting
Accepted to: UAB
Withdrew: NYU, U Michigan, WMU
Rejected from: CMU MT, Acting, Penn State, U AZ, TSU MT
Wait-listed at: n/a
Chicago Unifieds 2020 in person was another inflection point for DS. He did UAB as a walk in, and responded to the faculty and the program as he had to no other school. He was waitlisted at UAB for class of 2024, and then committed to WMU for MT. When he re-auditioned he had an amazing chance to “do-over” the audition process, and more importantly, to realize what he really wanted. As a kid who came to MT late in his high school career, he grew significantly as an artist and a person during his first and second audition processes. Although he passed his U Michigan MT BFA audition, he realized that Michigan’s program wasn’t for him. He wanted the kind of experience he had at our Jimmy Awards feeder program. UAB was his best fit in 2020, and when he got an early call from Valerie Accetta after his 2021 audition, he released his remaining schools. Being rejected from UAZ was a blessing: he’d loved them in 2020 because of Hank and Danny, but he hadn’t realized a lot of the program is more dance than he was prepared for. Phew!
UAB! Go Blazers! The huge academic scholarship means no debt, and I’m thrilled that it’s warm enough there they can take outdoor classes through first semester, and the UAB medical school is world class–great for Covid concerns, too. 
What an awesome story! As a boy’s mom, I’ve read yours and the others several times. I am so happy he found his place! Wishing him all the best! 
Congratulations, @allfour1! I can’t imagine surviving this process twice – so please take an extra bow during the curtain call! 
@allfour1 congrats for a SEOCND time, as I recall your journey last year, I cant help but think that even with the horrific covid impact we have all experienced that it was a blessing in disguise for your son, happy for you guys!
@NYYFanNowMTdad it really was an interesting (ok, at times absolutely harrowing) overall experience. I kept reminding DS to ‘trust the process’ as we learn here, and while he didn’t like my metaphysical input, I trust he will see the shape in the arc of the musical of his college audition story.
Thanks for including your “story” here. A great perspective!
Nice shout out for ArtsBridge! Son did ArtSong last summer and I agree that the exposure to faculty from multiple schools is an amazing experience. Thank you for sharing!
I really can’t say enough good about it. She got to work with faculty from 3 of her top schools before auditions. Such a fantastic experience.
Congratulations!!!
@allfour1 so thrilled for him!! Glad I got a chance to know him a little earlier this year. Interestingly, one of my cohort (I cannot remember if he met the other kids or not?) also was accepted to UAB and that is one of her top picks now. (Someone I’ve known since she was in first grade and worked with since she was in third!) She loves Valerie so she might be there with him! Small world…
My S made his decision today and he will be joining your D as a pickle! Looking forward to meeting you IRL!
Yay!!! So excited for them
**Programs Applied to: Michigan, Elon, Texas State, Syracuse, Ithaca, Emerson, Kent State, CCPA, Penn State, Marymount Manhattan, DeSales, Muhlenberg, CCM, BOCO, Indiana, Illinois Wesleyan, Montclair State, missed out on audition date for BW, and did not send in auditions for wagner, but applied to college.
ADDED four walk ins: Arcadia, UNCO, UAB and Nazareth.
Prescreens: Tons of rejections, but passed Ithaca, Syracuse, Emerson, Kent State, CCPA, Illinois Wesleyan.
Accepted to: Muhlenberg, DeSales, Arcadia, Northern Colorado, Nazareth, UAB, Wagner for VP. WL: Marymount, Syracuse.
Rejected from: The list is long and painful. Almost all audition schools, with the exception of MMM and Syracuse wait lists, but then the walk ins happened and she went four out of four acceptances!!!
**Wait-listed at:**MMM, Syracuse
**Coach:**My College Audition, Gigi Watson
Summer Programs: None, other than Stagedoor Manor theater camp
**Background:**Okay this was quite a long, twisted road, or a roller coaster, or any number of metaphors. We started out bright eyed and optimistic, with DD having dreams of Michigan. It was brutal. That’s all I can say. She struggled a lot with covid and the general decimation of her senior year, and fitting in the prescreen filming, application etc. etc. In retrospect, I feel that we rushed the prescreens, and that while they were mostly great, one of her songs (the ballad, modern era), in no way did her justice. In fact, I think I turned out to be right, which I will explain below.
Nevertheless, her yield on prescreens gave her some great options: Syracuse, Ithaca, Emerson, IWU, CCPA and KSU all said yes. Many others said no, see above.
Her first audition was Ithaca, which came the day after Michigan said no to her prescreen. The audition went fabulously well. They spent a lot of time with her, complimented her on her dancing, singing and acting and she left with Ithaca in first place and a feeling of optimism. Other auditions went fine. When Syracuse asked for an audition that included different material, she changed the modern era ballad. What a difference. The song was MUCH more dynamic, belty, and IMO indicative of her talent and energy.
During this time the director of Vocal Performance at Wagner contacted her. he had seen how many music theory courses and choral groups she was involved in during HS, and invited her to consider his program. She loved connecting with him and learning more about Wagner, however, VP was not her goal, she wanted MT.
We met with our coach in early January, sitting with a list of 6 audition schools and 4 non audition schools still in play, and we all felt it was important to consider adding more schools. Fortunately walk ins had just been announced, so DD signed up for five schools (ended up applying for four of them).
Meanwhile, I was starting to lose sleep. I could see how brutal this process is, I wondered about the impact of the second song, and I was really anxious. Even had moments of worrying about being shut out. I knew Muhlenberg would be a yes so that gave me comfort, but they don’t tell you that for sure until March. So January was a bleak month. At this point her top choices were Ithaca, number one, and Wagner number two.
Early February she got he news that Ithaca was a no, and this was AWFUL She was sure she would at least be wait listed, and I was reminded of what you always hear…don’t count on anything meaning anything, even if you get great feedback in the audition room.
Happily, before walk ins with some push from coach, she decided to use the new song she had sent to Syracuse. The night before walk ins, my whole mood shifted. I just knew she was going to do well with this song and with the opportunity to audition school after school for a day (how she works best, she picks up energy as she goes!!!)
She felt great during walk ins, except between school number 4 and number 5 she realized something horrifying!! She had applied to Wagner, but realized she had not sent in the youtube audition they requested. She just hadn’t done it. It had been requested int he midst of a flurry of things and it hadn’t happened. ACK!!! Being the performer she is, she still pulled off a fabulous fifth audition, but then kicked herself.
She wrote to the school, and they could not have been nicer. They gave her lots of suggestions of ways she could come study anyway, but it was too late to be considered for MT for this year. Interestingly when she wrote to the program director her response was very kind and included, sometimes crazy things happen for some reason. That may very well be the truest thing we’ve heard in a while.
March could have been a nightmare, rejections galore. However, stunningly, she got into four out of four walk in schools!!! And she did get a WL at Marymount Manhattan. Ultimately the last school to notify was Syracuse which was also a WL. A nice boost for a battered ego!!
She began exploring her options which were by now six schools: UAB, UNCO, Nazareth, Arcadia, Muhlenberg and De Sales. All gave significant merit and talent scholarships. But she couldn’t stop thinking about what had been her second choice and had become her top choice: Wagner. Around that time the VP director wrote to her and invited her to audition for the music scholarship. She sent in her two songs, and he offered her admission to the VP program and a SIGNIFICANT academic, music and housing scholarship.
WHEW! Visited several of her options, even flew to Colorado. Loved Nazareth in particular. Felt she would fit in beautifully, it’s a great BFA in MT, which is what she had been aiming for.
But…she kept saying…but, Mom, Wagner just feels like home. She explored the VP option further, speaking to some theater professors, who encouraged her to come and take acting and dance classes along with VP. These conversations only convinced her further that this was her home.
Last week she went to check out Colorado. I was speaking to her on the phone and while she really liked the program, my mom gut told me what was going to happen. Just like I knew she would kill it and get into the walk in schools, I also knew she was about to decided, and it was going to Be Wagner for her. Before she even committed, I went ahead and ordered the merchandise, bc I knew it was coming.
She got home, met with her coach, and two days before turning 18, she committed to Wagner!!!
FINAL DECISION: Wagner VP, minor in theater studies.
Interestingly, her voice teacher is THRILLED. She believes my DD is destined to perform more in the operetta mode and thinks this major makes all kind of sense. So maybe things DO happen for crazy reasons we can’t see.
Morals of the story:
–It ain’t over til it’s over. But don’t be afraid to add schools later on in the process.
–Keep evaluating your material, if something doesn’t seem to be really doing your kid justice it’s important to change it.
–Your kid can land somewhere completely not on your radar. And they really do respond very differently to schools and “vibes” and in the end that’s what truly matters the most.
–SPECIAL THANKS TO @NYYFanNowMTdad who saw me through my dark night of the soul when I was sure we would be totally shut out and all was doom and gloom.
@dharmawins so happy for you & honored I could be helpful. your daughter’s talent shined through in the end & heres a little tidbit for you Kristen Chenowith went to OCU for VP not MT. she did ok, I think 