My daughter is very new to the musical theater circuit. She has talent but we think she needs another year. We were unaware of how complicated and competitive the audition process is and she and I are both over whelmed.
We have applied to several schools, however not getting the results she wants however she did get a call back for CMU so thats amazing!
My question is about re-applying
MT programs do not hold your spot for a gap year, she would have to re-apply.
Our family qualifies for a Common app and SAT fee waiver, will she be able to qualify again? For a lot of the same schools?
How do the transcripts work? She will no longer have a collage counselor.
And if you are a BTDT MT parent, will school give her another pre-screen fee waiver?
Has she considered applying to a BA program rather than a BFA? In other words, applying to a school that does not have a dedicated MT program but doing MT as an extracurricular, and also summer programs?
It is a shame to take a year off unless she has some really amazing opportunities to build her resume and experience.
If she applied to an artsy school and majored in virtually anything, she might be able to progress well with extracurricular MT and, as I said, summer experiences.
There are many schools that have free walk in days especially at Unifieds. Are you near one of their locations and can she do walk in auditions at one or more? I would also guess that many of the programs that dont have prescreens still have open auditions slots and may have fee waivers available. If she made it through the prescreen at CMU she may have luck at one of those programs.
Thank you but BFA MT is where she needs to be. We really think she just needs another year of audition experience and dance. She is at an amazing performing arts school and progressing more then we knew she could, really.
She just needs more understanding and skill of the audition process
Yes She is going to Unifieds, however the schools have fees associated with walk in auditions . And we are broke.
Her theater director recommended to only do walk ins if you know the school. But who knows
Not sure.
She isn’t applying to straight conservatories. She will qualify for a substantial amount of fin aid award and likely some merit. We have only calculated a few schools individually, and know which schools are affordable.
Exp. per the net calculator CMU is very generous and Baldwin Wallace is not.
TXST and Florida, perfect! But didn’t pass pre-screens.
Some of the decision for a gap year is cost.
She is working on summer auditin programs and will be taking a semester in Armenia (her father is from there) to do volunteer work and learn the language).
This is why my question is really regarding common app fee waivers and if schools will allow her to reapply again.
If she was interested in TXST look at Missouri state, it was the lowest cost on our list. Also, look at schools like BU, it is stupid expensive but is a meets needs school so our friend is going there at little cost. They have a BFA with MT concentration.
You may not need to reapply to schools she already got into academically on the common app side. I would call each school she gets into academically and explain the situation. There is a really good chance they will let her defer academic for a year and then she will just need to reaudition at those schools.
I work with students for auditions and it absolutely sounds like your kid could benefit from a gap year. There is no penalty for taking a gap year. Several of my students have done this. If you have a waiver, it should be good for next year also. I can give you some info if you want on some other cost-saving measures. Part of what I do for the kids I work with is help them find programs that have an affordable cost of attendance. If you really want to try this year (and you can do that and still take a gap year next year), I also can point you to some alternative ways of submitting prescreens (even at this late date). Message me and I am happy to help you as much as I can. Unifieds can be very good, but I strongly suggest having at Least four booked auditions before you go. That is my rule of thumb. Congrats on CMU! That is no easy pass!
Hi, sorry to hijack this but have a question. Can you elaborate on why your rule of thumb for unifieds is 4 booked auditions? My DD has 3 in NY right now - should we reconsider? Thanks!
That is my rule of thumb for them because of the cost. I am just a big believer in not being wasteful with money. “Four” gives them something to shoot for and it means they need to get up and keep on top of their apps, prescreen submissions, etc. I can tell you I sent a blurb to all five of my kids this week because (so far) only one has actually booked her four. She actually booked six so far (and some pending who haven’t sent the audition slots out yet). The others have callbacks but have not completed “something” they need to be able to book their audition slots yet. Audition slots are not guaranteed. Getting a callback means you pass to audition IF there are slots available. If not you might have to choose another audition location or you may miss altogether. Part of my weekly meeting with them is “where are you on this? did you submit ____? did you fill out ____?” I. know being a high school senior while doing all of this is really hard. Add dual credit and AP classes and it is worse. Try to do your school’s production so you can have a good sendoff, even harder. One reason I believe in gap years.
Thank you! CMU is great however she got redirected to Acting only. Emerson the same. Such amazing call backs but met with tears. Especially since singing is her strangest talent.
I will PM you if I can find where to do that hahah!
Redirects to acting – especially for those stellar programs – are nothing to cry about! I have one young lady who has an incredible voice but she is pretty set on doing BFA Acting at a school like the ones you listed and picking up dance and voice on the side. She has an agent and has already booked a television show for Disney (series but smaller role) and she is convinced she wants the curriculum that she would get from a BFA Acting program. But we will see. I encouraged her to apply for both and she was very surprised when a school she didn’t apply for who was part of a group audition (and she didn’t do the extra apps that were required for the school because she thought it was too much of a reach) contacted her PAST the deadline to ask her to come to a callback for their MT program. Pick up your playbills from regional, off-Broadway and Broadway shows. You will find many with degrees from DePaul, Minnesota Guthrie, Carnegie Mellon acting programs who did not major in MT. Nothing to cry about to be part of some fantastic acting training that will help you become a better performer!
It’s ironic this came up as my D is making sounds of wanting an acting focused program as she thinks the straight acting will prepare you far better for tv/movies, straight plays than the acting within a MT program. Of course she’s in an MT program so she would need to pick something up unrelated to school to dive deeper. I was talking to her about this and she said the following, “At this level and certainly when you’re auditioning for professional shows, everyone can sing. That’s a given. Acting is different. MT acting is one thing but acting acting is a whole different thing.” Although there’s a lot of acting skill poured in to singing, I wonder if she has a point. She was a singer who could act. Now it sounds like she wants to be an actor who can sing.
Here’s to those who have kids that want to be CPAs or engineers. So much easier!
