<p>I don't know about all of you, but I feel as if I am already waiting on the mailman.....and we have another YEAR to go.... I just went upstairs and hugged my little girl - she was like "what?" I said- " this is a prehug for next year". She went " OHKKKK" and said "thanks!"...she already knows I am a bit weird. I told her I was reading CC and feeling down for some kids and she said "OK- well I'm going to bed now- thanks Mom!"</p>
<p>It's funny - I read so many of these posts and I feel as if I know these kids. I don't - and most of my D's friends (none of whom are pursuing MT) have been accepted at the college of their choice- but as I read the 'notifications', I feel so sad for some of these kids.</p>
<p>I have had the privelege and joy to work on stage with a lot of young actors, and they are such fun! I hope all of these kids stick with their dreams and find their joy in wherever they land. </p>
<p>Anyway, for all you Junior Moms and Dads, what fun ;) this will be next year!</p>
<p>MODERATOR's NOTE: please note that for the first many pages of this thread, it pertains to juniors and their parents. As time went on for these CC members, senior year came along and so the thread title was changed to "rising seniors". Up until Aug. 21, the posts talk about juniors but from that point on, it is a "SENIOR" thread! Go class of 2007!</p>
<p>Advice - This is a great forum, and I had a couple of pieces of advice for juniors. </p>
<p>Stock up on scripts of plays and have your child read them all summer for picking perfect monologues. Make sure they are stocking up on song options, also. I thought of this in going through my receipts for tax purposes over the weekend. My son bought so many play scripts in the spring of last year - ordering them from various web sites. Wow - brings back memories. It is an expensive process. He really did read them all summer.</p>
<p>He was lucky enough to earn some money as an actor last year, so I itemize all of these expenses to take as deductions on his schedule C (don't want him to owe any taxes!). I think we could even deduct voice and dance lessons, but he hasn't earned enough for me to have to do that, yet!</p>
<p>You all are thinking of seniors now; well, I'm thinking of you juniors who are just now beginning, and we're so very glad to be on the other side of auditions now and not in your shoes! My son has some good options, and he said recently that he would not want to have to go through this year again.</p>
<p>I also recommend essay writing over summer, if at all possible. Doing essays / college apps, audition prep, and AP class homework was very time consuming in the fall.</p>
<p>Thank you for the insightful words of preparation which will help us prepare with our children on this journey next year! I have met Ericsmom and her wonderful son and do feel like Mikksmom when she said she feels like she knows so many of you. Through your sharing and stories, I feel I do too. I have also shared the news of the many joys and disappointments that were posted yesterday with my d. For someone who has never been very interested in what I had to say about cc.....I think it all hit home. How difficult a process this is going to be. </p>
<p>She can only do what she can do. She will be reading those scripts, trying to find a song this summer and doing those essays for sure this summer. Hopefully come fall, she will have a good jump on everything. I have always believed that things happen for a reason...if it's meant to happen...it will. With that in mind, it still doesn't make this process any easier! I look forward to talking w/ more junior parents and hopefully meeting some of you along the way!</p>
<p>Thanks Mikksmom, checking in and buckling my seatbelt! It is great to have "met" all of you and I know this journey will be much richer because we have each other for support (note: I did not say any easier!). My heart too goes out to the kids this year who are left with such hard decisions, but I am so impressed by the level of maturity and committment that they demonstratte.
Harriet</p>
<p>there is a thread somewhere way below about organizing... When I get a chance I (or someone else) should bump it up. It was a great help... get handing folders, etc.</p>
<p>I'm checking in, as a junior mom. This forum has been a tremendous resource for me. I, too, have read some of the stories lately with such a sense of sadness for the students who came up empty this time around. I suppose it is a good reality check -- still it hurts me for them and, of course, fills me with a sense of anxiety for what might happen next year. It's nice to know that the forum is here, and that we can rely on each other for support, advice and virtual hand-holding.</p>
<p>Yes, my junior S and I are learning vicariously through the generosity of all of the senior (and beyond) families. I am convinced that whatever the outcome next year, he will be significantly better prepared than had we never found the CC MT community. </p>
<p>Feeling apprehensive for the year to come!!</p>
<p>I have a Junior daughter, who is doing some thinking on colleges. We have visited OCU, and she loved it; its her first choice for sure right now. We are encouraging her to develop a group of other schools to apply for as well, and she's starting to get her list together. We will likely try to fit in visits to as many of the others as we can.</p>
<p>She really wants to go for the Musical Theatre degree. The idea of the conservatory-type approach versus a more rounded liberal arts type study program took me a while to accept, but I guess I am on board now.</p>
<p>I have learned a lot from reading through the threads on this board. I basically had no clue about this kind of education prior to coming here. Now I can converse in "BFA's" and "Unifieds", and the rest. Really an invaluable resource.</p>
<p>Junior mom checking in. I read this board everyday. In fact, I have binders full of pages and threads that I have printed off for my daughter over the last year. Let the games begin!!! Thanks for all of the great advice and tips....I'm already starting my filing system for my daughter</p>
<p>Ericsmom - She wants to go and we are planning on signing her up. Currently we are trying to get her audition tape together and the registration form complete and the whole thing in the mail. Hopefully we will get it done in the next day or two. </p>
<p>The camp seems like a great chance to get a sneak preview of what OCU would be like. I think she will love it. So far everyone we have met or talked to from OCU has been fantastic.</p>
<p>Hey!! My junior D and I just came back from a whirlwind college tour of Boston, Syracuse and Ithaca. Four very different colleges. She actually loved them all for various reasons. My head is spinning, she is out with one of her dance friends!! Oh, well!! The folks at all the colleges were super nice and gave absolutely smashing theater dept. tours. The best ones on that score were Syracuse and Ithaca. Emerson gave a great general tour, and had a musical theater major as tour guide. About 4 families in the tour group were MT. Ithaca was particularly interesting - great theater department, very "countrified" surroundings, nice campus, gorgeous mountain views. We talked to four people in the drama dept., including 1 senior MT student and a junior playwright. They received about 1,100 apps this year, up 300 from last year, and about 700 auditioned, for 15 spots - that is so intimidating! I just read on another thread that they are not notifying some applicants until Apr. 15, and I would guess that is why. They said they were swamped. Talking to the students about their London semester was really interesting and exciting, and they have a very impressive computer picture show of their productions and a huge wall devoted to their successful graduates. Syracuse has a great facility and wonderful staff and beautiful campus, located in a nice city. Of course when we were there it was 60 degrees, which is unusual for this time of year in that area - not minus 10 as it is often there! No one there seems to mind it though. Their affiliation with Syracuse Stage is a plus too. We saw Bad Dates there and it was a great one woman show! Murphy made my D feel much better about the audition process and her chances, even though we know the numbers are rough. They had about 800 applicants for 30 MT and 30 Acting - this year's freshman class ended up 45 MT and 15 Acting, but they try for 30 and 30. Emerson and BOCO have the fantastic city of Boston going for them. Talk about small, BOCO only has 500 students, and we had a hard time finding it, because the cab driver didn't know where it was, and when we got out and walked, we had to ask 3 passersby and 2 store clerks before we found it! Super nice people, great dance classes (that's all we could see at that time) short tour, because there is not a lot to see. Emerson was great, terrific facilities going up a lot of stories and super fantastic theater. It is a little more intimidating for my D as far as SAT and GPA - she does well, but hasn't knocked the SAT out of the box and probably won't. Syracuse was a little more assuring on that score. Oh, well - I have rattled on enough! We are glad we went. We saw UCLA and USC in January, but she is now thinking the East Coast is a more likely area. Now we are trying to decide what others to try to visit (how much more can we afford?) vs. seeing them when auditioning vs. unifieds vs. seeing any she is accepted to after acceptance. Kindof scary!? Any questions, just ask.</p>
<p>My junior D has pretty much determined a MT BFA is not her cup of latte. Having only one non-MT course a semesterand not even having that as an elective as some schools proposejust rubs her the wrong way. She's a great student in many fields including humanities and studio art. So we're still looking for that pearl among the swine; a liberal arts school with MT opportunities. A Wesleyan student told us their Music and Theater departments fued so no MT. Bard says simply "no". We're half-heartedly visiting Elon next week just prior to a regional singing competition, and we'll look at Guilford on the way which may be interesting. A trip to JMU (too big) and American U. (who knows, could be just right) may be in the offing also if we find another free day over break. Summer rep theatre audition, her first ever, for an apprentice spot is Monday. Fingers crossed.</p>
<p>Well Im not a mother or father, but I figured I would post my thoughts. ( Collegemom, you may delete this if you like). I am a junior residing in NYC and am just getting into the search for colleges. I just saw a wonderful production of Into the Woods that NYU-Steinhardt put on, yesterday. I am a little bit intimidated about the process, but will do my best when the time comes. I am applying to
Suny-Purchase(safety)
Elon(which im visiting in June, as I have family in NC)
Baldwin-Wallace
Otterbein
OCU
NYU-Cap21(possibly, Ive been considering it, but really want to get out of NY for college)
Webster
FSU
UNiversity of Michigan
College of Santa Fe</p>
<p>DefyingGravity....with regard to SUNYPurchase, do you mean the BFA program in Acting? If so, please know that is a very competitive program to get into and not a safety for anyone. Perhaps you meant some liberal arts degree, I am unsure. You may want to think about audition based BA degrees like Muhlenberg, American, or Wagner. For a safety, you could add a BA nonaudition based college as well.</p>
<p>I looked up Purchase and you can apply for liberal arts (BA), not the performing arts, but there is not much crossover with the performing arts program. If you are applying for liberal arts as a safety, you may want to consider a BA safety school that has a theater department in that liberal arts setting....where you can still major in theater. I can't say what schools are a safety for YOU as it is all relative and I don't know your qualifications but an example of what I mean would be schools like Skidmore, Hofstra, Goucher, Sarah Lawrence.</p>