High School Parents/Students - Class of 2008

<p>Spotlightmom,</p>

<p>Your first post was under the thread on the MT forum titled: Current Musical Theatre College Students and Parents Share Experiences. When you go to the MT page at College Confidential, you will see a red star next to the title of any thread you have posted on. You have posted on this thread: High School Parents of the class of 2008 and on the Current MT College Student thread I mentioned above.</p>

<p>Near the top of this page you can see a narrow navy blue band titled, My Control Panel. There is a link to the search function that will allow you, in advanced mode, to search by keyword or by poster's name. The search function can really come in handy when you are trying to find specific topics.</p>

<p>I'm currently in between private lessons at the moment, so I don't have much time to write. However, I do recall that you said that your D is very interested in liberal arts courses and may want to someday go to law school. You've mentioned that she is especially interested in Carnegie-Mellon (CMU). If she does the MT major at CMU, she will be taking virtually no liberal arts courses. MT is considered a double major. MT students take all the courses the BFA acting majors take, plus music and dance courses. The only courses taken outside the major are an English Comp course and a computer class. The curriculum at CMU is the most conservatory-esque of the conservatories; 95% of the coursework is in the major. CMU is also extremely difficult to get into. Each year, 10 students are accepted into the freshman MT class. In the past few years, I believe that CMU has admitted more boys than girls. IMHO, Carnegie-Mellon is not going to be the best fit for your D.</p>

<p>Thank you so much for your responses to my question on scholarships. They were very informative. I have my work cut out for me.
I have another question, does anyone know what kind of dance (jazz, ballet, modern, tap) is involved in the audition process.<br>
My daughter wants to start taking dance again but she is not sure what type of dance would be best for her to take to prepare her for auditions.</p>

<p>Hi NCMTmom~
While we haven't been through the audition process yet, I found this thread very helpful in explaining the different experiences kids were having with dance at auditions:</p>

<p>"Reporting on how the auditions went, what to expect at individual schools..."</p>

<p>I'll try to "bump" it up for you. Besides looking at the info at each schools website regarding dance requirements, I also remember reading some insightful first-hand accounts and advice in the "Unifieds" thread. Happy reading :)!</p>

<p>NCMTmom,
I can't make blanket statements but when my S was audtioning last year most schools auditioned in both ballet and jazz. One school asked him to improvise a tap combo. There was no mention of modern. As for what classes to start taking I would defintely say ballet and jazz technique and tap only if she has time. I don't think taking modern classes would be of any benefit.</p>

<p>Spotlightmom, if your D can only take one form of dance, let it be ballet for sure. Ballet is the foundation for all types of dance. It's the alphabet for dance, if you will. My MT D took ballet, tap, jazz and lyrical for four to five years when she was small, but dropped it (except for a year of hip hop and several semester-long jazz and tap classes) when she began getting really heavy into musical theater in middle middle school. (Yes, I meant both middles! :)) Last fall, knowing college auditions are coming up for her next year, she decided that she needed intensive ballet classes, and is getting them, even if it meant she had to forgo other things. I would recommend that your D take ballet most of all.</p>

<p>Thank you for the information on what is required for dance auditions. I will let her know about the jazz and ballet technique and possibly a little tap. She will be busy!</p>

<p>NotMamaRose, my D will not be too happy about needing to mainly take ballet. Our area has only one ballet school and she took ballet there for 12 years. She quit because they really knew how to make students feel bad about themselves. We will have to find a new school out of our area that is more professional and encouraging.</p>

<p>NCMT if your daughter has 12 years of ballet she is probably fine in terms of dance vocabularly. She may be happier with Jazz. I guess it also depends on how often she was taking ballet at the end since the first several years are really pre-ballet.</p>

<p>Keepingcalm, thank you for your input. I mention to my D about ballet, jazz and tap and she decided that she will take a tap class since that is the one dance she isn't very comfortable with. During her last few years of ballet, she was on point and was dancing about 6 days a week. Very intense!
Does anyone know how soon we should start checking college websites for Fall 2008 applications?</p>

<p>spotlightmom - If your D has interest in the possibility of good training at a school where she may be able to double major she may want to look at BA schools such as Muhlenberg College, James Madison University, and American University where you can get both good training and double major.</p>

<p>I've discovered one or two programs that offer an information session and tour of the performing arts department/mt program at the time of the audition. Does anyone have a list of which colleges offer that option? Northeast/middle states only... And does anyone have an opinion on whether that's advisable? Seems convenient, but do we want to wait until the audition to see a college?</p>

<p>Many schools will accomodate on-on-one visits and tours of the department. Contact the coordinator of the program directly to see if this is an option. That way you can visit the campus as a whole and the department at the same time.</p>

<p>It may also be possible to also arrange a tour of the campus on the day that you audition at a specific school.</p>

<p>Some things to consider: The audition process will normally kill a 4 -5 hour block of time. If you do the tour/visitation after a morning audition, it can impact on your travel arrangements, particularly if you are driving a long distance. If you have an afternoon audition, it's not a bad idea to let your kid have a relaxed morning to get some extra sleep, warm up, get "set" etc. Also, if you can, it's not a bad idea to visit the school/department in advance of the audition date. You get the benefit of asking questions about the audition process, what the school emphasizes, what they are looking for and get familiar with the campus. This can help greatly with audition prep and then at the audition you are not stumbling around trying to find parking and where you are supposed to be.</p>

<p>When my D and I visited Syracuse U last fall, there were several kids who were taking the tour and doing the info session <em>AND</em> auditioning that day there. I thought it seemed like a very pressurized situation, but the kids seemed OK with it.</p>

<p>We spent two nights at all of the colleges during auditions. (Arriving the night before and then staying the night of the audition as well. This gave us time to go to the audition and then spend the following day touring the school, meeting with department heads etc.</p>

<p>Sarahsmom, that sounds like a sensible way to do it.</p>

<p>The kids at Syracuse in the fall were probably ED applicants. Syracuse sets up days in the fall for ED applicants to visit and audition. Fewer numbers provides more time and flexibility.</p>

<p>Sarahmoms suggestion makes a lot of sense. However (and there can always be a "however" in this logistically complicated endeavor), you must carefully check days depts are available for touring and meetings with the available audition days. Many schools have limitations on both, particularly during the "audition season", so early investigation is important. Also, if you are planning to audition at many schools and are going to use week days for the auditions and visits, that can end up with a lot of missed high school classes in a marking period at a time when students still must keep their grades up. </p>

<p>It was because of these factors that we scheduled all the visitations and meetings on Fridays during the spring of the junior year and early fall senior year and all of the auditions early to mid winter of the senior year on Saturdays or Sundays. Whether for auditions or visits, we traveled to the school the night before, did the tour meetings or auditions the next day and traveled back that night. If it got too late, we could stay over another night and be traveling home on the weekend or otherwise only miss one day of high school.</p>

<p>MichaelNKat, no, at least two of the kids auditioning that day in late October were regular decision candidates. I know that because I am in touch with both of their moms offlist and neither of those girls was applying ED. I cannot, however, speak for the other four or so that also attended auditions and the info session that day. It was something called Fall Visiting Days at SU. We began the day at the big student center, where we saw a film. Then we broke up into interest areas, and my D and I were bussed over to the Syacuse Stage where they allowed us and the other parents and kids to sit in on a session with Doris Roberts, who was being interviewed by a professor. Once that was over, some of the kids went to do the dance part of their audition while others of us attended another info/Q&A session about the acting/MT major. As that went on, some of the kids who had danced came back and then left again to sing and do their monologues, etc. Once our session was over, we were taken on a short tour of the building and the kids who had auditioned met back up with us/their parents.</p>

<p>Regarding advance visits to schools -- I found that the most informative thing to do is visit the school when they are doing a musical theater performance. That way you can get a feel for the campus, with the added benefit of checking out a show. My D eliminated several schools that way because we were not impressed with the quality of the productions. (She is just finishing her freshman year at Syracuse.)</p>

<p>Also --the stress level during the audition process is so high that you might not really have the energy to tour the school. So my suggestion is -- tour before the audition, or wait till you've received acceptances, and then tour only those schools.</p>

<p>onstage, great advice! My D and I had the opportunity to see SU's production of Urinetown and it was very, very impressive. She was already interested in the school by the time we saw the musical, but its high quality definitely upped her interest.</p>