MARCAS success stories/information

I know MARCAS just happened and I was wondering if people would like to share their success stories!! And any information they have about the auditions!

I’m interested too!

Hi! A couple of us posted in the general 2023 about MARCAS, so there’s some info in there. Below is a copy of what I posted, but in general, it was very friendly, and overall a great experience! I’m happy to try to answer any specific questions you may have.

For those who want to know more about MARCAS, it truly is a hodgepodge of responses from the various schools. S rec’d artistic acceptances from several schools, a couple of which he was already academically accepted to, and several others that they said would accept him (artistically) into their program, he just needed to apply to the school. (So, YAY! He has a couple of choices for school for BFA MT! The pressure is not nearly as high as it was). Financially, we found many schools that were interested in S to be forthcoming with information about scholarship $, and some were sending follow up info to us. Some wanted to see/hear more from S, and audition for scholarship $.
Overall, the experience was fantastic, and a great first college audition! And it was very validating for S to hear that colleges were interested in him, and that I’m not the only one who thinks he has some talent! LOL

@elledaspitzer It was a good experience, but it is definitely a regional thing. My wife and D said there were quite a few local juniors from NJ who were there with their teachers. Not sure how different the experience was for them, whether schools told them to apply or just gave feedback on what they should do for next year.

I wouldn’t say it would necessarily be worth it to come from the west coast. There may be other regional events out west too, I’m just not aware of them all. I see posts about state events, Moonifieds, etc. I’d say if you’re looking for something in addition to Unifieds it should be the one that makes the most sense for your situation.

Great report. Thanks! Any guess about how many kids were there to audition?

@Notmath1 I wasn’t there, but my D says she thinks more than 100, but there were kids there for just acting, just dance and tech as well.

I would agree with afterp89. My estimate was that there were about 80-100 MT kids (based on there being 4 MT groups with an estimate of 20-25 per group). I believe the dancers were in a different holding room, so I can’t speak to how many dancers were there. The # of schools auditioning for dance seemed MUCH less than those for MT/Acting/Theatre.

Were the MT applicants (strong dancers) able to also audition for dance BFA programs?

Not sure if they did or not. Something you could ask the organizers.

A question for those who attended. The MARCAS webpage stated clearly that it was a recruiting event and not an admissions event. But if people got artistic acceptances at the event… That’s pretty great! Did you feel like all the schools attending were actually auditioning the kids or only a few? I know LIU was mentioned in the 2023 thread as one school that accepted the MARCAS audition for admissions for some MTers. What other schools did so (for your performer or anyone else you heard about).

@CaMom13 WVU told us they’d be able to use it for an artistic acceptance for voice/acting but we had to submit a dance video. However, my D already had visited campus and sat in on a class and watched a show. Not sure if it’s standard practice for them.

I think some of the schools are not audition schools but use MARCAS as a determining factor for talent scholarships or to influence admissions. My D got an email from one school today saying they would reach out to admissions to advocate for them to “put together a financial package to allow you to truly consider whether or not XXX University is the right fit for you.” They went from not on the list to serious consideration based on their website and her discussion with the professor that was there.

Another non-audition school was pushing hard for her to visit so they could offer her a scholarship. That said, she only met with a dozen of the schools there (she doesn’t want to go south), so I can’t speak for the other 20 or so. Maybe @lithpool can expound on the experience for her S.

@afterp89 I guess my question to those that were there, was the dance call for dance majors held at the same time as the MT auditions? Is it even possible to do both?

https://www.midatlanticauditions.com/schedule looks possible - Dance in the afternoon.