<p>Hi~
My daughter was just rejected from the 2014 MPulse summer MT program. At risk of sounding too proud, I am quite shocked. She had embarrassingly glowing letters of recommendation from both her acting coach and her voice teacher. She’s been in 10 musical theater productions. I had convinced myself that whatever response we received from U of M would be an ‘indicator’ for next year when she applies to MT programs for college. Should we even bother to apply to U of Michigan next year? My daughter has a fabulous voice, acting is good and getting better all the time. She can dance, but it’s her weakness. Thoughts? Thank you!</p>
<p>Hello,
Don’t worry about not being accepted at all! I am a firm believer in everything happens for a reason. Your daughter may have everything right, but she may be right for the school next year. I would still have your daughter audition. I attended MPulse last year, so please let me know of any more questions you have.</p>
<p>I would love to know more about the caliber of students that attended MPulse. Honestly, I’m trying to be humble here, but my daughter receives such generous praise for her singing and acting. It makes me wonder if I have ANY idea what her competition will be once she starts to apply to college. We’re from Chicago, so she has plenty of talented peers to inspire her and compete with.</p>
<p>Did you end up pursuing MT in college?</p>
<p>Bigsong- This is the beginning of a very long process of ups and downs and this is what it is all about. I have one word to say and it is “Subjective”
My D was rejected by Mpulse last year, yet has been professionally cast in many shows. I feel your pain as you type the words you typed and I remember
feeling the same way…but the truth of the matter is, Mpulse, nor any other summer program has no bearing on your D’s success in this CRAZY COMPETITIVE
business! It is one of many programs that takes only 20 girls and 20 boys while hundreds are applying. Not to say that it is not a valuable program, but there
are dozens of valuable programs out there that may embrace your D’s talent.<br>
I know it hurts…
not one program alone will determine your success. This type of rejection is good for them, because honestly, if you want to be in this field, this is the beginning of the
beginning of the …and so forth. hang in there, and try not to take it personally (although, I know that is almost IMPOSSIBLE TO DO!)
and just to add my D is now a senior, finished her audition circuit and has been receiving great acceptances with scholarships (i’m not allowed to post them- it’s a superstitious thing on her part)
until we hear from all.
So, don’t give up…Love and continue to support your talented D and fate will land her where she is supposed to be. I promise you will look back a year from now and
know what I am talking about.</p>
<p>Aja1996 – how does the no cell phone thing work? Also, did you find the kids to be warm to each other or was it competitive and one upsmanship? Can you describe a typical day?</p>
<p>Dreamtinydream~thank you so much for your thoughtful response. I do know this is a very competitive field…and also a very subjective one. I would just love to know more about what they look for. My daughter is not phased ONE bit…which makes me realize that she is cut out for this. I just continue to be perplexed. Although i suspect I’ll feel better tomorrow!</p>
<p>Dreamtinydream~forgot to add~~BEST of luck to your daughter! I hope she loves her choices!</p>
<p>I was at MPulse last year and the no cell phone policy is a brief pain but an awesome experience. It was one of many reasons why we were able to create such a genuine family. We’ve stuck together through the audition season and supported each other. That’s been great. At MPulse we quickly accepted that there’s no point trying to move forward while looking to the side (comparing ourselves to others). It would have been impossible for us to feel comfortable enough to open up and improve while living and working with people we were afraid of for 3 weeks. It was absolutely noncompetitive. A typical day was fairly tiring but totally doable. Each day shows you what it’s like to study musical theater, not just train. So it’s a lot of time in a classroom. But it’s with actual professors of this incredibly specific field so that’s just beyond cool. </p>
<p>Thanks, Costa 14 – this is helpful.</p>
<p>Eh. My junior was rejected as well. She’s done musical theatre and theatre in general from the womb. </p>
<p>Honestly, it’s the name of the game in this field. There will ALWAYS be someone more talented than your kid. It sucks and it stings and coming to grips with the rejection is hard (actually, I think it’s harder for us the parents than it is for our kids) but it is what it is. </p>
<p>The truth of the matter is is that acceptance in the arts can be very subjective. If you’d replace the reviewing committee with new people, I’m positive that there would be an entirely different group of kids (for the most part) that would accepted to the program. </p>
<p>I don’t think acceptance (or denial) to MPulse is any indicator of future success.</p>
<p>My D was rejected from MPulse last year, and already has 4 MT acceptances, and passed all her prescreens, including UMich. Don’t let this decision make you less confident in your D. It is not an indicator of future success. </p>
<p>i know- you will never figure</p>
<p>ignore that post- ugh! and Ditto Kategritzz! My D passed 7 prescreens and 4 acceptances as well thus far! so please all of you who have a heavy heart for not getting in, let it be light! and for all of you who got in congrats and enjoy!</p>
<p>My D didn’t make it this year either - thanks for everyone’s post. We’ll try again next year. </p>
<p>
I am sure this varies every year. Honestly, my impression was that the year our D attended there were at least a couple of very competitive kids. That was no small part of the reason D moved programs with small classes down on her preference list and didn’t end up auditioning at UMich. Those kids were not admitted the following year, though, so I do think UMich probably tries to avoid such people (I assume most programs do), as they’d obviously prefer a small cohort of secure, supportive classmates. </p>
<p>MPulse was a great experience for my D. She still has great friends from there, is working this summer as a direct result of MPulse and still keeps in touch with the faculty, despite the fact that she was not admitted to UM during her audition cycle. That said, we know lots of kids who did not get into MPulse and were later admitted to the MT major and vice versa. Don’t worry if you didn’t get in and don’t rely on it too much if you did! </p>
<p>@mybroadwaybaby - Congratulations on your D’s summer work!! It’s always so great to have that in the bag before Spring Break hits! </p>
<p>For clarification, my post was not meant to imply that D didn’t love MPulse and form many lasting friendships there – she absolutely did! I doubt that (if one is honest and observant) there is a group of 20+ theatre kids <strong>anywhere</strong> that doesn’t include a couple at least slightly competitive personalities. It seems to go with the business. :)</p>
<p>Thanks for all of the input, CC’ers. After much deliberation, my D decided to decline on her acceptance to MPulse and return to Interlochen for the three week MT workshop. She loved Interlochen last summer and wanted to return. She is hoping to add the BW Musical Overtures, as well. UM just doesn’t seem like a fit for her, so she went with her heart! I am sure she made someone on the MPulse waitlist very happy!</p>
<p>Totally agree @momcares!</p>