@24mtjourney my daughter also has an offer from Arizona and is a dancer with the exact same concerns. We were told that she could minor in dance with the dance dept., which is world renowned, but I know those auditions for the dance minor are held in the fall, after committing, and like you, we’ve heard that while it’s “possible” it doesn’t seem to actually happen. What’s not clear is if it doesn’t happen because most don’t qualify after the audition or if it doesn’t happen because it doesn’t fit in the MT schedule. We were hoping to use our visit to get more information about this but now that’s been canceled.
Does anybody have thoughts/info about the University of Northern Colorado vs Roosevelt CCPA vs Viterbo?
@MTisNutz Well, that’s interesting. I have never talked to a student that didn’t love Kaitlin, and that includes males and females. She still calls her alumni regularly to check on them. My son called her for advice on his national tour contract. I’m sure she has peccadilloes, but nothing that causes her students concern. Of course, this is from a parents perspective not involved in the day to day. Your advice is very good though: talk to current students and try to get a frank, off the record discussion.
Marymount Manhattan vs. UArts vs. Hartt - can anyone chime in? Thanks!
@MTisNutz Considering her (Kaitlyn’s) mother is still alive, the fact that she displays and was leant her Tony - which I am sure is a treasured possession - I have to imagine is for inspiration and not to intimidate her students. Although an individual student will read into that what they may…
With that said - although I am a fan - I think we can all agree that Kaitlyn Hopkins is intense - and that is the kind of intensity that is going to inspire or intimidate you. If you were fortunate enough to get an offer, I would suggest you ask other students and set up a phone call with Kaitlyn to see if this the right program for you.
@“2kids2dogs&aclass”, I wish I could help you. We are choosing at the moment between the BFA MT at Roosevelt (MTD), LIU, and the University of Tampa. And we just had to cancel all 3 tours, so I don’t know how my D will choose. My older daughter is in the BFA MT at Tampa, so we already know the program and are very happy there, so I can’t help but lean that way right now with everything going on (they are also opening up a state-of-the-art building in the fall which looks amazing and she can audition there for a double major in dance). There’s still one school left to hear from in a week or two, but I was hoping she would see these three and narrow to one while we waited…
Re Post #48
@Jpkcmo , how can you say ABSOLUTELY do not pick a school of your strong suit??? There are no absolutes! In an ideal world you can say that if your kid is the sparkling unicorn that farts rainbows and has a boatload of acceptances at top tier schools But for the rest of us whose kids have gotten into 3 solid audition MT programs (or less), that option may not be available.
There are MANY other factors to consider. Does your kid get good vibes at the school? Does your kid genuinely like the faculty and does the faculty like your kid? Of course that’s not going to be the case with ever person, but having regular classes with someone that makes you feel bad is not good for morale. Does the school meet their learning goals? Can your family afford the school? You and your kid may love Acme University, but if their sticker price is $50K or higher (not out of the realm of possibility) and their aid package sucks, you could be looking at $30-40,000 that mom/dad and kid have to deal with per year (and that’s assuming costs don’t go up). That’s a lot of debt to take on and debt will kill any chance of a young artist from being able to truly follow their passion as it hangs over their head like the Sword of Damocles. My point is, a lot of factors come into play and ultimately a student needs to go where they will feel happy to truly thrive.
Case in point. D has two good BFA MT acceptancesN(she also have a strong BFA Acting acceptance, but doesn’t want to go to a program with grad students). One is close to home, but so far she’s not feeling the love. The do have an excellent dance program, but I feel their acting and voice program is weaker. School #2 is much further away. D has not visited to the campus but a current sent us photographs and it’s beautiful. More importantly, she has gotten warm fuzzies from every student, staff member, and faculty member she has had contact with. Their dance is not quite as strong, but their acting and voice is top notch. They also have an insane number of performance opportunities she won’t get anywhere else. Oh, and school #2 made the top 30 MT programs in the country this year.
Financially, School #1 gave an OK aid package, but School #2!is giving my daughter an amazing package with scholarships/grants where her dad and I can cover all her costs leaving her debt free upon graduation.
My D is waiting on 5 schools before we make a final decision because no one should make a decision until she has seen the process through.
In closing, it’s easy to give advice and some people may take it without fully considering the long term ramifications. The worst thing a kid can do is pick a school because “a top program” or “ has a strong dance program” if they don’t consider other factors. Those are the kids that end up transferring and then face even more debt. This is JMHO. YMMV. Peace out CC peeps.
@GeddyMcNutty We have UArts and MMC on the table as well and I have gathered a lot of information about UArts, our current frontrunner. I’m happy to share what I’ve learned with you!
Would welcome thoughts on University of Oklahoma VS Point Park…thanks!
My D is a freshman MT at MMC. Her dance classes are on West 60th St and in the 70s on Central Park West. They are leveled. She really is enjoying NYC now that she settled in - though it’s tough with the transitioning to online. ( how can you have an online dance class ?)
@StanfordAI2019 - my D is a junior at CAP21 and was also accepted to LIU. She also liked the acting class that she sat in on at LIU with Dave and thought she would get good training there. The campus was less than impressive however and even though Molloy is also on LI it is not as far plus they go to the city 2/3 times a week automatically. She feared being stuck on the LIU campus full time. I know that @speezagmom has a S that is a sophomore at CAP21 and they were between CAP21 and LIU so she may be able to add more regarding their decision.
We are comparing Coastal with a very generous offer and honors college, Temple with next to no scholarship $ (even though she has a 4.52 GPA) and JMU which is in state…
Any current parents with feedback on experience at Manhattan School of Music? Looking at class descriptions in the track, MT students seem to have introductory dance classes for each dance form. Are the classes leveled within the freshman class, or do they all take the same level together throughout the program. The course descriptions mention “introduction to” and wonder if truly all at a beginner level. TIA!
Hoping for some feedback on Molloy/CAP21 MT vs Roosevelt MT.
My D wants good dance. She’s a
dancer and wants leveling. She’s not a tippy top dancer but is definitely better than average.
She has always loved NYC so that’s a draw but she won’t be in the city every day and we hear Molloy is a commuter campus. Would love feedback on if that is difficult for kids.
We don’t know much about Roosevelt. Is it confining being in only a few building all 4 years? Is there a sense of community being in a city school in Chicago?
How is the training in all 3 (singing,
acting, dancing) compared?
Performance opportunities- would love to know more about that at both programs. We hear Molloy there aren’t many main stage at all but there are musicals that are workshopped and great masterclasses with reputable people.
We hear Roosevelt you can be in shows starting sophomore year. Don’t know much about masterclasses and outside people coming in.
Thanks for any help! Big decisions but good ones 
@frisbee3 Have you posted your questions about CAP 21-Molloy on the Molloy College-CAP 21 thread under Musical Theater Schools? There are active threads where CAP 21 parents can answer questions and provide feedback. They were so helpful to us when we were looking at CAP 21 last year!
OK - info on Molloy/CAP21 and also experience in choosing between Molloy and LIU.
I have very little if anything bad to say about our experience with Molloy/CAP21 (DS is a sophomore). Apologies in advance for what will probably be a long, stream of consciousness post.
Being from the mid-west, it was a huge comfort to have my kid living in a nice, safe suburb while also having the benefit of training in Manhattan with amazing professionals. The campus is small - there are 3 dorms and about 300 kids live on campus. (BTW - the oldest dorm is about 10 years old. They have central air and each room has its own thermostat. They’re dorms so nothing exciting - but they are new and nice and in good repair. You can see virtual tours on the reslife page of the molloy website) If you go take a look at the molloylife instagram, you’ll see that there are tons of things going on all the time. The kids can be as involved or not involved as they want to be. They have D2 sports and they have a professional theatre on campus with shows continually rotating through. They can audition to work in the professional shows starting sophomore year. There’s also a good deal of diversity on campus, and although it is a Catholic school, you can be involved in religious activities or not. So - campus life - I doubt this is different at any other conservatory style school. Frankly - they don’t have time for campus life activities even if they’re going on. There is some time freshman year, but starting sophomore year, the kids at Molloy go to the city 3 days per week for classes. They have rehearsal 3 days per week - one of which is Saturday. There is very little time to do anything that is not a necessity - laundry, homework, rehearsal with scene partners, practice, grocery shop, etc. That’s what happens on the one free day of the week, Sunday.
Performance opportunities - The CAP21 program is very focused on training. As such, the students have a performance project every semester in which every one is “cast”. They start with a pure acting performance project in first semester sophomore year. Second semester, composer project where they focus on the music of a couple of composers and present in 3-4 performances. Fall of junior year, they have song and dance, combining all 3 aspects of the program with 3 performances. Spring of Junior year, they have the pop rock project. The class is split in two and each half of the class workshops a new pop/rock musical and presents this in 3 performances. Senior year, there are two mainstage productions that are put on purely by the senior class. Half the class is cast in one and half in the other. This year they did urinetown and spring awakening. In addition to the mainstage productions they are working on their senior showcase which is presented to industry professionals in the spring of the senior year. Somewhere in here, they also do the “creative project” where the class is split in two, and they write their own new musical with the help and direction of a professional. These are then performed. So - do they have less performance opportunities? I’d say that they may have more that some students find in other programs because EVERY member of the class performs in each performance project. In addition to those opportunities, there is a performing arts club on campus that puts on mainstage shows that CAP kids can audition for if they choose. They can also audition for the many shows put on by the professional theater on the campus.
Class size - target class is about 36 students at the outset and of course has a few departures for personal reasons, major changes, etc. Last year was an anomaly from what I’ve seen with a bit bigger class. Even with a larger class, none of my son’s classes have been very large as they split them up. They test them at the outset and level them in to dance classes. Some of his classes are as small as 6 kids. The biggest around 15.
So - what do I have to say that’s critical - the food isn’t the best. It has improved some in the last year, but it’s still not great. However, the kids typically eat breakfast and lunch at the cafe in the manhattan center on their city days, and they like the food better there. The cafe takes their dining plan as do a couple of other places in Rockville Centre.
On choosing between LIU and Molloy - My son had a great connection with Dave at the audition. He was very excited about the possibility of the program. I do think they have great acting training - and unique acting training as I don’t know of any other program that focuses so much on Suzuki. (Suzuki isn’t for everyone - do some research on this acting method and observe a class if you can. I think LIU used to have some Youtube recordings of suzuki class that you could check out.) When we visited the two schools before making a decision, we went in with the programs “neck and neck”. Molloy may have had a slight edge because of the reputation of CAP21 and their history with Tisch. We came out of the visits surprised by how different the programs and schools were. It was not a hard choice for my son. The vibe of the school, the warmth and organization level of the visit, how the students in the program engaged with my son, the facilities, how the school engaged with me as a parent - could not have been more different. This is why you may have seen me say before that visits are so valuable for determining where your kid will feel at home - which is super frustrating this year as it’s turning out to be harder than usual to visit! If you can’t visit, I would try very hard to do a virtual tour. Molloy/CAP21 has posted on the prospective student facebook that they are working on putting together virtual tours for accepted and WL students who can’t visit. I would be surprised if other programs aren’t doing the same. If you have questions on our tour/visit experiences at both schools, or anything about Molloy/CAP21, feel free to PM me. I’m happy to answer - and since we’re all “online school” and spring break right now, I have a source of truth within shouting distance for a couple of weeks.
@24mtjourney the freshmen at MSM are divided into 2 levels of dance classes. I’d strongly recommend reaching out to Liza Gennaro, MT Program Director, with any questions. She met with us last year when my daughter was trying to decide and thoroughly explained the program and the expectations of the students. She’s remarkably open, kind and knowledgeable. Her email is: lgennaro@msmnyc.edu
Comparing Wagner College, MMC and Roosevelt CCPA. DD really loved the MMC audition and faculty, but doesn’t love the NY “campus”, dorms in particular - not sure she wants to adjust to being from home, college life AND NYC all at once. Liked Wagner a lot especially the access to Manhattan but the separate campus. Really liked Roosevelt but concerned the MT program doesn’t provide enough dance training. Thanks for your help!
@bfayay One of my D’s friends is a freshman at Utah. If you have any questions, message me and I will pass the information on to him and get you some answers. I am sure he would be happy to communicate with you.
@MamaBear2020 I appreciate your in depth response to my post. I think you are saying the exact same thing I said. ABSOLUTELY do not make a school decision on one single factor - like picking a school based on your strength instead of considering all factors.