Hey! I’m currently a senior in high school and I love theatre and always knew this is what I’m suppose to be doing. ( cliche I know) I plan on pursuing musical theatre in college however my family can’t really afford to put me into a BFA MT program right away. I did go through the audition process and did get accepted into the conservatory program with NYU, Oklahoma City, and got accepted immediately to a handful of schools from a mass cattle call audition like the thespian college auditions and received callbacks as wells for many other schools. However didn’t get to attend many schools I received callbacks to due to the fact that parents simply didn’t have the money to take me to the audition. I can’t afford to go into an MT program right away I’m scared to transfer because I don’t want to spend potentially 6 years in school trying to get a BFA MT degree ( 2 years at community and 4 years at a BFA program) I fear this will cause me to grow behind compared to others pursuing this. I want to begin professionally auditioning as young as possible ( with the right training to equipped to do so) without having to spend 6 years in college potentially. The community college in my area is very good and has sent many people into great MT programs after going through them for 2 years there have been many successful alumni that go through there. There offering me a full ride, and I have no doubt that this program is phenomenal however I just can’t spend 6 years in school. I don’t know what to do I desperately need help I feel at such a disadvantage compared to everyone else. There is time where I just want to give it all up because everyone seems so financially secure that is pursuing the performing arts, going to all the camps, going to these triple threat master class, getting all these college audition coaches. And I had to do this all by myself… I’m not gripping it just seems like to even be successful in going into musical theatre/ Theatre performance you have to have the Financial backings to do so. What do I do from here? Because I couldn’t be as scared & confused about this whole situation
I’m no one special, but this is my advice… If you really think you can’t handle attending school for six years, I don’t know if you are going to be able to a get the MT education you want by just scrapping that idea. The community college seems to be like a solid option from what you’ve said here. Is there anyway, you could possibly take several credits online that would be accepted by the college and that could save you some time in school? I would talk to the college about your concerns and discuss your options with them to see if you could graduate in a potentially shorter period of time doing something like I mentioned. If finances is a problem for you and you really want to pursue MT as your passion, this full ride is a great opportunity for you and I think you could make something work. From what I understand, everyone’s college experience is individualized to a certain degree — it probably won’t be something the college has never dealt with before considering it’s repuation for transferring students into quality MT programs. And I totally understand the way you feel about the elitism that sometimes comes with this profession, especially when it comes to get into & paying for college. My family does not particularly struggle financially as much as other people do, but it is very hard on them to try to support my dream & pay for everything professionals tell me I need to get there. It also can feel like there’s a gap because some people’s families seem to have it together with the whole performance situation from the start, like when their child was four they were already doing acting explorations for toddlers. That’s actually what inspired me to start my blog recently lol. There’s nothing inherently wrong with that, but it can feel isolating when some of the most groundbreaking pieces of theatre are deeply political and tackle issues like poverty. It seems unreasonable that it should feel so unreachable when stories like that are being told. I don’t know if you’ve made a decision yet or anything but you can always change your mind and go in a different direction, don’t let anyone feel like you can’t. Hope this helps.
You don’t say what state you are from but some BFA MT 4 year state university programs let you transfer in as a sophomore…your core classes from freshman JuCo typically will transfer…it’s the acting/mt classes that are sometimes needed to be re-taken, but not always…talk to the in-state MT programs and they typically can evaluate and let you know what will transfer. For example, In California, UC Irvine takes a lot of transfers into theatre…may be 5 years to graduate but may be 4 if you are willing to do a couple summer classes. @MTSTUDENT2022