Hello. My Son is a junior in high school. He had thought about acting and musical theatre as early as elementary school, however once he hit his freshman year he became undecided. Last year he decided he wants it!! He has been actively involved in Choir and Band, and Jazz Band, is familiar with auditions for his band and choral works. This year alone has had auditioned four times for those and also for the school musical. We have started to look at schools and are wondering when we should start touring and prepping. We had thought we would tour this past Fall but could not make certain times work with all of his other auditions. Are we too late to the game or is spring early enough? He is also looking into a vocal coach and some theater classes at a local youth theater. We are primarily concentrating on schools in the north east.
His NEW choir director is also a vocal, and acting coach and he is very familiar with my son and his asspirations and has truly encouraged him this past year. He worked him for last years musical, where he learned the part of George Banks in three weeks and performed amazinling, and that is not a proud mom talking, that is based on reviews throughout our community.
Please let me what we should be doing next.
@Sonnie323 many of us started Junior year ( or earlier)
right now I would read as many threads on CC as you can
I would start with the venting threads for class of '22,23 & 24 then read final decision threads for those as well as 19 or 20 . you can use search engine here but those are the best ways to get started…its easy to get overwhelmed. good luck
I would add to the above comments to not let yourself / son get intimidated by what you read. A lot of kids have been performing for many years, attending summer masterclass camps, have coaches, etc. Very easy to feel left out.
Ultimately it’s about talent, resiliency and passion. If he has the talent and the drive / desire he’ll find a place. The numbers somewhat favor males as there are just fewer who seek ou this profession but it’s still pretty darn competitve.
Best of luck on this journey.
@Sonnie323 I am in the same boat, just know that you are not alone. I have a junior and we are currently working on song and monologue choices. We also auditioned to a summer program to help with audition materials.
If you’re interested in summer programs and haven’t looked at those yet I would do that ASAP as some deadlines are around the corner. If you do your homework now you will be fine!
If you’re totally not MT-minded and your budget allows, you might want to consider hiring an MT college advisor. You can definitely do this all on your own, but an advisor can tell you which NorthEast schools will be an awesome fit based on your S’s skillset, grades, and secondary interests.
Again, you can definitely do it alone with research! But my spouse and I are NOT-MT minded (we are immigrants and work in tech), so we hired someone who knew a little about theatre in the US, and it has worked out really well. There are schools on my kids’ audition list that I’d never even heard of.
@Sonnie323 Definitely not late to the game. My S started his search about this time last year as a Jr and we started visiting a few schools in the NE (we are in PA). We then started working with a MT college advisor in the Spring who helped him figure out monologues and song selection. He participated in a summer program, worked with a monologue and voice coach over the summer and we visited a few more schools that required some travel. We didn’t get to all the schools on his list, but enough to figure out the type of program he was interested in. By Oct he videoed his presecreens and submitted all of his apps by Nov 1…granted he was not one of the ones who applied to 20-30 schools, but it’s totally doable starting now. Good Luck!!!
Thank you everyone!! I appreciate all the help. He is looking into a summer program and we are working to find a vocal coach this summer. What are some of the “unknown” schools that folks are applying to? We have looked at well over 15 so far, have not visited yet, but we are working on scheduling visits for the spring and summer. We are working with is Chorus teacher, who has also worked with him for his musicals. His choir teacher does have many industry ties so we are really get some great direction from him so far.
@Sonnie323 my daughter got an early acceptance at Rockford University about 90 minutes outside Chicago. It’s a solid “unknown program.”
You are earlier than we were! My S made the decision to go the BFA-audition route in late April of his junior year, and did not start working on his audition material until August/September. You have plenty of time to find material, make a list of schools, find coaches for voice and monologues, etc.
As for the college list, you want to take a strong look at who your son is as an artist/performer and build your list around that. Is he “MT or Bust” or is he also interested in acting programs? Is he an actor who sings or a singer who acts? Does he want to double major in something outside the field, etc. Then start looking for schools that would be a good fit for him based on his profile. From schools that you deem a fit, you can create a balanced list of schools that range in competitiveness.
Ideally, August is the time to work on the common app so that he can get that out of the way before the start of school and “prescreen” season. If he can target one or two schools for early action, it will take a lot of pressure off him if he gets accepted to any before the real audition season begins.
Best of luck to you and your son!
(End of our story: After flying by the seat of our pants for most of the fall, he went 6/9 on his prescreens and got into his early decision college. It can be done!)
@tsamwic, Thank you so much for your feedback and information. So happy for your son, Congratulations!!
Also, very happy to know that even though he has not been “training” long he still may have every opportunity as others.
We have been looking at many schools and there are even several that are not on the lists that we’ve seen posted on other threads. I like your idea about building it around him. We have been looking at schools that have cross country trails (he’s a runner at school and it helps him focus and destress) as well as schools that offer middle school education. His fall back plan is to be a middle school english teacher and teach drama. He is a very practical young person and is not adverse to risk but likes to have a back up plan(very much an old soul). I had not thought about what type of MT student, but after reading your comments I believe he is a singer that can act. He is very multifaceted, not just saying that because he is my son, but he has played brass since he was 10 (Trumpet, Euphonium and Valve Trombone) with multiple auditions and acceptances, since middle school for Districts, New England Festivals and this weekend he will audition for the VT State Festival. He has also auditioned and made it to choral districts. His preference is to sing and act, which is why he is choosing the Musical Theatre path. He loves being on stage and singing as well as becoming someone new. Last night we sat down together to look at a few more schools and talked about a vocal coach and filming his auditions.
**Please don’t get him being practical confused with not having passion for MT. He is truly passionate and wants to be on stage in NYC or London’s North End. He has dreamt of taking long runs through central park since he started cross country at 10 years old. He just did not know if he would get there by playing an instrument or with using his voice and acting.
@NeensMom Congratulations to you daughter!! That is wonderful to hear and I am sure she can rest much easier now.
@Sonnie323 Welcome to this forum. It is a wealth of knowledge. It appears you live in Vermont, is that right? You mentioned the VT State Festival (All States / Music). My own kids were in that. I lived in VT for 33 years and that’s where my kids were raised, one of whom went onto a BFA in MT at NYU/Tisch and is now a professional in this field in NYC. It sounds like your son is getting help with voice/songs with his choral teacher which is good. But I am inferring that he may not be taking private voice lessons. Am I right? I haven’t met any students who have gone onto BFA in MT programs who have not taken voice lessons, and I know a lot of students in this field as I am also an independent college counselor with expertise in MT/theater college admissions and assist students throughout the US and internationally. I’m mentioning this as I don’t know where in Vermont you are located, but if you are in Northern Vermont, I highly recommend a voice teacher in South Burlington who has worked with many people in the MT field, both amateurs and professionals, and used to be on the faculty at Circle in the Square Theater School in NYC. My daughter studied with him. His name is Bill Reed. My daughter did not have a coach for college auditions. But she did work on her songs with her voice teacher, whom she took lessons with for five years.
@soozievt, I will PM you. We are in southern vt and and we have reached out to two vocal coaches to see who is available, however his new choir teacher has also been a vocal coach within the industry and has worked with a few “high profile” actors, so we are extremely fortunate that he has found our community to work in. We are looking for as much feedback and help that we can get to ensure we are on the right track. We also have a family that we are friends with that just went through this journey the last two years and their D had some excellent results and is now at Rider. Please feel free to share anything else you are willing. Thank you!!
@soozievt, I tried to PM you but nothing is there that “should be” for me to message you. It says if I go to the envelope there would be an option for new message, that is not the case and the help board then said to click on the person you want to message and there will be an orange button in their profile and that is not there. So if you can, please PM me and we can go from there.
Thank you!
@Sonnie323 You don’t have enough posts to be able to PM. It is either 10 or 15 I think.
@Sonnie323 we are local too and once I hit the 15-message minimum I can PM you.
@lojosmo and @tsamwic good to know!!
@tsamwic, good to know there is another local person taking the same journey!
@Sonnie323 Yes, you need to have 15 posts before you can PM anyone. I know the family you speak about whose D is at Rider now. I lived in North Central Vermont, in the mountains, so about 2 hours north of where you live most likely.
PS…go Vermont MTers! I know a few who have come from our little rural state and gone onto success in MT!
Here we go! After reading these boards for weeks, I finally signed up for CC. Parent of a HS junior, wanting MT, stronger dancer, and nervous as heck about what we are about to embark on! Thank you to everyone who has posted about their experiences, they have been extremely helpful to set expectations.