@theaterwork I love MT=Money Taker! Absolutely love it.
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I know of someone last year who used BOTH Mary Anna Denard and MTCA - always kinda wondered about that
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For those on a tighter budget…there is free information, inexpensive books, blogs, YouTube advice and videos on several of the website listed. Plus skype consults prior to purchasing larger programs.
I will echo what someone else said which is it depends on what you mean by “coach” as to whether we used a coach.
My S has been performing since 4th grade. He attends a public high school with no theater classes and no experience with college admissions for MT and Acting programs. We were really on our own to figure it out. So, I started doing a lot of homework on the schools, audition processes, audition requirements, etc. 18 months ago once it was clear this was the direction he was going.
He has a NYC based voice teacher and a NYC based acting teacher that he started seeing specifically to prepare him for college auditions. His voice teacher and acting teacher gave him suggestions for songs and monologues and he came up with ideas and they decided together which worked best for him and worked with him on preparing the ones he chose. He was adamant that they stay away from common songs including several in his book. The teachers did not give him suggestions based on what specific schools wanted nor did they suggest that he have different songs or monologues for different schools. Neither of them told him which schools were appropriate for him. Neither of them told him what to wear to pre-screens or auditions.
His khakis/solid color button down shirt audition outfit was really the result of a) schools saying in their auditions dos/don’ts to dress nicely but comfortably and b) that’s his style - he either wears jeans and t-shirt or khakis and a button down shirt (sometimes solid but mostly plaid). He doesn’t wear “dressy” jeans so jeans weren’t really an option for him to wear. While yes this was what many boys were wearing, I think that’s a fairly typical musical theatre boy style/look when told to dress “business casual” so to speak - not formal, but nice. He unfortunately doesn’t really have a distinct look or unique style (clothes, look, hair) so that didn’t really come into play with his audition outfit choice.
We did not use a College Audition Coach because honestly between my research and his voice/acting teachers, I didn’t think we needed one. His teachers assured us that he was the caliber of kid to get accepted at a top tier school and he would have multiple acceptances to choose from. And we knew that with the acceptance rates he had to apply to a lot of schools including non-audition options.
He pre-screened or auditioned for 17 MT audition programs and ended up with 6 acceptances, 3 wait lists and 8 rejections. He also applied to 3 others schools (2 non-audition and 1 audition that he withdrew from before the audition after he was accepted to his first school). So he did fine without a coach, although he did have teachers who helped prepare him.
Now that this is over, if we did this again, I would get a College Audition Coach Why? Because 1) 5 of the 8 audition schools that rejected him and 2 of the 3 schools that wait listed him were at the top of his list. So while he was accepted at a few top tier schools and he is very happy and thankful for his results, he did not have the results he necessarily wanted, 2) Kids don’t always listen to their parents and having someone neutral would have probably been more well received sometimes, 3) I would have liked someone who knows what colleges want to evaluate whether his audition material was the best choice for him to use for auditions and 4) I would have liked someone familiar with all of these schools to help him come up with a list of colleges specifically fit for him. I do think our need for coaching would have been limited though - a couple consultations or occasional question. And honestly, it’s a what if situation - if we had done coaching would we have had a different result, not a must do, because he has great options without coaching.
My S has friends that we now know used Mary Ann Dennard (Moo/College Audition Coach) and MTCA and have liked them.
Oh, also, as far as summer intensives, my S did two. The value of those was a) acting training that he’s never had before because it just isn’t available locally and b) confirmation that a BFA college experience (long days of classes in acting, singing and dancing followed by evening workshops and rehearsals) was the right fit for him. Some kids did leave those programs realizing that is not how they wanted to spend 4 years of their lives despite their love of theater. I definitely do not think they were “must dos” before college auditions or that his audition results are necessarily any different because of those experiences. And while you will hear that some kids are offered spots in the class based on the summer program, those types of offers are made to a very small number of kids, so it shouldn’t be seen as a way to guarantee or increase your chances of acceptance into the school.
…and if you are a tight budget, just get Mary Anna Dennard’s book, I GOT IN! , a college audition guide for musical theatre for $15. (or her new book meant for younger teens, Before I GOT IN!)
One thing I remember about Boston University’s summer intensive (BUSTI) was that there was an option to do an audition for the BFA at the end of the program.
Theaterwork, my D did not attend any summer intensives. She did summer stock work locally. We did not hire any of the popular national coaching services you see here on the board; we hired a coach locally who understands the MT world and who had a track record of helping kids get into BFA programs. My D and her voice teacher picked her audition songs (which her coach approved of). And my D, who also had never performed as a lead in any musical up to the time she auditioned, got accepted to three of the 10 programs she auditioned for.
So don’t despair. I think this kind of approach is far more common than we realize because this board may be slanted towards the coaching, etc. Not in a bad way, just that the folks posting here are likely more passionate about the field and as such know more about different opportunities. I would say the local coach we had was a godsend. Who knew that the way you enter the audition room was so important!
I would say if you know people locally that are in the MT world I’d approach them for help and an assessment of your child’s performance.
Thanks @jeffandann . We too have someone locally we will utilize that will be fine . Thankfully a few schools my D is interested in are not quite as competitive as in they don’t draw quite as many applicants. So that’s good, takes a little pressure off to balance the few that get hordes of auditioners! Did you guys go to Unifieds?
My D went to the Chicago Unifieds and auditioned for four programs as I recall. One was a walk in. And she was accepted to one of those. We took the tack of trying to do as many auditions on site as possible so se could meet students and faculty, see the campus, etc. So her other 6 were on site auditions if I remember correctly.
I think that you need a coach less for acting than MT. Also I’d second the idea that what you wear is a lot less important for actors than MTs.
Having one MT and one Acting student, I agree with that assessment @Jkellynh17!
No theatre intensive and no high priced coaches. Regular public school kid. We had the retired drama teacher (she is a CCM alum) to help my daughter with her vocal selections and monologues. My daughter also had not had years of voice lessons or dance (started dance as a junior in HS). Three acceptances out of 12. No regrets since she ended up at a school we are pretty happy with. If we had gone with a Skype coach it would have been Ellen. Didn’t care for MAD at all. I was proud of my daughter for doing the work of reading scripts, selecting material for monologues ans working with her mentor to cut them. She learned a lot for just the process of getting ready to audition.
My D did not do any summer programs and she did not use a college audition coach. We had help from her regular voice teacher, a good friend of mine who is a professional actor (B’way and beyond) and she met a couple of times with an acting coach (not someone who works with college applicants ordinarily) to work on monologues that she had chosen. She ended up with 2 BFA acceptances, 3 waitlists (one ended in an offer, she removed herself from one, and one didn’t open up for her and she was released). If I had it to do over again, I would have figured out a way to pay for the coaching. I know it CAN be done without, and she is ecstatically happy where she landed, but I will always wonder “what if”.
My two cents. We signed up with MTCA largely due to reviews on this website. I would probably do it again, but a few caveats: 1. Do not expect to feel you are getting highly personalized service, especially if you do not live in the New York area. MTCA has a lot of students, and your child will be one of 150-200. Sometimes it feels that way. 2) if I could do it again, I wouldn’t start so early. We started midway through my daughter’s junior year, I don’t think it was necessary and the costs really added up. In the end, I am not sure she fared better in her results due to the coaching we received thru MTCA. But I do believe the experience was often better because of it. We were better educated because of it, Unifieds were more fun because of it, more connections were made because of it, and rejections were less painful because of it. if you can afford it, I would recommend it. But sometimes I feel like these boards and other reviews make it sound like it is this awesome, transformative, BFA acceptance insurance policy. I think you might be disappointed if that is your expectation.
Interesting perspective @rocsocks thanks for your input. I have often wondered about the amount of attention you receive when totally doing consults through Skype. I’m sure it’s fine but I would think it would be at least somewhat beneficial to visit in person at least once or more to make a connection. We decided to use a local contact we have that is more then capable of helping us but I wanted to hear differing opinions on the national coaching services.
I loved your honest, objective post, @rocsocks , especially about how one should not expect any coaching service to serve as a transformative experience or as acceptance insurance. So, so true!
My D never met Chelsea Diehl–it was all Skype and email–but her service was highly personal. (And, she continues to be, even after the audition season.) Part of this is her personality, and part of this is that she takes a limited number of clients. All of this to say: Skyping only can work well and be personal! It just depends…
Would it have been nice to meet in person? Yes. D might have also liked to have had run into a few more students she knew during auditions; that might have been fun for her. However, she said that she was glad that she wasn’t part of a horde; she thinks she was better able to focus on her auditions the way she wanted without that or even being there with just a few friends. Different people prefer different things, though…