<p>This is for parents and students of auditioned theater programs. Whether you just finished the stressful process or put it behind you a year or more ago, I'm interested to see what hindsight is telling you.</p>
<p>Your choices are:</p>
<p>A) Choosing schools to apply to</p>
<p>B) Doing the applications</p>
<p>C) Choosing material for the auditions</p>
<p>D) Auditioning</p>
<p>E) Waiting to hear</p>
<p>F) Rejections</p>
<p>G) Making the final decision</p>
<p>My answer is E, “Waiting to hear.” This was somewhat softened, though, by an early acceptance to a school my son did not ultimately attend.</p>
<p>Definitely E, waiting to hear. I can handle the wait. I was prepared to wait for the yes or no, BUT not knowing whether or not I was going to be able to go to my favorite college is what really killed me.</p>
<p>F,and B…would also add keeping track of all the tiny details, i.e., audition fees, audition dates, hotel reservations, etc etc etc</p>
<p>E - waiting to hear and having zero control over the process was the hardest part, though, like @prodesse, this was somewhat mitigated by the fact that my D was accepted on the spot from one of her schools. However, a very close second was waiting for financial aid offers, because the only school that sent FA within a day or 2 of the admission offer was NYU - otherwise, all other schools had us wait at least 2 weeks for financial aid packages, and it was very difficult to get excited over an offer of admission when we did not know whether that school was a financially viable option. </p>
<p>I would have said the money part, too. </p>
<p>F… 
But, trying to help her be brave, and try again next year. </p>
<p>I’d say E. Just like sherryjane said, the lack of control was extremely difficult. With respect to D - auditioning was both exhilarating and frustrating for my D because she ended up very sick for several of her top choice schools. The rest she really enjoyed. And it’s amazing how well she dealt with the rejections. Much better than her mommy. I was surprised by her maturity. </p>
<p>@annelisesmom - my D handled “redirection” far better than I did too. I think that is b/c while it hurt D to hear a “no”, it KILLED me to see my baby hurting…</p>
<p>I feel like rejection made my stomach hurt…but my D told me that one thing she learned about herself in this process was that she takes rejection well. She only cried about one rejection, and that was the one from Depaul. </p>
<p>I think most people had one that was harder than others- maybe it was the first one, or the “dream” school, or the one where kid really felt like they connected- whatever. Bottom line, while it would have been wonderful to get in to every place they applied, in the end, you can only go to one school, and I think more learning came from the nos than the yesses</p>
<p>the worst part is that it’s still not over yet! tonight was the first night at RADA then all day tomorrow. </p>
<p>Definitely E! My journey is now 100% over this morning, having received an email from Rutgers saying all places had been filled. It is such a relief to be done and I am so excited for what CCM and my future bring. </p>
<p>Come back and let us know what you’re doing next year, Josh. The really exciting stuff is still to come, and I know I’m not the only one who wants to hear about the next stage in your journey. </p>
<p>I know there are a couple of RADA candidates who are still in limbo, but I think pretty much everyone else is settled. I’m very curious about how the RADA callbacks go, so please share the intel with us if you can!</p>
<p>D is still in limbo with Purchase. She was told her file will be active thru the summer months. So, she’s trying to keep busy, and work on her training (her coach is trying to figure out how to ‘market’ her better), and a summer stock show. I know she & I will be much better prepared this 2nd time around. </p>
<p>i’m exhausted just talking with my D about her 9 hr experience today at RADA! She said even if she doesn’t make it in she doesn’t care the experience was the best she’s ever had - she learned so much and will try again next year. Most there were in their 20s and most were on their 2nd and 3rd attempt. </p>
<p>p.s. course my D felt the same way after her 3 days at CCM - she knew she’d love it there and would receive excellent training. she’s just very enamoured w/the UK right now and it’s not helping that she’s staying at my parents and getting thoroughly spoiled! </p>
<p>Does RADA have a limit on the number of times you can audition? Example, D didn’t want to audition for Julliard b/c you can only audition 4 times and they don’t tend to accept teens…</p>
<p>RADA has a different audition process for non-UK students versus internationals. For internationals such as Americans, RADA comes here in March and you audition; they have several different locales over a period of time to choose from. Then they invite some of these students for this callback now.This is the final callback. The UK students, meanwhile, will have had about four different callbacks leading to this day. At this point the internationals and UK citizens are all combined and it is a day-long or two-day-long workshop style callback. There are several different weekends this takes place, as they like to keep the groups small. </p>
<p>Now that I’m re-reading your question, toowonderful, I’m not sure I’ve understood it correctly–do you mean number of times year after year? As far as I understand, there is no limit to the number of years you can try for the UK schools. Many people try 2-3 times and many are in their 20s. They do accept younger students on occasion but it is more common for UK students to be a bit older. </p>