Hello wonderful MT parents - I hope this finds you all well (and at least a little less stressed than you’ve likely been for the past few months!!). I’m reaching out because I’m doing some research on the struggles and frustrations that are part of auditioning for MT schools, and I’m hoping a few of you would be up for sharing your quick insights and expertise in this area. This forum is a wealth of information (and I’m super grateful!) but I would love to speak to some of you in-person (I’m in Chicago) or via phone/Skype, to hear about your experiences first-hand.
If you can help me out, I would be more than happy to hear from you - please feel free to comment here, or to send me a PM and I will get in touch.
Sending good vibes and broken legs (especially everyone who’s waiting on an answer!). Many thanks in advance.
What type of information/input are you looking for? Your question is pretty open ended.
And for what purpose, exactly?
Thanks for the responses - totally fair, it’s a pretty open-ended question.
I’m about 10 years older than most of the people auditioning for schools. I’m an actress (have been since I was 9) so I’m deeply familiar with MT auditions in general, but it’s hard for me to get my head around the perspective of all of the material geared to people auditioning specifically for colleges - there’s SO much information, and the process seems overwhelming and very complex to me. So I’m doing a bunch of reading and learning and exploring to see if I can get a better sense of it, partially just out of interest, and partially because I’ve been thinking about whether or not it makes sense to consider going back to school for MT (my degree is in performance, but not MT specifically). I thought that parents might have a more relatable perspective for me to really wrap my head around what’s involved.
The other piece of this is that I see my parents in a lot of the postings on here - they are amazing theatre parents and carted me around to auditions for most of my childhood/adolescence. I can’t even imagine how stressful this process would have been for them - when I auditioned for schools, it was on a much smaller scale. I’m trying to figure out how I could give back to them and others like them. If I can get a real understanding of the current process and all of its elements, whether for myself (as a potential auditionee) or just in general, I’d love to be able to use that to add value to this community and others like it, and see if I can find ways make the process easier to navigate for everyone going through it.
Given your explanation above, it would seem to me that much of what you are seeking could be gleaned from reading the many threads on this forum…including the ones where people “vent” about the process and the threads recounting college audition experiences, and ones on preparing to apply, and the ones on rejections, etc. It’s really all there!
The threads about “final decision with background” for the past 3 years are also very helpful. They tend to “sum up” the total (years-long) experience for individual situations.
Thanks - will definitely check out those threads. Appreciate your responses. 
Also check out the AMAZING thread called “The Process: Our Year-Long Odyssey”. It’s one family’s journey through this whole process from beginning to end.
Ageed- my all time favorite cc read!
Wonderful thank you - will check that out for sure!!
MTactress…while you didn’t ask for advice…I’m going to suggest an alternative to going to get another college degree (BFA/MT) when you already have a college degree in performance and you are in your young 30s, I presume. An alternative would be to do a two year certificate program focused on training and not the “college education” part. It is shorter and cheaper as well. It also may be more appropriate for someone your age.
You may wish to look into CAP21’s program in MT or Circle in the Square’s MT program. Just a suggestion.
@Soozviet - much appreciated! I’m absolutely open to advice and those are some great suggestions. At the moment I’m really just in the research and exploration phase, so I’m not tied to any outcome and I haven’t ruled out options yet (pretty sure I haven’t figured out what all the options actually are) - I will look into the CAP21 programs and see what info I can find on alternative 2-year programs to look into as well. Many thanks.
Just to be clear, I suggested a second program unrelated to CAP21 above…
Circle in the Square MT program…two years. Excellent reputation.
Perfect - thanks for clarifying! Adding to the list to research.
You can also look into a graduate program. NYU Steinhardt offer a masters in MT through Steinhardt. But keep in mind that spending the money on private voice lessons, coaching, acting classes and dance classes may be much more focused and beneficial than a second degree.
Thanks @uskoolfish! I’ve definitely considered that route as well. I’m basically working to throughly understand all of the options available to me, and making sure I have all the information I need to figure out what makes the most sense in terms of both career trajectory and finances. I’ve had a lot of lessons and coaching over the years, and I’m continuing to educate myself in various classes and workshops regularly - the question is whether the value of having additional education specifically in MT (whether BFA, graduate, certificate programs, etc.) would provide more career opportunities for me down the line. So I’m really just at the stage of trying to talk to as many folks as I can, investigate all of my choices, and get a strong sense of what’s out there before I start taking any specific action. I really appreciate your input (as well as everyone else who’s chimed in so far - many thanks again!).
Nobody doing casting will care in the least about your academic background. Sometimes a degree can help you network, but since you already have an undergraduate degree, that would be a lot of educational cost to take on with the hope to make connections. I’d rather take voice, coaching and dance classes and go to workshops to get your name around.
In the end it all comes down to nailing your auditions.
The only thing that additional education can help with is if you wanted to teach. But schools will want to see that you have had success as a performer in addition to training.