<p>I'm in a bit of a crisis about what I'm going to do next year. I was originally accepted at PPU and was planning on attending there, but after not getting my deposit in on time I've now been placed on a wait list, and I have no idea what number I am because they haven't called me back for a week. My other options are to go to ONU, which I'm visiting this weekend to see if I'll like, but their program is really not as established as I'd like it to be, and I don't know if I could tolerate the location. I could also take a gap year, do a lot of local professional theatre, and reaudition to get into a school I will be 100% happy with. The only problem with that is I don't want to be bored, and I want to stay busy and motivated. I also don't know if it looks bad to colleges if I take a year off, or if I'll be held to higher standards cause I'm a year ahead. Im really just hoping Point Park pulls through, but if not I want to have a plan of action for next year. Any input is welcome and wanted!</p>
<p>See how you feel about ONU. Personally, I just visited and was immensely impressed and it’s in the final two for school’s I’m considering. The program isn’t too established but it is up and coming. It’s a newer program and they just had their first student on Broadway within the last few weeks. There’s a lot of information about it in a thread a little bit down called “Put ONU on the subforum list” or something like that. There’s a lot of talk about the program, their actual curriculum, and rundowns of four or five people personal visit experiences (including my own)</p>
<p>You have until May 1st to commit to a college without penalty (see the Point Park Thread). Call and demand your spot.</p>
<p>VT</p>
<p>Please contact the National Association of College Admissions Counseling (NACAC) who can help you. Your rights have been violated by PPU. I have kept quiet about the latest doings with PPU, but I will speak up now and tell you that you can seek help. </p>
<p>First, go to this pdf about Student Rights and Responsibilities from NACAC that applicants must abide by and COLLEGES must abide by:</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.nacacnet.org/research/PublicationsResources/Marketplace/student/Documents/StudentsRtsNEW.pdf[/url]”>http://www.nacacnet.org/research/PublicationsResources/Marketplace/student/Documents/StudentsRtsNEW.pdf</a></p>
<p>As you can see, you have the right to respond to an offer of admission and financial aid until May 1. PPU is NOT playing by the rules that all colleges have agreed to follow. Any college that requests a commitment prior to May 1 must grant you an extension until May 1 and your request cannot jeopardize your spot or your FA. </p>
<p>Since PPU has violated your rights (first go over your rights in the document I linked to above), the document goes on to state: </p>
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</p>
<p>Since May 1 is approaching, please call that number and also get your guidance counselor to advocate for your rights.</p>
<p>I haven’t read the other thread. But just for clarification sake. Are “department” and “college” the same thing? In other words, admission to the college has not been rescinded, it was admission to the program. Not saying I agree or disagree with what is being said, nor am I agreeing or disagreeing with Point Park. Just trying to define the difference.</p>
<p>I was curious as to whether PPU belonged to the NACAC (not all music conservatories belong to the NASM.) But, I did a member search and they do belong. I would encourage you to follow soozviet’s advice and get your guidance counselor to advocate. If she or he can’t or won’t do it for some reason, try to follow through with the help of your parents.</p>
<p>kjgc, whether it was the department or the greater university, it should not matter as colleges should abide by the agreements of the NACAC which allows every applicant the right to reply by May 1 without their acceptance or financial aid to be in jeopardy. Any program that doesn’t abide by this is in violation and is not acting in good faith. There is no way for a student to be able to decide to enroll before they have all their cards on the table and have heard from every college, let alone weigh their FA options. Many colleges do not even send out notifications until April 1 and so it doesn’t work to have a program want a student to decide to enroll in February. Requesting a deposit before May 1 is unethical. It encourages students and families to deposit at MORE than one school which is also against the rules and unethical to do on their part. And who can tie up all that money at multiple schools (if they practice as PPU does) and why should they? Other colleges and MT programs have the same need to know but they manage to play by the rules and PPU and any school or BFA program should as well. </p>
<p>In my line of work, I have become familiar with how some programs deal with admitted students and believe me, I pass on this kind of information to prospective applicants. I have observed some “not so kosher” practices in this regard.</p>
<p>I try to remain neutral about specific colleges but will say that information shared about U of Arizona on this forum and now PPU over the years (the worst case with them is this year’s apparent situation, though this practice is not new there) on this forum can ultimately hurt such programs. This is a public forum and a lot has been written about these programs that is not positive and will give many pause. It gives me pause as a college counselor and makes it difficult for me to recommend such schools to prospective students with good conscience. Where students apply is their decision, not mine, but I do share what I know and frankly, this practice here with PPU (and the way cuts are handled at Arizona) are things I would readily bring up to a student seeking those programs. And, I would be unlikely to suggest those programs in the future to students who were not already looking into them. So, schools and MT programs may want to consider their image on sites like this as this current situation ain’t pretty at PPU (see the recent threads on PPU’s forum here) and I think the talk here may hurt the program as I think it has a bit with U of Arizona the past few years.</p>
<p>If a school wants commitments before May 1, they could have an Early Decision (which is binding) option, yet most of these programs don’t have one.</p>
<p>I would also add that there are more than a few examples of schools that have had to deal with larger-than-expected freshman classes when many students accept offers of admission. In fact, when we were at Hartt earlier this year, the director told us candidly that they’d had to hire additional staff to accommodate a large class. Why? Because THEY made the offers of admissions and had to abide by them. In my opinion, PPU has the opportunity to do the right thing here.</p>
<p>Exactly. Last year, I had a student get into Hartt and she is a freshman there now and I am aware of that their class was bigger than expected. This happens all the time at colleges. I don’t know any college who handles it the way PPU does and they are not abiding upon the NACAC rules.</p>
<p>I was thinking the same thing soovievt . . . word of mouth, professional recommendations and CC will certainly narrow their pool of applicants in the near future. I will definitely warn other parents who are heading down this road to avoid this school. </p>
<p>On another note regarding the families of kids that are going through this . . . I tried to put myself in their shoes and if they do contact the school and point out that their rights have been violated, how could they feel comfortable attending that program after the fact? Surely there will be negative feelings towards the students; not a good way to start a program. If this were my daughter I would have a hard time putting her in that position. If it were me, I would do due diligence and contact NACAC and the college to prevent this from happening to other kids, but would not send my daughter to PPU to then have to deal with the possible fallout from proceeding in that manner.</p>
<p>@legallyblonde87 - Sometimes in life, something will happen that you think is pretty negative at the time, but it leads to something that ends up being better than you imagined. I tend to file those experiences in the “things happen for a reason” department of my finite brain. My wife and D visited ONU last week and if you are looking for a family type environment that is going to provide solid training and lots of on stage opportunities, I think you will probably like what you see. I think you will have the opportunity to see “Thoroughly Modern Millie” this weekend. My D saw rehearsals and was very impressed with the quality of both the students and instruction. They are in the final 3 choices with a decision coming soon for us. I will look forward to reading your report about ONU once you return from there. Good luck with your trip and decision.</p>
<p>My daughter is a sophomore at ONU and is currently in Millie. She said they have had MANY prospectives the last couple of weeks.</p>
<p>Yes - keeping commitments should be important to a college. This years sophomore class at U Arts were a larger freshman class than anticipated. U Arts stepped up to ensure all accepted students who chose U Arts were able to join the class without compromising individual class sizes or high quality. That’s our kind of school!</p>
<p>@legallyblonde87, go to ONU this weekend with a totally open mind. Try and enjoy the experience and hopefully you will be able to make a good choice. I agree that PPU seems to be burning many bridges lately. As a parent, I would be worried about sending my D to this program if she has to fight her way in. Ridiculous that she is put in this position but things do happen for a reason.</p>
<p>Soozievt, thanks for the answer. As I said, I try not to comment on what other programs do or don’t do. I was just trying to understand things.</p>
<p>I know this comes up time and again - and I do feel for the folks put into awkward positions by different schools operating in different manners. The fact remains that there is no legal force behind the May first commit date. True, a body of college counselors agree about the May 1st date, Nasm, Nast and any number of other groups and committees might agree on that date. True, it would be swell, because it does offer some sense of order to a somewhat difficult process. Nonetheless, May 1st is only a a standard agreed to by many colleges. Any individual college can proceed as they wish regarding their own admissions procedures - if they are members of any organization that subscribes to the May 1st standard - they may risk expulsion - which may or may not be important to a particular organization. I think the advise to write and log complaints is good, you should be heard. Also, this might be something to investigate early on in the process and if enough folks do not apply, the force of the free market might make a particular institution rethink its own policies. My purpose for writing is that folks do not attempt a legal remedy - there is none. However, the market force of complaints and withholding applications could, in the future, be very effective.</p>
<p>Can you imagine if an applicant’s family sent in the deposit once deciding on PPU and at the same time, sent notices to their other acceptances that they were declining their offers of admission, which basically is the process that most people follow. Then, PPU tells them, sorry, your spot is not available, and then the kid has NO school to attend as they gave up their spots elsewhere never expecting to be told their spot at PPU has been taken away from them.</p>
<p>Just to be clear - I do not agree with the way PPU seems to do business - I am only saying they have not broken any laws. The sad thing is they have broken people’s hearts.</p>