did you ever hear from CCM? Don’t need to share if you don’t want, just curious b/c they seemed to tell so many people at once.
We still are waiting on Elon and Penn State, but just moving ahead with what is!
We have not heard from CCM yet, as well as Point Park, Elon, USC .
We didn’t hear anything about aid at all yet.
My D applied to 22 schools and sent most in by mid-September. She is considered a strong triple threat. As of last week we have heard from all but one and here is her list
YES - most auditions are in Jan and Feb
Pace (accepted academically with 120k scholarship package)
Penn State
Univ of Miami
Rider (already had live audition and made the “next round” and will find out in March)
Point Park (accepted academically just found out 10 days ago she passed prescreen)
Cap 21 Molloy (just found out right before Christmas)
University of the Arts (just found out ten days ago)
Hartt School (just found out 10 days ago)
Roosevelt University - asked her to audition for dance concentration
Fairleigh Dickinson (auditioned already and accepted into MT program with strong merit and performance scholarship) safety but we are impressed with their program in London
Marymount Manhattan - No prescreen but auditioning in January. She was accepted academically with 60 k merit package
No auditions - submit digitally and find out I think by March
Montclair State
American University
SUNY - Buffalo and Cortland
Dean College - accepted into MT with 100k plus merit (safety school)
NO
Florida State
Emerson
Temple
Coastal Carolina
Western Connecticut
Waiting - Northwestern
It has been a long and stressful process. This forum has helped so much. In the beginning she got one yes and then three straight no results then started getting yes’s We have worked with Broadway Artist Alliance including some private coaching and they helped her navigate her list and we added a few safety schools in November and she’s been accepted into two.
Now for the next round of “live” auditions! Break a leg to all of your talented students
1 Like
I am waiting on CCM Elon and USC!!! I contacted USC but they said results wont be out till mid Janurary!!!
merit aid seems to be in the acceptance letter, I guess that the level is much higher for their major, Congrats to your daughter!
2 Likes
an you tell me a little more about Fairleigh Dickinson? Why did you decide to apply there. Haven’t heard of the school.
@Jhrub This year is difficult for everyone. Schools are having to work much differently than ever before. This is not “usual” for anyone — students, parents or decisionmakers at college programs.
Because of trends with Broadway music, it is recommended that you have 1-2 pop/rock songs in your rep for most schools. Art songs are truly optional except for just a handful of programs that require them (such as OCU and Samford). With more “Jagged Little Pill” and “Dear Evan Hansen” than “Oklahoma” and “Music Man” type musicals going up, it makes sense. Your pop/rock songs could be very loosely interpreted. They don’t have to be showstoppers. They could be anything from a Beatles song that you have created your own interpretation of to something from today’s charts to something Frank Sinatra and/or big-band inspired. For one of the kids I am working with, I double-dipped one of her rep choices with the David Bowie musical, “Lazarus” so she had one that checked two boxes at once. As much as jukebox musicals are not “loved” by many, many of the musicals up recently and getting notice ARE jukebox musicals (JLP, Tina Turner, Temptations, etc.).
This is a stressful and overwhelming time, but it is for everyone. Take a deep breath and know that everyone is going through the same thing.
That being said, last year, one of my kids never heard back from two schools – pass/no-pass or acceptance. (Auditioned for one at Unifieds and flew to the other for a 1-day audition). Both of these programs he had a genuine interest in. He contacted them, waited, contacted them again, waited. Finally, the one he flew to contacted him in late April apologizing and declining him. Then, in May turned around and accepted him after he had accepted another offer. The other one remains a mystery.
But he had a lot of other acceptances, so it worked out. He had plenty of other offers and was happy to be where he felt that he was “seen” and noticed and on top of their list, instead of someone they forgot about. In a way, it was a blessing!
Take a deep breath, focus on your work and doing your best auditions. If you are worried you won’t have enough choices, there is still plenty of time to cast your net a little wider.
Don’t get hung up on 1 or 2 “dream schools”…see who sees that “spark” in you and wants to be part of your creative journey.
6 Likes
There is so much wisdom in this reply! Thank you so much
1 Like
Our understanding is that all MT majors at Elon get deferred. Son is is same boat. Good luck!
This is not true. My daughter was accepted academically last week and has applied to the MT program.
Yes, I know pop/rock is important, but due to financial reasons I have only been taking voice lessons for 18 months and my top priority was learning the “quadrant” of MT songs for auditions. I made sure to look at the requirements for all of my schools and none of them asked to prepare pop/rock , so it was last priority. Thats why I was frustrated when the school sent contradictory requirements via email, especially when my audition was supposed to take place 3 weeks after said email was sent.
I try not to get too set on a “dream school”, but the school that didn’t respond really upset me because I paid $150 to apply and send prescreens only for them to not get back to me. Even if I pass for acting, the school is certainly of f my list. If they’re being unorganized now, who is to say they won’t be for the next 4 years?
1 Like
@Jhrub I have seen several schools this year add pop/rock to the audition that were not there before. My guess is that, if they cannot audition in person, they are rounding out the material that they may want to see. It might be you won’t be asked to do it. I had a student prepare an art song last year for a school that requires it for audition and she was never asked to sing it. But she was accepted and that is where she is attending. Sometimes those extra songs are their way of seeing that something “more” they didn’t get from your other material. One of my kids went to a school that is not one of the “top 20” but he was really interested in it. He brought everything they asked for. But during the in-person audition at their school, they asked for an additional golden age ballad. What?? additional ballad? That wasn’t on the list! And he didn’t have one. Both of his ballads were contemporary. Chances are, they wanted to see something from him they didn’t see in his other ballad choices. And it is the ONLY school he was waitlisted for out of 25 acceptances. (Later accepted). Lesson learned. Don’t just bring what they ask for.
Your best shot at any program is to have a very diverse rep that has:
(all of these should be songs you can “act” through the music and within your “type” and playable age and show your range)
- 2-3 upbeat contemp
- 2-3 ballad contemp
- 2-3 upbeat golden age (pre-1970 for most schools but some are pre-1960)
- 2-3 ballad golden age (pre-1970 for most schools but some are pre-1960)
- a patter song
Plus:
- 1-2 pop/rock songs (look for songs where you can show off your voice/style in ways not represented in the songs above)
- 1 art song (1 of my students opted not to do this last year because he had no classical training but now he is doing it freshman year and wishes he had…he skipped schools requiring it because he was afraid of it!)
I can tell you looking through school “requirement” pages that many of them have not been updated for 2020-21. I find conflicting info on their Acceptd pages in terms of material, dates and other things. I have told every one of my kids this year to contact the school / dept and get clarification on these things.
It is a hard year. Many of these people are working long hours doing tasks in unfamiliar ways. Often it is the IT / web department of a college who updates the web pages while the dept updates their Acceptd pages. In previous years, it was rare to see info out of synch. I probably have seen 10+ colleges that have contradictory info recently. Reach out politely and understand that they are scrambling to figure this out. Many arts programs budgets have been cut (among others) and/or have staff working remotely, which makes communication tedious at best.
Have some grace and patience and understand that the process is constantly changing for everyone this year, with the cancellation of Unifieds and the adoption of technology to run their auditions. There are no easy answers.
4 Likes
@iowamtmom Her coach at Broadway artist alliance told us about it. It’s a comfort school for her but we were impressed overall and they have an incredible program where you study in London for a year. We haven’t visited due to Covid. It’s not in her top three but probably top six or seven now
1 Like
Yes all merit aid she’s been offered was in the academic acceptance letter With Dean and Fairleigh Dickinson it was all in one packet - academic and MT. However for the others she’s had 5 academic acceptances but still has some auditions or awaiting response to her auditions for those programs
Yes that is what we got from pace, Manhattan Marymount and The New School. Acceptance to Emerson did not have any merit associated which I thought was odd so I was wondering if anyone else received, did your daughter get merit aid from Emerson?
She did not get past prescreens for Emerson. She received Merit scholarships for Pace, Dean, Marymount and Fairleigh Dickinson. Rider asked her to apply for their trustree scholarship. We just received acceptance for Montclair today for academic and they said rest would come when they make artistic decisions - same with PPU. There was one other she got merit from but I cannot remember right now. 
She has about 10 others she is still auditioning for in Jan/Feb
My D has been academically accepted to Pace with a ton of merit money ( passed prescreen), Indiana, with some merit money (on prescreen waitlist) and accepted academically at Elon with no merit money yet and hasn’t heard from prescreen yet).
My daughter applied at Penn State and Pace and got through and is a very strong dancer (she sings and acts too) We did not apply to Michigan or Syracuse. Her coaches said that all of those schools are considered strong Triple Threat schools for their MT programs. I hope that helps.
My D’s acceptance from Emerson included the scholarship award in the same letter.