<p>Wow, I sure wish my D and I had found this forum sooner! It was kind of like groping in the dark to go through the audition process since husband and I have no theatre background.</p>
<p>D. was rejected from all her audition schools but waitlisted on two. She only applied to one non-audition safety school, which accepted her, but she does not want to go at all. She moved up off the wait list on one of the schools (NIU), and is accepted to AMDA. So she currently must decide between these 2 schools, or decide to take a Gap Year. She is not very enthusiastic about either school because NIU only offers Meisner method and no musical theatre, and AMDA is, well, AMDA. And the NYC location does not offer a BFA and she wants East Coast.</p>
<p>My questions are:
- Is it possible to re-apply and re-audition to the same schools that have already rejected her?
-Do the BFA Theatre or MT programs accept students who are transferring from another school?
-Does anyone have any current feedback about either AMDA training (or the BFA program in L.A.), or NIUs BFA program
-Would she have better luck getting into one of the more selective BFA programs if she comes in after a Gap Year?</p>
<p>She has lots of singing and acting talent. A bit behind on the dance lessons. A good resume of community theatre in our rural area. She attended a charter high school with an IB program, has scored well on those tests, and has a 4.0 GPA, but her SAT scores are only average. </p>
<p>Please help!
She/we must make this decision ASAP. Money is a factor as well. Both schools are expensive, although AMDA offered a scholarship. We are not in in-state for NIU, and both schools weould require both student and parent to borrow quite a bit of money.</p>
<p>If she is not inclined to attend either program then take a gap year and reaudition and work with an acting and voice coach and work on things and take dance classes. Don’t take college courses bc then she will be considered a transfer and it makes it harder to get in. I am a boy who applied as a transfer from a small BA program and I knew nothing about all this stuff and different schools and programs and rankings etc, and it was very hard to get accepted places even though many auditors gave me promising feedback it all depends on transfer spaces etc which can be limited. I wish I couldve gone in as a freshman bc I have to basically start over anyway but once you have credits you don’t really get that option.</p>
<p>I would be inclined towards a gap year, perhaps interning as an unpaid volunteer at your local community theater and getting a part-time job as well. </p>
<p>Good luck to your daughter, presentmom. I have a high school junior and we may very well be in your shoes next year. I had no idea the auditions were so competitive either until I started reading these forums on CC. My husband is a scientist and I am a journalist… neither of us is in the least bit prepared to deal with this process.</p>
<p>First, yes you can re-audition for most all schools. Wright State is the only one I know of that has a now or never, one shot policy.</p>
<p>My daughter had a similar outcome. Rejected at all her audition schools, accepted at her safety. She didn’t have a good feeling after she visited her safety so she opted to take a gap year.</p>
<p>How she spent it…
<em>She got a job… one she loves. (working with handicapped students). But your d can do whatever moves her. Bird has excellent suggestions! ( hey Bird! )
My D did take classes at our local cc… mostly dance classes and one academic per semester… to keep her body and mind moving, but did NOT claim the attendance on her apps, as she wanted to come in the next year as a freshmen.<br>
She enrolled in a great musical theatre workshop, to work on new material.
She auditioned at every opportunity. The more you audition, the better you get at it.
She booked two shows and a praise dance concert. One was her first pro show, where she got paid. (that was a good confidence booster)
</em>We gleaned some great info from this site but in the end she went with her gut in regards to choosing material.
Second time around, she pretty much did all the apps and audition prep on her own. I’m not advocating this, it just seemed to work better for her as she was more vested in the process.
ok… she scared me with this one, but she only auditioned for four schools. Two were repeats from last year and two were new. ( not recommending this! )
However, she got in at one repeat audition and one new audition. 50% success ain’t bad. :)</p>
<p>In the end, she was extremely happy with her decision to wait. There’s NOTHING wrong with that. Some kids just need that extra time to mature a bit ( and she did ) and maybe even rest up from a rough high school schedule to gain a fresh perspective.</p>
<p>We’re firm believers in things happening for the best!</p>
<p>Just a comment on this issue. I would be very hesitant to do this. If you are a matriculated student at any college, including a CC, you are considered a transfer applicant at most if not all schools, whether you ‘claim the attendance’ or not.</p>
<p>In addition, all applications will ask about attendance at other schools or colleges. Intentionally omitting a community college (i.e. not “claiming the attendance”) could be viewed as dishonesty, resulting in some severe consequences if discovered later. Taking classes on a non-matriculated basis, taking only a couple of classes a semester, could however avoid being classified as a transfer. Check the policies of the schools that your daughter may want to reapply at to determine how they define a transfer student. It would seem to me, given the info you have provided concerning your D’s circumstances, that a gap year with additional training and audit preparation and possibly a class or 2 and working might be her best option.</p>
<p>If she does in fact take a gap year, then I would recommend reapplying to the schools she wanted to get into this year, while also applying to other schools that might interest her. I have yet to hear from the schools I re-auditioned for, however when I told Paolo at BU that I was auditioning a second time he seemed happy to know that I was still interested. I believe re-auditioning can actually be seen as a very positive thing from some schools. </p>
<p>I’m also not sure if taking Community College classes really matters. If your daughter is applying for BFA programs, and must apply as a transfer because of those classes, it won’t hurt her chances for most schools. When I applied as a transfer applicant, schools like NCSA, UMiami, Webster, Ithaca, and basically many other conservatories, they informed me that I was just being placed within the audition pool with the freshman applicants. I never really felt like a transfer, I felt like a senior in high school again. </p>
<p>I think the best thing to also look at is what exactly she would be doing during her gap year, and if there are enough things going on at home to keep her occupied. It might be hard seeing friends going off to college while staying at home and filling out all the applications and audition forms once again. I would really just recommend getting monologues that she can really relate to, and a private coach that can really help her get more in touch with the pieces she chooses. Lastly, I would recommend applying for both BFA MT, and BFA Acting programs just to increases the chances of being accepted.</p>
<p>Good luck to your D and if you have any other questions feel free to PM me.</p>
<p>Sorry to have been hazy with this. I agree with the above comments and would never recommend intentionally leaving something out on an app.</p>
<p>Just for the record, D was honest and open with all the admissions offices. They all knew and had no problem with it. In fact, when we were in St. Louis 10 days ago, her admissions counselor said if she wanted to transfer the two academic classes she could, but she didn’t have to. ( dance wouldn’t transfer anyway )</p>
<p>Now if she had been going full time, carrying a full load for the whole year or maybe two full years, THAT would be a totally different story. You need to check with individual colleges to see how many credits they consider a “matriculated” student to be.</p>
<p>I want to make sure no one feels mislead, so here’s further clarification.</p>
<p>… the dance classes d took were actually being repeated for a forth time and so were not considered for credit even by the cc. She had taken them in her freshmen, sophomore & part of her junior year of high school and in fact those credits are part of her high school transcript. So we’re only talking about 3 credits for an English class that was in progress at the time of her apps. ( She wasn’t sure what she was doing in the Spring yet. ) </p>
<p>The particular colleges she was applying to said it was her choice to make as to whether to even put it on the app. I would never assume that that is ok at every college. Please check with each school first. Now even if she had put it down plus the one she’s now taking, she’d still be considered a true entering freshmen because she didn’t anywhere near meet the credit count to be considered a transfer FOR THOSE SCHOOLS. As I said, even as late as 10 days ago, her advisor said she could still decide to transfer her 6 credits if she choose to do so or she could start fresh. Since the conservatory only has a requirement of 12 credits for academics, she wants to have the opportunity to take them. She likes Literature, Social Studies and Psychology so she chose to start fresh.</p>
<p>Presentmom, just wanted to share an encouraging success story. We had the same situation last year, 7 auditions, no acceptances. So my D did freshman year in a state university BA MT program, cost was minimal (yea!! for Florida Bright Futures). Not sure what stigma there is with being considered a transfer; other than checking a different box on the application everything else seemed the same. She auditioned again this year right along with the freshman, no difference. Actually she benefitted as more schools accepted her academically because they looked more at your college grades than SAT scores. This year she received 5 acceptances. Most conservatory programs require her to start as a freshman, but they accepted the liberal arts courses so she gets to take more dance electives. As she put it, booya!!(sp) Break a leg!!</p>
<p>Thanks all for the encouraging responses. It has really helped both of us to see that so many others found themselves in the same boat. She made the decision to attend NIU, and will probably apply to some other MT BFA programs (unless she absolutely loves NIU).
It was just really difficult because since she was wait-listed we did not even get a chance to visit, so she is not sure how she will feel about the school. She didn’t get in to any of the schools we had already visited… NIU does have a great BFA in Theatre, however so hopefully it is a good choice. If necessary we will bite the bullet and start as a freshman in another school next year.</p>
<p>We will certainly utilize this forum if she goes through these rounds again. Thanks again for all the encouraging words!!</p>
<p>Presentmom, one of my D’s roomies was declined by Boston Conservatory the first year she auditioned. She went to community college and reauditioned the next year and was accepted as a freshman. And she’s not the only one in the class of 2012 who got to BoCo by that route. Had my D not gotten any of the acceptances she hoped for, I would also have had her take the gap year, work, train, audition, and give it another shot.</p>
<p>But then there’s the health insurance dilemma…you have to look into this with your own insurer, but if they are past a certain age and not a student, they may lose health insurance. That’s partly why a year at a community college is a good idea, so they stay insured.</p>
<p>I also think it would be a good idea to reach out to the places that did not admit you and try to find out why. Some places will be very forthcoming and it could give you the insight as to what you need to work on. A good time to do this would be June or July when the directors work load has eased up a bit.</p>
<p>Yes, I’ve wondered if that is possible. What is the best way to do that. Just call the Theatre Department and ask? I’d welcome any suggestions on feedback as to whether other folks have done this, how they got in touch, and if it was helpful.</p>
<p>I would say contact the Department and ask; however, although a few people have previously said they had gotten feedback, I think it is much more the norm for colleges NOT to do so.</p>
<p>I also respectfully disagree with beenthereMTdad about doing it in June or July. Many of the people are on school-year contracts. They may be working elsewhere, or taking well-deserved vacations, and may not have access to any of the paperwork, even if they are willing to provide feedback. Since many schools are already out, or getting out soon, I would contact as soon as possible – then say that you of course would be willing to wait until a good time for them to provide any assistance they are willing to offer.</p>
<p>My daughter auditioned at 9 schools this year and although she received very encouraging feedback during some auditions and was even named a finalist at some, she wound up not getting accepted into any programs. She’s contacted almost all of the schools by phone or e-mail to see if they could offer any suggestions or feedback, but only two have given her specific information. The others mostly said it was not their policy to share reviews or give any feedback. As a parent, I find that somewhat frustrating. I know everyone’s busy, but we all put so much time, effort, money and hope into each audition and it would be nice to get some (even minor) type of assessment or ranking or something that helps your child make decisions–on what additional training they need, what they might do differently next year, or even if to learn if they are far out of league with the competition. After 6 months of auditions, we still aren’t sure what she was lacking. She felt so good about her auditions that even after 8 rejections, she was still waiting excitedly for mail from the 9th school, even though it was clear from postings on this site that most of the acceptances had been received days earlier. It was heartbreaking.</p>
<p>Yes - heartbreaking is the right word. The worst was that her 18th birthday fell on April 3rd and as of the 2nd we still hadn’t heard from the last 2 schools - both her top choices. She didn’t feel like she would be in to CMU, but she had high high hopes for Tisch. I had to sneak out to the mailbox and when I saw the dreaded slim envelopes I had to hide the letters so she wouldn’t have a completely horrible birthday. (But my day was ruined)</p>
<p>And, yes, I had a feeling they would not be very forthcoming with feedback. After all they see SO MANY kids. But it definitely would help. Despite all the rejections my D. is soldiering forward absolutely determined to make a career in theatre. She has the passion. It sure would help to know specifically what her weak points are, or what she could do to improve her chances if she does decide to audition again next year.</p>
<p>I was particularly impressed by David McDonald, who ran the auditions at Wagner, and made a point of telling the kids he’d be pleased to provide feedback after decisions were announced. My son was accepted there so we didn’t need to wonder, but I would absolutely have taken him up on the offer had we been rejected.</p>
NIU does have a great BFA in Theatre, however so hopefully it is a good choice. If necessary we will bite the bullet and start as a freshman in another school next year.</p>