<p>I never knew that colleges and universities have summer theatre programs for high school students -- one of the many things I have learned here at College Confidential. My son has always spent his summers working on some show or another, and they have been valuable experiences, but I feel a little wistful that he may have missed something wonderful. </p>
<p>The other side of that coin, though, I have also learned about here. If a high school student has a wonderful summer experience, and is then NOT ADMITTED to the college in question, it's deeply upsetting for many more reasons than the usual pain of rejection.</p>
<p>My question is, do you regret the summer program(s)? Or not?</p>
<p>I did the BU Summer Theatre Institute and was rejected from the school early decision. I don’t regret going to BUSTI one bit. Yes, it made the pain of rejection a heck of a lot worse than it would have otherwise been. But the things I learned, the friends and memories I made…They’re irreplaceable and I wouldn’t give them up for anything in the world. My experience at BUSTI was life-changing and I wouldn’t be whole without it.</p>
<p>Neither of my kids did summer programs either. They both worked as acting counselors at our local community theatre summer camp and that gave them great experiences from the “other” side. To me, the regrets for kids attending summer college programs should come from the fact that many of them enter these programs thinking it will give them a leg up on admission to that college program. If you go into a summer program to learn, meet comrades, and get a feel for what else is out there, then there should be no regrets at all!</p>
<p>My son never did a summer program and had some very good acceptances. However, his relative lack of training made it necessary for him to really scramble to learn how to audition well enough.</p>
<p>He had some coaching and it helped a great deal. If he had done a summer program, he might not have needed the coaching.</p>
<p>I agree with supportive. Anything that causes kids’ expectations to inflate isn’t good for them.</p>
<p>Beyond that, I don’t think there’s very much to regret about anything kids decide to do, to follow interests, gain skills, and meet people. My D was in a summer marching band for three summers and didn’t do any theatre. But she sure learned A LOT about life and herself. The summer before senior year she’d kind of tapped out our summer budget and didn’t push us to send her to a summer program. She decided that being in community productions was the best way to build her resume. She was in 4 shows, including a semi-professional show that extended into the fall, and she learned a ton. </p>
<p>No, it didn’t help her audition prep exactly (only her experience, not her presentation or monologue choice), and perhaps a camp would have. Who knows what difference it would have made in her admissions results? We are happy with who she is and what she chose and where she is. I know some people are on a fast track, but for us, this is not a race. She is learning and growing all the time, and every experience is valuable.</p>
<p>As a matter of fact, she was asked to be the music conductor for a play (not a musical) this year - a very special honor. Some of the other (male) students said, “Why are you in charge? After all, WE were in summer marching band in HS!” Imagine their surprise to hear that she actually had more experience than they did. You never know what skills come in handy in this field.</p>
<p>I did the BU Summer Theatre Institute and was rejected from the school early decision. I don’t regret going to BUSTI one bit. Yes, it made the pain of rejection a heck of a lot worse than it would have otherwise been. But the things I learned, the friends and memories I made…They’re irreplaceable and I wouldn’t give them up for anything in the world. My experience at BUSTI was life-changing and I wouldn’t be whole without it.</p>
<p>Both of my theatre children did not go away to summer programs. Both worked at the children’s theatre in town, both as counselors and as campers. Last summer, my son did a different theatre program, also in town. Both were accepted by wonderful college programs and neither have felt they missed anything. The bonus for us parents was the ability to take family vacations during the summer as well. I knew they would be leaving soon enough!</p>
<p>Correct me if I’m wrong, prodesse, but I think you are saying you feel like your son just might have enjoyed a summer program, since lots of kids think highly of them - the “something wonderful” part. So not sure why others are saying that their kids didn’t go to them, but they got into good school none-the-less. </p>
<p>If I’ve got it right, then I will say that the experience is pretty special for these kids - so much so that the second part of your post does happen. The “I’ve got to go here or I’m going to die” feeling. And the whole acceptance process is doubly hard, because not only does your student want to get in, they also want all their new summer friends to get in, too. </p>
<p>I think Eve848 put it beautifully (and BTW she was with my son this summer and I totally enjoyed seeing her perform in the end of summer showcase - she can rock a WWII army helmet like no other!). The memories and just plain fun of it is as important as all the training that the kids get. </p>
<p>And if it works out right, as in our case, and your kid gets to go to that school, they can start off with 4 credits!</p>
<p>Marbleheader, I guess I was thinking about pros and cons to help other families make their decisions about summer programs. Probably this is the time of year for students to apply to programs like BUSTI. I was wondering how big a problem it has been for families whose teens weren’t admitted to colleges they had attended during the summer. </p>
<p>I’ve been urging a bunch of parents of theatrical high school juniors to start reading this forum, which I didn’t discover until this past October, since this whole world of auditioned BFAs is so different from the SAT/AP/GPA-driven college admission process I was familiar with. </p>
<p>Now I’ve learned something else, that some summer programs can earn college credit?!?! That’s quite a plus.</p>
<p>It’s good for me to hear that summer programs are wonderful, but not completely critical. This summer my son hopes to attend a free program here, but I’ve told him that he might get to go away next summer. I’m sure he will need the help preparing for auditions. Money is tight, though, so we’ll have to weigh that decision carefully.</p>
<p>Well, there are surely pros and cons to the programs. The main reason we offered the program to our son was to see if he really wanted to study theatre in college. He was unfortunately surrounded by quite a few nay-sayers in his junior year, telling him that he was crazy to go into a theatre program. So he started to second-guess his path. We thought if he lived it for five weeks, he’d know if he really wanted a BFA program. If not, then he would know that he’d major in something else, with maybe a minor in theatre. After week two, he had NO DOUBT this is what he was supposed to do with his life! He loved every minute of it. I kept all those emails he sent me from BUSTI, ready to send them to him his freshman year if his determination waivers.</p>
<p>Cons - well, the aforementioned desire to go to that particular college is one. The one I didn’t plan on was my son’s sudden disdain for his high school! He just wanted to get on to college and the freedom of living in the city, etc. He felt like he took a step backwards after his summer experience. I was happy he made so many new friends over the summer - and could keep in touch with them all thru Facebook - but I worried that he wasn’t going to enjoy his senior year. He did get over that after a few weeks, but it still lingers. I can see it in his eyes sometimes when he talks about rehearsals at high school, since there are still lots of kids who are not as “serious” as he is about acting.</p>
<p>But he - like Eve848 - says the experience changed his life. And I really believe that. At least he knows how to do laundry now!</p>
<p>Marbleheader has nailed the pros and cons from our perspective especially the con about making high school even more difficult. But it seems to me that is a very temporary con (thought it does not seem that way sometimes) versus the experiences and certainty you are headed on the right path.</p>
<p>Oh yes – it sounds as if early-onset senioritis can be a result. </p>
<p>In our case my son lost all respect for his high school program a lot earlier than that: “The rest of them have never had a good director so they don’t know how bad this director is, but I have and I do.”</p>
<p>The kids do not need to go away to develop that feeling. As I posted earlier, both of my kids stayed in town and worked and participated locally, but both were beyond ready to go to college before their senior year started. I kept (gently) telling them to enjoy the last year, it goes so fast (well, it goes much faster for the parents, it seems!). My D has already lost a lot of respect for the drama program at her school so it was doubly hard for her, my S is in a wonderful program but he is so ready to fly I feel that I need to have his wings temporarily pinned!!!</p>
<p>Our experience is very similar to Marbleheader’s. Our daughter attended a precollege program the summer before her junior year, and I sort of wish we had waited until this summer. </p>
<p>She has another year of high school left and I’m not sure how she’s going to handle it. She is ready to move on NOW. </p>
<p>She grew and changed a lot in those short six weeks.</p>
<p>I will say the teachers and alums of the summer program remain as close friends and a valuable resource for her in her college search.</p>
<p>I will say it was wonderful when my son ran into friends from his summer program (local for us but drew many others from around the country and even England) at Unifieds…they do develop such strong bonds with fellow cast members.</p>
<p>We didn’t do pre college programs because we couldn’t afford them. The decision wasn’t hard because we had no choice. We were blessed because we live close to a theatre-rich city, so my kids were very involved in local professional or community theatres, as counselors or acting or in stage crew or in selling tickets. Also they took classes at a professional theatre (highly recommended route for those close to a professional theatre–many offer classes). </p>
<p>However, this year my younger son will be doing RCS’s summer classes (ROyal Conservatore of Scotland). We can afford it this year for a variety of one-time reasons. For him, I think - I hope - it’ll be a formative experience. HE is unsure of the path he wants to take–whether to go to college at all at this point, and if so, what sort of major he wants, whether he wants to pursue a BFA or to major in something academic and continue his acting. I am hoping that RCS will help him decide what he’d like to do. </p>
<p>I guess I’ll keep you posted </p>
<p>Finally, my D goes to NU and there are a LOT of ‘Cherubs’ there. My D is having a wonderful time and meeting a lot of amazing students, but she says there is definitely a feeling of comfort if you’ve had the fortune of going to a program AND getting accepted. I imagine that would be a win/win. BUt obviously not the only way to have a successful experience.</p>
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