<p>She sounds like such a wonderful girl (and you sound like a great mom) and any school will be very lucky to have her! She doesn’t have to give up her dream… read previous posts that say there are many paths to a life working in theatre. I believe all of our kids will end up where they are meant to be.</p>
<p>Thanks, mompop.</p>
<p>mamajen- </p>
<p>you wrote :
“we asked for a talent audition at Muhlenberg but Professor Richter advised us to wait until late March/early April since being asked to apply for a DANA fellowship indicated my D would be admitted. Sounded like he was focusing on students who would be getting in on talent rather than academics and wanted to make sure they got auditions first”</p>
<p>Just to be clear- no one gets in to Muhlenberg on talent alone-- you must be academically accepted no matter how talented you may be. Auditions are for talent scholarship money only.
My S is a freshman at Berg and was cast in the mainstage musical Fall 2011. If you have any questions feel free to contact me. My son did not apply to Cornell, Vasser or Yale so I can not compare, but he did get accepted into other BA programs and several BFA programs as well.</p>
<p>Best of luck to your daughter!</p>
<p>So far she has only been rejected from 4 programs and she has wonderful safety options. Trust me, she’s in so much better shape than lots of MT hopefuls right now.</p>
<p>Just wondering as I read this thread- my D was offered a talent scholarship from Muhlenberg after sending a MT video audition in, following an earlier visit junior year. Does anyone know if these are given out rather easily, or if I should assume she would be competitive for roles there? She also has been accepted to ONU BFA MT, Millikin BFA MT, waitlisted at Ball State MT and accepted at OCU BFA Acting, but rejected from some other top tier MT programs. Any thoughts on any of these programs (strengths or weaknesses) or on what these acceptances along with rejections from several top programs would indicate? She is handling the rejections very well, but of course is very disappointed and re-evaluating everything. She also is still waiting for decisions from 2 more MT programs and a few more liberal arts colleges.</p>
<p>thatsmyboy wrote:</p>
<p>“Just to be clear- no one gets in to Muhlenberg on talent alone-- you must be academically accepted no matter how talented you may be. Auditions are for talent scholarship money only.”</p>
<p>Partially true, but that’s not the whole story… When we visited the Muhlenberg during our “tour de mt programs”, we spend a good deal of time with Charlie Richter and he told us that the scholarship auditions serve 2 purposes, the first is to assess incoming students for talent scholarship, and the second is that after the auditions, he sends “notes” to the admissions department for the kids he would really like in his program requesting academic leniency, if you will, for any students who may be borderline for purely academic admission. He likens himself to a football coach.</p>
<p>From Muhlenberg website “Theatre Program Auditions”:</p>
<p>“An audition and interview are not required for admission to study in the Department. However, students with strong skills are encouraged to audition/interview. A good audition will improve your chances of being admitted to the College, and an audition and interview is required for applicants who wish to be considered for talent-based scholarship awards.”</p>
<p>Yes, we were told the same thing as do-what-u-luv. </p>
<p>BUT, I would not put too much on what getting that scholarship means. Getting that scholarship does not mean the kid has what it takes to make it in musical theatre or EVEN get leads at Muhlenberg. We know several that did receive that money and have not gotten leads. We also know a boy who did the audition and got the $ and doesn’t even major in theatre. It was just a way to help pay for college.</p>
<p>I’m not saying this to put down Muhlenberg or anything like that. But I wouldn’t want mamajen’s daughter to pass up the likes of Yale or Vassar, just because she received that scholarship, that’s all.</p>
<p>Actually, it sounds like they’re trying to spread the money around. She was told to hold off on auditioning for this one because she would get that one. It’s not a test of talent.</p>
<p>MOMMY5 - Agree - I’ve heard the same thing - a girl who got a nice theatre scholarship and interpreted it to mean she would be one of the more talented in the program, but then was not cast in shows…</p>
<p>Also agree with hoveringmom - once the choices are narrowed, go to campus! It seems cliche, but finding the right fit often comes down to a gut feeling (my husband likens it to buying a house).</p>
<p>mamajen - your daughter has some great choices but she should pick the school that is her best fit, not the school that has the biggest name. It may be the school where her dad is on faculty, or not - it’s her best fit…
Congrats to her and good luck during this discerning process :)</p>
<p>I have been through the Muhlenberg admissions process twice, although both D’s ended up going to NYU at the end.</p>
<p>Oldest D was awarded a Dana Scholarship, and talent money for art, music (voice) and theatre. The total package was $19.5K which was their max for merit aid in 2008. We knew we would not get financial aid. D was a very strong student academically (2130 SAT/ 98 + gpa, top 5%, etc.)</p>
<p>Besides the Dana award at $6K, her art scholarship was the largest of the three talent scholarships. However, we sent in her artwork very early and heard by January or February from the art dept directly that she would be receiving money. This was before she even did her music and theatre auditions. Art was not even her intended major but a possible minor. Her music audition was next, followed a month later by her theatre audition. Her theatre merit aid was the least amount awarded of the three talent awards she got, but I believe the amount was cut by admissions so as not to go over the max for merit aid.</p>
<p>My younger D had an interview in early November of 2011. At that interview the admissions counselor said that we should apply for an early read on merit aid (before even giving in an application.) She estimated that D would get in the $10/12K to $15K range. That money would be from admissions for academics/ community service. She told us that D should audition for talent money in art (her intended major), music and theatre additionally. These talent awards are controlled by each department (not admissions). She expected that she would then be able to get the maximum amount of merit money since each of the talent areas could give out approximately $5K each. I was ahead of the game and had already set up these auditions in September. We cancelled when D got accepted to NYU ED1.</p>
<p>So, as I stated before, since the Dana is only worth $6K a year in merit money, I strongly suggest Mamajen contact Muhlenberg admissions immediately to find out an estimate of her merit aid. If she is not at the $20K max because of academics, etc, she has been ill advised to not set up both a music and theatre audition. Those could be worth another $10K a year potentially which could be added on to the amount awarded by admissions.</p>
<p>Just to clarify though – you can get 20k in academic merit. Two years ago, my D was offered the Presidential scholarship at 16k and one of the honors stipends at 4k. She actually did not send in the essay, but wasawardedthe other honor one.</p>
<p>Uskoolfish, just to clarify: at the time he asked us to wait to audition, Professor Richter said there we would still be able to audition for talent scholarships up til mid-April. </p>
<p>To those of you who received academic merit scholarships, do you know if a personal interview was required for those? I plan to call to set up an interview when I know the date of our visit, but it will be after April 1st.</p>
<p>Ok. That’s good. Wishing your D lots of luck!</p>
<p>My D did not interview.</p>
<p>oh good to hear that SDonCC</p>
<p>asdfghjklhjk</p>
<p>My daughter has been accepted to Oklahoma City University, Rider University, and Ohio Northern University as an MT major. Does anyone have opinions/experience with any of these schools and which has the best program?</p>
<p>^^^Suggestion:</p>
<p>1) Start your own thread on this question/topic as it is not related to the one you posted on. </p>
<p>2) Nobody can say which program is the “best.” It is a matter of which one matches what your daughter wants in a college experience and MT program. You’d have to list her specific selection criteria and then see how each school fits that the best (and hopefully do visits and talk with current students as well).</p>
<p>Cha09Cha, I have a S who is a freshman at Rider for MT. Can’t speak to the other programs, but feel free to PM me if you have specific q’s about Rider.</p>