I have an audition at Kent scheduled! How does dance fit into their program>?
@DramaLove2020 They have a ton of dance classes, and their dance faculty is absolutely amazing. Everyone pretty much just starts at Studio 1 of every dance unless you go through a whole process to test out of it. Then as long as you pass you progress to the next level, so there is not really any retake for credit happening. You will take a lot of classes with dance majors and can even be cast in dance shows if you aren’t in a mainstage production at that time.
That’s amazing - dance is definitely my strength - But how competitive is it to get into their program? I feel like everywhere is competitive these days! Do you know how many they accept versus how many usually apply?
Can anyone answer a specific MARCAS question? Do you audition in time slots? My school show is also that weekend and I am trying to figure out how to get to NJ in time. I am wondering if you can request a later time slot or anything like that?
Hi, Sitzprobe–I’m also feeling that my D is a bit behind, though we’ve been told we’re ok on her current schedule (planning to film prescreens a bit later in September). I read a few of these posts a few days ago about people already submitting prescreens and apps and realized I needed to calm down before posting anything–was definitely having heart palpitations! D has also spent her summer working on her audition rep and was feeling pretty good about it, so I hate to stress her out… She’s almost done with her Common App–our goal was to be done by the time school starts, so that gives her a couple more days! 
We’re definitely feeling solidarity with those who aren’t yet ready to go! Hopefully we’ll all still be able to get apps in and auditions scheduled, even if we’re not on the front lines…
@crazytheatregoer, are the Kent State auditions only on campus? Do they do Unifieds or other off-campus auditions?
Thanks so much for commiserating, Toystorymom. I must admit that I got little sleep the night after I read Coastal’s updates on Get Accepted and refrained from posting for your exact reasons. Fortunately D is far more pragmatic than I. In her mind, she’s not filming until she’s satisfied that her selections reflect her best work and if she forces herself to film, she will likely not pass the prescreen anyway so why waste the time. If there are no spots left by the time she submits, then it wasn’t meant to be. Such a fine line attempting to encourage a sense of urgency while not piling on more stress to an already stressful process.
Our D’s coaches have emphasized this…don’t record until you’re ready and can send in your best work! They said it’s far better to delay a bit than to send in subpar prescreens because 1) the schools assume that whatever you send in is your “best work”, and 2) some schools re-watch the prescreens when making final decisions on admissions. Some of us are trying to get these in early-ish so we can try to have the maximum choice of dates because of commitments at school, but from what I understand at this point, anytime in September and even October is still ok. Someone please jump in and correct me if this has shifted…and certainly there are those schools whose dates fill up fast…but I don’t think anyone should feel undue pressure to get their prescreens in in September if it means the quality if the videos will be compromised.
agree @muttsandMT , i actually thought that September was too early, but my daughters coaches feel she is ready…My D will never think its " her best" and will always be hyper critical of herself, so best to get an outsiders opinion on when they are ready, IMHO…if thats September- great, if its October- so be it…i am the logistics guy, not a talent assessor AT ALL, so i defer to those who are, and then i schedule :)…
@Sitzprobe wondering where the red alert of half full for CCU was ive been to their site and accepted 2x but cant seem to find that , not that it matters as you noted, if we get closed out so be it, wasnt meant to be, just curious. thanks
Sorry y’all haven’t been active the last couple days. To answer your questions:
@DramaLove2020 I don’t know the numbers but it is definitely pretty competitive. There does seem to be a preference for in-state students. Their program is pretty large though overall and with pretty popular BA and loads of dance majors. There MT BFA does have well under 20 students in it though.
@ElizaDoolittle They only have on-campus auditions and they are late in the season typically. Their campus is an absolute delight though, and there is fun things to do if you have to stay overnight.
Our strategy
- Take SAT or ACT. We did one in June and one in August.
- Finish common app with essay. Apply to schools which don’t prescreen and try to get early audition dates. Some of these require common app supplements.
- Complete supplemental requirements for common app prescreen schools next. These can be very short (short answer questions) or long (800! word supplemental essay).
- Finish prescreens. We have the common prescreen ‘A’ requirements done. And even then DD had to re-record or re-purpose depending on what schools meant by ‘wild card’ and ‘intro.’ ‘B’ is a bit more involved due to time period requirements. Also uploading this stuff can take a fair amount of time. Find a fast internet connection. And some sites cannot process iMovie files, for whatever reason–we still need to figure that one out.
- Apply to non-audition programs.
- Remember you will want to track all of the standardized test score reports, counselor and teacher recommendations, and transcript requests that schools require. It’s not too early to ask the counselors and teachers for their reco’s–we started before school since the teachers and counselors were back. At least some of the schools have a firm cutoff date; some are before the end of 2019.
- Print out each school’s live audition requirements which often extend beyond the prescreen materials. Continue to practice/prepare.
- Dive into fall show season to take minds off of this college stuff.
- Wait…wait…wait some more…
“If there are no spots left by the time she submits, then it wasn’t meant to be. Such a fine line attempting to encourage a sense of urgency while not piling on more stress to an already stressful process.”
Sitzprobe–you are my role model!! This is such a great outlook–and one I’ll have to keep working on! I’m not typically such a “que sera sera” kind of person…
MuttsandMT and NYYFan–thanks also for some helpful perspective. We are also working with a coach and so have to put our faith in the process & that they know what’s best. We’ve been told we’re on track–I was just hoping D would be a little further along now, but summer was jam-packed with activities and flew by with less getting done than we’d planned. In addition to application/audition to-do’s, we were hoping D was going to spend time on driving lessons and get her license–hopefully that’ll happen before she leaves for college!
MTisNutz–great and helpful list. Thanks!
@toystorymom DD hasn’t completed her behind the wheel training despite having her permit for almost a year. And it’s fun trying to schedule her lessons:
Me: “She can do Sunday from 11:00AM-1:00PM. She has no other free time.”
Instructor: “OK. We have one slot in two weeks and another in four weeks. We aren’t scheduling beyond that at this point.”
Me: “We’ll take them.”
Instructor: “You know, it will take months to finish at this rate.”
NYYFan- I definitely got there through the red Audition Information link on the MT section of the Coastal Carolina website that leads to the page of Get Accepted where you see the prescreen upload info. But of course when I tried just now the button doesn’t appear to be working. With the excavations happening along the SC coast tomorrow, I don’t imagine it will be fixed for a few days. You mention a suspicion I also have with my own D that she will never be satisfied with her prescreen submission.
Toystorymom- I can only hope I have half the acting talent as D while trying to convince her of my casual attitude ;). What a great outlet this thread is to release all that panic to other parents going through the same. Between the time line goal, the short summer, and attempts to squeeze in driving lessons, I feel like I could’ve written your post.
MTisNutz- Ah yes, we realized a few weeks ago we would have to do our own tracking. The website that D’s HS uses to track kids’ scores, GPA and send transcripts isn’t even showing her SAT scores that she took last Spring. Her most updated GPA listed on there Sophomore year.
Timeline question:
You first apply to school then send in prescreen, then get audition time. So you audition first and then actually get admitted into the school (academically)? Do you have to get admitted first? Main question is do transcripts/scores/Recos have to be in before you audition right?
Would a highly competitive school potentially not admit you and then you have to withdraw your audition time?
@mamboyz like everything else in this process . DEPENDS ( UGHH) depends on the school. For example Otterbein & Syracuse have you submit pre screen before application, MOST do it the other way around…some give to separate admits, academic then artistic ( USUALLY in that order). some give one admit where the department coordinates with admissions, or in many instance doesn’t coordinate and you have to follow up…I only know this from reading these venting threads from past years & reviewing each schools website 10x
@mamaboyz re: Timeline… There are a few different ways schools do things. Some schools do the academic admission first and if you are academically admitted, then you have the opportunity to schedule an audition. Some schools (like Otterbein) you submit your prescreen first and if you pass your prescreen, you then put in your academic application and schedule an audition. Some schools you apply academically and schedule your audition. I have not heard of a situation where you would have been able to schedule an audition and would have to withdraw because of not being accepted academically.
Re: Transcripts, recs, scores being in before the audition: it depends on the school. Some schools made a point of saying they had to be in before the audition, but I don’t remember seeing that being required from all schools. If the school has fall auditions, I would imagine that not everyone would be able to have all of that info in before the audition, however, if the school does rolling admission, it would be to your advantage to have everything in even if it’s not required.
Is anyone else having a hard time with monologues for the common prescreen app? I don’t know if it is because it is now getting real but my daughter can’t find any monologues she likes . She had ones she loved but they don’t fit in the years required by the common prescreen. Deep breath. It’ll all be ok
@toystorymom and @MTisNutz, for what it’s worth, my daughter just started her sophomore year at college, and she just started taking driving lessons this past June! She took 10 weeks of lessons over the summer, passed the test on the first try, and we got her a used car at the beginning of August and spent the last weeks of August riding with her as she drove around our busy Brooklyn streets and on the highway! She drove her car up to college last weekend with me in the passenger seat, and did great. Like you, I had hoped that we would have time for driving lessons before she started college, but the BFA application process was so intense that we didn’t get around to it senior year, and then the summer before college was spent buying things and packing things for college. But it all worked out! So don’t worry if she doesn’t have time to get her license this year!
I’ve been following for a while, but this is my first post! I apologize if this information is already out there. We’re really trying to go through my D’s MT school list because it seems very large. Doing a little more research before applying. One school we’ve looked at stated the students are considered “candidates” for the first four semesters and must later audition for “upper” entry into the program. Is this common? Does anyone have a list of schools that follow similar protocol?