@GeddyMcNutty Thank you for finding the list! I knew it was out there somewhere…lol
You are going to get lots of advice on this board. Most of it good. Here is my 2 cents worth. As you start to look at programs sit down as parents and ask yourself “how much are we willing/able to pay for college”. Start your comparisons with in-state options with the state scholarships etc… The get the cost of attendance for each school you are looking for. Many of the schools have various merit based scholarships that you can figure out by looking at your child’s grades and SAT/ACT scores. Start a speadsheet showing the estimated cost of attendance for each school that you are looking at less merit scholarships. Then sit down with your child and show them each school and the estimated costs. Share with them where you are willing to go with support, then figure out the difference. This will show the child how much additional scholarship money that they will need in order to attend that school. Now going into the process your child will understand the limitations of attending that “dream school”. Its ok to shoot for the moon, but you have to go in with realistic expectations that if you can’t hit that target price range, they will not be able to attend that school.
As an example my child had in state and out of state BFA options. The in state option is a very good program and given her scholarships for merit our total out of pocket is about $7,000.00 per year. She got an offer from a top 5 MT program with a cost of attendance of $70k. We told her where our range of help would be. The top program initially gave her $20k in talent scholarship, so we knew where we had to push to attend that school. Unfortunately we could not come close to closing the gap. We did close the gap closer with other programs but in the end we chose the in state option because it had a proper balance of cost and curriculum. If your child goes into the process understanding all of this I think you can avoid some of the heartache of getting accepted by the dream school and having to decline. At least as parents you have prepared them for that reality before you start.
There are lots of stories of people getting full rides and amazing offers and they do happen. But I think those are few and far between. If you go into this process with your eyes open you will be happier in the end.
We found the Net Price Calculators which can be found on the colleges’ websites to be very helpful in figuring out college costs and how much merit aid would be offered. If you don’t know ACT/SAT scores yet, you can plug in a few different numbers to see how much the aid would vary. We definitely included cost as a factor when researching colleges.
Re. regional auditions - I saw a great list on the college audition coach facebook page - maybe yesterday? You may have to scroll down due to all of the college announcements, but there were a lot listed!
Are you expected to apply to these schools before attending the regional audition or after - if they express interest?
@GeddyMcNutty S had applied to a couple of schools prior to, bc they were on his list of schools.Both schools accepted his MARCAS audition that day, and verbally accepted him into their BFA program. (I think he ended up sending a dance video, but i think it was more of an FYI from the schools’ perspective).After the audition day, if you’re D/S is interested in a particular school you can then apply. This audition is early in the audition cycle, so applying after shouldn’t be a problem, however, other regional auditions may be different.
Same for my D at MARCAS - 2 schools where she’d applied already and been admitted academically accepted her from that audition (one with the dance video emailed in). Another accepted that audition when she couldn’t make it to campus on one of their dates. She also found a couple of safety schools there that she liked and the feeling was mutual.
I would highly recommend regional auditions for anyone just to give your child a feel for the process and hopefully a confidence boost heading into the rest of their auditions.
New to this site Son is Junior at art school in New Orleans. Last summer he did Michigan (voice) and NYU (MT). This year he is doing Baldwin Wallace (CSI since no Overtures) and Cincinnati(MT). Our school list is still very long and I am nervous about all of the application and audition stuff. His academics are good ACT over 30 but getting into the right program seems daunting.
welcome @MTDad2024 , for a few schools academics matter quite a bit ( ie Michigan wont even pass your prescreen if you score under 1160 or 24 I THINK) but once you pass the minimum academic requirements sounds like from all the past threads I have read what matters is your audition. & BTW most of us juniors still have a daunting, lengthy list at this point too 
Is BW not doing overtures this year?
@toowonderful - nope Victoria doing some kind of broadway/off broadway? project this summer
Thanks. Both BW and Cin. will help with his audition prep.
@toowonderful Victoria is directing “Lizzie” at Signature this summer.
@stagedoormama - yeah thats what i meant
Just a question about the common app and actually applying to schools. Is August 1st when it goes live and can it be sent to schools anytime from there on? And do most schools require the whole app plus supplements before making audition appointments or submitting prescreens? Seems like it would be hard to get teacher feedback on essays if they have to submit app so early to avoid getting shut out of audition appointments. Thanks for any info. Did this process 12 years ago with D but that was before prescreens and as difficult as process was then, seems much more difficult now!
Our guidance counselor told us that admissions ppl are out at High schools and college fairs all fall and do not begin to look at recommendations and essays until October. --after I asked if we could get recommendations up before school starts.
But maybe the artistic prescreen stuff can be looked at earlier? Good question.
Generally, once application and supplements (if needed) are submitted - and fee is paid, you can schedule. The university won’t worry about recommendations, transcripts etc til later down the line
The Common App and other apps require the name of recommenders to be input, as well as the school counselor. If you can align your recommenders early that’s best - they don’t have to submit the letters until later though as noted above. Our target was to submit the apps, essays and prescreens by mid- October at the latest and we had no problem scheduling auditions (for Acting though).
as a high school teacher - I STRONGLY advise having your students ask teachers to be recommenders BEFORE the end of school this year. If kids ask me before the end of the year - I have recs ready to go by Aug 1. Not all teachers want to do letters over the summer, but at least you have it in place
Also, please be aware that what general guidance counselors know to be true about college admissions is not necessarily true for the MT process. Many of them who have not had students audition for MT will look at you crazily when you talk about wanting apps in early, recommendations in early and that you’ll be applying to a very large number of schools. IF they are not familiar with the MT process, stick to your guns. What they are telling you may be true for a traditional application. But may not be helpful to you in the MT process.
I would line up your recommenders now before school gets out and let them know when you will be needing the letters of recommendation. They may choose to do it now. Or at least they will know you need it right away when school starts in the Fall.
I would recommend you get essays done ASAP as soon as the prompts are out.
I would send in your Common App ASAP as soon as it is available.
I would submit any supplements ASAP as soon as available
The sooner you submit this information, the sooner you can schedule auditions. And at some schools, desired slots can and will go quickly. There may be a thread on this somewhere - which schools run out of audition slots early.
If you have more flexibility in your schedule as to where you audition and when, then you can take more time to submit the general applications. But since most of this is just basic information, I would not wait unless there was a really good reason to do so.
I would make sure you take time with your prescreens to make sure they are the way you desire, but I also would not wait too long to submit those either.
The best course of action is to work on the material for prescreens during the summer before Senior year, and even get in filmed before senior year starts if possible. That way it is ready to go without the stress of school, shows and other things that can get in the way of doing all these tasks related to the application process.
Our D had a general college counselor who advised her to write essays In the summer based on the previous year’s prompts. She did that and worked and edited them over the summer. When her year’s prompts came out, she was able to adapt much of what she had already written to fit the new prompt. So again, she did most of this the summer prior to her senior year.
There will be people who are able to get applications in and schedule audition all the way into November/December. And some will schedule new auditions and applications throughout the audition season as they become aware of new programs. But for those schools that really matter to you, the early bird catches the worm. I would not recommend leaving it to chance.
And again, being able to take some of this work off your plate before school starts just helps lessen the stress level a little bit.