My daughter went through the MT process four years ago. She’s a senior now. It was bad then. Do more kids audition each year? Yes. But there are also more new MT programs each year. I just want to disabuse people of the notion that this was EVER easy. Especially for girls. Even way back four years ago (LOL), we were still advised to apply to AT LEAST 15-20 schools and hope for 1-2 BFA acceptances.
For those of you that might be interested in Western Michigan, over the span of four years I chronicled my d’s experience in the BFA Musical Theatre program in this thread, including a complete listing of her final curriculum:
@EmsDad Your post is what caused me to get my two kids to research and audition for WM this year! They felt great about their auditions (except the hallway dance call LOL!!) and are hoping for some good news soon 
I understand that this process is not “new”. What the head of the department was referring to was specifically what you mentioned. A few years ago, the average was 15-20 schools. My daughter is auditioning for over 30. When she goes to callbacks and surveys the other girls she finds at auditions, she most commonly hears numbers ranging anywhere from 28-35. The head of the department was saying that the number of schools kids are auditioning for has reached insane levels, and that everyone seems to be applying to ALL of the top schools. So, the head of the department is finding it impossible to guess what their yield will be in any given year. She said that up until 2-3 years ago, they could guess pretty well, but not anymore.
No, it is a different school from the ones you mentioned. I am not at liberty to post who (my daughter is making me stay really tight-lipped about this).
Otterbein sent out rejects and “still being considered” yesterday. One of my students got a “reject” email and the other got the “still being considered” version.
I have also heard that schools are having a harder time with yield - both U Miami and Montclair recently ended up with way more students in their Freshman (Montclair) and Sophomore (U Miami) classes - leading them to put more on the waitlist.
@Divastagemom yes, Otterbein and Shenandoah both had larger yields last year than they expected. In previous years, Shen would accept about 50 to yield 18. This year they plan on accepting 36 to yield 18. I don’t recall how many Otterbein ended up with last year, but it was a lot more than 8. Otterbein has a new program director this year, and she didn’t mention how they were going to handle their acceptance vs. waitlist this year.
Any University of the Arts parents or current students out there? I have questions.
Adding to the schools still accepting applications for musical theatre: University of the Arts (if at a distance, can request to submit digital audition), Cornish College of the Arts (accepts video submissions), Marymount Manhattan (accepting digital auditions).
I just want to say how much I appreciate all of you and the information each of you are providing. We are all dedicated to our kids and crazy enough to go through this process. No other major (to my knowledge) is this complex to navigate.
My D is newer to singing, danced her whole life, and has only had ensemble and minor roles in MT. She’s fortunate enough to have one offer in hand, waiting on Unified results (12 auditions) and have one more audition yet to come. We hope to have at least one more so she has choices, but grateful for the one thus far. BAL to those who still have auditions and best wishes for finding the one!
Anyone gonna be at Coastal Carolina on 2/22 hit me up would love to say hello, though my daughter will be mortified that I have " social media friends"
@NeensMom, a CCer called @DramaQueen219 has a daughter at UArts. Tagging her in hopes she sees this and can answer your questions!
@SingerDancerMom Last year Otterbein and Texas State also did still in the running emails.
hmmmmm… @titlemom did TX State send them this early or in March? Kaitlin told us at the info session that she wouldn’t be notifying at all until all auditions were done and her faculty could discuss all candidates together. .
@onette YES! Another very good point - small business, small world! Our current director has ties in the regional summerstock community. Girl who quit just doesn’t see the big picture. Thank you for that confirmation.
We do allow kids to say “don’t cast me” if they don’t get the role they want. I’m ambivalent about how to handle that moving forward. I’d almost rather they don’t try out if they don’t want to accept any role, because the message they send when they quit is really negative. I’m open to convincing in either direction.
As an aside, I am watching to see what current director does for ensemble-building - whole group was dismissed early the other day instead of doing character work. Last year’s director spent two days with the ensemble doing questionnaires and exercises. You hit the nail on the head - it’s essential!
NeensMom. yes. DD is very happy at UARTS
@tsamuique and @onette I have to chime in here about the HS musical ensemble thing -
Maybe all HS shows are not created equal but my D does not go to a performing arts HS - she is in a fairly small HS about 200 kids in a class - 40 MT - about 5 decent performers every year. Meanwhile, we are fortunate enough to live near a very impressive Community Theater - each show does 6 performances to 1500 seat house. And while she has been fortunate enough to get lead parts in her HS show - being in the ensemble in the HS production would not have taught her anything. She puts down the parts she wants and was prepared to audition for the community theater - willing and excited to take ensemble there if the HS lead part didn’t work out. These kids have so little time - and for almost all of kid’s in the HS - this is a hobby - not something they want to make a career of - often the ensemble just isn’t all that good. With that, I have seen excellent HS productions and if you are fortunate enough to be in one of those HS’s maybe ensemble is worth it . But at her school, it isn’t and I don’t think she is a brat for feeling like that - The school musical is very time consuming and these kids have so much on their plate they need to use their time wisely.
@onette Was the Otterbein email for MT kids or Acting? My D did not get an email yesterday, she auditioned in LA for acting.
@DivaStageMom If you knew the stats on this high school, you’d be shocked. Largest high school marching band in the nation. Top football team. But they have a multimillion dollar performing arts center and the theatre kids get two shows a year there - one play, one musical. 7,000 kids. This year, they allowed the freshmen to have a fall show at the freshmen auditorium. Other than that, they have senior directs and one-act play (this year, they are doing Rabbit Hole, which has a small cast). And it’s not for a lack of kids interested in theatre and musical theatre. They just have to turn to youth and community theatre. I do believe that ensemble and learning to be in ensemble is pretty critical. Both of the kids I have going through now got mainly ensemble roles in high school until senior year, because there is only one musical. And they took them and sucked it up and did an amazing job. I have no doubt that it was hard for them to do this when, at the same time, they were getting leads in community and youth productions in the area (Sweeney & Mrs. Lovett, Edna and Velma, Gomez and Morticia – LOL, they get cast together a lot!). It was discouraging but I told them that it teaches them to work on skills they really will need going forward — humility, perseverance, teamwork, etc. And, truly, building characters for ensemble is something I think many youth directors don’t spend much time on. I grew up doing theatre in Memphis at Playhouse on the Square and Theatre Memphis. No children’s theatre there when I was a kid. And I never knew any different. It is harder, though, to get people (including adults) who have only been leads and even though they say they will accept anything, their attitude and demeanor indicates otherwise as you are 2/3 of the way through rehearsals. In shows like Sweeney Todd, the ensemble drives the show. They tell the story. Kids should learn that in a well-written show, ensembles aren’t there for placeholders. They are not the ones who didn’t do well enough for leads. They have a purpose. Current shows like Beetlejuice, Hadestown, Moulin Rouge and more really depend on these roles to bring the story to life. That being said, I never would fault someone for writing “will not consider” on their audition form. Sometimes, doing a show is about learning something specific or trying a particular role (or getting a bucket list role). Schedules make it hard when kids are in school and if it would be a waste of time to do a show because it isn’t what you needed from it, that’s fine, too!