Finally the moment to do this – so happy it’s sort of all over! And our story is very Wizard of Oz-like - a long journey only to rediscover that home was right in front of you all along. And yes, there is a happy ending.
I’ll say at the outset, though I thought I knew a lot about this process and the level of competition ahead of time, I totally didn’t get it. We live near NYC and know lots of working NYC theater professionals, all of whom, having seen D perform, told us with that D was exceptional and would be successful both in college acceptances and in having a professional MT life. One, a producer, has even booked her a couple of times for prestigious professional vocal jobs. She had spectacular recommendations from a couple of them. Because of our proximity to the real world of NYC theater, and the validation from it, I thought it was going to be a whole lot easier than it was. What I learned most is that college auditions/decisions often net really different results/appraisals than working world equivalents.
Background: no coaching - didn’t think we needed it, small public, non PA HS, years of training in voice and dance, couple of years in acting, largely in NYC, and strongest areas, we thought, were voice and theater dance. We figured D’s best results would be from voice and dance-focused schools, and the ones which wanted just one, contemporary, monologue. Got that completely wrong - her best results came in the auditions where they wanted to see the most, particurly those which wanted a classical monologue along with a contemporary. Total surprise. Also, her preference was to leave NYC (though she loves it) for college years, hence only one NY application.
Story began a bit differently than most because finally, I can say that D did the BoCo MTDI program last summer, completely loved everything about it and one day towards the end of it an email from D arrived for me with the subject header: The Best News Of My Life! They had brought her in and told her she was accepted for Class of 2020. It was incredibly exciting and gave her an enormous psychological boost going into all of this.
I held off on posting this here all CC season because it was told to her privately, we were unaware of any similar offers to others in the program, and I wasn’t sure about sharing it during application season, but it altered her course completely. She basically cut half her list off - any schools which she wouldn’t have chosen over BoCo plus any schools one had to travel to to audition, with the one exception of Michigan.
So, in terms of MT she wound up only applying to 8 programs, all audition, all competitive: Ithaca, Syracuse, CCM, UMich, CMU, Emerson, Manhattan School of Music plus BoCo (she still needed to go through the process there).
Passed all pre-screens - which we did totally low-tech.
Auditioned for Young Arts using audition season material - also low-tech - and was amazed to be named an HM winner. (As a result, she’s about to do the YA Regional Week in NYC, which is really exciting.)
We were thinking: we got this.
Wrong.
Decided to do one audition ahead of the curve to get the practice, and chose the school she was least invested in, Emerson, which had Early Action. Figured she’d get a deferral, at the very least.
Rejected. Oh so naively then couldn’t believe it. Looking back, it was a necessary correction of attitude and started us on the path to understanding how tough this is.
NY Unifieds, all auditions went well - one weird experience in the interview portion with one school, but CMU was an outstanding audition, even factoring in how much everyone loves their CMU auditions. Flew to UMich in February, straightforward, fine, dance component totally her Fosse wheelhouse.
Results started coming in: CCM - a hold; Ithaca - rejected.
Last audition was Manhattan School of Music, on Feb. 29, was offered acceptance “in the room”, which felt great, though D still preferred BoCo. A couple of weeks later got a “no” from Michigan and the CCM hold disappointingly, as we thought she might be a CCM “type”, turned into a no.
That was the low point. Especially as by then I was starting to panic over the potential cost of BoCo. In the euphoria over the admission, I had kind of glossed over the money component, and as the months went by and I saw how tough this all was, and heard all the BoCo never gives anyone much because they don’t have much, I began getting really scared about completely devastating my D if it wound up being unaffordable.
The day after the lowest point, which had my D in tears, considering herself a failure despite my telling her it was normal for MT admissions, the BoCo acceptance email arrived, and with it a larger than expected talent scholarship, which enabled us to say definitively, “Yes - you can attend”. Huge happiness followed. Like HUGE. She loves the school, the vibe, Boston, and especially the family atmosphere there from both students and faculty. And the phenomenal dance program there.
Then, just hours later, she opened the Carnegie-Mellon portal and was stunned by a waitlist. Beyond anything else, it was a giant validation, at exactly the moment she needed it, regardless of whether or not she clears it. Financial aid package arrived a couple of days later and, because we have “need” it more or less matched the cost of BoCo’s.
Finally, it all came to a conclusion yesterday with a Syracuse WL. So, what I would have initially perceived as terrible results at the beginning of this process, I now have come to understand and accept as quite normal, if one is applying to the most competitive, percentage-wise, MT programs: 2 acceptances, 2 WL, 4 rejections.
Continued…
Think it would be easier to find/read.
so happy for you and your D!!