<p>Great read. Congrats to your son, and please do keep us posted.</p>
<p>Yep. Best post(s) award to Mypennyx2. Perhaps the best in terms of capturing the overwhelming weight of the MT audition year. I still tell people I have a little PTSD from 2011-2012. (Remember, I did it with twins.) Indeed, part of the reason I come back here is that there is a pay-it-forward thing with MT parents – because by the time you figure it all out, you probably never need it again. Anyway, your story had me reliving all those TSU roller coaster moments right along with you. I totally remember/relate. Sigh. Anyway, can’t wait to hear all about how the freshman year goes. Thanks for sharing your story.</p>
<p>Ditto @MTTwinsinCA! Reading this post brought it all back! Every new CC MT parent should read this first! And it sounds like a lot of us had the same priority hold/waitlist forever with TSU roller coaster. D is a rising sophomore, returns to school next week, and can’t WAIT to get back! It is a school that I would never have chosen for her on paper, but she loves it and feels the training she is getting is fabulous. The “fit” again. GREAT detailed story.</p>
<p>Wow! Awesome! My D is a high school junior and I’m already stressed about putting together a list of schools.</p>
<p>Bravo… I wish I chronicled my son’s journey… believe it or not it is now a blur…</p>
<p>I do believe it, @lojosmo!</p>
<p>Awesome read. Thanks for putting it all out there “warts and all”. </p>
<p>Wow! ^:)^ you have inspired me to document every step, emotion, stumble and triumph my D & I experience this year. Oops, I’m already falling behind on documenting our roller coaster ride! Dang, I better get on that!</p>
<p>Wow! I agree with previous posters . . . you took me right back to my daughter’s audition season, and she’s a rising junior in college. You truly captured the roller coaster ride that is this audition process. What a great glimpse for those that come after. Wishing your son the very best, and hoping you, your wife and your daughter enjoy a couple years of non-college-preparation. 
</p>
<p>Thank you for this most generous post! I imagine it was therapeutic for you….and what a great insight for those of us who are helping our kids with applications/auditions this fall. Curious people will ask me where my daughter WANTS to study musical theater. I quickly inform them that the process doesn’t work that way!</p>
<p>I found myself laughing out loud several times! Thank you! We really do have to keep a sense of humor about all this. I mean…these are our kids and we want them to be happy. But how in the world did pursuing something so wonderful as musical theater get to be so darn stressful?? : )</p>
<p>Gotta laugh to keep from crying!</p>
<p>I laughed, I cried…Bravo @MyPennyX2. You did a wonderful job documenting The Process. It was like reading my own life story for the last year and a half…no one, no one can understand this process unless they have been through it. Best to you, your wife and your Son!</p>
<p>WOW! That was an amazing read. I love your style; suspenseful and funny at the same time. What a gift to all of us starting this journey. My daughter just turned in the last essay on her last application today. Some auditions are already scheduled and many more are still to come. Has passed prescreens on 3 schools with 3 more to go. The rest did not require a prescreen. Thank you so much for sharing the good, the bad and the ugly! We all have some of all of that in us…</p>
<p>UPDATE
First of all, thank you for the many kind comments after I “published” this thread last summer. It was flattering for veterans to write that I brought back memories - good and bad - and for others to write “yep, us too” on the various experiences. </p>
<p>Secondly, I wasn’t overt enough in my appreciation of the wisdom and support I received from specific CC members during The Process last season. They were from Massachusetts, Kentucky, Missouri, and California, and I hope all their kids find all the success they are looking for in this industry. I will be their second-biggest fan and hope to somehow return favors that their parents showed me.</p>
<p>Speaking of appreciation, while she has been thanked privately, his local voice teacher was more than just a local voice teacher. DanaV was a source of inspiration and support that was invaluable.</p>
<p>Finally, I have posted a more detailed update on the Ithaca College board which seems most appropriate. I’ll save you the trouble by writing the title and last sentence of that post here:</p>
<p>[Very</a> Happy at Ithaca College](<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/ithaca-college-mt/1712588-very-happy-at-ithaca-college.html?new=1]Very”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/ithaca-college-mt/1712588-very-happy-at-ithaca-college.html?new=1)</p>
<p>If it’s not Ithaca College, I hope your child finds what we found - a nurturing and challenging environment that facilitates a lot of fun college memories, but has them ready to be a working performer in the world of Acting and MT.</p>
<p>Just as I said that your " process" thread mirrored my D’s experience in many ways… So does your sum up about IC… Except we’ve had that experience at BW! Here is to great programs that both challenge and nurture their students. Congrats on finding “home”!</p>
<p>I can’t believe you used #soblessed :)) I’m so glad to read he’s happy!!</p>
<p>@MyPennyX2 - Thank you again for sharing. You’ve nailed my S’s experience at WSU - down to the once-a-week “Gotta run” phone calls, and “Get a life, Mom” comments. Ditto on the importance of acting training. Instead of play scripts, he requested sheet music for birthday/Christmas/New Year’s/just because. He’s thankful for the parental support during his application/audition year, but “Really, Mom. I can take it from here.”</p>
<p>What a lovely account of the process, with all its heartache and success. So glad your S found happiness at Ithaca. </p>
<p>Wow,this was quite a read. My son was auditioning the same year as your son. We are from the West Coast and he auditioned for 11 programs. In that process. we too had many downs and a few ups. You represent the experience very well.My son has wanted to do this since his first performance at age 6…so he did most of the work himself…surprisingly so. I didn’t think he had it in him…but this application/audition process so mattered to him… the career mattered to him. He met all deadlines, prescreens, was organized, etc. Of those 11 programs, he had many colleges that many MT kids put on their list…all top tier and many he aspired to be admitted to. He passed all prescreens so he was not out of the loop for many. He too was rejected at many of those…and accepted by 4. In fact, one of those 3 he almost did not apply to. It was at that audition of that college that he received on the spot glaring positive feedback and led to believe he would be admitted. As we were pretty savvy as to this entire process, we knew what people say at auditions has very little significance till you receive that admission letter. Your post speaks to this very well. I state this as this college is where he is at now. A college he now cannot imagine not being at.</p>
<p>I have a few things to add to your post… if this will help others, consider it as a previous poster said, pay it forward.</p>
<p>First, a good fit does matter. I agree that going to see colleges before being accepted for MT is not worthwhile. It leads to a potential applicant yearning for a school/location/program that they may not get in.Don’t waste time or money now. Go see the programs your child may get in after admitted.We visited all programs my son got in and had him /me sit in on a whole day of classes with upperclassmen in the program. My son’s take was he wanted to see the juniors and seniors looking amazing and farther in their performance abilities than he was already. If not, why go there? In one of the programs, even I was disappointed in the calibre of talent of some of the students… and this is a well regarded conservatory program. Sitting in on classes on a schedule you create is so important for the potential student to determine if that program is a good fit for them.</p>
<p>Two, don’t be too swayed by college’s reputation. We know many students from very respected programs not all working on Broadway/regional theater, etc. Know your child, hopefully your student knows themselves, and find the fit for them. And hopefully the MT acceptance gods will match your child’s desire to that college.</p>
<p>Be prepared for auditions. That being said, even great auditions are not always rewarded.Any given year, schools are looking for different types, different looks etc. If your child does not get in, it does not mean they are untalented. It just might mean that school already has someone like your child. As this post suggests, some kids get into great programs while being passed on prescreens by others. It’s not consistent and it never will be.</p>
<p>Consider applying to a safety MT school,if there is such a thing.My son applied to a lesser known but well regarded program that was audition based feeling pretty secure he would get in. He did. He also applied to a non audition school with a good reputation for a place to go to if all else failed. He was accepted there as well.</p>
<p>Most MT programs care less about GPA and test scores. Of course you have to meet minimum scores for general university admissions, but other than that, it won’t get you in. Those high scores may help get academic merit scholarships…but not entrance to an MT program. We know a student a few years ahead of my son who had a 4.5 GPA and got into only 2 of 13 programs. </p>
<p>My son during this process, while waiting to get accepted by a college he was excited about, also contemplated a gap year. I could not imagine having him doing the entire college app/ prescreen/ audition process again. I told him as much. There would be no guarantee he would do better the next year… What if it would be worse? I also contemplated the expense of this process and could not fathom doing it again. I also believed for my son that he would regret not going away to college while his friends all left.Everyone needs to sort this out for themselves, but this was best decision for my son… We got lucky in that he finally was accepted at a college MT program he was excited about.</p>
<p>Finally, my son now realizes that some of the programs he longed to get in…and got rejected… would not have been a good fit for him. He feels like where he is is where he was supposed to be… Happy, so happy, he is living 3000 miles away and will finally arrive in two weeks for his first time since I moved him into college back East almost 4 months ago. </p>
<p>Despite the very positive feedback he received at his audition, ( and apparently the auditioner did mean it), we got no talent scholarship,as those are extremely limited for many MT programs and certainly in the program he is in. We also got like zilch financial aid. I’m still glad he is there and happy… I’ll just be working for many, many years to pay his college education off;)</p>
<p>Good luck to all of you and your children. I don’t envy the process for all of you.Trust me.you will be happy when this is over.</p>
<p>BTW,the worst/ hardest process for us in all of this?The waiting. for hearing of acceptance/ rejection time.Brutal. Good luck!</p>
<p>I have said this elsewhere before, I wanted to mention that I disagree…somewhat… with the “don’t visit until you are accepted” policy. Certainly in terms of sitting in on classes, meeting with teachers etc- there is absolute merit to waiting, and with the long odds at ANY bfa program, falling in love and thinking that there is only ONE option could be setting up for big heartbreak later. But I still say that it is important to SEE schools, if at all possible, before applying. You learn so much by just being physically present on the campus- it doesn’t need to be a full day to gather information. For my D, summer between junior and senior year we went on a series of trips - Indiana/Chicago area (where we saw Depaul, Columbia, Northwestern, and Ball State) Mid-west (CMU, BW, Kenyon, Otterbein, CCM, IU, Michigan) and East (Ithaca, Syracuse, Boston, Emerson, Brown, Yale, NYU, Fordham, Pace, Mulhenberg) We live in the midwest- so were fairly centrally located- but other the east coast (which took a full week) these were all long weekends (we did two 3 day trips) or single days since there were several schools only a couple hours away. This was all during the summer, so classes were not in session, but at all the BFA schools she was able to tour the theater department- which gave her a general feel. Average length of time on a campus- 2 hours. We “saw” 21 colleges, and with that information she narrowed her list to 11 where she wanted to apply. Those trips really helped solidify what she wanted in a campus as much as a school. After acceptances came in (3 BFA and 3 BA) we “revisted” the schools were she was still most interested (2 of her BAs were her LAC “safeties” that she knew were no longer on the list- we did not visit a 2nd time) spent a full day, sat in on classes,met teachers, saw shows- and it was super helpful in making decisions. Was there addition expense to doing things this way- sure (though all “pre” visits were driving, which reduced expense) but there really wasn’t anything about this process that was cheap…</p>