<p>^^agree! Best of luck!</p>
<p>S2 got cool news! Case Western just awarded him Theatre scholarship. Very generous 4 year award. For those in future years looking for wonderful merit awards for theatre kids, we recommend looking at Case (BA Theatre).</p>
<p>Congratulatons Madbean!! That is wonderful news!</p>
<p>Yay, terrific!! I’m so happy for him.</p>
<p>Hey, everyone, please update the “theatre results” thread.</p>
<p>Good luck to everyone auditioning in NYC this weekend!</p>
<p>Yes, best wishes! And in Chicago next week! And then in Las Vegas, and then in LA! </p>
<p>Maybe we can have just the tiniest bit of sympathy for the auditors and their schedule. Wow. Some of the faculty members go to all of them.</p>
<p>I’m auditioning this weekend at NY Unifieds, both days! So excited!</p>
<p>I hope the NY Unifieds are going well! We’ll give you all a report from Chicago when we’re done. </p>
<p>D got a couple of EA acceptances this past week or so that give her a strong foundation of non-auditioned programs as she heads into her auditions. Her personal criteria for a school included big-city access, BFA curriculum if possible (if not, a very strong BA program), and an eastern location (to be in a new place, where theatre is high quality and accessible, and to be near family). With UMinn’s BA, URI’s BFA and Goucher’s BA she now has all of her bases covered. Other choices on her list give her more aspects combined in one school, but for now she knows she can get the essence of what she needs and likes even if she doesn’t get any more acceptances. Ultimately she wants to be in an auditioned BFA, but that was the one piece of the puzzle that she couldn’t ensure would happen.</p>
<p>So for now, she is ready to get in there and try in Chicago! The new outfit is bought, the monologues are polished, and off we’ll go Tuesday morning.</p>
<p>Good luck to everyone this week! Have a lot of fun!</p>
<p>EmmyBet, that is absolutely wonderful. I hope that these acceptances will allow her to just go in and enjoy the audition process knowing that her whole life isn’t at stake… You’ve both done such a great job developing a list and a healthy attitude about the process.</p>
<p>Thank you! I definitely appreciate all of the wonderful help CC has been in this process, from all of you wonderful people. I would say that fully half of our understanding of what to do has come from here! I don’t know how we would have done it without our CC friends.</p>
<p>Just saw yesterday’s mail - D got her academic acceptance from Montclair State, with a nice little merit award. That’s her first audition Tuesday, so she can walk in with even a little more confidence.</p>
<p>This has been said 1000 times before, but it deserves saying again: </p>
<p>1) The list IS the most important thing. It’s extremely difficult to switch gears partway through the process, and you can’t get in anywhere you haven’t applied.
2) Know your “top 5” criteria (no matter what they are) and try to have as much of them present at all of the schools you apply to.
3) Love or like enough all of your schools, so you will be happy with any result.
4) Have real choices you like in case you don’t get into any of the auditioned programs. In our case it was important to have several non-auditioned options, because D knew she would be depressed to have only one school she was “stuck” with at the end, no matter how much she liked it. </p>
<p>One of the very, very best things we learned on this forum was about non-auditioned BFAs. There seem to be at least a couple in the US - URI and a school in Texas that was mentioned here. While auditions can serve a crucial purpose, we have every reason to believe that URI has a great program with great people at a lovely campus. My D is very relieved that she can do a BFA curriculum GUARANTEED next year. </p>
<p>These programs are very hard to find out about, so if anyone knows of any others, please share them with the younger students.</p>
<p>I am so glad to have found this thread as we have had a very anxious period. My daughter narrowed her choices down to 5, and all but 1 were auditioned based. It was dumb luck that one was not, and fortunately, she as accepted into their BFA program. Now she is waiting for her last audition, and then the more anxious time while waiting to hear from the colleges. I have spent the last month wondering what happens to all the kids who do not get into these programs…and what would happen to my d if she was one of them… It was reassuring to hear other parents feeling the same way!</p>
<p>Welcome, photomom! Congratulations on the acceptance! Isn’t it great that a few schools still have a non-auditioned BFA opportunity?</p>
<p>We are done with Chicago Unifieds as of 9:30 this morning. It went well! D is exhausted, but proud she made it through. You have no control over anything EXCEPT being well-prepared and doing your best. And she feels she did.</p>
<p>The experience was unforgettable. In Chicago it’s pretty much just in 2 hotels, one “official” and one not, and they’re only about 8 blocks apart. And some of the Chicago schools hold them on-campus, too, I think. We had 3 scheduled and 1 walk-in at the Palmer House, and 1 scheduled at the Hyatt. We were particuarly glad we stayed at the Palmer House - not only were the residential floors very nice and quiet, but having one audition at 8 a.m. today meant sleeping a bit more and staying in from the cold!</p>
<p>I am impressed with how hard people work making this happen, and I wouldn’t criticize. We’re fortunate to have it. I will say to anyone planning on going that the audition floors were kind of zoo-like, and the audition spaces were very cramped, with no warm-up space, barely anywhere even to sit. It was very hot and airless, and you could feel the cloud of nervousness. People in general were very nice, both the auditors and other staff, and the kids and parents, considering it was such an anxious time. </p>
<p>D did 5 auditions overall and her typical experience was to be welcomed warmly and thanked nicely. She only had one experience where she was “worked with,” where she was asked to do her monologue differently. In her case this wasn’t a “fun exercise” but felt more like criticism … but afterwards she realized it was helpful advice. Her walk-in was fun - one of the schools in the UK, a free audition, a helpful warmup for another one she had later that day.</p>
<p>Two of the schools (non-Unified: CMU and BU) held more “complete” sessions, with an info meeting and more of a group atmosphere, although the auditions themselves were pretty much the same - short, with one auditor. </p>
<p>In general the auditors and other staff had an extremely respectful attitude toward these kids, openly recognized how hard they’d worked to prepare, and wished them well, no matter what their results. Overall, we saw strongly-prepared and focused kids there. </p>
<p>As a mom, I got to go to the 2 info sessions, and got to hear one set of my D’s monologues through the door (the one and only time I’ve heard them!). That was a treat! I was glad I did everything I could to reduce stress, add extra time, and keep things simple. That was about it for me!</p>
<p>D goes to the NY area for two on-site auditions at the end of the month with schools that don’t travel. I’m grateful her school has that Thurs and Fri off; they are very permissive about letting kids take off for college purposes, but she’d like not to miss more than the 5 days already in her schedule.</p>
<p>D also got offered a chance to audition for two theatre scholarships at Goucher; unfortunately the audition is on-campus in Baltimore, and we can’t get her there on the specified day. I’m going to call and see if they would accept a video, or Skype.</p>
<p>Good luck to everyone else in the middle of things!</p>
<p>EmmyBet: wow, your short list is longer than our long list…I know we have homework to do! My jr D is also looking at Bfa acting. Did you look at Emerson (Boston) or Rutgers (NJ)? Also, we live in Chicago and it is a very comfortable city, depending on where you are - you could also look at DePaul.
Since you mentioned SUNY, I’ve read on the theatre thread that this is a very intense program and that kids that come out of it are very well respected (they won’t let you continue after year 2 if you’re not cutting it). I’d be curious to hear anything you’ve heard or seen if you have visited- we have not even begun visits yet!
good luck and keep posting</p>
<p>Way to go EmmyBet and daughter! Thanks for posting your impressions. Thanks to your post, I’ve confirmed a reservation at the hotel down the street from the auditions, rather than the trendy hotel I booked 20 minutes away by freeway. Can’t wait till Sunday afternoon and it’s mostly over!</p>
<p>Photomom congrats! I have a questions for all, if your child does not get accepted in the BFA or BA programs, what do you do? My D was accepted academically to two schools and if she doesn’t get in their program, she will be very disappointed. What stress this is. If they only allow 25-30 in these programs, where do all the other kids go?</p>
<p>Is it too late to apply anywhere else at this point? We are in NY and just about done with the auditions. The final audition will be the worst, SUNY Purchase…ugh I dread this for her already. Would love to hear some feed back and thanks :)</p>
<p>Maggie - Are you saying that your D doesn’t have any options that don’t require an audition? That is scary - auditioned programs rarely have higher than 25% acceptance rates, so none of them are even “likely.” </p>
<p>If your D wants to be in college next year and is willing to get a BA in theatre in a “regular” program, there are still colleges that have rolling admissions that are accepting applications. You’ll have to do some looking, but you could search by admission date, and also could put a query on CC. I would do it on one of the regular forums - like the Parents’ Forum or the College Admissions/College Search Forums, so you can get as many answers as possible. Most schools in this country have a theatre major. It varies in curriculum, and probably in quality, but many, many schools have perfectly nice theatre majors even though they are never discussed here or put on lists of recommended schools.</p>
<p>If you D is determined to get an auditioned BFA or, BA at the least, what she’ll do if she doesn’t get in this year is get some coaching and advice and do this all again next year. Auditioned programs almost always make you start at the beginning, so going to CC or another school for gen ed requirements isn’t usually all that useful. She should check with the schools she wants to go to and find out if they’ll take credit for anything she does in the meantime. The catch is that if she has taken college courses, then she’d be a transfer student, and that can make admissions much tighter - their percentages are lower.</p>
<p>Good luck! If I see any schools that are still viable to apply to, I’ll post them here. Sometimes on CC there’s a thread for just such schools, so keep your eyes peeled. I hope this doesn’t turn out to be your situation, of course. I do hope she gets some good news soon and puts your mind at ease.</p>
<p>kswise - We’re all happy to help you here. Don’t hesitate to start new threads on topics where you have questions. </p>
<p>In the meantime, I’ll let you know how we got to where we are right now. There are several ways to find Acting programs - you will find many names on this Forum, and a few lists. I believe on page 8 of the Archived thread there is a pretty good list, a little out of date but not too much. There are websites and other lists of “theatre schools” that will give you a start in looking.</p>
<p>My first advice is to be wary of falling in love with schools because they seem to be where “everyone” goes. You will hear these kinds of suggestions from practically anyone you meet, including people who know nothing about theatre. Just take your time and look for what’s right for your D. There are many, many ways to learn about theatre.</p>
<p>Your D will want to look first at the curriculum and specifics of the theatre program - there are differences, and she will start to get a feel for what’s most important to her as she reads about them. She can also decide things about her college experience itself - like whether she cares about location, size, cost, student life, etc. These can be important. </p>
<p>She’ll find probably find a match between her theatre needs and her other needs in many schools. Once she’s broadened her list of the auditioned theatre programs, she will also need to find a few non-auditioned BA programs where she can feel confident about getting accepted, and that you all can afford. There are many, many schools whose non-auditioned BAs are lovely programs and if your D wants to go right to college after HS she should apply to at least one.</p>
<p>My D is auditioning for 6 schools (the extra at Unifieds doesn’t count), and she also applied to 7 non-auditioned schools. Some kids only apply to a few non-auditioned schools, but she was very concerned she wouldn’t get into any of the auditioned programs and wanted a number of choices. Also, she got a very good ACT score last fall and was able to add some reaches to her list. She has 3 acceptances so far - 2 well-regarded non-auditioned BAs and one non-auditioned BFA (the University of Rhode Island, which if you are in the NY/New England area I would definitely suggest you look into).</p>
<p>As for the specific schools you mentioned, I will tell you why they are not on her personal list: </p>
<p>Emerson - my D does not like “storefront” city schools. She likes urban, but likes more of a campus. She also has not applied to any schools that do not have a full liberal arts offering. She wants to be able to take electives in any possible subject. This is why she didn’t apply to any conservatories.</p>
<p>SUNYs - She knows Purchase is extremely selective, so when she was turned off by the campus (like a lot of people) she decided to focus on selective schools she likes better and find less selective schools to round out her list. She did apply to SUNY New Paltz, which has an auditioned BA for which she is auditioning in a couple of weeks. It has a very well-regarded BA program and she’d be happy to go there.</p>
<p>Rutgers - She didn’t look at this school. It’s not as near NYC as others she liked, so for her it didn’t offer anything that she couldn’t get at Minn, at which we get reduced tuition.</p>
<p>DePaul (and other city schools in Chicago) - Remember, this is all just personal for my D: she would not go to a school that is religiously affiliated, so DePaul was out. And since you mentioned getting “cut” at Purchase, DePaul has an openly admitted “cut” policy, where it accepts more students than it will keep into the second year, and my D would not go to a school that does that. Emerson has been known to do this, too. Most quality schools do expect students to succeed and will ask kids who are actually failing to leave, or take a leave from, their programs. But their programs by design will allow everyone who is performing adequately to stay, and they don’t “cut” just for numbers.</p>
<p>Roosevelt and Columbia College in Chicago are definitely worth looking at. They are too urban for my D, but very good programs. Columbia is an excellent safety for kids who want the excitement of the city and lots of opportunities and choices. </p>
<p>A couple of schools my D considered in IL were IL State and IL Wesleyan (auditioned BA and BFA, respectively). Ultimately she decided she didn’t need more schools. It sounds like you are looking east? Tell us more about what your D likes, and we all would be happy to make suggestions. Start a thread for it - since here we’ll mostly be chatting about our senior year experience.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>Muhlenberg has a Feb. 15th deadline and no supplemental essay (at least they didn’t last year).</p>
<p>Yay! One to the rescue!</p>
<p>Hofstra and Columbia College also have rolling admissions through the spring. Lots of theatre going on at both places, and a BFA audition second year.</p>
<p>SDon-Thank you for the suggestion.<br>
Emmy -Thank you for the suggestions and advice. You gave such important information.
This has been a very stressful learning experience for both of us. My D was really set on staying around NYC and, there are not many options for non-audition BA programs in MT or Acting. I will look at Hofstra. We were hoping that if she didn’t make it into the BFA program she would hopefully get into the BA program. That was definately wrong to assume. As for Pace, this is her top choice and, it probably makes sense to attend there as a Freshman, re-audition second semester. They gave her a wonderful merit scholarship too. I truly can’t wait till April. She aslo got academically accepted to New Paltz and that audition is in March. Oh well, thanks and good luck to all :)</p>