<p>I'm a senior and applying to colleges for MT. My concern is that I'm too new to musical theatre. I've only been doing it for two years. I have had private voice lessons and been doing group classes, etc. I just don't have as much training as compared to people who have been doing this their whole lives.</p>
<p>I would say I am strongest and most comfortable in acting, I have been doing that and dancing longer than singing. I've been doing everything I can in the past two years to catch up to the level of people who are auditioning and have been doing this for years.</p>
<p>I do not have incredible musical theatre knowledge, I am familiar with a fair amount of musicals, composers, plays, etc. I'm just worried they'll ask me a question about tons of other musicals.</p>
<p>I'm just incredibly worried that I'm too inexperienced and new to musical theatre and I won't get in anywhere. All I know is that even though it's new I love it and I have a great passion for it. I know that I won't be happy just doing Acting. I do love acting, I just want to be able to sing and dance too.</p>
<p>Swiftgagaeyes. Not to worry. There are many places you can go for musical theater that do not require auditions to get in and would give you time to “catch up” with others who have been doing this longer. Also, some schools that are not musical theater degrees put on musicals and would allow you to sing and dance. In Southern California, UC-Irvine is non audition for freshman (BFA in MT audition after freshman year), CSU-Fullerton is non audition until end of Sophomore year and puts on wonderful musicals, UC Santa Cruz offers a degree in MT with no audition. That is just in California. THere are many schools nationwide like that. I would have a list of schools that are a good academic fit non-audition schools–hopefully you have already applied to some of them as most deadlines have already passed for many schools. Then, if you want to give auditioning a try at a few schools to see how you do, go for it. You could also train for a year with some private coaching and do some community theater and then try to audition as a freshman next year. Whatever you do, you need to get more singing training and experience if this is your weakpoint. Good luck.</p>
<p>I think that even if you were to audition, people would take that into account. Colleges must realize that people are coming there to learn. As long as you are as serious as all those others out there I don’t think there is anything holding you back. good luck! :-)</p>
<p>Is that MT degree at UC Santa Cruz new? I haven’t heard of it and don’t see it on their website…? </p>
<p>CSU-Chico is another California school that has an MT program if you are looking for something in-state. </p>
<p>I agree that you shouldn’t worry too much about your experience. There will be a range of kids applying/auditioning and there will be others, like you, who are relatively new to MT.</p>
<p>What colleges are you applying to? Are you applying to auditioned or non-auditioned schools? Don’t let your lack of experience hold you back, but it’s important to have a good mix of reach and safety schools, (even if you have done a great deal of theater), because of the very low admission rate at the audition-only schools.</p>
<p>I agree with onstage… create a balanced list of schools (as should all MT applicants regardless of prior experience and training) with non-auditioned programs that are academic safeties, “less competitive” audition based programs, and (if interested) programs that pull from a large national pool and have a low admit rate (2% - 5%).</p>
<p>I went to a MT program referred to as a “top” MT program and studied with some who had been in “Annie” on Broadway as kids (I am dating myself ;)), and others who had much less training and experience, but loads of talent and potential. </p>
<p>As long as you have a balanced list of schools you will find a match for next year.</p>
<p>I’m applying to 4 non audition Cali schools : UCI, UCSD, CSU long beach, CSU Fullerton.
and UCLA but that is audition based.
Other schools: Syracuse, Ithaca, NYU, Emerson, Point Park, Boston University, BoCo, U of Arts. I’ve grown a lot so I hope that they will see I’m dedicated in training, as I have a lot of training under my resume in the past couple years. Thanks so much for the good lucks!</p>
<p>At UCLA, the questions won’t be about musical theatre. They will be trying to see who you are and if you are intellectual enough to handle the academics at UCLA. As the audition is 80% of the process, they use the interview to size up your intellect and give some meaning to test scores/GPA. Every year, UCLA loses talented kids because they can’t handle the academics, so I think that’s why the interview was very different with them. You don’t have to worry about musical theatre questions with them. My D did acting at UCLA and that is where she is now. But she, of course, has friends in MT. The dance was hard.</p>
<p>UCI and UCSD are completely application for now. You have to have strong GPA/SAT/Essays to get in.</p>
<p>To answer your concern, I want to tell you about a person whose story is similar to yours.</p>
<p>He did theater minorly in high school and then went to Duke on a sports scholarship. He ended up finding that he had a unique talent for singing and later went on to attend CCM for musical theater. Now he’s been in several broadway shows and is one of my favorite male performers currently on broadway.
Ever heard of Aaron Lazar?</p>
<p>All this to say that if you have the talent and desire for it, don’t let your lack of knowledge about musical theater make you doubt your future in it.</p>