I agree so much with others are saying…assess your acceptances…move forward and find which one is the best fit.
@HappyDancer98 is right on the mark. @daughtersdreams you blew my mind. That is so not how we have been told to look at things. MTCA’s approach is that when you have schools looking at thousands of kids and they can only take 20 - when you are on a waitlist it is a tremendous honor and validation of your work and talent. It is in no way a No. We’ve spoken to the head’s of the programs at our waitlisted schools and that is how they view it - basically they said if you are on a waitlist - you are good enough to go here - there are so many factors that go into their building a class/cast.
With that said there is a very good chance a waitlist may not work out - but waiting a few weeks or months compared to the time that’s been put into this - seems reasonable.
Here’s to the dreamers who dream!
I agree @singoutlouise – it is a HUGE achievement to be on the wait list for any of these programs. It is a major accomplishment and one every person who is on a wait list should feel very proud of.
Just want to make sure people can also embrace their current acceptances so they feel good about accepting one of their choices on May 1.
I am all for dreaming! Who knows, one of your current acceptances could turn out to be your dream school. Just ask @bisouu!
For sure @vvnstar the school we never thought of until the last minute (added as a safety in Feb.) has been the best gift ever!
I will say @singoutlouise that I agree with @daughtersdreams that many kids view a waitlist as a “I was not first choice I was second choice” thing. Now is that true …maybe not , but I have literally talked to TONS of kids on waitlists right now …boys and girls… and they are saying that very thing. They feel second best and they feel like “well they didn’t want me as a first choice”
So not matter how you spin it … the adults can say they understand it but the teens… not so much. After this grueling , self confidence shattering process they want to be wanted and they want to be wanted from the get go. Just the nature of most kids this age I’m guessing.
@theaterwork My D, at barely 17, viewed each waitlist as an affirmation of her fit into a program rather than as thinking of herself as “second best.” This is in keeping with what auditors and audition coaches say about waitlists. And, when you consider the odds of making it to a waitlist, it ought to be celebrated or, at the very least, viewed positively.
If your kids come off waitlists (which IS an affirmation of their talent!), there is no stigma once they’re in. D knows there are students from the waitlist at her school, but no idea how many or who they are. It makes no difference at all.
Maybe @theaterwork but as we all know the MT process is not the normal college process. I hear what you are saying. But I know along with parents there are lots of students lurking on these boards. I just don’t agree that a waitlist is a “No” or that you should perceive it as any lesser. And I really want them to know that.
I realize kids will believe what they want. But unlike applying to a Harvard where you might have an accepted class of 1500 -in MT you are looking at class size of 20 students. So to be on a waitlist is a major accomplishment. Some of my daughter’s closest friends have gotten off of waitlists at BW and UMich and the idea that they are “lesser” is ridiculous. And as @vvnstar wrote everyone is on equal footing from day 1. I have seen kids cast as freshman who came into top ranked programs off the waitlist. I just think that the idea that “they didn’t want me because I was on a waitlist” is bollocks. And I’ve never heard of other students in a program treating newly admitted students as less than because they came in off a waitlist. Just want to give kids waiting out there the knowledge that in my experience it does not make one whit of difference.
Now that my daughter has been accepted off the waitlist, she is talking alot more. She is very confident and went into this whole process taking the “No’s” in stride as painful as some of them were, she took it as “I just didn’t fit” more than “I wasn’t good enough”. She said being waitlisted at a school that she felt so good about really made her question herself as far as “what did I not do in my audition that would have pushed me into a first line yes”. She said that is what had troubled her most over the past several weeks…like she let herself down in some way. That being said, the school itself and the current students did not treat it that way. The call she received notifying her that she was waitlisted was a very enthusiastic “Congratulations!” on this accomplishment. The students she had contact with also congratulated her and encouraged her to hang in there.
The hardest part of being waitlisted at a place that feels like the one, is the just not knowing if you will get that call or not. My daughter’s other choices were definately places she would have been very happy to attend. It was just a slower process embracing them as this one was nagging at her…everything about it just felt so right to her.
It never occured to us that being waitlisted or coming off a waitlist would in some way make her “less than” …the truth is, if that was the case, it wouldn’t be the right place for my daughter to be. All she wants is the opportunity to grow as an artist and as a person in an environment in which she can thrive. It has never been about winning or being considered the best…her journey is an individual one in which she will have the opportunity to train and study to become the best “her” that she can be. She has always believed in herself and doesn’t worry about what others are doing or what they think of her. This whole college audition process wasn’t a validation of ability to her…she already knows that this is what she is going to do. It was about finding her path…and where she would study, live, and grow over the next four years.
As a parent of a Junior attending a school that started as a WL… I can attest that the WL designation disappears once they are in. At this time her year we had visited her top 3 “birds in hand”. It was probably another week from now before she narrowed to her top choice… but then didn’t commit until she heard back from both of her WL (which did come in before May 1. I think she committed on April 29 or 30 - right up to the end.) So while decision making on the “birds in hand” needs to start now… there is no reason to commit before May 1.
@singoutlouise I am not saying as an adult I don’t understand the waitlist i certainly do. Of course I know how difficult it is to achieve anything in this process so yes, to all students reading this, please don’t think I was alluding to it not being an accomplishment or a positive because it certainly is. I just know some kids aren’t getting it. They are offended by it just a bit. It nags at them like @Onourown mentioned.
I will not change my opinion that I feel like the kids need to at least move forward with the process here in April at some point with what their acceptance options are. Regardless of what they are. Mt acceptances, redirects, gap year options, academic acceptances etc.
as to not having to commit until may 1 , yes that is true but I do think doing some decision making in april is helpful for the housing applications, etc.
Out of the three auditioned BFA waitlists my D is on, two of them felt like a huge validation… The third not so much. UMinn/Guthrie and UNCSA notifications came by personal phone call from the director. In no way did they feel like a no or second-best. On the other hand Chapman’s whole procedure left us feeling very differently about the school. Their notification was a general form letter saying how many thousands applied to the school. There was no communication at all from the theater dept. The letter didn’t even say anything about the major or audition. If she were to come off that waitlist I’m not sure she would even care and it had been a top choice school.
“her journey is an individual one in which she will have the opportunity to train and study to become the best “her” that she can be. She has always believed in herself and doesn’t worry about what others are doing or what they think of her. This whole college audition process wasn’t a validation of ability to her…she already knows that this is what she is going to do.” @Onourown
I love this so much -
I hope all our children can feel this way
Apologies to anyone I misinterpreted - I was pretty tired last night.
I guess there are all kinds of waistlists and all kinds of kids. Best of luck to all moving forward!
Has anyone been waitlisted at Alabama (Tuscaloosa)? A friend of my D has been and she says it’s extremely long this year.
FWIW a year away from all this and for us at least we never viewed a WL as anything but a positive, i.e. you are right for our program if we have space. I agree you have to put the WL to the side while you honestly evaluate your other schools.
So what do you do when you get a notice from the waitlist school saying you need to commit by May 1st? We don’t know yet!! And will probably not know anything until after that(unfortunately). It is kinda freaking me out cause I have no idea what to do!!
Not sure I understand your question? You can’t commit to a waitlist school if you aren’t told you are accepted. You will have to commit somewhere by May 1st of course, even if still waiting on waitlists. Can you elaborate?
@momtojoss, you can’t commit unless your child wants to go to that school whether or not the waitlist becomes a yes. I ignored the notices.
@momtojoss We got email from WL school advising D to commit elsewhere by May 1 since the WL school cannot guarantee that it will be able to offer space to or release WL applicants prior to May 1. Just know that you will lose the deposit for whatever school you commit to by May 1, if you choose to de-commit should the WL become a yes.
She’s been accepted to the school but is waitlisted. We won’t know where she is going until that is resolved. I realize I have to commit to her other choice by May 1st. I guess I am confused about what happens if she gets off the waitlist and wants to go to THAT school. Is it still possible since she didn’t commit to the waitlist school? I guess it is. I’m sorry to sound so stupid. The is our first and only college experience and I am working myself into a nervous wreck over nothing I guess! I apologize. That notice just really set me off! And this is why I don’t post because I am an ignoramus!