Hi, my sone will be attending as a MT major for the class of 2023. Are there any other Stage and Screen students or parents on CC forum. I’d love to chat.
Hi, I’d love to hear from parents at Western Carolina! My daughter is auditioning for the MT program next month. I am trying to figure out travel arrangements… thinking we need to fly in on Friday to Spartsanburg SC. It looks to be about 2 hrs from the airport, so I will need to rent a car. Not sure how difficult it is to get to campus; we will probably get a hotel near the airport since we leave at 6:15 am Sunday.
Hi, my son is in his second month as MT at Western. Asheville airport is alot closer if you can find a flight there.Allegiant air has really cheap flights, depending where you are coming from. The airport is about 40 minutes from campus. The school is absolutely beautiful, and is in the middle of the mountains. It is remote. The nearest town is Sylva, where the hotels and Walmart, etc…exist. So far he loves the program. As a freshman he cannot audition for mainstage FALL productions, but can audition for the spring. BUT, there is also opportunity abounding. He was just cast in the 5 minute directing play festival and is also cast in a senior play that is being done off campus at a local theater. He also can join the private dance group on campus run by Ashlee , the head of the MT department, but he chose to wait one year until his dance is better. He loves his acting , voice and dance classes, and I have seen an improvement in his vocal work already. The big benefit of the school is the price and size. It is really cheap for out of state ($5000 per year tuition and the MT has only 12 students per year. My son was originally waitlisted and got accepted in late March. He chose this over some other big name schools due to the “welcoming” atmosphere of the student body in the department, and has never looked back. It’s a really nice school. Terrance Mann is coming in to direct the spring musical, Bring it on, but word is that his time as “distinguished professor” is over and he will be leaving next year.They are looking to bring in a new “high caliber” name for the Fall. Possibly Hunter Foster, who directed Beauty and the Beast last Spring down here. As an aside, my son is from NYC area, and is one of the few from the Northeast. He loves that he is unique and says the kids respond to him really well and not an “outsider”, not being from the south.
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@collegeboundsam I am interested in Western Carolina but I have to do a remote audition - do you know if anyone actually gets in through a video audition?
Hi, interestingly enough, we could not make the live audition due to conflicts with other schools that did NOT have remote auditions. My son WAS waitlisted off the remote audition and then on April 4th was pulled off the waitlist. He is presently in the BFA Musical Theater program and loving it. If you CAN, visit the school. It is very remote, and turns off a lot of people, but that makes it really special. They have a spring audition I believe if you can coordinate that. But to answer your question, YES, he was accepted off a remote video and is attending. There are 12 MT students for his freshman class.
I just came back to Cc for the first time in a while, searched for Western Carolina, and remembered that I had already posted here! My daughter is actually auditioning today. We walked around in Asheville last night (where we’re staying… closest Marriott chain as far as I could tell) and she loved the area. Looking forward to exploring campus a bit after the audition, and seeing “Urinetown” tonight!
If a your son is available, we’d love to buy him a cup of coffee and hear about his experience so far. Particularly interested in how hard it is to get around, what students do in free time, residence life, etc.
I would love to hear your thoughts on the experience!
So I received my “wait list” email today which I was expecting since I can’t audition live and had to do a remote audition. I will consider it an early Win, since I didn’t think I would be accepted from a remote audition - at least not as their first choice : )
That’s great. Just FYI, my Son received the waitlist around the same time after we had to do a remote, and after “bugging” them a few times, they sent him an acceptance letter in early April. He is loving the experience there. Urinetown was amazing, and the kids showed a lot of talent and training.
Hi, so sorry I missed your email. I attended Urinetown and really enjoyed the show. It showed a lot of talent and training, and most importantly, individual creativity. Love to hear what you thought of the show after auditions. My son is loving being there. He is really busy now, doing freshman auditions in a week, plus working on three separate independent projects (1 film, 2 plays). He says he can barely have time to sleep (and loves being busy). Getting around is really tough to the airport. It costs about 150.00 to get to Asheville airport since there is a real lack of transit system there. He has friends who have cars (mostly upperclassmen) who take him into Sylva for burgers, Walmart, etc…).So he has never complained about the remoteness. He actually really likes it since he grew up in NYC. I guess the small town vs big town attraction works opposite when you come from the big town. All in all, I really like the school and think it has done well by him in his first semester. and you cant beat the tuition. If you do go, request a dorm early, and a good one, as there are bad dorms and really nice ones (He is in Blue ridge honors - really really nice)
Hey, I am going to post a repeat comment I added to another mom for you. " I attended Urinetown and really enjoyed the show. It showed a lot of talent and training, and most importantly, individual creativity. My son Sam is loving being there. He is really busy now, doing freshman auditions in a week, plus working on three separate independent projects (1 film, 2 plays). He says he can barely have time to sleep (and loves being busy). Getting around is really tough to the airport. It costs about 150.00 to get to Asheville airport since there is a real lack of transit system there. He has friends who have cars (mostly upperclassmen) who take him into Sylva for burgers, Walmart, etc…).So he has never complained about the remoteness. He actually really likes it since he grew up in NYC. I guess the small town vs big town attraction works opposite when you come from the big town. All in all, I really like the school and think it has done well by him in his first semester. and you cant beat the tuition.