jusmom

My daughter was priority waitlisted for MT last year. No one was taken from the priority waitlist, however. Fortunately, she had a number of other BFA MT acceptances and is now at a program she loves. The month or so between the priority waitlist letter and the May 1 deadline for accepting at other schools was very tough as CMU was her first choice. From my perspective, the only benefit of the priority waitlist status was that she knew and still knows that they thought enough of her audition to see her in their well respected program.

nash24

Well there is one MT girl accepted at CCM and CM who has posted conflicting statements on the Facebook for each program as to where she is going. So, if she does not go to CM, that is one spot for a waitlist girl. Did I read previous threads correct that you do not know if you are a waitlist until you receive a letter around 3/24?

letsfigureitout

Don't know for sure, but ALL acceptances/rejections for ALL of CMUs undergrad programs go out on the 24th. I assume that for DRAMA that means you'll get some sort of status update in that mailing. I have a friend who reads apps for CMU--not DRAMA, though--and she confirmed that letters go out on the 24th. I neglected to ask her about the waitlist situation.

Garool

Hey guys, I talked to the CMU office on Friday and they told me that all letters go out Monday. I also got in contact with a guy on facebook who got accepted and he got a call too. It seems like my chances are just about zero at the moment, but I hope I can get onto the wait list. Not that I have much hope that this will mean I could still be accepted, but it would mean a lot to me if they considered me good enough for that. Anyway folks, whatever happens we'll be able to shut the books by the end of the next two weeks at the latest. I don't know about you and your daughters/sons/cousins/what have you, but I will be glad to lay this to rest. The stress and anxiety is just too much.

nicoleace

So, i talked to a current freshman at CMU and asked him how many girls they were accepting apparently the grand total is.. five. i think that is ridiculous

soozievt

Considering there are approx. ten in the BFA in MT program per year, five girls is not a surprise. Know this information before applying. Find out all that you can about each school you are considering. The odds of getting into the BFA in MT program at CMU are about 2%. Nobody can count on that, no matter how talented. There are more than five girls who meet the criteria each year. So, those are the odds. Again, plan accordingly.

Tranquil

What might be helpful for future applicants is to have an understanding of the profiles of students who have been accepted into the CMU acting and MT programs. What do their resumes look like? Although the odds seem daunting(and the odds at many of these schools seem daunting), many of our children apply anyway with the thought that they have at least a slim chance. Perhaps a better understanding of who is actually accepted will help applicants make more informed decisions.

MTgrlsmom

Tranquil - I am sure that more people will jump in here, but unfortunately I don't think that you ultimately will be able to really get a whole lot of guidance from someone's resume. You will find that those accepted at CMU come from a very diverse backgrounds, those with extensive performing backgrounds, and those with hardly any credits. One thing they all have in common is that they are all very talented .

When my D auditioned, some of the current students made comments about her resume (extensive), and some even said how they had barely any credits when they applied. They obviously were accepted however and so limited experience does not necessarily mean one should rule out applying if CMU is the right fit. It is important on the other hand to be aware of the extremely slim odds, especially in MT and as soozievt says, plan accordingly.

NotMamaRose

What MTgrlsmom said. Resumes will, in general, tell you almost nuthin'! The teachers there, like teachers at any program, know what they are looking for and when they see it, they take it. It's worth noting that, at CMU, acting is the main skill/talent they are looking for, but that in and of itself won't tell you much. (I know of kids who are primarily singers who were accepted there for acting, for instance.)

nash24

When you review where certain students were accepted and rejected, it seems to tell you that talent counts, but the schools really are trying to fill a particular need they have. One young man is accpeted to CCM, rejected from Syracuse. Another is accepted to CCM for MT, but only accepted to Ithaca for acting. (Was his voice that different?) There are many other similar instances where you wonder if the student did not look as talented for one school as opposed to the other, or the school had a particular need to fill. Also, I guess diversity does come into play--the only students who seem to get accepted practically everywhere are non-whites. That is not politically incorrect--just a fact, which is confirmed by the Facebook comments of such students who confirm their belief that they did have an edge because of their race.

nydancemom

nash24 your post IS offensive and also untrue. I could name several kids that I know of personally who have had MULTIPLE acceptances to top programs,thus "getting in practically everywhere"and "diversity" had nothing to do with it. I hope your D does not share your opinions and does not end up at school with my ethnic daughter.

letsfigureitout

I will chime in here to say again that you will never know what CMU is looking for. . .We know of a student who was admitted to CMU (in the past) with almost no resume for acting/MT, and we know of a student who was admitted who had performed continuously since grade school. Neither of these students attended a performing arts high school, and neither attended summer prep programs at CMU or elsewhere. Further, it seems that there were kids at the summer program in the past years who received RAVE reviews on their performance in class and at auditions who were not accepted (either at the end of the summer or during the regular audition cycle) and other kids who were told they needed to work on this or that who were accepted (either at the end of the summer or during the regular audition cycle). Does that make sense? No. It is never going to make sense, probably because they're looking for something that is not define-able AND they're trying to put that ensemble together!

MomOfAPrincess

It may be true that some applicants to the most sought after schools auditioned without many credits but I agree with Tranquil. I have seen the backgrounds of several of those accepted and frankly I am totally shocked. Ignorant me had the impression the pool consisted of a bunch of kids across the nation that probably all were the leads in their local schools and community theatre. The resumes I have seen are WAY more impressive than that - like I am talking Equity members. There is nothing wrong with that - I admire that people like Brooke Shields and the Olsen Twins seek a college education. But my point is I wish we had known the level of competition.

beachmom24

So letters were supposed to go out Monday....I've yet to hear of anyone receiving anything. I would think by today they would start showing up. My son got nothing today...how about everyone else?

MTgrlsmom

Just for the record, please know that even those kids with the most extensive backgrounds, and Equity cards to boot, do not always get accepted to the top programs (some examples were posted here on CC some time ago). It really all depends what a particular school is looking for, something, as we all know, is rather difficult to put your finger on.

Being aware that this is a competitive process and preparing for the worst case scenario, applying to "safety schools" and not so competitive schools, definitely helps to avoid disappointment.

If you look at some of the kids who have been accepted to multiple "top programs" you will see that, and this goes for even those with Broadway credits, they applied to some not so well known programs as well (others also applied to regular Ivies, but we are not talking about that here). All this implies that even those with "tons of experience" are not so sure about where and/or if they will get accepted.

I have to say too though (and totally "seconding" MomOfAPrincess here) that, no matter how prepared I thought my D was (thanks to CC), and how she met some really talented peers over the past couple of years at summer programs, I personally was still quite stunned at the level of competition this year, and D definitely counts her blessings.

I understand that MT applications are way up this year, and so there is not only the "other talent" one is up against, but also "the numbers" that define the ultimate odds.