Tanaquil

Thanks for all the replies!!

So now that I've heard the good and the bad about this school, I still like it. My audition is at the end of this month and I'm VERY VERY excited!!! Is there any advice someone could give to make sure I'm completely prepared? This is my #1 school, so I REALLY want to nail this audition...

So do they let you know on the spot if you're in or not, or do you have to wait for them to send you an official letter?

The only thing I'm worried about now is if I am accepted to the BFA MT program is that I won't progress suficiently in the dance aspect. I've only been dancing for 3 years, so I'm not exactly the best but I work REALLY hard, I swear! haha. So at least I have that going for me. Everything else I've been doing for a long time and I have noticed significant progress in my acting and singing every year because I'm dead serious about musical theatre so I work my hardest to become the best I can.

JMPOnstage - I sent you a message

DisneyDirector

Tanaquil:

They let you know that day where they feel you fit into Millikin - whether it's the BFA MT track or BA Theatre track (where the only difference is the concentration of gen ed courses vs. performance courses). My daughter was one of four kids out of about 20 who auditioned on February 2nd who was admitted to the BFA track. The head of the dept. took all four into one room and congratulated them and then gave them feedback from the judges on their auditions - their strength and weaknesses. She was the only one of the four who was a strong dancer - so the dancing weighs in as how hard you try at the combination rather than being a proficient dancer at this stage of your career.

Best of luck with your audition! The kids were very, very nice and intelligent and well spoken. The campus is beautiful (Decatur itself leaves something to be desired).

CAST MOM

Tanaquil--my d auditioned there a week or so ago and was the only one of 7 auditioners to be admitted to the BFA MT track. To help prepare you I wanted to let you know that you will audition in front of the other kids. This can throw some people a curve so just knowing it ahead of time should help. We went to the school with preconceived ideas...we were not prepared to like it but my d and I really liked it. The current students were friendly and honest and encouraging and like Disney Director pointed out, very intelligent and well spoken. The school's facilities were nice...and as others have pointed out the town itself is a bit lacking but overall we were very impressed.

Tanaquil

Thats great to hear, thank you very much for your input! I think I'm going to be really adequately prepared for the audition (mine is on March 31st) so now I just have to go there and do my best

DisneyDirector

As things are finally winding down in the process I wanted to take this opportunity to put in a plug for Millikin as future prospectives make their lists. I had the chance to spend some real quality time on the campus and see classes, rehearsals, talk with professors and students and look hard at the facilities and I have to say that I am very impressed. I got to see many of the students perform and did not find a weak one in the bunch - in fact, I would hire many that I saw. They were strong vocalists as well as (and this is important to me) strong actors. They were all very professional to boot and were genuinely nice.

I have a director friend who is working with the students at Millikin on three new musicals that are being workshopped at the school. The writers travel from Chicago and New York to work on the pieces - giving the kids new material every visit. It is a great experience for these students and a valuable skill to hone. Not all performers - no matter how talented - have the skill required to do these kind of readings. I actually had the opportunity to do the exact same thing with a musical that I wrote. It was workshopped for two weeks at one of the "top" programs on this site. While I had a great experience, I have to say that I was not overly impressed with the students at the time. They were lacking in a strong work ethic and had a sense of entitlement that did not work well in a high pressured situation such as this. My point in bringing up this experience is to reinforce the idea that there are some wonderful programs out there that don't have the reputation (yet) of the top ones but should be taken very seriously.

My advice is to go to the schools. See productions. See the level of talent and the result of their training. Don't rely on YouTube. Talk to the professors, etc. There are many many great programs out there. Do your research and don't get caught up in the labels.

kelsee422

I think you sat in on my rehearsal....on Wednesday? So you must know Lori or Kevin? I am an SM for one of the new musicals...

I'm glad you enjoyed your visit!

DisneyDirector

kelsee422: we did sit in on the rehearsal. I know Lori. We were at the Lincoln Center Directors Lab together a couple of years ago.

The rehearsal was great. Very well run. A hard piece musically to conquer.

My D is very excited to be coming in the Fall. Thanks for saying hi!

Mom2incollege

I would not recommend this school. My child is in the theatre program(not acting) and they have had new teachers every year. The students can not learn when they have someone new all the time. This place is very disorganized and do not like students to have jobs. The teachers that they have had have been verbally abusive and do not take the time to really teach the students much. With room and board this school cost about 28,000 per year (it does go up every year) and it is not worth a dime. It is in the most dangerous neighborhood. My child's first year in school the students were held up in their dorm rooms (the doors do not have peek holes and since there are "security doors" you don't think to ask who's there). This school says that 99% of their students have jobs within 6 months of graduating, but it is no thanks to the school. When you go to the career center they say you need to see your department for jobs in your field. When you go to your department for help they say check the web page for you field. They really do not aide you. They also do not have placements for internships during the summer (like Wesleyan does). When you graduate you have only a couple of shows under your belt and you are hardly ready for the cold hard world.
Do not waste your time in Decatur Illinois, find a safer neighborhood for your children.

DisneyDirector

While I appreciate the fact that you have a child at the school, this post seems to be all over the place. At first it seems your concern is with what would seem to be unbalanced tech training. Then it jumped to safety - I have a professor friend there and she would never allow my daughter to attend if the area was truly as 'dangerous' as you make it out to be. Then your post jumps to post graduation work. And then you hit us with only a couple of shows after four years - is that from a tech stand point?

I will certainly look into the safety issue but this kind of post is not beneficial to prospective students. It is inflammatory and comes off as bitter instead of helpful.

kelsee422

As a student there myself, I'm going to address some of these things...


1) New teachers: Yes, we have gotten several this year. It's not ALL THE TIME...this is the first time we've had such a turnover in faculty in several years.

2) Jobs: I have 4 jobs (2 work study, 2 off campus tutoring/babysitting and restuarant gigs), so I am not sure if I believe that. If you can get your work done, they don't say much.

3) Verbally abusive?: I could see that from some people.

4) Safety and Security: While our Office of Safety and Security is really only successful at giving parking tickets, this statement really is not far from the truth. A girl was almost raped in front of their office once, gunshots around the outskirts of campus are heard often, lots of random vandalism to cars, etc. But it's not any more dangerous or shady than any other town of Decatur's size. If you use common sense, it's fine, like walking with someone at night, etc.

5) Jobs after graduation: I don't know anything about that yet. But if you're a theatre major of any kind, you have to learn to sell yourself anyways.....

6) A couple of shows after four years?: That's CLEARLY not true, there's lots of opportunity, you just have to put in the effort to do something. I'm in my second year here (I'm a junior, I transferred here after my freshman year) and I have worked on multiple aspects of several shows.

Like I've said before, I go here, ask me, I'll tell you straight up.

6)

mama02girlz

Mom2incollege-
You are certainly "in the know" as your child goes to Millikin. I, too, can attest to several things that you say. My D is a junior at Millikin. Last year a group of Millikin students living in an apartment two doors from the edge campus had a party. It was crashed by some guys who turned out to be locals and gang members. When asked to leave, the guys pulled guns out. Luckily no one was hurt, and the cops showed up before all of them escaped. They were arrested, but Millikin chose to make the students move out of the apartment at the advice of the police, for fear of gang retaliation. (Several of the gang members were still at large.) Decatur is NOT a safe place.
A professor was held up at gun point leaving a school building last year. I think it was the science center building.
Attacks are not uncommon. D knows of several, personally.
My D will not walk anywhere, not even in broad daylight. Students have been warned by the college not to even walk to the Kroger at the corner. For those who don't have a car, its impossible.
I can attest to the professor situation. My D has had several profs who have been verbally abusive to other students in her classes. I am certainly not impressed and my husband and I feel that in many ways we have wasted our money. At this point we just want her to get a degree.
D has professors who have showed up to class stoned and/or drunk, one prof who "doesn't hold Friday classes because he doesn't want to" (this was a MWF class). One language professor speaks the language she teaches so poorly that the classes are basically a waste. (A native speaker told my D that she could NOT understand this teacher and that my D should stop wasting her time with this prof.)
Yes, the faculty changes constantly. My D basically chose this program because of their strong dance. The ballet teacher that attracted her is now gone. Luckily Sean is still there. Look for yourself on ratemyprofessor.com. You can't find many that have taught for many years, and the reviews that I saw are terrible.
Recently it was announced that the dean of students was fired. Look on youtube and you can watch it AND believe it, the kids were protesting. I don't know what the circumstances are, but all the students seemed to really like this guy.
Several of my D's professors talk about each other to students constantly, recounting personal stories, then appear to be best friends in class situations-very unprofessional.
Millikin DOES cut. One boy was cut, this year, in his senior year of the BFA program. The reason? They didn't like the "choices" he made as an actor in the show. WHAT? Yes, it's the truth, told to several students right from his mouth as he left the meeting where he was told.
The MT class of 09 began with over 30 MT's. After the first year it was much less. There are now 5 or 6 but one is very unhappy. These kids were not "slackers" etc. Some of those cut have been hired professionally, several times, at various very well paying summer jobs.
D made it through hurdles freshman year although one teacher tried to get her cut. Several other faculty members totally disagreed with this teacher, one saying D was her strongest student. Sophmore year, this same person called her in and told her that they would be re-examining her. By this time she knew the situation as she had seen many of her classmates go thru it. She decided she didn't need to deal with this person anymore and changed majors.
Several of the profs could at one time be seen on facebook partying with underage students. I have personally been shown these pictures by my D's roommate.
I think I have an idea why mom2incollege's post jumps around. There is so much to be unhappy about that you dont know what to bring up first.

kelsee422

Yes, you make a lot of good points as well...

And I think I may know your daughter....because I have heard these stories told very similarly before. I'm sending you a PM.

snoggie

I was trying to decide if I should say this, and I have to admit the anonimity of the forum gives me an excuse...

At a different school, my D was VERY publically scolded for a (ignorant, yet unhurtful) mistake she made. She had already been scolded privately and had apoligized. It was referred to again (publically) at another time. The prof had berated her constantly before and after that, actually from the time she got there. He had been a student at Millikin. Perhaps that is where he learned his teaching style... from poor modelling. He certainly treated others poorly as well. He did treat some very well, too.

In some ways, reading the above threads kind of make me go... ah ha!

Thanks for some room to vent a little!!!
Snoggie

DisneyDirector

This is VERY upsetting. Why is this kind of information coming out now - AFTER the May 1st deadline. If this was known why wasn't it said before? I am beside myself now and have NO IDEA what to think or how to advise my daughter. NOT a good day!

DKMom

Ugh. Well I sure wish this would have come out earlier as well, especially the part about security in the area. In our visits to campus it appeared to be an unsafe environment but I didn't want to jump to stereotypical conclusions. The posts on this board never indicated it was a problem and so when the financial aid packet came through we committed.

The good news is we hail from Los Angeles CA so D is not naive about gang neighborhoods and being 'alert' at all times, but we left LA because of it so her 'skills' there have been lax for several years now. We'll just have to have a refresher talk on the subject, it seems.

My D also knows there is no such thing as a long-term commitment to any university and she's used to diversity and the struggles which come with being a minority. We'll give it a shot for the year. If she wants to stay she can, if she doesn't then we'll do the audition dance again next Spring to find a place to transfer into. Besides, she's looking for the opportunity to focus on dance, singing, acting enough to do better at the auditions anyway. She'll make the most of Millikin in those areas her freshman year and we'll reassess the situation.

Still, I do appreciate the honesty here, even though it's late in the coming.