<p>A friend here in the Mid Atlantic region did not receive anything today from NYU.</p>
<p>Mailman arrived. Nothing. Guess we wait until Monday.</p>
<p>My son received his acceptance package today! His studio placement was not included as somebody had previously suggested it might be. He received a talent scholarship which was a small portion of the large tuition! However, it was a scholarship. Does anybody know if the college is at all negotiable on scholarship or grant money?</p>
<p>im going to die!!!</p>
<p>mrsmia, you can certainly call the financial aid office and ask them if they can do better. They sometimes do and they sometimes don’t. One thing NYU often does is to consider enormous loans parts of “financial aid.” 
</p>
<p>But congrats on the acceptance!</p>
<p>mrsmia13, where do you live? Just trying to get a sense of where the auditions packets are heading first.</p>
<p>I’m all the way in Oregon and incredibly anxious, I’m hoping to hear by Monday or Tuesday!</p>
<p>We live in Pennsylvania, in the suburbs of of Philadelphia. We are about a 2 and one half hour drive from New York City. The letter is dated April 1st, 2009.</p>
<p>On a side note; coastal Oregon is beautiful. I haven’t been there in years!</p>
<p>mrsmia, congratulations to your son. It is certainly worth a call to the financial aid office but I wouldn’t count on an increase in scholarship or grant money. Over the years, I’ve seen several students have a certain amount of success in appealing and getting more financial aid than is in the original package but it’s always been added to the loan portion. Usually, you would get somewhere around a couple of thousand more, but it will likely be in loans.</p>
<p>No NYU package today in Virginia! Monday, hopefully! Good luck everyone :D</p>
<p>Well, let me just comment on this whole acceptance thing in my D’s defense. Her entire goal was to get out of California. UCLA and CalArts don’t do that for her. CCM and Emerson do. She is grateful for them, but the place she really wanted to be was NYC, where she feels “alive.” So, the lack of an offer from NYU is quite devastating. She had an image of what she wanted to do and be when she was in college, and so far, nothing. Yes, we know that its not over yet, but she has had several friends get this “invite” and she has not. It makes her (and then me) very nervous. So, we are biting our nails until Wednesday. So, it is more than about the school, or not being grateful for what you have. It is about an idea that may not come true. She wanted to see something else of this country, and that something else was NY.</p>
<p>Chrissy, if your D goes to CCM or Emerson and doesn’t get into NYU (did not realize being in NYC was a major factor and if so, there are other schools there she may have tried like Pace, Marymount, Fordham)…one thing she may wish to consider is to take summer jobs in NYC in theater in some capacity. That way, she’d have a great college program and also get to experience theater related work in NYC over her summers.</p>
<p>Chrissy,
I think you bring up something we all have to remember about this process and our children. We KNOW that any offer on their list can (and will) become a good one in our rational mind. But sometimes we forget that they have their individual dreams and thoughts that have been molded over time and when it seems those dreams might get broken it is devastating. I am not very sympathetic of the child who just wants the acceptance numbers like notches in their belt for bragging rights. That is hurtful to me when there are so many kids with NO choices at all who have to completely rethink this whole process. It is challenging as a parent, for me, to stay optimistic and continue to encourage my daughter about the choices she does have even though they were not where she saw herself. On the other hand, until the next week or so is past and we all know the REAL results it is hard to say much of anything. I am sure your daughter knows that she should be really proud of her acceptances but I understand her position as well. Good luck this week and let’s hope we all see a big NYU envelope in the mail.</p>
<p>Chrissy~
It doesn’t make any sense to me that your daughter would get into those other schools and not NYU. My gut feeling says that she will still receive an acceptance letter. Of course, I don’t want to get your hopes up if it doesn’t happen, but I can’t imagine any other scenario. If she didn’t have the grades or test scores, that would justify it…but with her strong academics, she should get in. But, she must understand that if she doesn’t get in, for some crazy reason, she should never let it break her spirit. She obviously knows that she is smart and talented…very talented…as proven by her incredible acceptances. I have been following this thread and I want you to know that I am keeping my fingers and toes crossed for you guys!</p>
<p>I think it is only natural to have “favorites” on one’s college list. This is even more so if your child has not visited every school and likes the one he/she has seen and can’t compare apples to apples. </p>
<p>My view, however, in a highly competitive college admissions process where the acceptance rates at all the programs tend to be below 10% and sometimes much below that, is that a MUCH better approach is to make sure you like every school on your list, and then have a “favorite pile”, “slightly less favored pile” and so on. I think it is best to not put one’s hopes and dreams into ONE particular school (again speaking of highly competive and selective admissions processes) because the likelihood of that one “dream” school is not great for anyone to come through. One should expect more denials than acceptances in this kind of college process. Thus a rejection, while disappointing, should not be devastating, as the child should have a pile of schools he or she really likes and not one single favorite of all that is a “must have.” The “dream” ideally should be to enter a BFA Acting (or MT) program. No single school really is the end all and be all. </p>
<p>I’ll give some personal examples…D1 applied to very selective colleges, including some Ivy League ones. We knew she had the qualifications to get into any of them. But we and she knew that the admit rates were very low at some of her schools, enough so that highly qualified candidates are turned away (they even turn away perfect SAT scores, valedictorians, perfect GPAs and so on). So, her expectations going into it were not that she’d be accepted. She had a pile of most favorite (had three schools on that pile), a pile of really love the school, and a pile of safeties she’d be happy at and had visited. When she was deferred at Yale and eventually denied (her only full denial), and Yale was one of the schools on her “favorites” pile, she had a moment of disappointment but felt fine and was not devastatd and didn’t cry. She moved on right away. Needless to say, she was very lucky in her process and got into all her other schools and one waitlist (Princeton) but Princeton was not on her favorites pile and thus she got into the two others that she favored, as well as the rest. She did not expect such a great outcome, but lucked out. </p>
<p>I do not agree with tinamey on the point that if your D got into X and Y top programs (and she did), that Z top program will also come through. That is NOT the case in highly selective admissions. It is very very very common for someone to get into Harvard but not Yale, UCLA but not Tisch, CMU but not CCM, Princeton but not Brown, UMich for MT but not Tisch MT, Yale but not Northwestern (the latter example is right on this forum in the past few days on the NU thread). With very low admit rates, all whom are qualified to get in, will not. They will get into some but not others. Each school is also building a class and has different needs that are beyond your control. </p>
<p>Another personal example…D1 applied last year to highly selective graduate schools of architecture. The majority of her programs accepted in the 10-15% range, and some even less than 10%. Like a BFA, there was a major subjective component…a portfolio (not an audition!). Add in that a huge number of the applicants are not straight out of college and have experience and the odds for someone like my D to get in are even less (her own program only took two students, including herself, right out of college). She applied to 10 of the top programs in the country. We felt she was qualified but just hoped that at least ONE would come through. She did not count on any of them to come through. She had a few favorites but had only visited some, not all, at that point. All was not riding, in her mind, on getting into any favorites but rather just getting in somewhere given the very difficult odds. She ended up getting into six and was very lucky but never expected to have choices and she did land at one of her favorites, MIT. But any of the rejections did not devastate her at all. No tears. But I’m sure there was a moment of disappointment. But if you go into it not expecting it to come through, the disappointment is not so great. Each rejection was not a commentary on her talent and abilities. She knew that…she knew the odds. She was realistic about it. She was expecting to not get into the majority of her schools…and not because she was not good enough, but because the odds indicatd very slim chances.</p>
<p>D2 applied to 8 BFA in MT programs. She knew going into it that the odds of getting in were SOOOOO difficult. Very low admit rates to all 8 schools she auditioned at. She also took a chance as an early graduate applying to college as a junior in HS, which some schools may not have wanted to take. She had a few faves on her list but liked all the schools on her list. I will honestly say that since age 12, she had wanted to attend NYU/Tisch but she truly did not KNOW the other schools. But in tenth grade, in anticipation of graduating early, she researched other schools fully. And once we visited them, she came to like some more than she thought and so forth. She found something she liked at all of them as she did not want to put her hopes into a favorite school. It is natural to have favorites but she was not feeling “I must get into X or bust.” Rather, the feeling was, “I really hope I get into one of these BFA programs!..and if I get lucky…I hope I have options.” A rejection was disappointing but just for less than a day. It was not all about getting into one certain school. </p>
<p>So…the point is not really so much…“be happy with what you got”…but more that having expectations that a very very selective school will happen is not realistic in the scheme of things and to go into the process not making “successful outcome” revolve around getting into a particular school. I recall some discussion about your D, chrissyblu, might be devastated if she didn’t get called back or accepted to Juiliard. The chance of getting in is about 1 or 2% there and so nobody should truly be devastated if it doesnt happen because the odds are that it won’t happen and not because someone is not talented enough. Many very talented actors are turned away from Juilliard. Tisch too. And many other of these very selective programs. A rejection at such a program is not a commentary on one’s talent. If someone is closed out of ALL of their schools, then they may not yet be ready for a BFA or else their college list was not well balanced or realistic. But if you do get into one or more programs, particularly a list like chrissyblu’s D got into, that is a very successful outcome and within a realistic expectation. Getting into all the programs or even ONE very top program, is something NOT to count on for even the most talented actors out there. It just has long odds. It is best to go into this process knowing the odds, being realistic with expectations (more rejections than acceptances), and not to put one’s hopes on any ONE particular highly selective school. Have a pile of favorites and make sure to visit them all because you may really love the schools you have not yet visited and just do not realize it yet!</p>
<p>While NYU/Tisch is a wonderful school, it is not the best or most wonderful of all. So, a student can truly be happy and get training at many schools that are just as wonderful. NYC is a fun place to go to school but eventually, all these theater students will likely end up in NYC after four years anyway. NYC is not going anywhere. If someone really wants to go to college in or near NYC, then applying to more schools in that city would increases the odds. But if it doesn’t happen, NYC is a great place for a theater student to work or take an internship in the summers and then move there following graduation. That said…Boston is an amazing city to go to college! I went to college and grad school in Boston and both of my children were very interested in doing that too if it should happen. If your D wants to leave the West Coast and wants a great Northeastern city for college, she would love Boston…most college students do! </p>
<p>Things will work out and this whole college angst will be past and will not take on such importance…this I know to be true…it will be a distant memory and not matter much by this fall when these kids are happily attending a college for theater and doing what they love.</p>
<p>Lastly, as a mom, I know how hard it is to see one’s child disappointed. And college admissions is one time when we can’t control things for our child…it is out of our hands. But we can be there for support and remind them that disappointments happen in life but to look at the big picture and explore what they do have in hand and go visit these options and get excited about all the possibilities to come. This field will be wrought with rejection after rejection…and these kids are gonna have to weather them all. College admissions is just the start of many rejections and many chancy odds. It takes a tough skin and having confidence in one’s self and drive to keep pursuing things in the light of many rejections. I give these kids a lot of credit…and their moms and dads for seeing them through it as well.</p>
<p>It still doesn’t make sense to me. NYU Tisch has an admit rate of about 20-25%. They are accepting 500 kids out of about 2000 who audition. Those aren’t such terrible odds…especially for those who have great academics. Some schools have acceptance rates in single digits. One out of four just doesn’t seem so outrageous. I’m still with Chrissy on this one.</p>
<p>Soozievt</p>
<p>Do you really feel as you wrote above, </p>
<p>“The “dream” ideally should be to enter a BFA Acting (or MT) program.” ?</p>
<p>I just know many students who are in BA programs and loving it. They also choose the BA over a BFA as it was a better fit for their dreams and goals. </p>
<p>I definitely don’t feel the BA is a lesser route. Just a different one. Just as each college choice leads one on a different path as BFAs/BAs vary greatly from institution to institution in curriculum requirements and intensity. The BFA your D2 chose (NYU) is a very different route than a BFA at a college that requires few GEs and the GEs that they do require are not academically difficult. If I have been told correctly, NYU students take GEs two days a week and NYU believes in challenging its students in all areas. And I am sure there are many BAs that are not as academically intense as NYU.</p>
<p>So I would recommend that students look at each college individually and choose the one that best fits them. It may be a BFA or a BA or even a BM. And set your ideal dream to get in to a college that works for them.</p>
<p>Let’s not only keep in mind all of the excellent, and realistic, advice Susan has given, but also that Chrissy’s D has not even received a decision yet! It seems very premature to me to be suffering all this angst.</p>
<p>Enjoy, I’m guessing that Susan made that statement in direct reference to Chrissy’s D who has applied to BFA programs. Susan has made it very clear through the years on CC in many, many posts that she does not consider a BA to be a ‘lesser route’.</p>
<p>EnjoyTheAdventur…I’m so glad you asked that! I surely do not mean that a BFA is better at all! I was speaking to the parent whose child wanted a BFA program and applied to many of them and so I meant that since HER goal was to enter a BFA, that the goal or “dream” should be to get into any BFA if possible, more than one particular one. </p>
<p>I definitely do NOT mean that any student interested in theater should have any BFA school as the goal. To the contrary, I think that BA schools are a very viable path and in fact, are a more appropriate path for some kids. I push BA schools a LOT!!! </p>
<p>I most definitely agree with your statement that some have chosen a BA over a BFA (even having been accepted to well regarded BFA schools such as Tisch) because these colleges fit their dreams and goals better. I know kids who chose Yale, Brown, or Northwestern, for example, over Tisch and had gotten into Tisch. </p>
<p>Like you, I also do not feel that the BA is a lesser route! Just a different path. </p>
<p>Sorry that my statement was inadvertantly misunderstood. I only meant that for a child who ONLY wants a BFA, that the goal should be ideally to get into one or if possible, some, rather than one particular one.</p>
<p>I cross posted with AlwaysAMom, and agree that the outcomes of these admissions decisions are not even out yet. My thoughts were simply about how to approach this whole selective process, and knowing the odds are very chancy.</p>
<p>I hope that chrissyblu’s daughter gets the big fat purple package in the mail tomorrow! </p>
<p>It occurs to me that it’s a shame chrissyblu’s daughter didn’t consider auditioning/applying ED to NYU Tisch, as it is her first choice school. That way, she would have known the outcome very quickly, and as it sounds as if financial stuff (whatever they offer or don’t offer) is not a consideration. ED is a great approach in cases like this.</p>