So how are all of our freshman doing? Anyone have updates to share?
My D absolutely loves school. It makes us feel so good to know that she is in the perfect place for her. Hope everyone else is adjusting and liking their programs.
D is doing great! Loves her program and was cast in her first college show!
For this posting could people list their kiddos college choice:). Daughter, Rider. Loves her performance classes. You can not audition for shows till second semester but she did audition and get a voice over role for a video game:):). Loves being close to NYC.
For my post above^ D is at Coastal Carolina. 
For my post above D is in drama at UNCSA. Loves every part it. Super intense studio hours. No public theatre dept performances for first two years. But so much creativity in classes (theater, speech, text analysis, film, mask, stage combat, voice, dance, etc). There are curricular performances in class and during a two week “intensive arts” interim period between semesters. Amazing faculty - warm and caring. She loves the others in her studio. The film school uses drama kids in student films and even for class film assignments, which also creates some performance opportunities.
stagedoormama, We were late to knowing about Coastal Carolina but that looked/looks like a fantastic program. Yeah for her first casting!!
My D is a freshman BFA MT major at Point Park and is absolutely loving it! We just came back from visiting her for the second time to see their production of Tommy. She’s working on the fly deck. Freshmen don’t audition until second semester but they have mandatory crew assignments. She’s loving the city, her classes, her teachers and her classmates. Special shoutout to @GSOMTMom and her lovely daughter who I got to meet this weekend and who are both sweet as pie!
AAAAWWW, thanks @CTDramaMom! Mom and I enjoyed meeting you, the hubs and the MT offspring!!
@CTDramaMom I missed you by one day. I saw @GSOMTMom’s talented D and cast on Saturday afternoon in Tommy. Not only was the show very well done, but the production value was outstanding. Congrats to all with students involved on and off stage. If you live close or are considering PPU MT this would be a good production to check out next weekend.
My D, who is a freshman MT BFA at Southeast Missouri State (SEMO), also loves her school. She was cast in a staged reading of a new musical that took place last week and in a student film that just finished shooting. She was also cast in the spring musical Big River and the winter opera The Bartered Bride. So, she’s feeling really good about her choice. Her classes have been challenging and she feels like she is really growing as a an actor and singer, but especially a dancer. She said her professors are all really excellent. She loves living on the River Campus with the other arts majors. The new freshman class is rather large, so rumor is that they will be even more selective for the next class, and that some current students will be reassigned to other majors based on how they do in proficiencies. If anyone has any questions about SEMO, feel free to shoot me a PM.
My D is a BFA Freshman MT at Howard University. Howard has been an awesome fit for her. She absolutely loves it. She isn’t able to do shows this semester because she’s required to take technical production. So she’s learning lighting and sound along with her dance, acting and vocal classes. Tech is intense and takes up a lot of her time. So she misses out on things that other majors are able to take advantage of. But hey isn’t that the world of theatre. She’s been living that her whole life. Lol! She will be auditioning for the spring musical however. She loves her classes, she loves that she gets to collaborate with her fellow students on smaller projects and she loves that celebrities in the business will come and provide advice and master classes. She also loves D.C. She is growing so much and I am absolutely filled with joy as her mother to see her doing so well.
Daughter is a freshman at Coastal Carolina and a classmate and new friend of @stagedoormama 's daughter ! Best comment I have heard so far from mine is " mom, my classmates are sooooo talented!" She feels very strongly that she chose wisely and says the program is challenging, which is what she was looking for. Said the amount of talent around her really raises the bar. Many of her classmates had multiple acceptances to amazing programs and chose Coastal. Freshmen MT majors are required to audition for shows and many shows appear to be cast with a combination of acting and MT students. They immediately bonded as a group and appear to all get along and encourage each other. PM me if anyone’s student would like a contact there- she did that at many colleges last year and got the real info from current students…
Fun to see updates! Glad to hear Matthew didn’t wreck havoc at Coastal - I was thinking of you all! (I have fam in the area)
Looks like we survived dropping kiddos off at school and adjusting to life without MT kid? It was a tough mom adjustment for me - still getting used to it, really. It’s too quiet in our house.
My daughter is loving BW and settling into her new routine well. The class of 2020 is really close, the upperclassman are super supportive, and the parents are great mentors to us newbies!! My favorite comment so far has been “Sore is my new normal!” She’s never danced this much, plus tries to get a workout in now and then. Freshman do audition and some have been cast in the Fall and Winter shows. She’s loving the small campus - nearly everything is 5 minutes away…except Cleveland…it’s a little further! But, freshman can have and do have cars! Very busy schedules and some fun in between! Life appears to be good. I’m happy to answer questions too if I can - but I still feel like a rookie!!
My D is loving life at NYU Tisch and her Stella Adler Studio mates. She has made friends w/students in pretty much all the other studios, w/several in NSB (the MT studio) and Playwrights specifically. She said everyone seems to have been perfectly placed in the studio where they were assigned and she does not regret not being placed in NSB, even though when we started this journey, she was all MT, all the time. Now that she feels pretty well settled in the city & comfortable managing her time, she will take voice lessons through Steinhardt in the spring to make sure her voice stays in shape. I can already tell she is growing as an actress in ways we hadn’t really anticipated.
Living in NYC has been a dream for her. The opportunity to see quality theatre virtually every night of the week is amazing, and the hands on crew opportunities are pretty cool as well - she was selected for a Stage Management seminar in her theatre production class that might offer the opportunity to call an actual broadway musical before the semester is over. I don’t think she expected to like the management aspect as much as she does.
I am adjusting to her being there better than I thought I would, but some days it’s very surreal to think just one year ago we were deeply engaged in the audition process and hoping she would end up someplace completely different than where she did! Glad to hear so many others are having good experiences so far.
@WTXMom I second that about how last year at this time the “dream” was different than what many ended up wanting by the end of the audition process. Funny how things change. I am grateful how it worked out for my D as she found her perfect fit. It just isnt where she thought it would be when she started the process. So glad others found their fit too!
@CTDramaMom My D just auditioned this month at PP for both Acting and MT. These were her best audition experiences ever! The auditors for both programs engaged her and made her feel like they really cared.
I have got to say that the highlight for ME was the student panel Q & A. I can’t tell you how impressed I was with the students who shared their experiences and what they were doing in their respective majors. (Maybe your D was among them?)
Those students were just so happy! Yes, they admitted it was a lot of work, but every one of them loved it and loved their professors! Their motivation to be their best was so evident! Before visiting, I wasn’t terribly excited about Point Park - mainly because I had never heard of it. Now, PP is at the top of my “hope it happens” list for my D. I know she would fit right in and thrive there!
I’m so glad you and your D had a great experience there. I don’t think mine was part of the panels; she’s only a freshman, and I think they have more upperclassmen doing that. I can say that she it totally happy there. Like you said, lots of work but loves her teachers and her fellow students. And it’s definitely a school that is on a lot of people’s radars. Pittsburgh is a great city; not quite as frenetic as NYC but still with tons of stuff to do and lots of arts and culture. Fingers crossed for your D and if she gets in and has questions about the school, feel free to PM me.
@CTDramaMom Thank you so much for responding my post! I’m thrilled that your D is doing so well at PP!
Almost all the students on the panel were second semester freshmen. One was a sophomore stage management major and one was a junior dance major. I think that most upper class students may be too busy to do these events. All of the student panelists were part of the apprenticeship program so this was part of their work-study duties. If she gets in, my D definitely wants to do the apprenticeship or other work study – so it was good see that these students were allowed to do that.
A few days ago, a BFA acting student started emailing my D offering to answer any questions she might have. My D doesn’t remember specifically meeting this girl, but it was very nice of her to reach out to my D.
Thanks for the offer to PM you. You may be hearing from us mid March if my D gets accepted!
@CTDramaMom and @GSOMTMom do either of you know how heavily the dance portion of audition is weighted for Point Park? And do you know if auditor really (REALLY!!) seemed to like my kid’s vocal/monologue audition at unifieds if that is a good sign or a great sign or no sign at all? I know we will find out in one month but…