Random question for you all… I was waitlisted for MT at a school very high on my list (Emerson). Do you think it would be worth my while to visit the school for the sake of further demonstrating interest, gathering info, etc? I would want to visit so that I could make an informed decision on the off chance I get off the list - but I have no idea how many were waitlisted and if it’s at all common to get accepted from the waitlist.
My S has now rented three different apartments with three different sets of people and it is always stressful…but mostly for him these days. They do grow up fast in the wild.
@gracemarie I have visited a school I was wait listed at! Happy I did. It made me think more realistically of it as an option in case I came off of it.
@GraceMarie88 I would call and ask about how many kids are on the waitlist. It is usually a small number. Last year my D attended a weekend for accepted students at a top tier school. There were 2 kids there participating who were on the wait list. They are now members of the class. If you have the time and can swing it financially, I absolutely think it can help to show that you have great interest in a program.
@HappyDancer98 @mom4bwayboy and everyone – I too have two boys currently in college, then D applying, and same deal - son #1 didn’t communicate all the difficulties he was having during his freshman year, nor did the college. Although the ramifications seemed devastating at the time – he wound up transferring to a less academically rigorous, better suited to his level school – his “not being saved” by mom/dad intervention taught him a big life lesson about taking responsibility for yourself and will, I think, ultimately prove to be a positive, hard as it was three years ago. Last summer there was another OMG situation with mistakenly signing a lease, knowing he would probably be studying abroad for half of its length – not realizing it was a legal document, etc. etc. He learned from that one too. Still a work in progress… but it has to be.
And son #2, entirely different temperament, has forged ahead and I’ve been amazed at how he has navigated, independently. Complicated applications to programs and internships and things which he accomplished without parental help because he is very goal-oriented. Yet no doubt he will have some big mistake coming up too. Which he will have to solve.
Despite all of our fixations, especially with MT, I think, the four years of college are fleeting, just a blip and you blink and they’re graduating, and they need to be able to fumble through those first few years of adult life minus the “phone call to teacher” equivalents we might be able to make at that time. Not than any of this is easy for us all, sitting by the parental sidelines after so many years of being very involved.
And I’ll definitely admit to invoking the “if I don’t know about it, I won’t dwell on it incessantly” mantra.
That being said, I think all colleges should have a nurturing component, at least with advisors, department offices, housing staff, etc., and faculty who are demanding but caring - which I think the majority are.
And – if any of you have college boys who actually communicate with you frequently: I bow to you! Meanwhile I think I’m going to have to actively wean my D away from texting/phoning me multiple times daily when she gets to college because right now she is inundating me with over-communication!
Wonderful post @rampions
D applied (and was accepted!) for a semester abroad at RADA next year. It was a full application process - forms, transcripts, essays yada yada. She handled it entirely on her own, and we laughed about the change from two years ago!
On a humorous note, D just received notification from Penn State by snail mail today that she did not pass their prescreen. First communication from them on this topic. (I had called to ask, so we knew the result) As of a few days ago her portal had still not been updated(I checked out of curiosity because I wasn’t sure if academic acceptance would be separate) I was shocked that they actually sent the letter dated March 15th saying this. Good thing she wasn’t invited to audition because she would have had to travel back in time to do so!
Colleges can still be nurturing in the sense that they have support in place through advisors, wellness programs and RA’s/ housing that offer services to students. But, in most cases, it is up to students to reach out to get these services. Many schools may have mid-year reporting of grades and if a student is struggling in classes, an advisor will insist on a meeting to discuss the situation. But these services are all in place to help the students and do not include parental involvement.
My D’s would keep me in the loop about things they wanted me to know about, or things that they felt I could help them out with. But I am sure there is a great deal I never knew about, and that is how it should be.
It is doubtful that college faculty are going to treat auditioning students any differently than students that are freshman. So, what you see is what you get. If you feel they are rude or disrespectful, then assume that is how they will treat students regardless of age. If they are warm and nurturing, then expect more of the same for enrolled students.
Most college professors really don’t have a “parents and students are paying big dollars, let’s woo them and show them love mentality” during the admissions process. The vibe is generally turned the other way and is much more about students trying to woo the faculty/ admissions to get an acceptance. When 90%+ of students are rejected from MT programs, the odds are stacked so that you want to show them the love.
Once students are accepted into programs, some schools (especially those with lower yields) might reach out more to try to win students over.
After my incident with Coastal sending me some else’s acceptance letter, I got an email today saying I was placed on the priority waitlist! 10 minutes later, I got an email from Elon saying I was accepted, academically (after getting rejected for the MT program on Thursday). Its been an interesting day 
I should probably explain my email statement… I believe the director at this particular school was letting my husband and I know that some students go to college and never have interaction or an adult to look out for them. She was reiterating the family atmosphere… The email is about what the Musical Theater department is doing.
After having a daughter who struggled in a big state university and we didn’t discover until it was really bad and a horrible situation…Talking to this director made me as a momma feel better!
This is where UArts is a bit (or a lot) different from most other universities. At Parents’ Orientation, the Dean started talking about helicopter parents. People in the audience started chuckling or looking at their partners with wide eyes, expecting her to say that we should not be those helicopter parents. Instead, she said that we should! That, if we had concerns or suspicions at any time and about anything, we should call her office! And, they would contact us if they had concerns, too! What? That’s not what we expected! She went on to explain how her office meets with the counselors weekly, and every student is rated in terms of wellness or risk. Professors/coaches are asked to fill out care sheets about students if they are ever concerned about them or their progress. Those sheets help them rate the students.
We saw this in action when D had pneumonia. I described this before, but, for those who didn’t read about it: On our long drive to the hospital that D was admitted to, the Dean called–at 11:00 at night! She talked to us for a bit and asked if there was anything we needed, including a place to stay. We saw this care from the administration and each of D’s professors in the following days, throughout D’s recovery and afterward (including emails from administration to us).
Now, faculty members have not ever emailed or otherwise contacted us, and I don’t think they would. But, I know that all adults there actively promote counseling and tutoring (stressing that they even have counselors just for honors students and that there are tutors available and heavily used by all levels of students in every single subject, including studio courses, in the college), and that they take their philosophy of individualized care very seriously. Knowing that they are that proactive is a great comfort to me! Knowing, too, that we would be contacted if things started going awry is also a great comfort. With all of these safeguards, the students deal with “normal” challenges themselves, from classroom issues to securing their own apartments… But, they know that they are heavily encouraged to reach out if things get overwhelming or whatever and that adults around them are definitely paying attention. I’m just happy that there are safety nets in place as D healthily develops more indepence.
My d was also wait listed at Emerson. I called and there are 24 kids on the wait list. Not sure if this number is a good thing or not but we’ve been told there is often a lot of movement from the list.
I actually want to say that I have a lot of connections, my high school directors are all MT students at Michigan and almost all of them are on Broadway now. I went backstage with one of them last summer, and I also went to a summer camp taught by a Broadway star but guess what? Waitlisted at two schools only accepted at my backups and rejected literally everywhere else. Connections have NOTHING to do with it. (To the parents who were saying it’s who you know). It truly is, the audition. And even if you nail your audition, it’s still not enough sometimes. But that’s this business. Your child is still talented regardless of rejection okay!!! I’m still waiting on four schools, but I’d be happy at either of the schools I’m waitlisted at so therefore am logging off of this website until good news arises. I only mentioned the connections thing because it’s ludicrous that people think people are accepted to schools just because of connections. And congrats to all of you who are being accepted and all of you with children who are being accepted!
I promise I’m not trying to sound cool or anything I just wanted to give a real life example of how connections don’t mean anything in relation to college admittance hahaha
I promise I’m not trying to sound cool or anything I just wanted to give a real life example of how connections don’t mean anything in relation to college admittance hahaha
Also, one of my friends on Broadway wrote me a letter of reccomendation. No joke. I’m still not getting in anywhere. They don’t weigh any of that higher or lower, they just base it all off the audition.
@allthatjazz12345 Your high school directors are all mt students at Michigan? There’s gotta be a typo there… 
I agree @allthatjazz12345! I’m keeping a good thought for you and wishing you the best!
Nope haha I live in Ann Arbor and they get paid to direct shows at my high school and we become very close with them. They’re amazing. Like out of this world talented. But once again, these connections don’t mean anything while auditioning for schools.