@DramaQueen219 you are NOT alone . I could wrote have that post. It was very well written though . Message me I totally get it .
HUGS for you and your D @DramaQueen219. I think everyone here understands how you feel. This is a crazy, stressful process that very few people outside of here can comprehend. I hope you read all of the support here and it brings you a small amount of comfort.
@dramaqueen219, my heart aches for you. I remember reading an article in Dramatics magazine a few years ago about there being “more that one path to the summit” right after a good friends’ very talented daughter received her seventh and last of 6-7 rejections. I remember questioning whether to discourage my D from chasing her dream. I wish I could find the article, but the bottom line was that a BFA program is not a guaranteed path or the only path to success in the industry. My H and I have gotten comfortable with her chasing her dream by getting comfortable with the ideal that there are also many branches off the path that would allow her pay her bills and do what she loves.
@DramaQueen219 you are so not alone…we are all rejections/WL. I have posted this elsewhere, but since we are a very sad household at the moment on lots of waitlists…It is wonderful to hear the happy news of folks that get multiple acceptances. Congratulations–well deserved victory in a brutal process. But lots of very hopeful and anxious kids on waitlists. So can we encourage people who know their decisions to let colleges know…and open up some spots for the waitlisted kids!
@dramaqueen219 Don’t despair as your D’s path is around the corner, it just hasn’t arrived. As many people have said she has three more opportunities coming that could be her BFA path. And to reiterate others on here, the BFA is not the only path to performing in the business, it’s one path. Keep the faith that she (and you) will somehow know what to do in the midst of all this madness.
For our D, last year was a season of truly great auditions, one after the other, she was on a high. Then came a flurry of rejections and redirects, even in one case from a program that did everything but kiss her on the lips. She was in, we thought, and then they redirected her. In the end she did come away with two BFA offers. She narrowed down to one of them and on that campus, after a full day of observing classes, a voice lesson, and meeting with the department, she decided to take a BA redirect from one of the schools that she really liked all along. The BA gave her the ability to focus on performing AND playwriting AND select a second major in Telecommunications.
My point is not to sell you on the BA but to let you know that there are many paths for our SO VERY talented children. Neither our D, nor my husband or I saw this coming last year and yet it was the best decision she could have made. She is so happy in both of her programs and she loves her school. Throughout the process lovely parents such as @bissou told similar stories which helped us all make sense of taking a BA when we had spent two years pursuing the BFA. Through the twists and turns of it all she found her place and her path as will your daughter. Praying for all of you and your students. This month is tough!
Thank you @Wickersham2365 it warms my heart that out of our despair we are able to help others with our story. Because at the time it seems completely hopeless. Our kids are so resilient and end up showing their true selves through this process. Truly harder on us parents than the kids.
@Wickersham2365 amazing story! Such a gutsy move - it has occurred to me to consider a BA at a school she loves (and maybe let’s you re-audition) vs. going to the only BFA school she is not as excited about. Spending a day at the school you THINK you want sounds very important.
@DramaQueen219 NO ONE on here is alone. One of the things this site has shown me is not getting into a BFA program does not mean they do not have the talent and drive they need to live their dream.
Update on Molloy/CAP21: decisions have just started, and are expected to continue until the middle of April. The Recruitment Coordinator, Rebecca Overton, says that if you haven’t heard anything yet, you should consider yourself “still in the mix.”
I just wish my S had some WL’s! Then at least there would be hope.
@DramaQueen219 I do understand the deflation and defeat. My daughter (and I) have been through this twice. She found a place on second time 'round. Not her dream school, but she is making the most of it. When and if you want to hear my thoughts on second attempts, please message me.
@DramaQueen219 I think would be writing the same email if my D were in this position. No judgment. Glad you have a place to vent in confidence. @marg928 recommended I post something I put on a smaller board on the main acting board. I think I might post it here in response to your post, FWIW. It applies to acting and MT. Maybe one of the schools she applied to has a good B.A. program? If so, I don’t think all is lost. Quite the contrary. And, check out the Eugene O’Neill Theater programs (summer and gap year) for MT and Acting. Quite a few seriously famous actors have attended there at some point. And, she is sure to make some connections that way and grow in her skills if she wants to take another go at it next year. Hindsight is always 20-20.
Here is the post
FWIW, I think you and your son have pursued the wisest course among us all. Truly. A BA at an LAC with funding/scholarships is something to clutch your heart about in absolute JOY! My friend from college, who got a BA at IWU says that when she went to NYC to audition and was working at Tisch as a secretary to pay the bills, one of the faculty found out she knew how to stage manage shows (because she was a BA at IWU – not a BFA) and hired her to be a stage manager at Tisch. For that last decade she has been a Director at Renaissance Theater in Milwaukee (which gives priority to plays about women and minorities and hires women and minorities almost exclusively) and she is now the Managing Director at Forward Theater, in Madison, WI. She spent a decade in NYC, acting off Broadway, and never realized the dream she had as an actor (even though our other sorority sister who was a BIO major headed to Medical School ended up to be a very famous, Tony-award winning Exec Producer of many headline BW shows – go figure!). But (and its a big “BUT”), she has acted in many community plays (is such a wonderful actress), hosted a local television show, and more importantly has given so many jobs and opportunities to young aspiring female actors and other actors of color! She always tells me that if someone graduates with IWU theater department on their resume, she will give them a job, no questions asked.
Her counsel to my D has been to broaden her horizons as much as she can as early as she can because the more different kinds of people (non-theater kids) she knows, and the more she knows about other subjects and places, the better an actor she will be. And the BA is the best way to do that IMHO. Training is essential, yes, but there are many ways to get that over the summers, or even by taking a semester off to study in a conservatory type setting.
Yes, my D is probably going for the BFA in Acting at IWU or ELON (still waiting on a few “elite” schools but mostly I think because she wants to finish what she started and she WILL be immediately declining any offers if she gets them to make sure someone else gets her offer), but she picked IWU and ELON because she has some hope of getting a liberal arts education alongside the BFA. She knows, however, that all the other subjects she is so interested in and passionate about (women’s studies, environmental science, sociology, as well as costume design/fine art, and playwriting – all these things she will NOT be able to do more than dabble in with a BFA-Acting track. She will be lucky to fit in a minor in dance and voice to keep her MT dreams alive).
So, I hope you can unclench your hand from your heart, because your son’s path is an awesome one. A BFA is a terminal degree. People do go on to get the MFA with a BFA, but unless its a different area of theater I think its not usually done? I could be wrong. A solid B.A. in theater, without debt, and with a stronger sense of himself and his vision could easily lead to a great MFA at a top tier school like Yale and lead to really great things.
***another Mom more eloquently responded as follows:
I keep coming back and reading your post over and over because it echoes so many things D has said over the years as she’s pondered her future. For example, few years back she realized that having all her social group being people focussed on performing arts was going to limit her acting ability; she needed a wider variety of experiences and examples of “ways of being in the world” (probably an odd thing for someone so young to think about, now that I think about it).
And, yes, the other interests outside of theater, including environmental science, are there. So exciting to read about other kids thinking about these some things! How to effect change in the world, the necessity of story-telling, working in a collaborative manner, the need to examine history and sociology in order to understand the path she hopes to forge – all important to her, and available in either a theater degree or a liberal arts degree.
Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts. I"m so excited for these kids to find each other at their future schools, and start changing the world.
@Wickersham2365! Yes!
We are waiting on OCU as well. My D’s friend who auditioned for MT at OCU got an email today offering her the BFA program, but we haven’t gotten our email. Does anyone know if you don’t get into BFA program, how many do they take into BA Theater program. It sounded like an amazong program too.
@DramaQueen219 I just want to say I would feel exactly the same way. This is a safe place and we try hard to understand and Do understand better than most. Sending positive mojo for the last three. And a Cc Hug.
@MTdreamz out of curiosity what national tour did you see? there are a lot of kids working on national tours from so many schools.
@MTmama17 Cinderella! I go to many of the musicals that come through town and always look at the schools the cast came from and notice the variety of backgrounds - you usually have a few from the top tier (the prince was from CCM) but many other schools are represented, and yes BA graduates! And those that don’t seem to have gone to a college at all! We have been told you can get what you need out of most MT programs as long as you are 100% committed to being involved and take every opportunity to learn and grow.
For those who have been redirected at any school, ask careful questions about crossover opportunities. Some schools allow, but many do not. Or kids are allowed to audition for any student directed show but cannot audition for main stage productions outside of their major. From our tour and conversations my D had with existing students, we got the impression that CMU doesn’t allow Acting majors to audition for MT shows. I’ll admit that doesn’t make sense when you hear that they asked kids who were auditioning for acting to sing. Maybe we misunderstood or they are making changes next year.
If that is true @dramamama2022, that is new. We’ve seen musicals at CMU with acting majors in lead roles. CMU has generally been known for full-flowing cross over casting.
@Noreplays2018 the perfect story and the best advice. So grateful that you chose now to repeat it. I have posted a link showing how many famous alumni who have a BA degree and it has worked out. Its all about the connections and working hard. If you work hard, it will not matter where you go.
@artskids, disregard my comment about CMU not allowing crossover. My D says I’m getting schools confused.