@songbird17 Syracuse has crossover as well. My son is MT but can also audition for straight plays and acting can do the same for musicals. It was very important to him as well.
Thanks! @milmom2 Syracuse is on his radar!
@songbird17 - There are certain things I never thought of at all when we started this process, that if I had this in my list of requirements, it would have narrowed down my list. #1 - Senior Showcase - This is the showcase where some schools take all of their seniors and put together a personalized show for them that they bring New York agencies in for - and many of them get booked through this. Some schools make students audition for this showcase and only take HALF of their seniors. So, you can go through 3 1/2 years, and then end up NOT getting to be in the showcase that you have waited for. That is really terrible. #2 - Opportunities to perform. Although some schools take very few people to begin with, they still don’t offer them a lot of performance opportunities. They may not allow them to perform at all as freshmen, then take them out for half of the year as seniors. Then they are only rehearsing for Senior showcase - so there is only 2 years they actually get opportunities to perform. #3 - Caring/warmth of the instructors. You will know this in the audition. Will I be able to work with they be abusive to me? We found that teachers show their true colors in auditions. One particular school walked around and sized up the student’s bodies, and then stopped at my D and said, “Bend over!” When she did, the teacher said, “What? You don’t know how to roll down your back?” So, listen closely and audition while they are auditioning you. Sorry to be so negative, but after going through this process, I wish someone had warned me!
A few words about @Fergie978 ‘s post. Re showcase: it isn’t the be-all and end-all, by any means. Not that many schools even do them anymore. For some, it’s their debut for strutting their stuff for industry professionals. For others who spent many hours auditioning in NYC all senior year, like my D, it’s just another chance to get seen and no big deal.
Re opportunities to perform: agreed that this is huge. There is a school that is very popular on these boards that had the kids audition for everything, but cast the same handful of kids every time. I have friends whose kids went there, and they got zero performance opportunities. I think that’s so wrong…how can you learn if you’re never cast? Not at all the case at D’s alma mater, Molloy/CAP21, where the performance opportunities are legendary.
Re auditioning the auditors: another huge agree. But do be aware that not all schools use faculty as auditors.
@songbird17 Ohio Northern University is also a great crossover program. MTs are required to audition for all plays, musicals, and dance shows, and Acting majors are required to audition for the plays (and can audition for everything else if they choose.) This past season, our two studio theatre full length plays were “Angels in America” and “The Wolves” (which is huge right now). Both shows were incredibly exciting opportunities for the students!
@Fergie978 Very wise words for helping to narrow the college list. I will definitely share with my son! Thank you!
@PrincessFiFi Ohio Northern University is on our radar! We live in Illinois and are planning Fall on campus auditions at schools within driving distance. My son likes a program with acting and MT crossover. Those plays do sound exciting! Thanks for the information!
Are there any Ball State parents in this group? Would like to know how much dance is in the BFA MT degree (from the sample plan it looks like you take 1-3 units per semester for years 1-3 and none in year 4) and whether you can be leveled for dance or if all levels dance together. Someone asked a question about this in the Ball State MT thread in 2017, but it has never been answered. Any info would help! TIA
@songbird17 He can do auditions at theatre fest. http://www.illinoistheatrefest.org/
@MTdreamin My daughter starts at Ball State this fall so all I can tell you is we were told you can be moved up in levels to classes for dance majors and add extra dance classes. She is a STRONG dancer so this is important to her and she did talk to other MT students who were able to do this. When she signed up for classes last week the head of the program discouraged her from adding classes in the fall of her freshman year since she already has 17 credits and should be getting used to being in college. Well, he doesn’t know my D haha they have to take ballet and she will be tested the first class and I assume placed higher than level 1 (she has been in ballet for over 12 years) but the problem is the classes have to fit into her schedule which is very full. They basically have classes from 8 or 9 o’clock to 4-6 o’clock depending on the day. (by the way - the 1 credit ballet class is actually over an hour twice a week) Anyway - she wants to add a dance class this semester still but not sure that will happen. Her plan is to take gen ed classes online next summer so she has time to add dance classes for sure next year - she was told she could do that. BTW our cc names are almost the same! LOL I would be glad to keep you updated on how the year goes if want to message me. Her dream school was Point Park and had a great audition there so was crushed when she didn’t get in. Hoping this works out for her…
@GloriaVaughn Yes, he can audition at IL Theatre Fest which he did do as a Junior last year. However, last year he got “fifteen callbacks” which only amounted to visits with schools at their booths. We don’t know if that was because he was only a Junior, but I would be interested to know if any students actually get offers from auditions at IL Theatre Fest, or do the schools just say “yeah we are interested in you now come audition for us, on campus or at unifieds”.
@songbird17 I know of one from the local high school that got an offer there. There are probably others that I don’t know about. I know the hs drama teacher has her students audition there and several went on to become theatre majors in schools within the state. They won’t make offers to juniors since they don’t, at that point, know what they will need over a year away.
^Good to know! Thank you!
@MTdreamz. Thank you so much for the info. That is very helpful. I would be interested to know how your D likes her first year, so I will message you later in the fall, if that’s OK. Congratulations to your D- Ball State seems like such a great school! I hope she loves it!!
@MTdreamin I sent you a message.
@Onourown Just replied! Thank you!
@jessieburnett My daughter is auditioning at these schools-Catawba College, Samford University, University of Tampa, Florida Southern and East Carolina. If you have any information, I would love to hear it!
Hello. You should probably join the 2023 group as well, since this is last year’s group and it seems far less active right now!
@Fergie978 I love your Rider story. My S has an audition for class 2023 they’re in January. Can you tell me how many students were accepted in the 2022 freshman class? Is your daughter still Loving it, and is there anything about the MT program you can share?
Thanks
@collegeboundSam My D has just completed her first semester at Rider and absolutely loves it! Things she loves about it:
- The dance classes: She takes level 3 dance classes as a Freshman, and has the Princeton Ballet head, Mary Barton, as an instructor (who she absolutely loves)
- Private Voice. She says she has grown more in 3 months in vocals than she had in 6 years of privaate voice. Her teacher (and her group voice) are very supportive.
- Monday night master classes: They bring in professional actors, agents, theater and dance groups, and specialized trainers that work with the entire group on special skills and expereinces.
- Proximity to NY and other theaters: She can hope a train from Princeton to NY which takes about 45 minutes. They do this every other weekend when they can! Also, Theater companies come to THEM to auditions! She got the chance to audition for Summer Stock for one theater company and many others are planned for them next semester. Also, the town of Princeton is about 10 minutes away and they do spend a lot of time there because there is so much to do in the town (and it is BEAUTIFUL!)
Your question about class size: They told us they were accepting 30 - 35. They actually accepted 40 BFA in musical Theater. This does not mean they have a large class and no attention. On the contrary, they have many teachers, so actual class size is 17 - 20 per class. Plenty of individual attention and very much detailed in putting students in the right placement for dance classes.
Also, the kids are all very great to each other. They have their own niche groups that they hang out with, but when they get together, they really care about eachother.
One difficulty I have as a parent is that students do not get a lot of opportunities to perform on campus. Their shows this year are very “Tall Girl” oriented (Follies, Assassins, Jerry’s Girls). They also auditioned for two plays, but she wasn’t interested in them. I don’t know why they did that this year, but it put my D out of the running for the musicals. She was, however, the only Freshman who made final callbacks for the summer stock theater company! My D is not worried about this year’s shows, because, she said, she wasn’t really interested in them and the parts weren’t for her. She has a really down to earth attitude and knows that “part fit” is something everyone has to deal with who really wants to be an actor, so it is good she is learning now.
Hope my long-winded answer was helpful. Good luck to your son on his audition!
Laura