Thank you so much Laura. Your comments and opinions help a lot. Going into this audition, we have 2 BFA acceptances from 2 schools that admit a smaller class, Catholic U and Nazareth in Rochester. So I am still apprehensive a bit about him being part of a larger group of 30. His dance skills are medium at best, but his vocals and acting are top notch, so I’m sure he will be in lower level dance IF accepted. I am concerned about performance opportunities, and am an advocate for practice in performance. So I’ll definitely ask a lot about that when we go to Rider on January 12th. He loves acting, so doing plays if locked out of musicals is a positive for him.
Thanks so much.
-Kevin
@collegeboundSam - Just my 2 cents. The MT programs that have more than a dozen students usually divide them up into smaller cohorts or subgroups. My D’s program has 65 students but her classes are taught in groups of 16. When we went to Parent’s Day I was knocked out by the breadth and depth of expertise of the teachers who were employed by the MT program and I don’t question she’s getting personal attention. I think large school/small school makes a huge difference to most students and some actors may really want a small acting cohort but I wouldn’t assume that a class of 30 means your S will get half the attention he’d get in a class of 15. 
@CaMom13 , thank you for your reassuring comment about large classes. May I ask you, what school has a MT class of 65? I never heard of one in all the applications we have been putting in. I wish most schools would be that way, so as not to have the selectivity and disappointment of most schools that accept only 12-14…
@collegeboundSam my D is at NYU and the MT studio there (New Studio on Broadway sometimes called NSB) has 60-65 students in every grade. I think Boston Conservatory has about the same number. They are both still pretty selective but I do think the bigger programs are able to accept a wider variety of students because they don’t have to winnow their list down to a handful. AMDA is kind of at the far end of that spectrum - they have a very large pool of students and have a reputation for being less selective than most for admission… but a lot of talented and successful artists went there! The flip side of all the admission stress is that most of the applicants do end up in a program that fits them - it sounds like your S already has several good choices and so you can relax a little and know that where ever he feels most “at home” is probably going to be his best fit.
@collegeboundsam I’ll add…my son is in a program that has 34 students. (Freshman) They split them up quite a bit. His vocal tech class was only 6 students, acting studio was 11, if I remember right, and dance was about 1/3 of the class.
Have not posted anything in a while, but we have a TRANSFER. My D started attending a school that she loved. Beautiful campus, warm weather, great roommate, fantastic first year acting professor, etc. You know, all the things you want your kid to say. She felt it was a good fit for her, isn’t that what they are told to look for. What they do not tell our kids, however, is that your they need to find a place where they are a good fit for the program. This is where she felt there were issues. Also, having to evacuate for three weeks because of a hurricane after only being on campus for three weeks, did not help. So, she was able to transfer to her second choice, but really her 1B choice. She loved both.
Therefore, here are some things I’ve learned as a parent.
- It is okay to have a transfer. It does not mean failure.
- They need to fit the program, not just the program fit them.
- If they learn best by "doing" and not just "training", then a place where they can "do" is a great thing.
- Weather does not matter. It is cold here and not warm.
- It is a great thing when the professors know your kids name, know your name, acknowledges you as a parent and spends time communicating, is exciting about your kid, they are not just a number.
- The process has made her evaluated herself (inner self).
For any one wondering. Going from Coastal Carolina Acting to Nebraska Wesleyan MT/Acting.
Hello again! Thanks so much for sharing. It’s great to hear the transfer story with a positive ending. We try so hard but some of these things are hard to know before they experience it directly.
Kudos to your daughter and you for making the move and sharing your story.
Would love to hear more transfer stories! Good luck to your daughter @StewNChelle !
Is anyone else’s kid questioning their decision to major in MT? Mine is. I think she’s scared that she will get the degree and not get any parts when she’s done. Also, the demanding nature of the business in NYC. She’s starting to think she wants a more “predictable” life. All that time and money getting her in to a BFA program, now here we are. She’s thinking of changing schools and majoring in Music Therapy. Is life as an actor in NYC really as scary as it seems? Or will all be ok?
@mommaofdrama - mine is not yet but I have heard before of BFA freshmen ending up with different majors eventually - or with non-performing careers once they are out. I think the college experience exposes them to their peers and to professionals who can tell them it’s not an easy business,because it’s not … and it’s certainly not a “predictable” career. It’s great you supported her dreams of performing but if she transfers, be happy for her - it’s better she find something else that she loves and will make her happy long term rather than continuing down the performing arts road if she doesn’t really want that life. I pretty much scared my kid from the time she was 12 to make sure she knew she wasn’t chosing the easy road with acting and MT. She still wanted it. We’ll see if that lasts 4 years!
@mommaofdrama - here is a past thread with some statistics regarding professional life as an actor.
Will all be OK?
According to the numbers, for some yes, for many/most, no, if by OK you mean being able to support yourself as a professional actor. If OK means being a part-time actor with a survival job, etc., then the odds widen somewhat. For most actors, its a grind of review notices, submit, audition, wait, hope, repeat.
Is life as an actor in NYC really as scary as it seems?
Yes, for all but a really small minority. Of course, NYC isn’t the only market, but it is far and away the largest with the most opportunity. The recent grads that my d knows from her school and summer stock say that its extremely difficult/basically impossible to be seen now in NYC for Equity shows without your card (since they lowered the EMC point total to 25). Taking your card, however, locks you out of a lot of the non-equity work that may be a good fit for recent grads. A tough decision.
These are just short answers to questions that can lead to long discussions. A lot depends on the expectations of the people entering the market and what they consider a satisfying lifestyle. But the bottom line is that most BFA grads will never make it to a Broadway stage or an Equity National Tour, nor will most of them be able to support themselves from earnings on stage.
@mommaofdrama I would say that more people change their major from MT to other things than you might hear about. Of the 9 people who entered in my MT freshman class (we’ve all since graduated from college), 3 changed their major and subsequently transferred out. My class was a small class in context of my program, so I don’t mean to say that 1/3 of all entering MT majors will change their major, but I think there is often at least one or two kids in every class in programs across this discipline who wind up changing their major.
It’s hard! This is a major that forces you not only to grapple with the realities of the business, as @EmsDad outlines above, but also with yourself. To be an emotionally healthy actor, you have to be really okay with yourself, which requires confronting the things that you don’t like about yourself first…and that’s a hard emotional process to reckon with when you’re just coming into your own as an adult. I obviously don’t know your D, but this might be part of what she’s struggling with…I know I found it difficult to describe to my parents how my training was affecting me emotionally when I was a student.
I have my BFA in MT. I considered changing my major very seriously about three times in college (I had paperwork filled out and everything at one point). It could be that this is just a bump in the road for your D. Let her explore her options–she may find that when it comes time to pull the trigger, that this is still the path she wants to be on. She may not. Either way, I want to say that I’m an actor and I will always be an actor, whether or not acting is my primary focus in any given moment. Right now, I’m working a full-time salaried position as an arts administrator–and I’m still an actor, and I would be even if I weren’t also concurrently actively auditioning (which I am). I would encourage you to tell your daughter that IT’S OKAY TO TAKE BREAKS, it’s okay to step away from acting to pursue another passion, try something new, or to make sure the bills get paid. Our identities as actors do not go away when we’re not pursuing performing full-tilt.The business will be here waiting for her if/when she ever wants to come back to it. There are so many paths to success in this industry, as well as so many different ways to define success, and if she finds that studying Music Therapy is the best way to spend her college years, that absolutely does not preclude her from eventually performing professionally.
Also, I would encourage your D to take a look at this study, published by AEA (it will be updated this year, but this is the most recent version): https://www.actorsequity.org/aboutequity/annualstudy/regionaltheatrereport/ It provides data on the number of work weeks an AEA member could reasonably expect to work in smaller regional markets. Many of the markets in this study are great places to be if your D wanted a more “predictable” life–working some sort of other job (could be related to theatre, could not be) most of the year, perhaps performing a couple of times a year. As an actors/administrator myself, one of my “goals” in life is to mimic the balance that one of my friends has found in her career: she has her BFA in MT from a US school that is popular on these boards (we both live in Canada) and has her Equity card. She works full-time for an accounting business most of the year, but has an agreement with her employer that during slower times of year (not tax season!), she can take some time off to pursue Equity contracts for several weeks at a time. She generally does one or two shows a year, and says that that’s the right balance (for her) of staying creatively fulfilled while giving herself some sense of security in her broader life. That’s definitely what I want for myself. It’s not a crime to not want to always be hustling, and it’s not wrong to want to know with some certainty that you’ve got a paycheck coming!
And just want to add that changing majors for anyone in any major is probably more the norm. My son started a Zoology major (pre-vet) and is now a journalism major. Many of my kids friends/roomates have changed majors. It is a little harder to take as an MT parent because of what we go through to get them there, but it is not abnormal. Although I must say after 6 years of my son volunteering/working at our local zoo, changing to journalism by the end of his first semester at college was a surprise. He blamed hating Chemistry! LOL and said he would rather defend animals and environmental issues and other political activity (he actually likes to act and speak also so considering law school!) You just never know where they will end up!
Folks, for what it’s worth… my D is a Molloy/CAP 21 Class of 2018 grad. She was a Weathervane intern this past summer, and quickly booked a great gig at a highly respected (and well-paying) theatre this fall. Yes, it’s a hard life… she’s up at 5 for the audition line at least 3 days a week. We are fortunate to live 30 minutes by train from Manhattan. But I’m happy to tell you that nearly everyone in her graduating class has booked work, which is pretty remarkable. This is the reality of post-grad life: what’s important is booking the gigs. You’re not gonna land on Broadway right out of the chute, but with persistence, you can make a living in the theater world!
@EastchesterMom and @EmsDad raise good points, about Broadway not being the end all be all. Of course, that’s what they all want. Our kids need to be realistic; and unfortunately when they see some of the current broadway castings, they are given hope that it could happen to them (even before starting college). It’s such a long shot, but I guess it motivates them to push hard at keep at it (I know it does with mine). But when you consider the entire country (and world), there are so many different venues for actors (not just the traditional stage) and so many regional theatre scenes. I listen to a lot of interviews on podcasts of theatre actors. So many of them have pounded the pavement in theme parks, cruise ships, teaching acting/singing, dinner theatre, and regional theatres before ‘making it big.’ Did they make a lot of money? Nope. But it was a labor of love.
@MTdreamz, I know very few people (even at my old age :)) ) who are doing an entirely different job than they set out to do in college. Some graduated with a Bachelors and went back for more schooling (or were just able to get a job in a different field than their major would have dictated). I also work (and taught) in a profession where so many people are on their second degree, because the first one didn’t work out. I think the pressure to decide at 16/17 (when you’re applying to college) to decide what you want to do for life is so much for kids.
I want to thank @CaMom13 @EmsDad @CanadianMTgirl @MTdreamz @EastchesterMom @DramaQueen219 for their words of wisdom. It was so very helpful to hear other’s thoughts on this. Thank you!
@mommaofdrama I meant to mention that there aren’t many kids around us who go into theatre and last year 2 of the girls quit - one changed schools and is now an art history major and the other i don’t think is in college at all. So it must happen
@StewNChelle I’m sorry to hear that her first pick wasn’t what she hoped it would be. Since you mentioned the hurricane, I am assuming this fall was her first semester, and she is about to (or just started) her second semester at Nebraska? I am assuming it was not a big deal to transfer (and that she had been accepted during her initial auditions)? I hope it is a much better fit for her. The fit is so individualized; what some people call their dream school can become a nightmare, and the school that isn’t considered a top contender may be the perfect fit for others!
@DramaQueen219 …To answer you question, when my D was deciding, Nebraska Wesleyan was gracious enough to let her know that she was always welcome. Therefore, she did not need to go through a second audition. I cannot say that for any other student and/or any other school. I know some schools make students reaudition. My D was accepted to 17 schools and cut the list down to about 5-6. NWU was one of them. Yes, she is starting as a second semester freshman. Yes, fit is individualized. It also wasn’t as much what she hoped for because I think a lot of kids don’t really know what they want, and those who feel they know what they want, really don’t.
@StewNChelle wow 17 acceptances - that’s amazing and overwhelming! I so hope she is happy at her new school!!