I auditioned at JMU in November and I head to GMU Feb 17.
@dontaskme1 my daughter auditions at GMU on Feb. 17 also!
@jrydholm My daughter is a tour guide for the school specializing in the theatre department. Let me know if you’d like to connect you guys. I meant for Drew not FD. Wish I had more info for you.
@Dramaman my daughter was accepted to Ithaca in March she auditioned in Feb for them at the Chicago Unifieds she is a freshman MT and loves it. Last year they had 1900 applied and took 15 total 5 girls and 10 boys. Good luck let me know if you would need anymore information about IC.
@jrydholm I dont know much about those safeties although I was not too impressed with Christopher Newport’s program when I looked into it. I could be wrong but I don’t believe GMU is a particularly competitive program compared to someplace like Montclair. Did your child apply to Muhlenberg? They have an excellent theatre program with no audition.
@collegemom2000 GMU has a new program so it is hard to know whether this will be a good one or not. She did not apply to Muhlenberg. We were trying to stay with in state tuition and/or pick a couple of out of state schools that were more affordable or had good scholarship opportunities. I am no expert on MT programs so appreciate the feedback on CNU - it is more expensive than UMW and I don’t want to pay more for a safety that really isn’t better than the other. Montclair is a huge reach school for her I think - the numbers admitted at some of these make the chances so slim for most.
@jrydholm Yes the GMU program is very new and you are right, the odds at some of these schools are pretty bad, especially for girls. How many schools total is she applying to? In state is often not always cheaper. My D was accepted to GMU out of state, but they gave her an out of state grant and a merit scholarship which would make it cheaper to attend than our state university. How about American University? My D auditions there next weekend. They have a decent MT program that is not very competitive.
@collegemom2000 She applied to many schools but most safe as I just didn’t think the odds were good at the tougher ones. We did apply to two small PA schools and she got money but not enough to be in line with the VA schools. She has applied to the two NJ schools - Fairleigh and Montclair. I think it is too late to apply to more and get decent scholarship money. My key sticking point is no loans. I don’t want her to major in MT and then come out with owing any money
@jrydholm - in terms of non-audition safety programs, I think your choices are all OK. I have heard good things about Christopher Newport, for one. Comparing them to audition-based programs, like Montclair (which is a highly-competitive audition-based program) is more or less a form of apples-to-oranges, IMHO.
You should take a long look at the curriculum, the faculty bios, the production season, the facilities, etc. and do visits, if possible, to determine what YOU think of the program(s). I would take what any of us think here on CC with a grain of salt. Everyone’s mileage is going to vary in assessment of programs.
@EmsDad Thanks! I feel pretty new to this and the competitive piece of this is crazy to me. Business sounds good to me lol.
@EmsDad yes! Great advice. We just visited Christopher Newport last week for their scholarship audition - it is my daughters non audition option (along with Muhlenberg). We thought the campus and Ferguson Center for the arts were very nice facilities. They just hired a new director for MT named Colin - i would need to look up his last name- undergrad from penn state then Boston college for grad degree. I think that is a promising sign that they added that position! He spoke with parents and seems young/enthusiastic - he spoke about lots of master classes there!! Artists in residence etc. I don’t know a ton more about the faculty but we are definitely not crossing that school off of our list!
@bisouu Thanks. I think it may be too late to apply to another school and have any potential for scholarships. My D applied early action everywhere so that she could be considered for merit aid. And I don’t see where Drew has MT. Thank you though!
@jrydholm - my D applied late at Molloy/CAP 21 and got a huge academic scholarship. I can’t hurt to try another school or two!
I don’t think it’s too late for Drew and they reduced their tuition by 20% for next year. Also scholarships are great even last minute. My daughter pays $20,000 total for each year. I know other students who pay even less. My daughter was an RA for a year which reduced her tuition significantly.
They do one musical a year but they have a good dance department and offer voice lessons so she could make a MT program of her own. Just a thought
@MomofMTBoy and @dontaskme1 does BoCo wait until March to send out offers?
@jrydholm my D applied to everything Regular Decision and has been offered a ton of merit aid from every school that has accepted her. I don’t think it’s too late if there are schools still taking apps.
@MTplayer They send out all decisions April 1
@jrydholm if your child gets in, tour each program and ask to talk with people in the program (professors and kids). I know the choral director at GMU (she is awesome) and GMU tends to be very organized and good at pulling talent. With its proximity to DC, I would assume they will grant internships and access to area theaters. So I would definitely keep an open mind for GMU even though it is a new program.
So, Who is heading to Michigan on Friday? And who got the snow alert email? Fun times, right? Flying out tomorrow night, hoping for the best all around
@MomofMTBoy Thank you. Yes, GMU is staying on the list. They are a great school, near to DC which is really helpful for theatre students and connections, and her drama teacher has thought highly of the school. It is good to know the choral director is great! They have a good dance program too so hopefully it will all pull together well. I imagine there will be some growing pains but we are still excited about the opportunity there and crossing our fingers along with hundreds of others.