Please know that at MANY colleges, housing selections do not happen until summer or at least until after May 1 when students commit to enroll. For example, this was true at the colleges my own kids attended. Everyone admitted was in the same boat and it was after May 1 and over the summer that housing selection occurred.
First… hugs to all the kids and parents of kids who haven’t received acceptances yet. This was my D last year, and it was heartbreaking! From my experience, if you can connect your D with others in the same boat, at least she’ll have some support and not feel so alone! I so wish we had a thread like this last year! My D felt like she was the only one who didn’t get in anywhere and it was awful to see her so sad and embarrassed and struggling to make sense of the situation. All of her friends had known for months where they were headed in the fall, they were all proudly sporting their school sweatshirts… family, friends and teachers kept asking where she was going in the fall, or if she had heard from any more schools… it was so hard watching her try to answer these questions over and over. Nobody but an MT student or parent can possibly understand! The end of her senior year was so difficult… it should have been full of great memories, but she was so anxious and sad… her lifelong plan was turned upside down and she couldn’t picture herself choosing a Plan B. We talked about a gap year, or heading to NYC to immerse herself in MT (whatever that meant!), but ultimately, we encouraged her to commit to an Acting program that she had been accepted at and to supplement with private voice and dance lessons.
So, off she went in the fall. She tried… she tried really, really hard… she took voice and dance lessons, auditioned for everything, went to all the social events… but by mid-October she decided that she just wasn’t okay with the way things went for her. Her soul wasn’t being fed and so she decided to re-audition. One thing that really bothered her was hearing the MT kids singing together every day… it sort of lit a fire under her and she knew that’s where she needed to be.
This time around, I was the only one who knew she was auditioning for schools. This relieved so much pressure for her!!! She worked with an awesome audition coach, and started submitting applications and prescreens. It was difficult and stressful, and like others have said, I couldn’t imagine going through it all again, but once we made the decision, it was full steam ahead. We did talk about the possibility that things could turn out the same, and she voiced that if that happened, she’d take it as the Universe saying she needs to choose a different path. We had a solid Plan B in place before starting applications which also relieved a lot of stress (we had no idea we needed a Plan B the first time around… the idea of her not getting into MT programs never crossed our minds!) She just wasn’t settled with accepting a different path without giving it another try. And there are different paths, as others have mentioned, but she really wanted the whole college experience, so she jumped in with both feet and made it happen. As of today, she has several offers from great schools! We both keep pinching ourselves… it’s crazy how it could be so different this year!
Ultimately, you’ll need to figure out what is the best Plan B for your child. Mine did Plan B, then Plan C with a gap semester. There’s no right or wrong answer… and most importantly, nothing is irreversible… a decision made right now doesn’t have to be forever. We’ve learned to pivot a lot! Just the other day, my D told me she appreciates the offers before her so much more this year because of what she went through last year. Those words made me very teary because last year was SO HARD!!! There is a light at the end of the tunnel, even though things seem so difficult to you right now! Again… hugs… I know you need them!
@MAmum1234 This may be my favorite story ever! Big huge giant congrats to your D!!!
Agree. Great story - chalk that up as a HUGE vote for follow the dream. I also agree about the "public"ness of this process for performing arts kids. The distant relatives and parents that don’t go through this always say “Oh, I’m sure you’ll get accepted EVERYWHERE you audition”. Ha.
@MAmum1234 That is AWESOME and a testament to the power of desire and will!! Part of the gap year benefit (at least for the two kids I worked with) is actually being able to devote time to WORKING on your auditions! I am so excited to read your story and to hear the wonderful ending. I don’t know your daughter’s name but Go her! 
My son had 3 acceptances. The first was in-state, and then there was the wave of No Thank You until March when he was accepted to his top two choices…but one was a re-direct to BFA Acting. He visited them both, loved them both, and chose the BFA Acting (Otterbein). I worried he would feel “less than”, but he never did. As it turned out, he was cast in more musicals than straight plays. Definitely explore the re-directs if feasible, and if Gap year looks better, go for it.
That is a truly inspiring story!
But one caveat to add: students who transfer into a BFA program often don’t get the really good Merit Aid and scholarships - those are usually reserved for incoming freshmen who haven’t been to college before. Also, many BFA programs require transfer students to start as freshmen, so you lose whatever money you spent on the program you transferred from. Just some things to be aware of.
@actorparent1 Thank you for bringing this up! There are definitely some differences between applying as a transfer vs as a freshman. When considering options for the current year, we were told the things you mentioned, along with that it is a lot harder to get into programs as a transfer because schools only have a certain number of spots for transfers. In reality, though, it hasn’t been so black and white. Each school handles transfers differently and it’s important to talk to each one to see the differences. My D has been awarded pretty large scholarships to each of the conservatory style programs she’s been accepted at (it seems like the fact that she’s a transfer is irrelevant,) but pretty small amounts (considerably smaller amounts than she was awarded last year) to the BFA programs in larger universities (she was accepted to the schools, but not to the MT programs last year.) So, that’s definitely something to consider! There are some schools that are requiring her to start as a freshman and some that are transferring in all of her credits and, although she’ll start with the freshman class in the fall, she’ll finish early. It’s so individual to each school, like everything else in this process! As for the whole “harder to get in as a transfer” idea I mentioned, that hasn’t been my D’s experience. She felt that she had good conversations around the topic in her auditions and that it actually worked in her favor. So much to consider!
@MAmum1234 did you run into some schools that wouldn’t allow another audition? Do you have any suggestions for schools that do allow transfers and have been easy to work with in that respect?
@CBSQandA We didn’t run into any schools that wouldn’t allow a 2nd audition. The only school that I’m aware of with a limit is Point Park which will “only” allow you to audition twice. Honestly, every school my D auditioned for as a transfer (16, I think?) was easy to work with! The difficult part is figuring out all of the application requirements for each school, but that was difficult when applying as a freshman last year, too 
@CBSQandA @MAmum1234 If I am not mistaken, Pace also has a limit on times you can audition, I believe it is twice. Back in 2015 they were pretty specific in the way they stated it. Basically, if we have seen you twice and we didn’t select you, then we will never want you/select you in the future. Ouch.
@MAmum1234 Thank YOU for sharing your and your D’s story! Big hug back to both of you. Congrats on this year’s admits! So proud of your D for hanging in there and following what she believed to be the right thing to do. My complete admiration for your unfailing support through it all! What a fantastic mom, you are!
@CBSQandA - Add Rider to your pile - they do not want re-auditions from what I understand. They are a one and done from what I have heard. Someone with other information can correct me but they said it to the line I was standing in trying to see if I could secure a walk in audition for my kid. They said, very clearly, if we have seen you before, we do not want to see you again. It could have been just for walk-ins, meaning, if you failed the prescreen or they saw you at some other place perhaps (ie. consortium audition or something - maybe you can call and verify and they can tell you)
@ontheverge you are correct but they might be willing to see them a year later after more training…but I did hear that speech at Unifieds!
I believe Syracuse doesn’t allow repeat auditions.
@ElizaDoolittle - I agree I believe I read that Syracuse will not allow you to re-audition.
But from my experience with the exception of Syracuse, and maybe one or two others, schools DO NOT hold this against you. D’s two friends who have been wildly successful in the gap year have been extremely happy with the process during both repeat and new auditions.
It’s funny - even though we have some good choices - there is a part of me that would like to do this again - a sadistic part obviously - we learned so much in this process - I know exactly what we would do differently!
Good luck to everyone who chooses this path!
@DivaStageMom my daughter is also sad, in a weird way, to see the process ending. Last night, we were allowing ourselves to get a little excited about one of her acceptances, starting to picture her life there a little bit, and she got a little wistful. She said she can’t believe this WHOLE THING just comes down to … one school. One. All of the prescreens and coaching and years of preparation leading up to the craziness of auditions and the 20+ auditions, all coming down to just one school. I know there will be more “processes” to fill her time and this hustle has really prepared her for what’s ahead on both the preparation and the results ends (preparing as she has and receiving the results she has), but there is definitely a sense of letting something go as we watch and experience this process’s conclusion.
@Dance3Looks3 - Actually D is happy to move on - she has one good option and is waiting on one that is her top choice. I, on the other hand, have become obsessed with the process and this board and who got into what school.
I work at a hedge fund and if you didn’t know these have been a crazy couple weeks in the market - 1000pts up… 2000pts down and people are yelling about the yield on the 10-year, credit spreads… and I’m thinking hold on Point Park is out, and even though we didn’t apply there, I need to see who got in…
When I first got on this board I would see posts from people who went through this in past years and I didn’t understand why people came back - now I do. D has some academic schools too, and I went on those threads but they are so boring - everyone is like “chance me” - MT BFA is where the action is - I am going to oddly miss this…
@DivaStageMom I have officially decided you are my CC mom BFF! This quote of yours just made my whole day!!
“I work at a hedge fund and if you didn’t know these have been a crazy couple weeks in the market - 1000pts up… 2000pts down and people are yelling about the yield on the 10-year, credit spreads… and I’m thinking hold on Point Park is out, and even though we didn’t apply there, I need to see who got in…”
@DivaStageMom That is such an awesome post. I’m also in the financial services industry, manage money, etc. and have been consumed with the MT and Acting results for the whole group. So many great people here.