<p>I believe that, eventually, DePaul is going to do away with the cut system in the same way that Carnegie Mellon and even Juilliard – JUILLIARD! – has done. At the auditions last year for Juilliard, they spent a lot of time talking about how, when a new director came on board, he brought with him a new point of view about the old cut system: namely, he realized that the cut system destroyed moral and the camaraderie among the “years” (first years, second and so on) that is so vital to the best of actor training. We were told by some fourth years (who talked to the parents who were waiting) that anticipating that cut was so pressure-filled that it was difficult for the kids to see past it. It made them afraid to look too far into the future. In short, the powers that be realized that the cut system was contraindicated to what they were trying to accomplish with the kids.</p>