<p>I can’t believe it but he said he’s going to remove himself from CCM’s waitlist. It does make me feel great that he is positive he chose the right place! Thanks everyone.</p>
<p>@puma69 CCM and Otterbein aren’t far apart we can meet up for shows!! </p>
<p>WAIT, HE SAID WHAT!!! WOW!!! That’s huge and just awesome!!</p>
<p>@MTMajorCook, Congratulations to your S! I was wondering where he would end up with so many great options to choose from! It must have been a tough decision, but it is wonderful that he is so positive that he is making the right decision. I’d love to hear more about the dance concentration at Otterbein once he gets started in the fall.</p>
<p>Zebrarunner, you guys will have to visit! :)</p>
<p>I know Times3- we definitely do! I was planning to go this spring break, but then S wanted to combine college visits with a trip to NYC, so we are going to look at Syracuse, Ithaca, and Rider instead of doing a midwest swing. But S is definitely planning to apply to Otterbein, so we will be visiting when he auditions. Can’t wait!</p>
<p>Haha, too funny, MTMajorCook, already looked it up before you posted…yes, …road trip!</p>
<p>secondtimeohio’s D (Second-Time b/c her older sister is also studying MT)</p>
<p>Applied - Point Park, BW, CCM, Texas State, Wright State, Ball State & Otterbein</p>
<p>Prescreens: Texas & Otterbein (passed both)</p>
<p>Withdrew - none</p>
<p>Auditioned all on campus: PPU 11/9, BW 11/16, CCM 12/7, Texas State 1/11, WSU 2/1, Ball State 2/8 and Otterbein 3/1</p>
<p>Rejected – BW 12/14, CCM 12/20</p>
<p>Accepted - Point Park 1/25, WSU 3/6?, Otterbein 3/12, Ball State 3/17</p>
<p>Waitlisted - Texas State, Ball State (and then accepted)</p>
<p>Final Decision: Otterbein University!</p>
<p>College Audition Coach: None, but she did perform her monologues for a local actor/director who offered her a critique</p>
<p>Summer Programs: None…but lots of local theatre & dance</p>
<p>Dance: Has studied since she was 6</p>
<p>Vocal: 2 yrs. study + benefit of excellent high school vocal program</p>
<p>She auditioned for just 7 schools…which we realize is a small number compared to other CC auditionees. We also decided to do all on-campus auditions because we wanted to get the sense of the campus and we knew that most on-campus auditions offered a full dance call. (One of D’s strengths.) The farthest we traveled was Texas State b/c if we were willing to send her so far from home, we wanted to know she’d be in good hands. (Although she was wait-listed…we couldn’t have been more impressed with Kaitlin Hopkins.) Each school offered different benefits and it was interesting to see how she reacted to the staff and the “energy” of the students and the campus around her. To be honest, it was difficult to receive the first 2 “rejections” right off the bat; and we began to wonder if she should’ve applied at more schools. My husband was great about the research (he was the one who insisted we check-out Texas.) We also considered the cost factor of each school as we have 3 daughters and we knew we couldn’t swing 50K per year no matter how prestigious the program. So our D didn’t apply or audition for a program we couldn’t potentially afford with some scholarship. We also wanted to have our children graduate debt-free if possible, considering the sporadic earning potential of a theatre graduate. In the end, we were impressed with the director of every program to which she was accepted: each having a little different style, energy and approach. Otterbein offered a unique opportunity for our daughter to work with outstanding faculty in a small group setting within reasonable distance from our home (2 hours.) The focus on dance was simply the icing on the cake. Her words: “Everything I need is here.” </p>
<p>@zebrarunner - will keep you updated for sure!</p>
<p>@secondtimeohio I love that “everything I need is here”!!</p>
<p>Sounds like another “perfect” fit, secondtimeohio. Congrats!</p>
<p>RELIEVED AND EXCITED!!!</p>
<p>Applied - U of Utah (BFA/MT), Temple (BA/MT concentration), UCF (BFA/MT), PSU (BFA/MT), OCU (BM/MT), TCU (BFA/MT), Cal State Fullerton (audition to BFA after soph year), Baylor U (BFA Theater Performance)</p>
<p>Prescreens: UCF, PSU (passed both)</p>
<p>Withdrew - none</p>
<p>Auditioned on campus: OCU</p>
<p>Auditioned at LA Unifieds: U of Utah, PSU, TCU</p>
<p>Video Auditions: Temple, UCF and Baylor </p>
<p>Rejected – PSU (invited to change major), UCF (invited to change major) </p>
<p>Accepted - U of Utah, Temple, Baylor, Cal State Fullerton, TCU (offered BA Theater instead of MT), OCU (offered BFA Acting instead of MT)</p>
<p>Final Decision: University of Utah!!!</p>
<p>College Audition Coach: She did not have an official audition coach, but she did go over monologues with theater teacher and songs with vocal coach and dance with her dance instructor. They each set up mock auditions for her.</p>
<p>Summer Programs: My D is a singer and spent most of her time traveling in the summers to vocal competitions or performing for various venues as a pop singer. She is a songwriter as well, and summers have been spent on recording/producing original songs in Nashville and Los Angeles.</p>
<p>Dance: 2 years</p>
<p>Vocal: 9 years</p>
<p>When starting this process, we had no idea how competitive it would be. D has been the lead in musical productions (community and school) and it’s her first love, so when we were looking at college majors, she thought, “Wow, yay, a career on a stage, singing, pretending I’m somebody I’m not!” I don’t know if this makes sense to many of you, but as a performer who sings self written music, our D is “self-exposed” all of the time. It’s a beautiful thing for her to get to act, and be a character instead of being herself all of the time.</p>
<p>We attended LA Unifieds because we are located on the West Coast. D also did a walk-in a Point Park just to gain audition experience, but did not apply to the program. D’s audition with Utah was her FIRST audition, and her favorite. She enjoyed the faculty members, and they called me into the room after D’s very long audition to discuss their program, the staff, etc. They also worked with her in the audition to make some acting changes, which she implemented the rest of Unifieds. She received an e-mail from Utah a week after her audition, accepting her into their MT program.</p>
<p>D was upset that we could only attend one on-campus audition, but money is tight for our family as we have two children currently in college. She decided to attend OCU’s auditions. D got the stomach flu the morning of the flight, however she was a trooper and she made it through all the travel and auditions. Although the facilities are amazing, and the staff very friendly, D knew right away this was not the fit for her. She was offered BFA Acting instead of MT, but had she been offered a BM/MT, she still would have declined.</p>
<p>Temple’s staff is excellent at e-mail communication and understood our issue with flying out for auditions. The video audition worked out for her. We did not hire a company to film her video auditions, we did it ourselves. We are definitely not pros at using video equipment, but have had experience filming our daughter in the past and felt confident the videos were good. </p>
<p>Although Baylor’s program is not an MT specific program, it probably will be in the near future. As that university gains in popularity, I believe they will rise to the occasion and start it up eventually. Their BFA Theater Performance option includes dance and voice, however, and their philosophy about students training as a COMPLETE entertainer is one to be admired.</p>
<p>We all know about Fullerton’s audition process, so that was a “no” for D.</p>
<p>We spent two days at The U (as they call U of Utah) and had an incredible experience. They took my D under their wing and had her attend ballet and their Dem Lab (a class every Friday to show each other what they are working on for the week). They require private voice lessons and next year will have vocal coaching for MT students as well. Students attend ballet class every single day from 8am-9:30am, for four years. My daughter fell in love with the program, the people and the location. It is a PERFECT fit for her. </p>
<p>Thank you to everybody on CC! Your input, advice, laughter, tears have carried me these past few months! Thanks for reading (or skimming). Good luck, everyone!</p>
<p>Great story! Congrats and good luck. (or should I say, “break a leg”)</p>
<p>DoReMiMom’s – D</p>
<p>Applied: ……21 schools…. For BFA MT: Ohio Northern, CMU, CCM, NYU-Tisch, Otterbein, Pace, Elon, Florida State, Michigan, Penn State, Ithaca, Emerson, BoCo, Seton Hill, Molloy/CAP 21…For BA MT: American, Point Park…For BA Theatre: Mary Baldwin, Pitt, Hofstra, University of New Haven</p>
<p>Prescreens: ………8 schools…. Ohio Northern, Pace, CAP 21, Florida State, Ithaca, Michigan, PSU, Otterbein - Passed all prescreens except Michigan</p>
<p>Auditioned: On campus for CCM, Seton Hill, CMU, NYU, Elon, Ohio Northern … Chicago Unifieds for Point Park, Otterbein, Pace, Penn State, Ithaca, Emerson, BoCo</p>
<p>Academically Accepted: ……11 schools….Pace, Hofstra, Otterbein, Point Park, Seton Hill, Ithaca, New Haven, Ohio Northern, Penn State, Pitt, Mary Baldwin, </p>
<p>Accepted Artistically: ……3 schools………Point Park (BA MT), Seton Hill (BFA MT), Ohio Northern (BFA MT)</p>
<p>Artistic Rejections: ….10 schools……Emerson, BoCo, Otterbein, CMU, Elon, CCM, NYU, Pace, Penn State, Ithaca</p>
<p>Withdrew: Cap21/Molloy, Florida State </p>
<p>Final Decision: Ohio Northern University! :)</p>
<p>College Audition Coaches: 5 separate coaches (yes 5….shoot me now)
Lenora Nemetz (Vocal and Acting)
Acting: Jill Wadsworth, Carnegie Mellon University (Audition Prep Course)
Voice: Hilerie Klein-Rensi (Classical)
Voice: Claudia Benack, Carnegie Mellon University (MT Voice)
Dance: Brian Williamson</p>
<p>Summer Program: 6 week Carnegie Mellon Pre-College Drama, Musical Theatre Intensive </p>
<p>Background: My D is a true Mezzo Belter with a very strong mix voice. She is a singer first, by far…then an actress, then dancer/mover. She’s had many years of vocal and dance training, but her voice is her strength. She has vocally performed (based on audition) in all of our district, region, state, all-east, and national festivals. When she was at CMU for the summer program, she auditioned for their a cappella group, made it and was chosen to close the show with a solo. She can pick up dance steps quickly and perform them accurately, yet it’s not her strongest suit. She’s been singing and training in voice for more than 10 years and has taken dance since she was a toddler. Acting was sprinkled in…a year here, a year there, with probably a total of 5 years of actor training. </p>
<p>Going in to this process, she had already performed in more than 100 concerts, shows, musicals, plays. She was the lead of her high school musical as a junior, and her school has a ton of talented students who are also pursuing acting or MT. Please know, I’m not saying any of that to brag. In fact, just the opposite. I’ve learned over the last 6 months that no matter how fabulously talented someone is, when it comes to college auditions, none of that matters anymore. </p>
<p>We were told – by all of her coaches – going in to this, that she’d have AT LEAST a dozen artistic offers and scholarships to top tier programs. They actually told us we were crazy to have her audition for so many programs because she’d be fine with 5 or 6. As the rejections started to come in, all of her coaches and private instructors were shocked and couldn’t understand why she was getting rejections. Her material was picked meticulously and she had gone over all of it with her coaches and instructors with a fine tooth comb. They said she was ready and would end up with a very difficult decision because she’d have so many offers. Nothing could’ve been further from the truth. My D is a 5’7” attractive blonde singer who can act and dance. She also had a 3.72 GPA with AP, Honors, and IB courses and more volunteer work in 4 years than I’ve done my whole life. As I write this, I feel like I am sounding bitter, but that’s not the case. I’m thrilled with where she’s decided to go, but I was completely unprepared for how competitive this process would be, so I want to make sure any future parents reading this can hopefully grasp what I failed to learn. If you’ve actually made it this far in my post, trust me when I say to skip what we did and HIRE MOO and go to the Broadway Dreams website right now LOL! </p>
<p>After visiting Point Park, she was unimpressed and didn’t like the large classes. She said she immediately felt like she’d just blend in with the masses. She also didn’t like that freshman can’t perform for the first 1-2 years, and she wasn’t fond of the idea that she’d actually have to audition again to get a BFA from the BA program. Many posters on CC have said it’s not that big of a deal at PPU whether someone is a BFA or a BA, but my D has known for many years that she’s wanted to pursue a Bachelor of Fine Arts. She also didn’t like that there wasn’t a campus-like environment. One thing we did like was that Point Park offered a significant talent award. </p>
<p>Three days after the Point Park visit, we visited Ohio Northern, and as soon as we arrived, I knew we had a winner. I swear I almost threw up and cried at the same time when I realized it. Ohio Northern ended up being the dark horse for her, and she absolutely fell in love with the campus, the students, professors, and the program. Even I fell in love with it, and we didn’t want to leave. It’s a 4 hour drive from home, and she loves the one-on-one attention she’ll get from small class size and that she can perform right away freshman year. She received a significant talent and academic award from ONU (which made us happy), and I could tell when we were visiting that I could see her spending the next 4 years of her life there. </p>
<p>I can’t believe I can finally say…I truly believe she’s ended up right where she is meant to be.</p>
<p>WHAT I’D DO DIFFERENTLY: I’d skip the Carnegie Mellon Summer Program altogether, (FYI after it was all said and done, the whole summer cost at least $10,000). I mention this because in hindsight, I’d have used that money elsewhere. And by elsewhere, I mean I’d have hired Moo and gotten her hooked up with Broadway Dreams. Period. :)</p>
<p>Thank you for sharing @DoReMiMom. Congratulations to both you and your D!</p>
<p>Many congrats to you and your D @DoReMiMom! A very useful post, sobering and useful. We chose MTCA instead of Moo but your advice is well taken. She is starting with both of her MTCA coaches next week. So far MTCA has already been a big help :)</p>
<p>@evilqueen Great point! I’ve thought all along MTCA and Moo were synonymous. Shows ya how much I still don’t know. 
I’m going to try to edit to include MTCA! </p>
<p>DoReMiMom Congratulations to you and your daughter! Thrilled for you both. Beautifully written post! Cyber donuts and your beverage of choice! Hugs and love. ^:)^ </p>
<p>Thanks @puma69 The relief is unreal! PS. It was too late for me to edit my post to include MTCA. </p>
<p>Congratulations glad that is behind you. </p>
<p>Congrats to you and your daughter, DoReMiMom!<br>
:))</p>
<p>So very happy for you and your D! Sounds like D arrived at the perfect destination. </p>