<p>Congratulations Bisouu! Isn’t it wonderful when they find the perfect fit?</p>
<p>Awesome news @Bissouu!!!</p>
<p>Awesome everyone! I’m so far behind in commenting, but so truly delighted for you all!</p>
<p>Yay to you and D! 
</p>
<p>ingramt’s D</p>
<p>Applied - Baldwin Wallace, Ithaca, CMU, Shenandoah, Elon, UArts, Catholic, Pace, American, Point Park, Muhlenberg, Colombia College</p>
<p>Academically Accepted: Everywhere but CMU and wait-listed at Elon</p>
<p>Withdrew Applications prior to audition: Point Park and American</p>
<p>Prescreens –Pace, Shenandoah, Ithaca: Passed All</p>
<p>Auditioned on campus – BW, Ithaca, CMU, Shenandoah, Elon, UArts, Catholic, Pace, Muhlenberg (for talent scholarship only.)</p>
<p>Rejected - BW, Ithaca, CMU, Shenandoah, Elon, Pace</p>
<p>Artistic Acceptance – UArts, Catholic, Awarded talent scholarship at Muhlenberg that she auditioned for.</p>
<p>Final Decision – UArts!!!</p>
<p>Coach: No</p>
<p>Summer Program: Pace Summer Scholars in Musical Theater</p>
<p>Community Theatre: International Community Theater </p>
<p>School: attended 3 different high schools and a performing arts academy. Many, many schools shows from crew, to ensemble to leads. Almost every school she auditioned at commented on how pleased they were that she had been on crew for some shows. Not relevant but interesting perhaps.</p>
<p>Vocal: private voice for 3 years, choir for one year. Fantastic voice teachers. First two years were completely classical, third year focused more on MT</p>
<p>So many things to take away from this experience!!! My daughter wanted to audition on campus and where we live put us in driving proximity to all her schools so we were fortunate in that regard. I will say that her focus on what she wanted became clearer and clearer with each school we went to and did SHIFT over the year. Some schools that were not as high on the radar moved up and one school she auditioned at she told me didn’t “feel right” from the moment we left the building. I think the experience of auditioning on campus was invaluable for her but I know that our location made that a luxury that many don’t have or want.</p>
<p>We were blown away by what Muhlenberg had to offer but she really wanted a BFA, conservatory style, big city. She auditioned at 8 schools which is on the low end and that was something I struggled with all along as I worried about the ramifications of that choice. However, she did not struggle with that. She was busy with school and two shows and the process was overwhelming enough and she just didn’t want to add more even if I worried that we should have. I’m not sure adding more would have made a difference…who knows?!</p>
<p>I’m very glad we sent her to a summer program before her Senior year. She’s moved a lot so she never has existed in a comfort zone where she was a big fish in a smaller pond but yet it was good for her to see how many talented, driven kids are out there. It reinforced her desire that this is what she wanted and motivated her even more heading into audition season (and she’s already the most motivated person I know.) She loved the Pace program and it was more affordable than many out there.</p>
<p>What we wish is that we had worked in more dance. She never took any lessons until this year.,just always so busy. Yes, many programs state that the don’t just take kids who are triple threats but being so doesn’t hurt the cause! She enjoyed the auditions themselves. Some went better than others, some she felt great about, some she knew weren’t her best and one she was sick. She really did like the audition process and even though it was crazy busy and crazy expensive, like others, I will look back on those trips as some of my favorite moments with her!!! One rejection broke her heart but the others she took in stride and moved on.</p>
<p>I am glad we did two auditions early that offered rolling admissions. She was accepted to both and it allowed us to cancel some later auditions and at least know she was going to get to keep chasing her dreams. Having that academic safety was also hugely important. Even though her list of schools was not as large, I feel like it was a good range of schools. </p>
<p>Keep the grades up! They may not matter for artistic acceptance BUT they did make a difference with merit scholarships and as expensive as these schools are that makes a difference!!</p>
<p>UArts it is…was not even on the radar until August, she was accepted by December and now she will spend the next four years there. She loves the location of the campus, the city, the overall vibe of the students and has been impressed by how strongly acting seems to be emphasized within the MT program. I think it will be a good fit and it just goes to show you never know what path this process will take you on. For those of you reading these posts to prepare for next year: Best of luck and you WILL survive!</p>
<p>Futbrodmom’s d</p>
<p>Applied: BW, CCM, Oklahoma City U, Ball State, Stevens Point (walkin at Unifieds)</p>
<p>Rejected: BW, CCM</p>
<p>Accepted: Ball State, OCU</p>
<p>Waitlisted: Stevens Point</p>
<p>Coach: no </p>
<p>Summer Programs: none (unless you count Rockettes Summer Intensives :))</p>
<p>Final Decision: Ball State!! </p>
<p>Mom is doing happy dance now…this is OVER:):) And d is in a fantastic place in my opinion. We had no idea just how much talent was out there. I know at D’s school, there is such a huge number of talented kids this year. Must have been the prenatal vitamins I think! </p>
<p>Congrats to everyone and prayers to those still waiting for WL calls. Hang in there, they will come soon!!!</p>
<p>Great stories ingramt and futbrodmom! Congratulations!,</p>
<p>Yay for Ingramt and futbrodmom! </p>
<p>MTMommaJAA’s S:</p>
<p>Applied to 15 schools: Ithaca, Shenandoah, Catholic, Pace, Point Park, Penn State, CCM, Coastal Carolina, University of Miami, Michigan, Emerson, Ohio Northern, Syracuse, Otterbein, and Montclair</p>
<p>Withdrawals: NONE</p>
<p>Prescreens: Pace, Shenandoah, Ithaca, Michigan, Coastal, CCM (passed all)</p>
<p>Video Auditions: Catholic and Ohio Northern</p>
<p>Auditioned on campus: Shenandoah, Penn State, Montclair, Pace</p>
<p>NY Unifieds: Syracuse, Point Park, Emerson, Otterbein</p>
<p>Chicago Unifieds: Miami, Michigan, CCM, Coastal, Ithaca</p>
<p>Rejected - Ithaca, Pace, Michigan, Penn State (the most painful), Otterbein, Syracuse, Montclair, CCM</p>
<p>Artistic Acceptance – Catholic, Ohio Northern, Shenandoah, Emerson, Point Park, Miami, Coastal Carolina</p>
<p>Final Decision – Point Park University!!!</p>
<p>Coach: Individual Acting Coach to select and work on monologues (3 months), Dance Coach to choreograph and film pre-screen dance portion (3 months)</p>
<p>Summer Program: NONE</p>
<p>Community Theatre: NONE</p>
<p>School: Attends public high school with a very good Fine Arts program. Completely immersed in program from the day he walked in as a freshman. Choral, theatre, dance in Senior Year (no other formal dance training).</p>
<p>Vocal: private voice for 3 years (classical training), chorus since elementary school. Amazing vocal director at high school. Selected for All State Choir for all 4 years of high school and All Eastern in Junior year.</p>
<p>My S decided last May (yes, less than a year ago) that he wanted to pursue Musical Theatre in college, and a BFA at that. Well at that point, I didn’t even know what a BFA was (God help me!). I stumbled upon this site as I began my research on the topic and have been ever grateful since then!</p>
<p>The boy has a wonderful work ethic for his performing arts (not so much for academic school work, or cleaning his room). We jumped into this craziness with both feet and never looked back. After realizing what a huge undertaking this process was going to be, and how unprepared he was for the audition process, we lined up an Acting Coach and a Dance coach for the summer. I made him write draft essays for college applications before school started up, requested all letters of recommendation, and signed him up to take the October SAT again. Yes the guidance counselor thought we were crazy because we wanted everything submitted by September 1st! My husband just could not believe that this process was THAT difficult…he came up to speed very quickly when he saw my spreadsheets with all of the various requirements from application, #/Type of letters of recommendations, date due, prescreen requirements, auditions schedules, etc. etc. etc. It blew his mind!!! It literally tooks about 4-6 weeks to collect all the data necessary for each school and the program.</p>
<p>I would like to emphasize that he had no SAFETY schools on his list. He considered Catholic and Ohio Northern his safeties as he did not have to audition in person for them. I asked him multiple times “Are you sure you don’t want to add Muhlenberg???” His answer was always NO, if I can’t get into one on our list, then I shouldn’t be doing this anyway. Luckily, we had several academic acceptances to fall back on “just in case”.</p>
<p>I will have to say Point Park was the furthest down on my list because of the city campus. My preference would have been a traditional campus. But Point Park turned out to be his FIRST academic acceptance and the LAST artistic acceptance. Funny how things work out. I truly believe that this is the right program for him. He will receive the best training for his ambitions, will live in a city atmosphere (one step closer to New York), there are several local theatres in Pittsburgh with potential opportunities, plus they have their own theatre - The Pittsburgh Playhouse (and they are building a new one!), it’s a conservatory, and they really want him (and showed it with the generous artistic talent award).</p>
<p>This was one of the biggest decisions that my son has ever had to make, and it was agonizing and extremely hard. I truly believe his decision was the right one and am grateful this part is over and am looking forward to obsessing over getting him physically to college!!! I must have something to focus my energies on!!! I will never forget this experience, ever.</p>
<p>Thank you to everyone who has shared information from this year’s group to all parent’s in the past; it has been truly invaluable. And all the support everyone shows each other is amazing; I’ve laughed and cried many times reading your posts!!!</p>
<p>Applied to: Emerson, Boston Conservatory, Ithaca, Syracuse, Pace, NYU-Tisch, Penn State, Carnegie Mellon, Baldwin Wallace, University of Michigan, Roosevelt CCPA, UC-Irvine</p>
<p>Prescreens: Passed Ithaca, Pace, and Penn State. Did not pass University of Michigan.</p>
<p>Accepted to: Ithaca, Pace, Tisch (New Studio on Broadway), Roosevelt CCPA, all for BFA MT. Accepted BFA Acting to Carnegie Mellon. Accepted BA Drama to UC-Irvine (safety school–audition for BFA after first year, I think)</p>
<p>Rejected from: Emerson, BoCo, Syracuse, Penn State, BW</p>
<p>Wait-listed at: None</p>
<p>Final Decision: Carnegie Mellon</p>
<p>Coach: None</p>
<p>Summer Programs: Syracuse Pre-college MT Intensive after junior year.</p>
<p>Training: Voice 4 years, Dance 3 years, Acting 8 years in community theatre and 4 years of theatre class in high school.</p>
<p>High School: Public</p>
<p>Looking back, the best thing that happened in this entire process was D’s pre-screen rejection in November from University of Michigan. It was the only time D shed a tear throughout the entire audition process, and everything got real from that point on in a good way. That rejection motivated her, and even though she had been working hard all along, it spurred her to work even harder in the six weeks leading up to Chicago Unifieds. Maybe in some way she wanted to prove to herself that U of M had made a mistake. </p>
<p>When we did school visits in the year leading up to auditions, I remember sitting in the auditorium lobby at Carnegie Mellon with my husband and daughter, and daughter remembers thinking how melancholy it was to be there because she loved the program so much and knew it would be virtually impossible to get into. But she also remembered what our tour guide said. He told himself that CMU most likely accepted an average of one student per audition day throughout the year. And he decided that he was going to be that one student on his day. D never forgot what he said. She went into her audition believing that they might accept one student that day…and it was going to be her.</p>
<p>The other day she had a chance to tell that CMU tour guide that she remembered what he’d said. </p>
<p>That she was accepted for Acting instead of MT was not as big a deal for her as I had worried it might be. She wasn’t surprised by that, but she needed to process it. Ultimately it didn’t take long. She’s always said she is an actor first. Many of CMU’s actors can also sing/dance, and the school and surrounding community provides ample opportunity for actors to take these classes/lessons. D even has the chance to reaudition for MT in the fall if she wants to, but I honestly don’t know if she’ll do that. She’s thrilled with the situation as it is. Getting into the other schools for MT was enough acknowledgment of her ability. She knows she can sing, and she’ll keep working at it. Her personal philosophy (like CMU’s) is that it’s the acting that is of utmost importance. And since she’s also interested in TV/film, CMU is a perfect fit.</p>
<p>An accepted student visit over the weekend solidified her feelings – she had the best day ever, and the existing students welcomed her into the family–what a lovely group of students! She made her final decision that night. </p>
<p>When I look at my daughter’s list above, and all of your lists on this thread and in this forum, I can only shake my head in wonder at what crazy results everybody has had. It’s like we wrote the names of the schools on bits of paper and threw them into the air. The ones that landed name-side up were acceptances. No one was greedy. We all hoped and begged for one yes–only one!–knowing that not everyone would get it. Nobody knew if that yes would come to his mailbox, and that was a sobering truth that none of us will ever forget. There really was no possible way to predict how it all would play out. How exciting and horrible this process is! So much stress, and so much joy, and so much sorrow. I have felt for all of your journeys and have cheered and cried with you. I am thrilled for my daughter’s yeses, yet know that luck is a factor. Finding the school you love that also loves you is something that no one has a formula for.</p>
<p>For those of you facing the need to find other paths to fulfill the dream, I hope the sting of rejection becomes the conduit to your success. Press on! I can’t wait to hear the story of your inspiring journeys. </p>
<p>MTMommaJAA - This is the best ever. I love that it was his first academic, and last artistic - it’s funny how things work out. And the best of all (and seems like so many feel identically) is when you watch your kid - “feel it” and suddenly becomes clear - “I have found my right college” I have found my place. So comforting for any parent sending their child to college - but for an MT parent, after what they went through - it is that much more exhilarating. Congrats!!!</p>
<p>AsstToTheMT - fabulous overview. She was that one girl that day!!! A million congrats that she “knows” which program is right for her, given all of her superior choices. Congrats on your doing such a great job on your numerous spreadsheets too - and all the many visits. Carnegie!!! Go AsstToTheMT’s D!!! ^:)^ </p>
<p>@AsstToTheMT- I love your sentiment about how random the process feels. I have read people’s lists and thought “accepted at X but rejected at Y???” a dozen times. Sometimes there seems no rhyme or reason- and that does give it the feel of “destiny”. And you are right- we have all had dark moments in the process, which makes the triumphs all the sweeter- ESPECIALLY for the kids whose triumph just hasn’t found them yet!</p>
<p>Brought tears to my eyes… congrats!</p>
<p>Frazzled35’s – D</p>
<p>Applied: ……Baldwin Wallace, Texas St, Ball State, Otterbein, Rider, Pace, Montclair, Shenandoah, Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, Elon, Coastal Carolina, Ithaca, Catawba College, University of Tampa, FSU, UCF</p>
<p>Prescreens: … Pace, FSU, Ithaca, Otterbein, Texas St, UCF, Shenandoah, Coastal- Passed all except TexasSt</p>
<p>On campus auditions-BW, Shenandoah, FSU, UCF…Everything else was Chicago Unified</p>
<p>Withdrew consideration from : Ithaca, Elon, and Coastal</p>
<p>Rejected artistically from: BW, FSU, Otterbein, Pace</p>
<p>Accepted: Shenandoah, Montclair, Rider, UCF, The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland …all for MT</p>
<p>Wait List-Ball State</p>
<p>Coaches: MTCA as well as several local voice and dance coaches.</p>
<p>Summer Programs-Local MT programs with Florida colleges as well as Summer Community Theatre</p>
<p>Cue Bagpipes…………….</p>
<p>Final Decision……The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland!</p>
<p>Background: My daughter is a strong belter, but also has quite a bit of training in classical voice. I think this helped quite a bit in auditions, as she could show a range. Her acting is strong, but dance is her weakness even considering she has taken lessons since she was a toddler. She picks up choreography quickly-but technique is not quite there. She plays some piano and has started guitar lessons. She has a great deal of stage experience, both in community theatre and singing with jazz ensembles.</p>
<p>You can see by our list that some of the common “big name” schools are not there…some were for academic reasons, other for financial. There were also a few that she did not feel a “fit”.</p>
<p>The audition season started out rough in the fall-her first prescreen was Texas and it was a quick rejection, that was followed by a “no” in the fall from BW - a school she loved. Then the good news started coming in…”yes” on remaining prescreens- a great mock college audition in NYC over Christmas break, a “yes” the same day for her on-campus audition at Shenandoah, and a wonderful experience for her at Chicago Unifieds. Once she had the Shenandoah and RCS acceptances, she wanted to go ahead and cancel other auditions. During this same time, we were having some extreme medical issues and hospitilizations with her brother, so it just made sense to withdraw from some schools.</p>
<p>As for RCS, it is a school that had been on her radar for over a year. She had always thought it was out of reach (both artistically and financially). She approached the admissions department on her own early in the fall (unbeknownst to me) to ask if she could audition at Unifieds. They did not have a slot available that didn’t already conflict with her schedule. At that point she decided to do the audition as a walk-in….which worked out great for her. I think she is especially passionate about this school since it is one that is totally driven by her…she applied, she literally pushed me into the cab in Chicago to travel to the hotel where the auditions were held…and she has dealt with admissions. My feeling was that she will be on her own overseas-I needed to know that she could handle things independently. So far it appears she can do it. Am I nervous with her going overseas? Absolutely! Financially, we will not be able to bring her home often-maybe once a year unless I win the lottery! However, because she is so passionate and driven with this particular choice, I am hoping it will be a successful launching pad for whatever artistic path she ends up taking. </p>
<p>As for what we would do different-I maybe would have pushed harder not to cancel some of the remaining auditions. Another thing would be to put more effort in the dance prescreen video.</p>
<p>I really need to thank everyone on these boards for all of your help and support. I have been a member here since 2010 and a lurker before that. I have truly loved learning about the journeys you all have taken with your children and I promise to stick around to “pay it forward” as others have done! To my parent friends that I met on the audition merry-go –round this year…you all ROCK! Thank you for keeping me sane and halfway grounded through this process. A very special thanks to @asoldo, @connections, and @SU88BFA for support on all things UK/Scottish!</p>
<p>If there are things I didn’t cover here as far as background that someone has question about, feel free to ask or PM me. I feel like I could have written a novel about this journey, but I didn’t want to ramble on to much in this post!</p>
<p>So excited, Frazzled35, that’s we’ll be sharing this Scotland adventure!! It’s gonna be a wild ride!!! That RCS audition in Chicago was just amazing, wasn’t it? I think I knew right then that that’s where S would want to go. Maybe Andrew Panton is a spell-caster.</p>
<p>This is amazing frazzled! I am so impressed that your daughter was so independent as to have investigated this school on her own. And for you parents to be supportive, and to go with this bold decision to have her go to a best in class school like this. Oh so what if she only comes home once a year. Once they are in college - my experience has been that by spring semester of freshman year - they are “gone.” (sorry to break that to you if this is your first.) hahah. CONGRATS - this is amazing. Won’t it be great when you go visit her in Scotland!!??? Get to the 7 eleven now to buy those lottery tickets! Best!</p>
<p>I had posted this in the theater/drama forum (because D ended up BFA Acting)- but decided to put it here too :)</p>
<p>D Applied for BFA (both acting and MT some schools one or other, some both) at NYU, Boston, CMU, CCM, Minn-Guthrie, Ithaca, Syracuse, Otterbein, and BW
Applied for BA (non Audition) at Kenyon, Brown, Northwestern, and Muhlenberg (where she did do an audition for scholarships)</p>
<p>Prescreen : Ithaca and Otterbein- passed</p>
<p>“Re-directed” (I really do love that term): CMU, CCM, Minn-Guthrie, Ithaca, Otterbein, BW</p>
<p>Waitlisted: BU</p>
<p>Accepted BFA: Syracuse, NYU
Accepted BA: Muhlenberg, Kenyon, Northwestern (tough for me to say no, but D wants a BFA) </p>
<p>Final Decision: NYU!!!</p>
<p>Training: voice lessons 4 years, dance 5 years (jazz, ballet), Acting 4 years summer conservatory training, and a performing arts HS (6 shows a year: 1 musical and 5 plays, at least 2 of which are classical) which I give HUGE credit- they have professionals on every level- costumes, lighting, scenic design- the full deal. First semester senior year spent primarily on the auction process- they worked monologues, prescreen etc, though not really the songs (MT not their main focus) so D worked with her voice teacher (who is an adjunct for a BFA program) School did mock auditions, and brought local college profs, and local theater people to give kids feedback- which was super helpful. Also - D attended Tisch Summer program between junior/senior year- which confirmed her desire for a BFA program, and lit a fire under her that there are LOTS of good people out there- like so many others, she is a good sized fish at home, and seeing the competition forced her to up her game!</p>
<p>Auditioned on Campus: CMU, BW, Otterbein, Muhlenberg, CCM
Auditioned at Chicago Unifieds: NYU, Syracuse, Boston, Ithaca, Minn-Guthrie</p>
<p>Things I learned: As so many others have said- I feel this process has been as stressful for me, than it was for D…I felt like this was the big finish of things that a parent helps a child achieve… and I was SO worried about whether she was choosing the right school, doing things in the right order, would she get sick during audition process. How could she handle senior shows AND auditions… you name it, I worried about it. </p>
<p>D did 2 early auctions for programs not at the “top” of her list- Muhlenberg (scholarship) in Oct, BW in November, and that helped get her game together. I STRONGLY recommend this. Muhlenberg was lower pressure since it wasn’t BFA, BW not her favorite program before audition (though they were GREAT on the day- really raised the bar). Then we did CMU, Otterbein and CCM in January (all are within driving distance) and finished with Chicago Unifieds in Feb.</p>
<p>Things I would do differently: I would have tried to find a safer “safety” that D really loved- preferably one with rolling admissions. Her BAs were all from competitive schools- and we knew almost NOTHING for most of the year. The darkest thought of that time was that she would be shut out of all programs, and choosing the next part of her path would become a heartbreak rather than a joy. The very day her acceptance Syracuse came in I sent a text to my husband which said…" what do you think about a gap year…" I think she might have considered if there had not been any BFAs - and I would have been fine with it- though D says she would have gone to Kenyon. D was also VERY sure she only wanted schools in the east and midwest- which I thought was fine, closer to where we live etc… but then in the winter to end all winters she and I both realized that maybe she should have given the South and California a closer look!</p>
<p>I want to thank the entire CC community. I have been a “lurker” since the fall, to be honest, I wasn’t sure I was “worthy” to contribute until later in the game. But so many of you here have answered questions (sometimes before I asked them), calmed rants (even when they were just inside my head), supported dreams (reading success stories is inspirational) and been cheerleaders for all our kids every step of the way. If there are other lurkers out there- come on in, this is a great place to be!</p>
<p>congrats toowonderful and d. I suppose you should be grateful that she (like many) was “redirected” to the right place for her!!! Yay</p>
<p>Those redirections are a blessing for sure!</p>