@MTSongbirdMom thank you! Not quite sure if my sanity completely survived but then again how sane were we all to undertake this crazy journey to begin with lol.
@minicp what a great story and what a great ending! She knew what she wanted and she knew where she belonged. So happy for her and you!
@NewToThis13 @BrennaK @minicp Congrats to you all! I love hearing your stories. Thank you for sharing!
I literally cannot believe I am finally posting this!! It’s a little (a lot) long so bear with me.
Programs Applied to: CCPA @ Roosevelt, Point Park, Wagner College, Ithaca, Syracuse, JMU, Shenandoah, Montclair, University of Michigan, Otterbein, Indiana University, Wright State, University of the Arts, Hartt, CAP 21/Molloy, Western Connecticut state, Muhlenberg, Ohio Northern, Millikin
Walk-ins at Viterbo, LIU Post, SUNY Cortland
Prescreens: Passed all but Shenandoah, redirected to acting for Ithaca
Accepted to: Point Park, Wagner, Ithaca (acting), JMU (theatre), Otterbein (acting), Wright State (acting), University of the Arts (acting), Molloy, Western Connecticut, Viterbo, LIU Post, SUNY Cortland, Muhlenberg (non audition)
Rejected from: Roosevelt, Syracuse, Shenandoah, Montclair, Michigan, Indiana, Hartt, Ohio Northern
Didn’t audition at Millikin due to scheduling
Waitlisted at: none
Coach: MCA. Chelsea is the best! I cannot recommend them enough:)
Summer Programs: Broadway Workshop Excel Teen Intensive (2017), Wagner SMTI (2018)
Background: I was initially class of 2022, but in November of my senior year I realized I was NOT ready to go through this process. I decided on a gap year to train, grow as a person/deal with some health issues and build a list of schools that were truly a good fit for me. This was truly the BEST decision I have ever made. If anyone has any questions about a gap year I would be happy to chat:)
I’ve been doing theatre in some capacity since elementary school but took a break in middle school to dance competitively. Voice since 8th grade, and cut back on dance significantly in high school to be able to do shows. I was mostly cast in ensemble/ft ensemble roles with a couple supporting and one lead. All shows were high school/teen productions. I was so worried that my resume would negatively impact my chances, but I can say first hand that high casting truly has no bearing on college admissions!
I spent my gap year working (at Starbucks lol) to help fund extra coaching lessons and application fees. I took voice with a new and amazing voice teacher, danced 2-3x a week and had acting lessons and some masterclasses through MCA. I was able to grow so much not only as an artist but also as a person. I also did a little bit of travel outside of auditions (Florida, New York and even a solo trip to the Netherlands and Belgium in March). Taking a gap year was such a gift in so many more ways than I could have anticipated.
Going into this process, my top choice was Wagner. I had toured the year before and did their summer program. I seriously considered cutting down my list to Wagner, 4-5 “fit” audition programs, maybe 1-2 dream schools and Muhlenberg (which I really liked), because I was so sure if I got in there I would attend. As I went through the process though I realized that I wanted a more intense true BFA program, and a slightly smaller program than Wagner had. I would definitely recommend a broad list because no matter how much you think you have researched, what you want in a school is sure to change!
Did Wright state, UArts, Muhlenberg scholarship audition and Hartt in November/December. yielded an acceptance to UArts acting before Christmas. It wasn’t the program I initially wanted, but I loved Philly and I could minor in MT there as well. It was nice to know I had someplace audition based to go heading into the rest of my auditions. I got deferred from Hartt which wasn’t a no so I was happy.
Traveling and auditioning was a little crazy but really fun as well. We did New York and Chicago unifieds. I liked New York better (it was a little intense but the energy helped me “get in the zone”). Did Molloy, JMU, Point Park, Western Connecticut, Otterbein and walk-ins at LIU, Viterbo and SUNY Cortland. My dad (who will readily admit that he is clueless about the process) had a great time sitting back and people watching some very high strung students and parents lol! It was nice for me because I had some space to do my thing but he was there if I needed anything. Walk-ins made my day busy (especially Saturday!) but it forced me to get over my nerves and anxiety about auditioning. I walked into auditions super nervous but went home Sunday feeling great about my auditions and excited for the rest! Highlights were definitely Point Park (a long-time dream school of mine) and the Viterbo walk in.
Cont…
I went to Chicago with my mom, but she left after two days because she couldn’t miss work. It was fun and exciting to get to go to auditions and walk around the city on my own! Highlight of Chicago was definitely the fire alarm going off/a power outage at our hotel 10 pm the night before auditions in Chicago (it took them 4 hours to get it turned off, extract the people stuck in the elevator (!) and turn the power back on. Full confession…my mom and I jumped ship and got a last minute hotel for that night. It was a good thing we did because due to the power outage our original hotel had no hot water the next morning!!
Roosevelt (MTD) dance call was really hard! I made the mistake of choosing that because I wanted a program where I could focus on dance, but that program/dance call is really for true dancers. It did not go so well:/ I also did Michigan, Montclair, Syracuse, Ithaca acting and Ohio Northern. At the request of the NYC Viterbo auditor, I stopped in to meet the people auditioning in Chicago. I had a great experience (they had already heard about me from the NY person) and I was given an in room acceptance. That was a true highlight and I feel so lucky and fortunate for it! I also liked the Ithaca audition, but other than that I didn’t really connect with the other schools.
Flew to Indiana in February with my dad again. We loved Bloomington, but I didn’t really click with the auditors. I was not surprised when the rejection came.
Last was Wagner. Felt like a homecoming of sorts, and I left thinking that maybe this was the place for me after all.
Then came the waiting! Something I did and would totally recommend is I planned something nice to do for myself (getting my nails done, buying flowers for my room etc) once a week from the last week of February through March, when I was hearing back from schools. I knew that I would probably get a lot of rejections and that it would likely end up being a tough month, so it was nice to have a few self care things planned.
I was fortunate to receive a lot of amazing offers, some MT but also top tier acting acceptances. When the Otterbein and Ithaca acting acceptances came within 24 hours of each other I started to take it as a sign that maybe I was meant to pursue an acting degree instead. We planned visits to those two programs and I was really getting used to the idea, and then came Point Park. It has been a dream program of mine for years and I was so shocked and excited to receive this acceptance, but I had really started to fall in love with Otterbein. It was hard because there were so many programs I liked - specifically Wright state, Western CT, Viterbo, Wagner, Ithaca, Point Park and Otterbein. In the end it came down to Wagner, Ithaca, Point Park and Otterbein. Ithaca and Wagner were eliminated in part due to money and also because they no longer felt like great fits. We visited Otterbein and I left basically ready to commit! I loved the ability to take voice lessons through the music school and take dance every day, but it’s in a really small town and the program is growing. This is mostly good, however personally one of the things I liked about it was the super small class size (8 acting and 8 MT students). The day after we visited Point Park and I left feeling conflicted. I had honestly liked my Otterbein visit better but I just had this gut feeling that I couldn’t brush them off. My mom and I were able to return for COPA accepted students day and I truly fell in love. Zeva is incredible and cares so much about her students, the dance opportunities are amazing and I’ll have the ability to take acting for the camera and some other courses that would have been available to me as an acting major. Most importantly, the students were all so warm and welcoming and made us feel right at home. I left ready to commit, but it didn’t take long for the doubt to creep in. Otterbein was more affordable, and the sr internship is a great opportunity. I had had more of a connection to them on my initial visit than I had at Point Park and I started to worry that I was making the wrong choice. I spent a few days waffling (even regretting that I had eliminated most of my other options even though I knew deep down I wouldn’t be happy there), but after basically torturing myself and my parents my mom sat me down and basically said “9 pm April 30th what would you do” and without hesitation I said Point Park! I think deep down I knew that what I really wanted was a BFA MT and at the end of the day I couldn’t turn down the opportunity to study my true passion at a dream program of mine.
I am beyond thrilled to officially be a part of the Point Park BFA MT class of 2023!!!
@minicp Congratulations! So glad your D found her new ‘home’!
@MThopeful99 Congrats…great story!!
I guess it’s our turn…
Background: D began ballet classes at the age of 3 in part because I was a dancer and also to help with her hyptonia (low muscle tone). She loved it and has been dancing ever since. She added other styles of dance at age 6, and when she was in 4th grade she made her dance studio’s competitive team and danced with that team until her Junior year in high school. She also danced in several local Nutcrackers, including the Joffrey Ballet in Chicago. In High School she did the school’s competitive show choir all four years and loved being able to both sing and dance.
In 5th grade, she tried her hand at musicals and was cast in the Dream Choir for “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” and the theatre bug bit her hard. She fell in love with musical theatre. In 6th grade, she was cast as a Bird Girl and JoJo understudy in Seussical and we decided she needed private voice to help her grow and keep singing in a healthy way. She has been with the same voice teacher since, and we will be really sad to leave her for college. D kept performing in school and community musicals throughout the school year and summers. I want to point out that she has had many nice feature roles, but never had a lead. She was very concerned that she would not be successful at college auditions with so many kids who had always had leads. I am happy to say that that wasn’t the case.
In 8th grade, she auditioned and was accepted into the Rockettes Summer Intensive and subsequently spent a week in NY the summer after 8th, 9th, and 10th grade, training and learning from the Radio City Rockettes. It was an amazing experience and becoming a Rockette is a life-long dream of hers. Sadly, that dream is not going to happen because she stopped growing just short of the minmum height for Rockettes. It did, however, show her that NY is a city that she loves and she would love to live there in the future.
Junior year, she realized she wanted to do some summer MT programs to make sure this is what she wanted for college. She is a academically strong student and would be successful in an academic setting, as well. She applied to and was accepted to Nexus (Texas State) and Broadway Breakthru. Her two weeks at Nexus solidified that she wanted to pursue MT and also made her fall in love with Texas State and Kaitlin Hopkins and her colleagues. Texas State is an amazing program and she grew and gained so much in that two week period. She also realized she wanted a family-like program and wanted to have a strong connection with the program and those in charge. She also realized she was not interested in a conservatory setting and wanted more of a college experience.
Nexus helped her realize that although she had the desire and drive, she was woefully prepared for auditions. Her material was not good and didn’t showcase her strengths. At this point, she didn’t really know much about selecting materials for auditions. We decided to hire MTCA for coaching and it was the best decision for her. They got to know her, helped her select schools to apply to, and helped her select audition material that she connected to and showcased her talents. She was accepted and waitlisted at all schools they recommended to her, so they really knew her.
We decided to audition only at Chicago Unifieds and a few on campus auditions only if they would not be at Chicago Unifieds. We did this knowing that my daughter, having grown up in a dance competition setting, thrived under a tight schedule, and with lots of auditions back-to-back. It is not for everyone, and you need to really know what kinds of situations work best for your child.
We spent the summer working on prescreen materials, applying to her schools, and filming the prescreens. We filmed them ourselves and in hindsight, maybe that was not the best idea. We initially thought they were OK and that it wouldn’t matter that much if they weren’t perfect, but looking back, I wish we had spent more time on them and had MTCA film them for us.
Schools applied to:
Hartt, Ithaca, Texas State, Penn State, Rider, University of Michican, Western Michigan, Ball State, Wright State, LIU Post, Viterbo, Wisconsin Stevens Point, Ohio Northern, Molloy CAP 21, Otterbein, Indiana, Muhlenberg.
Non-audition safeties: Muhlenberg
Prescreens passed: Otterbein, Rider, Wright State, Indiana (WL at first but she did not audition)
Prescreen not passed: Ithaca (really surprised because she is a great dancer), Michigan, Penn State, Texas State. Although she was bummed not to pass these prescreens, the only one that really crushed her was Texas State. Kaitlin was very kind and D was pretty sure going in that she would not get into Texas State because at Nexus she was repeatedly told how much she reminded them of another current student. Not something you want to hear unless that student is a senior 
. I think that releasing D before the prescreen was kinder in the long run. It would have been even more devastating to audition and have her hopes dashed after getting even closer. D ran into Kaitlin Hopkins at Chicago Unifieds each day and Kaitlin and the other teachers who knew her from Nexus came up each time to give her a hug, ask how Unified were going, and just give a quick pep talk. Any students lucky enough to go to Texas State, please know how fortunate you are. Kaitlin also emailed her Nexus “Bobkittens” to let them know they were always a part of the family even if they were not attending Texas State, if they needed help with their decisions to reach out. D did, and Kaitlin gave very valuable insight and helped D know she made the right choice.
Admitted academically to all that offered separate admission, placed in Honors program at all schools with Honors programs, academic scholarships to all.
Accepted artistically: Rider, Ohio Northern, LIU Post, Wright State (from WL).
Waitlisted at: Wright State, Molloy CAP 21, Wisconsin Stevens Point (alternate)
Re-Directed: Ball State (BA Theatre Creation), OKCU (BA Music with a talent scholarship)
Visited all accepted/waitlisted schools except Molloy and Wisconsin Stevens Point. We would have figured out a way to visit them if needed.
First up was a visit to Wright State. This was D’s first audition and she was pleasantly surprised her audition resulted in a WL for Acting. She was able to sit in on a class, get a tour, and see a Little Night Music. Both she and my husband were blown away by the talent. It is such a great program.
Next visit was accepted students day at Ohio Northern. This was one of D’s favorite auditions and she always had such great interactions with everyone in the program. She received a lovely hand-written note from the dance head after viewing her pre-screen. She pretty much knew she was accepted at her audition and received her acceptance a week after her audition. She really enjoyed accepted students day and came out feeling great about the program. She also received a nice academic and additional talent scholarship, so that felt really good to her.
Spring Break took us to NJ and Rider University. The minute she stepped on campus, it felt like home to her. Every interaction was positive, the MT students were incredibly welcoming, and the calibre of the talent in the class she observed and the musical rehearsal completely blew her away. To top it all off, Robin Lewis is one of Kaitlin Hopkins best friends and he helped create and start the Texas State MT program with Kaitlin. She left after spending the entire day at Rider feeling great about the program as an option. Bonus, her Junior sister loved her visit to Princeton and fingers crossed could be in college 10 minutes away from her. Granted, that is just as hard as MT to get into so…
The next day, we drove to LIU Post for a tour. D had been in contact with the person who auditioned her at Unifieds, as well as a current MT student to set up a day to visit. Somehow, the student got the date wrong and expected us the following week. We just showed up and thankfully they put a tour together with an MT tour guide so we were able to see everything MT related as well as dorms and dining hall, etc. We did not get to sit in on classes, unfortunately.
Final Decision: Rider University!! GO BRONCS!!! Rider is the perfect fit for D. She is close to NY, she loved everything about the program and the dance there is amazing. Rider was by far her hardest dance call and she wants to continue to challenge herself. Her only concern was that during her interview, they gave her the option of BFA MT or BA Theatre. She was told she would be accepted to either and received her acceptance a week after Unifieds. She ended up choosing BA Theatre because it gave her the flexibility to take two minors on top of the MT curriculum. The program is a win-win for her. She was told that the first two years they take the same classes. The only difference is that the BA has more electives. BA and BFA are considered MT kids period. The kids she spoke with at her visit didn’t even know which of them were BA vs. BFA. She spoke with students who switched from BFA to BA and vice versa. She still takes voice, will minor in Dance and Arts Admin, has to audition for all shows, takes part in the same Senior Showcase with the BFA students.
This has been such a great group for sharing information and getting and giving support. I can’t wait to see where everyone else’s kids end up. I’m excited to meet my fellow Rider Moms and Dads!
Congrats!! @mtmom3girls
@MThopeful99 welcome to the PPU family!
Congrats @MThopeful99! Glad you found where you are going to thrive!
@MThopeful99 Congratulations!! Both on your journey and your outcome!!!
@mthopeful99 - what a great first-person story! Mostly we hear from the parents. I know it was hard to say no to a program you loved but you’ve made a great choice and I am so happy for you!
@mtmom3girls - so happy your D found her right fit!
@mtmom3girls Congratulations to your D on finding her fit!!
How exciting, @mtmom3girls! It seems like you are in the Chicago area? So are we - I wonder if our D’s have crossed paths. Congrats again!
Thanks everyone for your kind words!! Congratulations to everyone!!
@minicp So excited to meet you, too!! Happy to be part of the ShenCo family with you and your daughter!
Congrats to all who have committed! I think it’s time for somebody to start new threads: Final Decisions by Member Name, and Final Decisions by School!
Boy, you don’t log in for a few days and miss lots of things… Congratulations to everyone for your acceptances (too many that I have missed to try to name you all ) But so happy for each and every one of you and thank you for sharing your stories!!