Great story and a wonderful decision, @ac2680! I’m still fan-girling over John Kander…wow, what a great opportunity and honor for the MSM students!
Well here goes nothing!
Schools applied to: Manhattan School of Music, Ithaca College, University of the Arts, Elon University, Boston Conservatory at Berklee, Rider University, Point Park, Emerson College
Prescreens passed: All
Artistically acceptances: All
Coach: None, but goes to a Performing Arts High School
My son’s journey started when he was probably 6. He would act out all MGM movie musicals for the whole family at Holidays. Would literally force everyone to watch, there was no choice LOL! But he didn’t want to perform in public right away. It took a longer time. When he was 11 he had a friend who was doing community theatre and was invited to see their performance. He was enraptured and truly envious of all the kids onstage. He asked if he could do their little summer Broadway Revue… naturally we had hesitations but he seemed so excited and like he had found something special to him. He started performing in lots of shows and gradually it became more and more clear that this wasn’t just a hobby. This was his life. After doing over 30 shows by entering high school, he made a bold choice to transfer to a Performing Arts High School where he has done rigorous acting, singing, dancing training. It has been hard and strenuous but the pay off is so great. We are grateful to have known many people over the years who have gone through the college audition process and they gave us their tips. We felt ready!
All of his auditions went great. He truly didn’t feel like there was more he could do at any one of them. When the first few acceptances rolled in we felt at such peace because we knew there would be a place for him no matter what would happen over this crazy ride. I keep telling people, the students, parents, families, and friends who have to go through the crazy process for Musical Theatre in college deserve the WORLD. I truly don’t know how we got through this alive in some ways (trying to take it one day at a time helped). I am constantly inspired by this board due to the lengths all of you are willing to go to help their children. Literally brings me to tears as I type this. Our kids sacrifice so much for this process and for performing in general, and to see what is going to happen in this next chapter is so thrilling. My son missed Junior Prom, parties, regular high school events every year because he had rehearsal or was in a show. At times he’d think he was missing out. But now having gotten this far, it feels like it was all worth it and he wouldn’t change a thing. Congratulations to ALL of you, parents and your miraculous children. Hug them, kiss them, celebrate them, love them, and get yourself a martini!
Final decision: Manhattan School of Music - Musical Theatre Class of 2023!
It was always the dream. It was #1 for over two years. The first time he visited a few years ago he knew this is what he wanted. Then Liza Gennaro came on board and it multiplied x10000. She is extraordinary and is everything my son was looking for and more. It’s where he was meant to be. He couldn’t be happier and is bursting with excitement now that he can finally tell people!
Again, my biggest congratulations are extended to everyone on these boards. This chapter is almost over and soon the greater one will begin.
Thank you @mammameuh I’m with you on the fan-girling! Such an amazing opportunity for those young artists!
@flo4g8 Congratulations to your son!! Your words hit so close to home and brought me to tears. I hope our paths cross at MSM - the first martini is on me 
Congrats @flo4g8
@ac2680 And congratulations to you and your daughter! So wonderful to see how MSM MT is growing! Looking forward to hopefully getting to know you next year!
@flo4g8 - how wonderful that his long-term #1 school was ultimately his #1 choice!!! So happy for him! Great story!
@CaMom13 Thank you!
Congrats @ac2680 !!
@flo4g8 Congratulations to you both!
@flo4g8 Congratulations on the dream school!
@flo4g8 Congratulations to you and your son!
Thought my wife would have done this by now but here you go. This will be long, but the story means a lot to our family because it was confirmation to us on many levels both emotionally and spiritually.
Schools applied to: Coastal Carolina, Boston Conservatory , Wright State Baldwin Wallace, Ohio Northern, College of Chas (Safety) University of Tampa, Long Island University at Post, CAP 21/Molloy, Marymount Manhattan, Florida State , Shenandoah , Michigan, University of the Arts, Belmont University, Elon , Wagner College, Montclair State, Manhattan School of Music UCF, Carnegie Mellon, Texas State University, Pace
Prescreens passed: All except Carnegie, TSU and Pace (redirected to acting)
Artistically acceptances: Coastal Carolina (BFA Acting), Boston Conservatory (MT) , Wright State (BFA Acting) Baldwin Wallace (BFA Acting), Ohio Northern(MT), College of Chas, University of Tampa (MT), Long Island University at Post(MT) , CAP 21/Molloy(MT), Marymount Manhattan (MT)
Coach: Chelsea Diehl My College Audition: Glad we did!
Daughter was always musically inclined. Could carry a tune and mimic as a baby. Took some ballet as a pre-k but that did not last long and she grew up playing soccer. She was always involved in school plays and musicals and in 6th grade played Lefou in B&TB. From there it slowly escalated by doing shows at a local children theater. Cast generally in the ensemble she was always a bit frustrated at the lack of leading or supporting roles. We explained that getting those roles was part hard work, part paying your dues, part talent and part luck. At 15 when the children’s theater was going to perform Sweeney Todd she was determined that she would take care of the hard work part and work to get the role of Ms. Lovett. She studied the character, worked up her accent, worked up her audition and knocked them dead. She got the role and nailed it (still get chill bumps). From that point on she knew what she wanted to do with her life (At 15 I was clueless, heck I was clueless at 21). Like many kids here she passed on her last two years of high school to do online school. That way she could train and take advantage of some professional theater opportunities that required day time commitments.
As parents we were clueless as to the college audition process. My wife starting reading stuff online and luckily got us started the spring of D’s junior year. We sent her to the intensive at FSU which was a great experience and an eye opener for her seeing all the talent there. I recommend to anyone. We signed up with MCA and also hired a vocal/acting coach in addition to MCA, and her usual vocal coach. We worried about the cost of all this but decided to trust that God would provide as we went along. He did.
After the stress that was picking songs and monologues we filmed her pre-screens and applied to 24 schools. My wife is uber organized so we were on top of everything early in the process. Got some early rejections from prescreen most notably Carnegie who our D had as her “dream school”. It was a solid early blow, but a good one. She had to learn to deal with rejection and to lose your dream school right off the bat was difficult. For Mom and Dad we wanted to see how she would handle rejection and while there were some tears they did not last too long.
Now D was all about MT. In fact she had never appeared in a straight play, so we applied only to MT programs with the exception of BW because their acting audition was the same weekend as MT. We started the process with some early auditions. Traveled to Tampa, Belmont and Elon. Yes from Tampa, no from Belmont and Elon. Each rejection was sad but became a bit easier. We went to Unifieds in NYC and Chicago. Auditioned in person at Michigan, FSU, UCF, BW, Marymount Manhattan and Coastal Carolina. She got some quick acceptances like Marymount Manhattan three days after auditions. But mostly we waited for decisions. During the process D began to discover that what she loved about the process was the monologue work. Those programs that either had workshops or actually took time to talk with her worked with her monologues. She loved this and found it much more interesting than the music end. This would turn out to prophetic
Then the hits started coming. Lots of nos came in all in a row. That was a tough time. Then a number of nice MT offers came in. But to our surprise D began to gravitate to schools that were offering her in BFA acting programs rather than MT. As parents we did not understand this. You have been all about MT? We went through all of this for MT? You have nice MT offers? How can you be interested in acting now? She could not explain it but she felt the pull to acting. This created a great deal of stress in our house I can tell you. However as we approached April 1 we actually narrowed down the choice to BW acting and Wright state Acting. We visited both and D loved them both for different reasons and we figured it would likely come down to these two. Then April 1 came around with an MT offer from BoCo. Wow, talk about exciting news and BoCo had offered a great scholarship, or so we thought. When we read it we initially thought they had offered $40k in scholarship, but we read it wrong and it turns out it was $20k (still nice), our bad, but for a week we thought Boco was going to be in the running.
This bring me to finances. We always knew that school was going to be expensive, but hoped that scholarships would help with that. We do well, but with an older child in college and another child with autism who will probably be with us for our lives, there was no way that we could afford the cost of many schools. We were willing to sacrifice, but there was only so much we could do with a good conscience. Along this process there was always a good amount of prayer. We prayed that God would put our D where she needed to be and that the path would be made known to us. While we were excited about BoCo, when we discovered our mistake about the amount of the scholarship, there were tears, but also confirmation. No way we could foot the bill so Boco was not the place for her to be. We were left down to BW and Wright State. Both were great acting programs, but two entirely different curriculum and feels. D leaned more toward one program and my wife and I toward another. Both would be a struggle and sacrifice financially for our family, but we were willing to do what we needed to do. However the difference of opinions within the family were markedly different and we were headed for a showdown.
My wife began exploring some last-minute options because the financial costs and our difference of opinion on programs between our family members was causing us to doubt the entire process and our decision. Because we live in SC (and D is a really great student who would get amazing scholarships if she went in state) wife contacted Coastal (who said no to MT) to ask if she could re-audition next year if D went to Coastal for BA. The answer from Coastal was that you can re-audition, but there is rarely a position and it almost never happens. However, looking at D’s audition notes they asked if she applied for BFA acting, (which we had not) because her acting scores were great. Out of the blue they offered her a position in the BFA acting program right there on the spot. This was the answer to prayer we had been looking for. Coastal is an amazing program that D loved, it was acting which D decided was what she wanted, it is in state and will cost our family less than $9k a year. It checked all the boxes! Again, there were tears, this time of joy.
Final decision: Coastal Carolina – BFA Acting Class of 2023!
Never give up; never compromise. Keep examining your options. Keep your faith. Listen to your child
@16or32bars - I love this story!! Thank you for sharing and congratulations to you all!! 
Congrats @16or32bars - great story- love the details, thank you!
@16or32bars fantastic result! love how you worked through this as a family! Wishing you all the best!
@16or32bars Congratulations to your D! Chants UP!
BTW…I still don’t know what I want to do when I grow up!!
Congratulation @16or32bars Amazing story and I love the surprise ending!!
That is a WONDERFUL story @16or32bars ! I am overjoyed for you and your daughter!
So excited for you and your daughter! My daughter just finished her Freshman year at Coastal and has grown tremendously!