My S and I are so happy for all who have made a final decision. My S has expected that he would have a final decision by mid to late March but the process was a little muddied by schools he got accepted to but hasn’t visited yet. It’s a good problem to have ( he has choices ) but it means more money for school visits, more time before he can make a decision, and a growing frustration when he sees friends posting pictures in their new school’s shirt and he is still in limbo. And that’s my vent this morning
As people are making their decisions or those of your from past years, what does a letter or email to a school you have decided not to go with look like? Do you say only “Thank you for the offer but have decided on another school” short and sweet or do you say which school, do you say what you liked about their program but why you chose another school. I assume less is more. Do the schools respond back to you? Not sure what to expect. Haven’t made the final-final, but have finally decided on the for sure no’s which wasn’t easy with our D because she really liked them but we can’t visit them. We wrote some why we weren’t visiting emails, but not the final decided on another school email. Any suggestions much appreciated.
@NewTMDad Here’s a verbatim email minus the names.
Dear
Thank you so much for offering me a position in the XYZ program at . I regret to inform you that I am declining the offer as I have recently committed elsewhere.
Thank you again, and best of luck moving forward.
Here is another question for those already gone through the acceptance decisions that might help us make the final-final decision. Sometimes I read my daughters acceptance letter from her dream school. I have read it 8 times, looking for the mistake. The error, the redirect, the note about wait list. With so many rejections, what if the dream school made a mistake, mixed up our D with another D. Will she show up on the first day and say they made a mistake? I know this is silly, but with so many rejections and redirects, do you feel funny saying no to “any” school? Maybe I just have MT audition PTSD. My daughter did get an acceptance meant for another kid (wrong name at the top), but then she was accepted too so it wasn’t as painful. But it makes you think, how many “accidents” happen with the cut and paste button and then you get scared you are holding a mistake. I don’t believe it is a mistake, but this process has a way of making you second guess yourself. Still waiting word from a few schools, which also adds to the hesitation. I know this is the wrong thread, but really looking for advice from those who have accepted a decision.
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@NewMTDad When we had all our offers in hand last year (about April 1), S knew that one of two schools was probably the right choice and he kept a 3rd school in his pocket until we visited the two at the top of the list. (He had auditioned on campus at the 3rd so didn’t really have questions about that one.) He immediately released the other accepted schools and 1 of the two waitlist positions he had. He stayed on one waitlist. Generally, I would say that you go through the acceptances that you have. If there are any that are for sure no’s, you release them. If you really don’t know yet for whatever reason (don’t have the full financial picture, haven’t visited the campuses, etc. ), you hold on to them until you can answer the questions to make an informed decision.
@speezagmom Thank you for both comments. You have provided a lot of useful info, thank you again.
@NewMTDad, some of our emails were just like the above example. One or two more were a little more detailed because he had built a relationship with the department head. Here is the email he sent to the #2 school on his list and who had granted him a talent scholarship:
Dear Dr. XXXXl,
Thank you so much for this opportunity and for my admission to the XXXXX BFA MT program. I truly love your program and all it has to offer. I also wanted to thank you and the faculty for the generous Theatre Scholarship. I was flattered by this offer.
I wanted to let you know that I have decided to accept another offer that was closer to home. While I definitely could have seen myself thriving at your wonderful program, I decided that it was a better fit for me to be closer to my home in NY City. I will be attending Nazareth College in Rochester, NY for their BFA MT program. This was not an easy decision for me because your program has so much to offer and the training I would have received would have been incredible. I wanted to let you know of my decision sooner rather than later so you could offer my spot to another student on your wait list.
Please know that I have given a glowing recommendation of your program to several students who have asked for my impressions of it. Thank you again and I would consider myself lucky if I ever get the chance to work with you professionally one day in the future.
I have had every one of these thoughts too!
@NewMTDad I have had the same thoughts. It’s scary to tell any place no given the hit rate for MT.
@NewMTDad - I can’t tell you the number of times we read my D’s BFA acceptance letter just to “make sure” it really said “yes”. It’s normal after this rollercoaster to feel slightly seasick but I’m pretty sure if there’s a mistake in sending out acceptances the college will fix it quickly. Maybe if you call your D’s dream school and sign up for an accepted student day that would help quell the panicky thoughts. 
Glad to hear I am not the only one. I thought about having her correspond with her picture, just to be sure. Hee Hee. I hope that doesn’t sound bad, I believe in my D, but with so much rejection, hard to believe there is someone who finally sees what we see. I’m sure it is all good. Thank you everyone for the “me too’s”.
@NewMTDad I’m sure mistakes happen but rarely so - last year there was someone on here (not sure if MT or Acting) whose kid was told they were admitted and then (I’m pretty sure) the following day advised it was an unfortunate mistake. But yes, apprehensive here about releasing our no’s but expect to do so next week.
That mistaken acceptance was a phone call from UNCSA made to the wrong applicant and it was for technical theatre @NYDreammom. That’s the only administrative error I remember and they did correct it promptly.
Programs Applied to: Baldwin Wallace, CCM, Texas State, Otterbein, Montclair, Rider, Point Park, UArts, U of Arizona, CMU, Shenandoah
The leading factors on school selections were: True triple threat programs with strong dance, conservatory or conservatory style, strong industry connections, talent $ opportunities
Prescreens: CMU, Otterbein, Texas State
Artistically and Academically Accepted to: Baldwin Wallace, CCM, Texas State, Otterbein, Montclair, Rider, Point Park, UArts, U of Arizona
Rejected from: none
Wait-listed at: CMU and Shenandoah
Coach: Mary Anna Dennard (College Audition Coach)
Thoughts: This was a great decision for us, and we would recommend this to anyone. I am very organized and had many spreadsheets prepared for this process prior to going with “Moo”. What I was most overwhelmed by was discerning which schools to focus in on. Every school looked great on websites, and CC sometimes made things more confusing than helpful in regards to strength of the dance program, talent vs. academic $ opportunities, gen. ed. requirements, etc. In our first skype session, Moo asked what my son was looking for in an MT program, and we were able to narrow down our list by half as well as add a school we were not very familiar with – Texas State. Moo and Mark (the song coach) also helped in selecting monologues and songs that fit his “type” (after a multi-faceted way of diagnosing this), as well as selections that were not overdone in the audition process. The monologue and song coaching sessions were great as well as the videos, school podcasts and support throughout the whole process. Being able to participate in Moonifieds lessened our expenses by allowing us to forgo on campus auditions. I am dumbfounded by the pay-to-play debate because there really is nothing special about these auditions. Are they organized? Yes. Are they run in a supportive and fun environment? Yes. BUT - Kids are not given favor with the colleges in any way. They have to be prepared and deliver as strong of an audition as they would on campus or Unifieds to get a spot in a program.
Summer Programs: none
Training: 4 years private voice, 4 years dance (ballet, jazz, tap), 2 years acting classes, 2 years tumbling
Background: S has been performing since playing “Curly” in Peter Pan at age 9. At first it was hit or miss due to working around his sports schedules, but at the age of 14 he was cast in his first professional production and was hooked. He quit sports and has since been cast in several regional productions throughout his high school career which, due to his schedule, has been a combination of both online and public schooling. Once he decided he had found his calling, he devoted all his free time to training. The best advice we got was to get him into dance – especially ballet.
S had his first round of auditions in Dallas at Moonifieds where he was able to knock out 7 final auditions and 2 live prescreens for Texas State and Otterbein. He passed those prescreens and had the final auditions for those along with CCM and CMU at Chicago Unifieds. Out of the Moonified auditions he was fortunate to receive early acceptances from Baldwin Wallace, Montclair, Rider and University of the Arts. This made going into Chicago Unifieds a bit more relaxed although some biggies were yet to come! Unifieds was not overwhelming due to the fact that he’d had the mini-experience at Moonifieds and only had 4 auditions. It felt like we knew what to expect although there were 7-8X as many people and far less organization. Overall, he loved all of his audition experiences and found most auditors to be very accommodating. He loved the Texas State, CCM and Otterbein dance calls, felt he tanked the CMU audition because the accompanist didn’t know his song, found the East Coast schools to be less talkative than the Midwest schools, and felt that Texas State and CCM info sessions greatly increased his interest in their programs.
After all acceptances came in he was thrilled to have 3 of his top schools to choose from: CCM, Baldwin Wallace and Texas State. We had already toured BW, so we scheduled visits to CCM and Texas State over spring break. We also threw Otterbein into the mix as he was very impressed by their dance call and auditors. Our first stop was CCM. Going into the process, CCM was probably always my son’s dream school. He felt the curriculum was perfect for him and that he’d do well in this type of program. It was an amazing visit. The students were welcoming, their production of “Hunchback” was incredible and the facilities were awesome. We drove up to Otterbein and found the campus, students and faculty to be lovely. The program, however, did not feel like a fit. We then flew to San Marcos to visit Texas State. Going into this visit, S had pretty much made up his mind that CCM was the place for him, but after the first day of a 3 day visit at TX ST, he began to change his mind. I’d describe it as that a deep knowing was taking place within him, the feeling of a true fit rather than what he thought would be a logical good fit. He was so impressed with the talent, vulnerability and drive of the students as well as their joy and well-roundedness. Over the 3 days we were there, he just felt like he belonged at TX ST and could see himself be not only challenged there but happy as well.
Final Decision: Texas State! We are beyond thrilled with his choice. The faculty and students are not only superbly talented but kind and genuine people as well. We know it’s not a place where he will have to learn to survive, but rather a place where he will thrive.
@peacemama Your talented S had some wonderful options! That must have been tough! Congratulations on finding his fit!! Now uncork that bottle!
So glad everything went smoothly with your S’s application process @peacemama and what a great bunch of acceptances! I am sure he’ll have the time of his life at TX State - congratulations all around.
@peacemama Yay! Congrats! I believe my D was at the visit at Texas State with you! What a great experience!
Congratulations @peacemama !! Fantastic story and the perfect ending! ?
Wonderful story, @peacemama! I love how during the visit, he just started to FEEL deep inside that this was “the one.” Congratulations!