Final MT Decisions Background - Class of 2023

College Majors Musical Theater Majors
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Son is at Montclair State. It’s going pretty much like you’d expect freshman year to go. He’s a little homesick and is still trying to figure everything out, but he is being challenged by the curriculum… probably even more than he expected.

I was thinking about this today, though. MT majors are different than other majors because they have to be 100% committed to learning everything possible and improving every day or they won’t make it. They are totally motivated by this… probably moreso than most other majors.

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Such a great idea! So nice to hear that things are going well for your freshmen!

@lovetoact - So glad your S is enjoying Temple. It was a BA acceptance for my D, she couldn’t audition there as she only did Unifieds, and we both loved the feel of the program. Students and faculty both were so welcoming and even for BAs it seemed like there were a ton of training and performing opps available.

@TexasMTDad - it is NOT an easy major. Freshman year was tough and Sophomore year has started even tougher for the 2022 crowd. The pain definitely doesn’t end with getting in and the MTs need focus and determination to survive. I remember someone posting last year that all freshmen party but honestly, the MT kids scarcely have time for that. It’s very different from the typical college experience.

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@CaMom13 Totally agree. Freshman year was an adjustment period, and I thought S’s load was heavy then when comparing it to what I remember college being like (business student). Sophomore year is just that much more challenging. These kids have very little down time. I guess it keeps them out of trouble. lol - no time to party.

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@lovetoact, I’m so glad your son is having a great experience at Temple. After almost deciding not to do a campus visit because we were out of time and he did not have enough approved absences left to visit everywhere he was accepted, my son had a very similar experience in the final tour/sitting in on classes at Temple and our whole family really fell in love with that program, the professors, the university and the Philadelphia arts scene. He ended up choosing a different program but I still feel a connection to Temple and I can’t wait to see what the new BFA grads do. If any 2024 parents/kids are still reading this thread, definitely consider this program because they are doing it right.

From my perspective 400 miles away, my son is adjusting pretty well. I never did a final decision post because he asked me not to share that much information online. He really enjoys his classes although the work load is intense. After the first couple weeks, he’s found time to join clubs and activities and seems to be trying very hard to find his place. I was prepared for it to be a hard adjustment for us here at home, I didn’t consider that it’s not an instantaneous easy adjustment for the kids - maybe that’s something we forget about our own college experience? At any rate, he seems content and that’s good enough for now.

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Forgot to say what I would change or do differently… I can’t speak for my son and it was his experience so my perspective is speculative. The curriculum comparison was worthless for us and I remain bemusedly embittered by the ink and paper I wasted printing it all out to hear “it’s all the same, just different fancy descriptions for the same classes.” (Which I maintain is not true but who is going to win that argument?) And I definitely don’t know if I have the right answers or a helpful perspective because it’s early days yet but I can offer some thoughts about the decision making part of it.

There are a lot of programs out there and you can’t apply to all of them so give serious attention to the type of program (conservatory or non-conservatory), size of the school, location (rural, urban, suburban) and don’t focus on the name/ranking and waste time and money applying to or auditioning for programs where in the end, your child really wouldn’t feel comfortable. I would have worried less about not leaving any stone unturned and insisted on giving more consideration to where my kid would thrive. He did a fairly good job of this but in hindsight, he knew there were a few schools on his list because of ranking and reputation which were just not the right place for him.

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BW had add on fees for accompanists. Not a huge expense but an expense nonetheless. One of my Ds is at BU - MT Concentration (they do not have an MT track - just a concentration); she pays out of pocket for voice.

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Okay, here goes. My daughter didn’t want to go too far from home so that dictated our search.

Programs Applied to: Point Park U., West Virginia U. Virginia Commonwealth, James Madison U.

Prescreens: None

Accepted to: Point Park U., West Virginia U.

Final Decision: West Virginia University (BFA)

WVU has a program that is very strong and she felt there would be more opportunities for her there. She loves it there and is happy with her decision!

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@DramaMama1031 congrats! glad to see some post still trickling in on final decisions for 2023 as the class of 2024 is in the “pre screen season” its a good reminder of the end goal!

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My daughter applied to around 25 schools, mostly East coast.
It was a very stressful year and we would not have made it through without guidance from a few local coaches and MTCA.
She got into - Ohio U MT, CCPA acting, Muhlenberg, Ball State ( redirect to theatre creation), and Marymount Manhattan MT ( off the waitlist)
She was waitlisted then rejected from - NYU, Baldwin Wallace and N Colorado
Deferred and then rejected at Emerson MT
Passed prescreens - BOCO, Emerson, Pace, Rider
Rejected from - U Arts, BOCO, Elon, Montclair State, U Mich, Penn State, BU, Cap21, Point Park, Hartt, Fordham, Pace, Rider CCM, Minnesota ( Guthrie )
It was a real blood bath in March. My eyes started to twitch and I couldn’t work.

She chose Marymount Manhattan and is really enjoying it. Not only is the training great she is taking full advantage of life in NYC and seems to be making some friends. We also live a half hour outside of NYC so she has been able to visit us :slight_smile:

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@Karamiles congrats & thanks for sharing!

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We just returned from Homecoming and Family Weekend at Temple University where our son is a freshman MT, and what a wonderful weekend it was!

MTs are in a university-wide choir for four semesters and our Friday night kicked off with a concert. It was a great cross-section of the performing arts, including choirs, instrumentalists, a jazz band, a short acting scene from the recent departmental mainstage production of An Enemy of the People, dance, etc, and was attended by many faculty, as well as the University’s President. Look up Boyer College MOSAIC on YouTube if you want to take a look (Temple’s MT program is in the ‘School of Theatre, Film, and Media Arts’ or ‘TFMA,’ but they work cooperatively with Temple’s ‘Boyer College of Music and Dance’ for some instruction).

On Saturday, our son had rehearsals for two productions he’s involved in (PYP and the Freshman Cabaret–I’ll explain what those are in a minute), so my husband and I went to the homecoming football game. We took the SEPTA (Philly’s subway) from the school to the game–Temple plays at Lincoln Financial Field, which is the Philadelphia Eagles’ stadium, because they don’t have a college football field at this time. Temple is a Division 1 school, and they’re competitive in their conference this year. My older two kids attended schools where there wasn’t even a football team, so this was a first for me! I’m not a football fan, but there was so much going on, with an amazing marching band, fan karaoke on the big screen, fireworks and smoke when the football team took the field, plenty of food, etc, (and Temple won!) that even I had fun!

We got to spend time with our son for the rest of the day, sampling the dining hall food and walking around the campus (the aroma of the Insomnia Cookies spreads far and wide to beckon you to their door!). At night, we all attended opening night of the mainstage musical, Sweet Charity. It was a really fun, terrific production with AMAZING dancing!!!

On Sunday, we took our son off campus to a mall and spent some quality time (it’s always quality for a teen if parents are buying food and clothes, right? :smiley: ).

Sunday evening was the Freshman class Cabaret. Freshmen have a lot of voice instruction, from the choir I mentioned above, to weekly private voice lessons, music theory, and Voice for Musical Theatre. In their Voice for MT class, they have been learning to prepare an audition binder and find songs that fit their individual voices in a variety of genres. The Freshman Cabaret performance is a relatively new addition. Since auditions for the fall shows are the previous spring, it’s unlikely that a freshman will be in a mainstage production their first semester, and this was an excellent way for them to dip their toes into the pool of performing on the department stage. The theme this year was Dorothy Fields. I loved this because Ms. Fields was the lyricist for Sweet Charity, and a prolific MT lyricist from the 1930s-60s, and so this was a great introduction to songs of that era with a tie-in to the show they’re all seeing the upperclassmen perform this month. There are currently 20 students in the 2023 MT class and they each performed, either a solo or a duet. And HOLY COW can these kids sing!!! Some of them sounded like they stepped off of a Broadway stage.

As I mentioned above, another thing our son is rehearsing for is PYP, Philadelphia’s Young Playwrights ‘New Voices 2019.’ PYP is an organization that supports middle and high school playwrights in Philadelphia. Over 650 plays were submitted and six were chosen to be directed by theatre professionals and performed by Temple undergrads. It’s a great collaboration, and another way for a freshman to perform in something supported by the department.

It was so nice to see how happy our son is, and to meet so many of his new friends–everywhere we walked on campus, there was someone from the department stopping to say hello. Both at Sweet Charity and at the Freshman Cabaret, so many students in the department were there to cheer on the performers. Faculty were at the performances too, and were so friendly, stopping to talk to any parents who greeted them. I even got to meet another CC mom from the other side of the country who I talked to here last spring when our kids were trying to make their decisions.

I can’t believe it’s been a year since we were submitting applications and prescreens, and only a few months since we were all commiserating on CC about the rejections, acceptances, and decisions our kids were dealing with, and now here we are, already at Parents’ Weekend, our son happily settled into his program, and thriving. <3

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@lovetoact - so happy to hear such detailed and positive feedback on the Temple program. We visited Temple for an accepted student event in 2018 (BA not BFA) and loved it. I felt like the rapport between the faculty and students as well as the camaraderie between students was outstanding and we loved their approach. If my D had been an accepted BFA applicant it would have been hard to turn down! So glad your son is thriving and lucky you to have such fantastic events for Parents Weekend!!!

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DS chose Otterbein and we are all very happy with his decision. Despite my Florida boy suddenly being thrust into Ohio weather ( they had one cold snap and he wore a wool coat over his puffer -he’ll get there )

What he loves: 8am dance class 5 days a week. He was leveled into intermediate tap and jazz, basic everything else . Instructors are already recognizing his dedication and he may move up in one or two dance classes at the end of the semester

He loves his acting teacher and his vocal coach.

He loves NOT being the best. He has gotten kicked around a bit with on campus auditions finally receiving a small solo in the choir (required). It is giving him a taste of his future and making him work even harder.

He loved being required to tech the fall show and it has brought him closer to the classes ahead of him and he could see the skill levels they are working at

What he doesn’t love: he is still only 17 and was homesick for quite a few weeks. He has made one trip home which I think finally made him see that time moves quickly and seeing us again is just around the corner

He doesn’t love un air conditioned dorms- but the weather cooled within three weeks of his arrival and now he says it isn’t uncomfortable

He has a hard time eating- MWF he only has 15 minute breaks between classes from 8am until 5:45 so he often goes with no food until dinner or just a cereal bar. He came home 12 pounds thinner

What WE love - the artistic award was substantial bringing our total cost to $16k a year. With their “tuition transparency” program- his tuition will never go up more than $600 a year. ( FYI- we receive no need based money -FAFSA says we should be able to pay $40k a year - HA! Not if dad and I want to eat ?)

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@mommyMT so helpful to hear you say it CAN work to submit digital auditions. I haven’t figured out where you sent those, but we are so far using digitals to American and U of NO Colorado. Too much stress on son already and he just did the first round of prescreen clips. How will he ever get through the whole process? Thank you for everyone posting her.

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@mommyMT sorry, just found your list of where you added video auditions. No need to explain! Thank you for this post is really helps.

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I am on this site today for the first time since May. I think I needed some space and time away from it all to process the past crazy, stressful year of auditions. Now, I’m reading on FB how some high school seniors are starting to hear back from prescreens, etc… and I’m having a little PTSD! Seriously though, I thought it might be good for me to summarize our experience as a bit of personal closure.

My DD is a singer/dancer/actor, in that order, maybe. She is your typical cute girl next door - cheerleader-type, somewhat petite, with the classic “disney” mixed belt voice. She got Broadway callbacks for Annie after an open audition as a 5th grader and caught the theater bug, and she’s performed in school and community productions ever since. She applied to 18 schools.
Here is her list:

Prescreens passed (all MT) - U. of Michigan, Elon, Carnegie Mellon, Coastal Carolina, TCU, Ithaca, Syracuse, U. of Miami, Illinois Wesleyan, U. of Indiana, U. of Oklahoma, Auburn, Penn State

Also auditioned for (but didn’t require prescreens )- Belmont, Arizona, NYU (MT)

Prescreens not passed - Florida State, USC.

Auditions seemed to go well. We went to some on-campus (UMich, Elon, Indiana, Auburn, Belmont, NYU) and Chicago Unifieds (all the rest). She was healthy and prepared. She walked out of almost every audition feeling confident and hopeful. We used MTCA to choose and rehearse monologues and song cuts for several months in advance, so she felt good about her material.

February and March were long months.

Fast forward to late April and her final options were BFA MT at Auburn and BA Theater at Elon, TCU, Indiana, Arizona, Oklahoma, CCU, and Belmont. We were not surprised by some responses… somewhat stumped by others.

DD is at Auburn and is loving it. They wanted her immediately - reaching out on Monday following a Saturday on-campus February audition - and I think I knew then that it would be the place for her. We have been very impressed with the program - Sutton Foster taught a master class this fall - and DD is challenged, nurtured, and enjoying the faculty, the training, and her cohort of musical theater majors. (small program - 6-8 taken per year) She is busy but also enjoying being a “normal” college student - in a sorority, etc., which was very important to her. It’s trite but true - she landed where she was meant to be and we are very thankful.
Still, what a long, strange trip! Phew.
Best of luck to everyone’s kids… and thank you all for the community of support along the way.

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@larken19 thanks for sharing & congrats on your D finding her perfect fit, we are in the midst of the madness now and appreciate your perspective.

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Here we go! After reading these boards for weeks, I finally signed up for CC. Parent of a HS junior, wanting MT, stronger dancer, and nervous as heck about what we are about to embark on! Thank you to everyone who has posted about their experiences, they have been extremely helpful to set expectations.