<p>Macelfran, I also agree w/ soozievt in that, academically, Muhlenberg would not be considered a safety. I was gearing my answer to you more in the safety or match of non- audition program vs. audition. In fact, I know of another student this year who applied and auditioned for scholarship, received good interest from the department, but was not admitted to Muhlenberg. His SAT’s weren’t as strong as your son’s, but his GPA was better (however, no AP’s,) as soozievt says, class rank/percentile could help here. Nevertheless, for training and opportunity, location, non-suitcase school environment, etc., I believe Muhlenberg would be worth considering. Good luck to you!</p>
<p>Agree with you abparent. This student should consider Muhlenberg for the non-audition part of his list and it may be in match/ballpark range (not sure as I don’t have enough information) but it is important for him to realize that it likely is not a safety school for him and cannot be counted on for an acceptance, particularly in the RD round.</p>
<p>Thank you so very much Soozievt, abparent and KatMT for your thoughtful suggestions. My S is in the top 50% of his class. If you have any other recommendations, or know of schools where he could major/minor in Vocal Performance and Theater it would be much appreciated.</p>
<p>macefran – if you haven’t found it already the “Big List” is a great place to look. [Colleges</a> For Musical Theater Major Discussion FAQ](<a href=“Yahoo | Mail, Weather, Search, Politics, News, Finance, Sports & Videos”>Yahoo | Mail, Weather, Search, Politics, News, Finance, Sports & Videos)</p>
<p>There is a ~ next to the schools that do not require an audition for freshman admission (some of those schools may require auditions to enter the track or concentration, some will not). These are schools that offer a degree or emphasis in Musical Theatre. As I mentioned above you will want to confirm that the schools with a ~ are still non-auditioned programs.</p>
<p>You may want to look at University of Rhode Island – a BFA with a Music Minor that appears to be non-audition, Rhode Island College – A BA MT by audition, and Plymouth State University (NH) – a BA MT Program by audition.</p>
<p>Wow…what an excellent and informative discussion…dd is a junior, and we are sitting here trying to figure out how to get her feet in the water and start swimming toward the whole application/audition/admission process…and we are stymied!! She is currently working with an excellent voice teacher, is a high-level dancer, is studying acting. She’s set to go to one of the performing arts college fairs in October, is working on her “short list” of a variety of schools… but wonder how one goes about the best way of doing a college visit. Is it best to try to set up an individual visit, or to look for “official” visit days? Would she be allowed to shadow a student or watch/take a class? She’s anxious to start looking at schools now, partly to help her decide on pre-college for this upcoming summer – she attended OCU last summer, and absolutely LOVED the program (and the school is definitely on her short list), but would like to see some others that might offer a good pre-college…although she would love to return to OCU this summer as well… </p>
<p>So far, she’s pretty sure she wants to look mostly at BFA/BM programs, and hasan excellent GPA and did very well on the “didn’t count” PSAP she took cold in her sophomore year, so she’s also thinking of some of the more academically selective schools…but that’s not as critical to her as excellent MT training.</p>
<p>So I guess the question is…how do we get started, here in junior year, to help her sort out the process and learn more about the schools…</p>
<p>mommafrog - One thing we found helpful my D’s junior year was having her attend junior auditions at Southeastern Conference. Not all of the schools are there, but there is a good mix, especially of schools from that area of the country. Juniors do a song/monologue on Saturday morning in front of all the auditors, then get called back for interviews (not additional auditions.) During the interview time, students can ask questions about the particular program and just get connected with that school. Elon was already high on my D’s list before she went, and meeting the head of the MT department during the callback solidified her interest in the program. She also learned about schools not already on her radar and ended up picking her “I think I would love to go here” safety while at SETC. You can see the list of 2009 participating schools on the [Southeastern</a> Theatre Conference, Inc.](<a href=“http://www.setc.org%5DSoutheastern”>http://www.setc.org) website. Just a note - not all of the schools participate in junior auditions. Some may be there just for senior auditions. But we found most on the 2009 list did participate with the juniors.</p>
<p>macefran, you may also want to look at Temple University. Very strong non-audition theatre program in which you can emphasize acting; also has an audition based MT program that you can audition for after freshman year. Very strong voice program in the music department so a BA theatre student has good voice lesson opportunities. In addition, your son’s grades and test scores would make him a viable candidate for admission. While his grades are a bit low for the avg gpa, his test scores and AP curriculum are very solid for Temple. Based just on the numbers, Temple is a more viable alternative to Muhlenberg (which has become much more selective).</p>
<p>mommafrog, different schools approach the visitation/info/tour process in different ways. Some set up individual meetings and tours, some do a group thing. Some do scheduling at mutually convenient times, some have set visitation days. Some school allow class shadowing. Best bet is to look at the websites of individual schools to get a handle on that school’s practices and then call the department to see what you can schedule. Our experience was that individual dept visits and tours were more informative but we were unabashed about asking every question that came to mind. Some people are more comfortable in a group setting where the focus is not on the individual student and parents. We tried to do the most individualized visits available at each school.</p>
<p>Michael, I thought that Temple’s BA in MT is by audition for freshmen applicants and not for auditioning after freshmen year. I thought the BA for Theater has no audition for freshmen applicants but that there is an audition to progress past the basic level course in the program. But my understanding is not meshing with what you posted. I had recently looked at their site for an advisee in fact. Do I have it wrong?</p>
<p>Soozie, I think we both have it half right 
. The BA Theatre program is non-audition. From what I understand from speaking to some Temple students, once you matriculate, you still can audition during the freshman year for the MT concentration starting the following year and the MT Concentration webpage seems to confirm this. You can also audition for MT as an incoming freshman applicant. You do have to audition if you want to take advanced acting courses in the acting concentration (Acting III, IV and V) but the non-audition aspect of the acting track appears to offer a load of movement, voice and other performance classes including stage combat. Here’s a link to the Theatre Department page of the Undergraduate Bulletin that gives additional details beyond what’s on the Theatre department webpages. Hopefully, posting this is not in violation of the rules of CC. </p>
<p>[Temple</a> University Undergraduate Bulletin - SCT/Theater](<a href=“http://www.temple.edu/bulletin/Academic_programs/schools_colleges/sct/programs/theater/sct_theater.shtm]Temple”>http://www.temple.edu/bulletin/Academic_programs/schools_colleges/sct/programs/theater/sct_theater.shtm)</p>
<p>Another question regarding auditions, we are planning to go to Unifieds in Chicago, but it is hard for us to travel east to other schools for auditions given the cost, and the time off of school that it would take. Are there schools that accept taped auditions, and weigh the tape auditions the same as a live audition?</p>
<p>Thanks for the link. It is pretty much what I thought though. A freshman THEATER applicant does not audition but would have to audition after the basic courses to advance in the Acting Track. A freshman MT applicant does need to audition for admission. I guess the only difference is that you are saying that if a MT concentrator did not audition as a freshman applicant, he or she could audition once in college to get into the MT track. </p>
<p>I hope I have that right!</p>
<p>macefran – I sent this to you in a PM, but for others on the website. JMU will accept DVD auditions from students who are unable to make it to campus. While an on-campus audition is preferred, we give DVD auditions the same consideration as on-campus auditions. Over the past three auditions cycles we have accepted at least one student off of DVD auditions each year.</p>
<p>If you would like DVD audition requirements email me directly at <a href=“mailto:arecchkm@jmu.edu”>arecchkm@jmu.edu</a></p>
<p>Soozie, the only thing I would add is that a BA non-audition Theatre student at Temple can still have an acting concentration within the general non-audition Theatre program. There are a load of classes, within the acting concentration, that are not by audition. It’s only if you want to take the 3 advanced level acting classes that you must audition. At least, this is what I am gleaning from the website and students at Temple I’ve spoken to. As to MT, yes, I think we both have the same understanding - audition as a h.s. senior to start the MT concentration as a freshman or get into the theatre program on a non-audition basis and then audition as a freshman for the sophomore year.</p>
<p>BTW, my daughter was in a show this past summer with a young lady who is in the MT program at Temple. She was very talented and reflected good solid training.</p>
<p>Michael, thanks for sharing what you know. I have a former student who got into a BFA in MT program and went as a freshmen but left and later transferred into the BA in MT this year at Temple. I currently have a senior interested in applying for the BA in Theater at Temple and so coincidentally had been reading up on their site but had not seen the more comprehensive link you provided. Thanks.</p>
<p>My S is applying to 12 different schools and their is no way that he could accomplish all of this by himself. I think that I am very organzied - but sometimes I don’t know what to do next. Greatfully we are almost to the point of sending all of the packages out the door. If you have a Jr who will be going through this next year, start early.</p>
<p>I hope that we have the right mix of schools - but none of them are a shoe in. Our family is new to theatre. Our son was a sophmore when he had to take a fine arts class - he picked theater and worked on the sets. The next semester the crew, and by Jr. year he auditioned for a role in the musical - not thinking he would get a part. He got the lead, he was nominated for a Betty Buckley award for best male actor, he has a wonderful voice that we none of us, including him, new he had. This is now his passion. For a kid who was into athletics and was convinced that he was going to be an architect, we have done a complete 180. He is applying only to drama departments, and for a kid with only two years of theater experience, we are going out on a limb…but he’s willing to roll the dice on it all. He may not get into any school - but I applaud him for going for what he wants (no way near what his dad and I want for him).</p>
<p>I guess what I am saying is - give your kids the chance to succeed or fail…they will still breath in and out at the end of the day if they don’t get in to the school of their dreams - and they will at least know that they went for it.</p>
<p>Keep your fingers crossed for him - who knows, he might be in a class with one of your kids next fall.</p>
<p>I love your story. I will keep my fingers crossed for your son!
Marianne</p>
<p>When one requires an artistic reference, does one ask the writer of the reference to pen 10 individual copies of the reference, one for each school? Or does one ask the writer to make one generalized “to whom it may concern” and then make copies to send to each university? Since in MT students must audition to lots of schools, unlike with other majors, it will be difficult to ask a busy professional theatre person to write 12 recommendations.
PS - I enjoyed “Calvin’s Dad” and his engineer’s take on this whole process! We are all overwhemed, I’m sure. It’s my daughter’s junior year and I can’t believe all the stuff we have to figure out in the next few months. Good luck to you and yours!</p>
<p>How well do MT students do upon graduation from non audition schools? If a student must go to such a “safety” school, is that a hint that another career might be more suitable, given the economy and reduced professional opportunites? My New Philosophy is that if the daughter doesn’t get into an audtion school, then it’s time for Plan B; or can you tell me some encouraging stories about the grads of non audition schools? (BTW, she has no Plan B.)</p>