@Twelfthman Can you tell me more about the possible upcoming change at Stevens Point? My D just had a walk-in with them in Chicago and really connected with everyone in the room. We are considering a very long drive to visit. Thanks!
@Twelfthman I know absolutely nothing, but I will say that the rumor of Victoria Bussert leaving BW seems to come up every year and hasn’t happened yet. Maybe someone connected to the school knows more. I just know that this rumor was out there last year and the year before. Makes me wonder if gremlins are trying to sow negativity to make people shy away from an amazing program.
@jenniferm1973 perfect example of how certain schools should have big red flags planted in them. First, they ignore their published guidelines for application process by offering walk-ins. Second, they ignore the rules for matriculating. Any reasonable person has to at least wonder “What are they going to change once the student enrolls?” The student-faculty ratio? The number of training hours provided? Performance opportunities?
If you ever get the sense that a school is more interested in your child’s money than her artistic development… you’re probably right.
So happy that your D is happy!
As someone who works closely with Victoria Bussert, I can dispel any rumors of her leaving Baldwin Wallace. She has no plans of leaving any time soon, and anyone who says otherwise doesn’t have any connection with her, or the BWMT program.
I am just catching up now. Congratulations to everyone with a great Unifieds experience. Chin up for the rest. If you do this enough, something will eventually fall your way.
@Kristiern1 - did you say your S tried to shake hands with the auditors? I’ve always heard that was a “no no.” The auditors might rightly be concerned about getting sick (shaking 150+ hands in the middle of flu season). If they shake everyone’s hand, then they pass the germs onto every auditioner after your S and potentially carry it back (if they actually get sick) to the students in their program. So I can see why he might have gotten an odd response to that. Now - criticizing his range is another story, but I wanted to point the hand shake out for your S.
@NYAndOne I still don’t get how you equate offering walkins with ignoring application rules. Kids who are fortunate enough to get an audition when schools have extra time at Unifieds still have to apply and be accepted, just like everyone else. They still have to pay any fees required for the application and audition. I don’t see how that’s a “red flag” in any way, shape or form. And I say that as the mom of a kid who attends a school that usually fills up its Unified slots are vary rarely has spots available.
Just an FYI- VB on Facebook dispelled this rumor this morning. She is not leaving BW. This rumor can be put to rest!
Re: pressure to commit before May 1 - this happens EVERY year. Some of these programs just don’t get it. @EmsDad is absolutely right - hold your ground!
@CTDramaMom What about deadlines? The published guidelines for almost every school out there require application, essays, sometimes prescreens… all to be submitted by certain dates. Meeting those requirements requires time and effort that can otherwise be put into audition prep, schoolwork… we all know how crazy those pre-audition weeks are!
Seems like a clear change in the rules when a school goes from “you must provide your application, essays, and prescreen by (insert date)” to “got $40? Come on in! Do the paperwork later if you still want to apply!”
Again, it’s not the walk-in itself that I have a problem with. It’s the fact that the possibility of doing a walk-in (along with the risks of hoping for a walk-in slot) is not communicated at any point of the ‘standard’ application process. I believe that’s deceptive, and deception is a big red flag.
@NewToThis13 I’m new to this too. I had read in this forum that person left Stevens Point in order to head up Ohio University MT program. That is all I know
@mw8619 Thank you for chiming in on BW rumor.
@toowonderful you miss the point. The cost in time and effort to make prescreen videos, apply to the school, do your financial disclosures, pay to get your HS transcripts, get your letter of recommendations, pay your audition fees all by a certain date to make the school “deadline”. Then the others get to just step in and see if they like the feel of the room before they do all that. They get the comfort of perhaps already having options before they audition. They get to make a choice after the audition to decide to spend the money and time. Some of those schools are prescreen and now others get to bypass that requirement and get to shine in person rather than on a cellphone video/audio. I write all of this because I think the industry (many of whom read this) need to know how this burdens many families who save in advance and plan in advance. I don’t begrudge anyone who can find a school in a walk in, and the schools do what they think is best. But maybe they should let people know in advance that there may be an option to skip all those requirements by walking in at unifieds. For some schools I am sure I would have taken the risk and saved about $600.
@AlexaMT. Texas State was a pre-screen school. My child would much rather have had the opportunity to audition live instead of by video, especially after having to pay all the fees etc. It would have been better to walk in than apply before hand.
Updated:
Are these the MT programs with either a “recent change” (i.e., in the past couple of years) in MT leadership (director / chair) or where a change is rumored to be imminent)?
Recent Changes (past couple of years):
MSM - new director in charge
Ohio University (newly formed program - Alan Patrick Kenny)
USC (newly formed major - part of school of dramatic arts in partnership with schools of music and dance)
Wisconsin - Stevens Point (Joan Karlen)
Rumors
CCM (rumored - nothing officially announced - about Aubrey Berg)
BW rumor put to rest; no validity
@WeRnutz and @NYAndOne you’re both on this board. You’re clearly doing your homework. I’m guessing you, like most folks on CC, knew some schools allowed walkins. In my experience, MOST prescreen schools don’t, but apparently Texas State does, at least on occasion. But as an earlier poster pointed out, you take a HUGE risk relying on getting a walk in spot. The schools aren’t making a secret of their practices. Anyone who’s willing to do a little legwork, like, say, visit this page, can find out which schools typically offer walkins, and decide whether to take that risk. To me, that’s not deceptive.
First post! Back from Chicago and I will say it was pretty nuts at the Palmer house. Did anyone know that many schools actually existed? The pressure to maybe walk in was enormous. Luckily my spouse is ultra planner and we had everything lined up and I must say the stress level was not that high. I will also say that staying at a different hotel was the best thing we did. When you walked into Palmer house you could feel the tension everywhere. When you walked down the halls you could hear fantastic vocals from every room. It could be very intimidating at times. Luckily everyone we met was nice, supportive and encouraging. 4 more colleges and we are done. Then as Tom Petty once famously sang…“The Waiting is the hardest part…”
I’m really not understanding this animosity against walk-ins. First of all, you DO have to do all the same amount of work with the applications and the fees and the auditions etc. So the animosity is just that you don’t have to get it all in by the deadline if you do a walk-in? That’s true, but the flip side is that if you choose not to do all the stuff in advance and rely on the walk in, they may not have slots available, so you’re taking a HUGE risk by doing that.
So again, I don’t see what the problem is. If the school happens to have space available, why wouldn’t they want to see as many people as possible?
I agree with those who said that you really need to focus on your own journey and not be so obsessed with what other people are doing.
@CTDramaMom I agree with your facts, but respectfully disagree with your conclusion.
We know schools keep up with these boards. It would not surprise me in the least to learn that schools have this conversation internally, and actively decide not to discuss walk-ins along with the standard process… because of the “revenue impact”. It’s deceptive.
I understand that this is a complex process for the schools (as well as performers and parents). I understand that schools spend money to audition kids in NYC (hurray for the NY Unifieds!), LA, and Chicago. None of that excuses the schools from acting in a transparent, honest manner.
Which school will be the first to discuss walk-ins on their website? What program will treat this issue with the courage and honesty they expect from their students? Any takers?
@WeRnutz - clearly, I am missing your point… b/c the idea of leaving it all to “chance”, having NO prescheduled auditions, and my kid’s ONLY strategy for getting into a BFA wandering through a hotel seeing who has spots makes my blood run cold.
My advice is worry about the things you CAN control - not those you can’t
What revenue impact? The prescreen fee for the few prescreen schools that allow walk ins? (And believe me, although Texas State apparently did allow some this year, I’m betting that available spots were at a premium, so we’re not talking hundreds of kids and hundreds of missed prescreen fees here.) Kids still have to pay audition and application fees. At least my kid did when she did her sole walk-in for Webster. And we had to pay BOTH before she was allowed to audition. And they ONLY reason Webster had walk-ins that year was because it was the year of the infamous NY Unified 28" blizzard. Unfortunately, lots of school who didn’t usually have availability had spots open, as so many kids were unable to get to NY because of the storm. What should those schools have done? Sat there twiddling their thumbs after spending the money to get to Unifieds? Or audition kids who were there and interested in their programs?