Long time reader, first time poster! Thank you to all who have provided so much insight throughout this crazy process. My S and I have survived Unifieds as well as a couple of on campus auditions but have a few more to go. One of our upcoming dates is at Ball State and I am curious if anyone can tell me how the day went? We received a summary of the morning schedule but I am curious if someone here can share more on what to expect that day.
@mindatwork Housing and roommates, etc are generally not assigned until June/July. So there should be plenty of time even for MT students. You will be required to put a deposit down on May 1 when you commit to a school to hold a spot, but as @MTdreamz pointed out, you can appeal.
Accepted Students Day is another matter - it might require last minute travel arrangements (or changed travel arrangements!) or some students attend one or more schools’ events without hearing from all the schools on their list.
@mindatwork @DramaLlama18 The MT kids end up on a group message together as soon as acceptances go out and start pairing up! My d didn’t realize how fast that would happen but ended up finding an acting major to room with on the school’s website for finding a roommate, Just wanted to say this starts way before June! and one of the kids in her class singed up for the honors dorm and then changed her mind over the summer and had to go on a waitlist for the arts dorm. And I thought some schools are first come first serve so I wouldn’t wait til June without touching base with the school. ALSO if you are waitlisted at your school of choice visit the school if you can to show interest.
@MTdreamz good points! I guess the answer is, as usual, each school is different and make sure you read each school’s instructions carefully. It’s true, the kids do connect with their new peers via social media, almost immediately, upon acceptance. And there are parent FB groups for each school as well. @mindatwork you’ll get there!
@MT19Mom Ball State audition: Between 8 and 9 the kids are divided up into small groups to play some ‘improv’ games with a student (my d is one of these) You will al be in one big room during this. I think at 9 Bill gives a talk and then the kids get ready for their vocal/mono or dance call while parents have a question and answer session with students. The dance has been a fun dance to Freak Flag - kind of long but as my d put it, leaves opportunity to show your personality even if you’re not the best dancer. If you have a late audition time slot it will be a long day (they were running behind but they like to talk to the kids LOL) I strongly suggest you get into see the Schmidt/Wilson dorm if you have time - it is amazing. Message me if you have more questions!
Thank you @MTdreamz - I appreciate your input! We are looking forward to our time at BSU.
@mindatwork -There isn’t a lot of time in April, and admitted student days are limited and could potentially overlap. I found this a stressful time as well. My advice is not to wait until you have all your acceptances before planning your visits. Plan your top acceptances right away. Release any acceptances you know you won’t take right away as well (because that may open up spots for others). Of course this is all made even more difficult when the schools delay financial/merit aid decisions.
@mindatwork - it all depends on the school but I don’t remember any issues last year. I think the problem with dorm space running out early tends to be worst at large state schools with inadequate supplies of housing. Most smaller schools (and adequatedly-equipped-for-housing big schools) won’t have a shortage if you commit by mid April.
Also, I am totally speaking out of turn here because my MT girl didn’t apply there but we have a number of super happy members of the class of 22 at Syracuse… in Acting. Maybe the Acting faculty are awesome and it’s the song and dance faculty who have some issues?
@MomofJ5 @mindatwork Just a thought (my d didn’t get into enough programs for scheduling to be an issue LOL) but from our experience you have to be accepted to go to accepted day, and you don’t find out when they are until after you are accepted. One of my d’s was everyone going on the same day - she did not like that as much. The other was an invite to come and they meet you at the beginning of the day and then you get a schedule of classes to visit (there were 3 other kids there - one was waitlisted until she got a call that evening!) My d loved it (she did know a couple freshmen in the program already)
We weren’t particularly interested in accepted days because they are too formal and general for an MT major so my d really wanted to spend most of her time at visits in department tours and program classes.
@loribelle thats what acceptance day was - she sat in acting and voice classes, ate lunch with MT majors, she even got to request going to a higher level dance class. That really cemented her decision
@Mtdreamz I thought the original person (@mindatwork) asking was referring to Accepted Students Days that the University as a whole organizes. My mistake.
@loribelle LOL she probably was now that I look at it again - we didn’t even consider that - so note to @mindatwork don’t go to general acceptance day - wait for MT acceptance visit! In March we got both offers and planned both visits and committed at the end of the month. And don’t worry about orientations - you can schedule that over the summer after you decide. I noticed some of the east coast schools held them the week they start school. We went in July.
And, If they don’t have a day just for MT, then contact the department and ask them to set you up a day as described. Most of our visits were requested by my D.
@mindatwork this did affect my d. She was accepted to the school she chose after accepted students day. But the school accommodated us by arranging a personal tour/meetings with faculty and students (and she sat in on a class) on a day they were doing a general tour (so we got to see dorms and other buildings). As far as housing, mine missed nothing, because at her school their housing deadline was in June (which is rare for many colleges).
@bhappyjack, thank you for your message, sorry been out of pocket and let a few days go by. You advice is good, we won’t try to learn to belt until college, but not being able to belt (and dance) is messing with her confidence a bit. I think you are right about the emotion part, especially with her songs. She acts and she sings, but still haven’t had a lot of training on acting while you sing. I have bought her a few books on the subject, but these kids don’t read books for whatever reason. We will see what we can polish up there and overall before finishing our auditions. Congrats on the 6 out of 12 acceptances, we are definitely not trending with that high of a number or %. Already got a few quick no’s from Unifieds. I guess the silver lining is you already know where you stand and you get right back up on the audition bucking broncho again. Unfortunately that broncho is often an 8 hr drive away with your HS drama teacher wondering how many more practices you are going to miss and a school watching your absences. But feeling confident she will end up where she is meant to be, where we believe she will bloom where she is planted. Going to be an interesting couple of months. Thanks again.
@NewMTDad hang in there. I know that sounds cliche. I know many a kid who didn’t have 6 out of 12 at this point (or in total, at the end of the season), present company’s kid included. I also know a kid (present company’s kid) who is a belter who had no ‘head voice’ (or at least one that she considered acceptable), and in 5 months has made amazing strides in her private voice lessons in college to expand her vocal range. That’s what the college experience is all about. I know they feel like they’re supposed to be perfect going into this, and are initially intimidated by their peers who can either belt, act, play an instrument, or dance better than them. None of the are perfect. And in the right environment, they are motivated and inspired by each other.
Want to throw in there that not only did our D not attend an Accepted Student’s Day, she never even saw the campus. I am still befuddled that this happened. We ran out of money, time, and steam. She did visit other campus’ with acceptances, but they were clustered and it made more sense to see a few than trek to the other side of the country for one. Yes, she would have loved to see her new school, however she also had prom that weekend and other fun things I’m glad she didn’t miss. She was also on her phone constantly with future classmates giving her the scoop. When we took her to school in August we went early and explored. This wasn’t our plan at all, but she is sublimely happy so I guess it worked out fine. Will say that it was hard for me, the not being able to give/do everything. I had to work on that. (Still do!)
@NewMTDad , @bhappyjack,@dramaqueen219, Some interesting points brought up about post-audition time. My S has a few acceptances and we are scheduling him to “sit in” on classes via a self-made acceptance day. The departments are really eager to organize a day that fits our schedule. This, of course, is the worst time for the kid (like my S) who is doing his/her senior show in High school (and they most likely have significant roles), and the conflicts that impose on the cast and the drama teacher. But it seems effective to make those soon after acceptance if the school will be in the running, since some schools won’t notify until mid-late March. It would be a hassle to have to try to figure out which school is the best fit if we are trying to do 3 sit-in days all in April before the May 1st deadline.