@MTRound2 looking forward to advice and how us first-timers can tackle this monstrosity that lies ahead! Also happy to hear that there is another “local” on here! We live in Southern VT approx 50-60 minutes from the MA border and totally understand the cow vs people ratio! Will be interested to see what differences you see between having your S audition and now your D!
This will be my third audition season in three years, Lord help me!!! My oldest took a gap year after she realized that she wasn’t quite ready for college and wasn’t happy with her choices from the audition season. She had a very successful season this year and will be attending Pace (BFA Musicial Theatre) in the fall! My youngest has benefited from watching her sister go thru all of this twice, and also attended most of the auditions with us, so we do not have to visit any more schools!
My rising senior attends a public school with a very strong performing arts department. She also performs with a semi-professional theatre, where she has been involved in a new musical that will be filmed for an 8 part behind the scenes television series over the summer. She studies voice and acting privately, and has some dance. She is going to focus evenly on acting and MT. Neither of my girls attended any summer programs at colleges, nor have they used an audition coach. My husband and I are performing professionals, and have an excellent grasp of what is needed, especially after the last two solid years of auditioning.
I’m looking forward to the traveling with my daughter, but am absolutely dreading the long wait for results. That is the absolute worst!!! (Along with the extraordinary expenses involved with this whole ridiculous process).
@MTRound2 I am taking a gap year as well! After beginning audition prep last year I realized I was not ready to audition and decided to spend a year developing my chest voice and getting truly ready to auditions. Unlike the ball of stress I was last year I am much more “zen”, already working on my audition package and have a much better idea of what type of school is right for me. It’s nice to know I’m not the only one whose path is slightly different!
To anyone else though, don't be afraid to consider a gap year! If you feel like you are behind in terms of growth/preparation, deciding early on to take a year to grow can save your family a lot of time, money and stress (verses taking a gap year after a bad audition season). I've spent my year studying with a new voice teacher and getting a jump on college prep. More importantly though, I've been able to enjoy my senior year, which I would not have been able to do if I was auditioning for college programs.
Hi all!
My rising senior (son) is my third theatre kid. My daughter has a BFA in Acting and my other son is a rising junior in a college BFA Acting program (Fredonia, if any of you have questions about that school). While I’ve been down a road somewhat like this one before, adding the extra pieces for MT will be a challenge!
My rising senior son started in a half-day PA high school (bus from home school, where he takes academic classes) this (junior) year and will continue next year. Previously, he had only taken outside/extracurricular dance and theater classes with choir in school.
We’re on the east coast and will likely only be looking at schools in NY, NJ, PA, CT, OH, VA, maybe NC and maybe IL. Without a lot of formal dance training, he’s a pretty good mover so I’d love to see him in a school that can build on those dance skills. He’s pretty set on a BFA or possibly a BA with more intense training.
Looking forward to taking this journey with all of you!
@lovetoact I had my third theatre kid go through the process last year and my nephew has asked for my help this year :-). Best of luck as you start for the third time! I told my nephew he’ll hate hearing from me by September LOL!
@artskids hopefully they all thank us in their award speeches 
I am stressing out doing this once…I can’t imagine having to do it multiple times! I’m grateful my oldest son is a business major! HAHA!
My S17 is a rising sophomore at Fredonia (hi, @lovetoact). He’s in the tech BFA, so I am also happy to answer questions for anyone whose child is interested in that aspect and/or how it interplays with MT. For instance, at Fredonia, the theater tech kids can also audition for shows, but it’s not required. My son has friends who have auditioned and been cast while he is very comfortable knowing he will never have to be on stage except for tech checks. One thing that was important to my son was being at a school that had both acting and MT because he likes working with a variety of types of shows.
Good luck to all of you just setting out on this journey, whether it’s for the first or the third time.
@carriemc95 I would have said the same thing about this time last year. After having gone through it, I actually think I’m going to miss this process when it comes to my second- who will not be headed this direction. During this process, you get to spend so much focused time with your child, supporting them through both good and bad. There are definitely stressful times, but all-in-all, this crazy process was more fun than terrible - even (or maybe especially) the 16 hour drives.
Hi all! Cannot believe it is our turn! We live in NYC, so my son is still in school and hasn’t even started his finals yet. I’m working on lining everything up and gearing up for September. We are not using an audition coach but have private local coaches for voice, monologue, etc. He is a 6’5" legit baritone, so not the pop tenor that is very in vogue right now so that makes me nervous, but everything is making me nervous at this point. He is definitely voice primary.so focusing on programs that fit that. So glad to have all of you with me on this journey!!
@NYKaren This is so off topic, but I have to ask. What is the school year like in NY and the east coast in general. I am so surprised to hear that school/finals are still in process. Our school ends the Friday before Memorial day and graduation is that Sunday. Some of the schools in the area or across the state line go a week longer, and we think that’s crazy. I can’t imagine the kids in school til mid-June!
@speezagmom, here in New York, school begins in September, right after Labor Day, and ends on June 26.
It means our seniors get a very short summer, because they don’t finish high school til the end of June, but most colleges start in mid- to late August.
In NY City, the public schools are in session until almost the end of the month. Private schools get out a bit earlier, but not much. They go until mid-June. Seniors at private schools graduate around the first weekend in June, but the public high schools do not graduate until just about the end of the month. In fact, the public schools’ proms are just starting now! I know most of the country ends school much earlier than we do, but we don’t go back until right after Labor Day.
Yes, it is late in June for kids to finish but it’s better than having to go back to school in mid-August when there’s a lot of summer left! I never went back to school before Labor Day and neither have my girls.
So school is finally over here in NY (well, tomorrow anyway) and headshots are booked for 7/9! Meeting with monologue coach on 7/7
So, this is my first post here, although I’ve been stalking these boards, too, for several years. I’m so glad I’ll have this as a resource!! My DD is a rising senior, and is planning to pursue a BM in MT. She has been singing since she could speak (my mother is her piano and voice teacher). Dancing and acting are close seconds - she didn’t start dancing until she was 13, so her ballet techniques aren’t where most girls her age are, but her tap skills are pretty fierce! She has performed in dozens of school and local community productions. And while she’s not tall blonde, she is an average-height brunette that will definitely need to sparkle during her auditions to be noticed.
We’ve already toured several schools, which I agree has been extremely beneficial. I’ve also re-formatted the excel spreadsheet I used for her brother (who is starting his 3rd year at RIT) to add pre-screen and audition deadlines, whether separate applications are required, whether and how many letters of recommendation are required for the MT Dept (as opposed to the school itself), etc etc. It’s all so daunting.
I’ve been on the fence about hiring an audition coach. I think her biggest challenge will be finding appropriate monologues. Does anyone have information on College Auditions Coach/Moonifieds?
I’m so glad this community of parents exists and am looking forward to reading about everyone’s experiences over the upcoming year!
How does everyone feel how the increase in tuition as the year’s progress? I know everyone hates discussing this topic. I will be graduating from SUNY Albany in 2021.
@mariaclaire we used Moo and were very pleased with the monologues she helped us find. I think monologue and song selection is difficult, and the thing many local teachers don’t always have good insight on. I think this is because music or monologues appropriate for teaching technique or performing in a recital is not necessarily what material works best for college auditions. And knowing the right cuts for the pieces is also really important. So we found using a coach for the material selection invaluable.
I also highly recommend Moonifieds. So many positives but a few are: A chance to practice your material earlier, possibly get an early acceptance which helps take the pressure off remaining auditions, a chance to be up close and personal with school representatives which gives you a better feel for their personalities and program styles, and a chance to meet and befriend other families going through the process who will be lifelong friends and industry peers. And it’s fun!
@marieclaire I have heard only good things about Moonifieds. I think you would get good guidance and support there. I just want to mention MTCA as well. I also was on the fence regarding using a coach and we don’t live in an area where I knew anyone doing this! So…I hemmed and hawed and agreed to call at the end of August before her senior year. We reached out to MTCA because we are in New England and figured that they were closest. They were wonderful! Loved the ala carte aspect so we could target the areas where she didn’t have great help. (For example…her high school theater teacher was useless in terms of suggesting monologues…). We used them primarily for acting but in the end also a little for song selection and they made her absolutely fabulous cuts which we could never have done on our own. They were great to talk to and for support and guidance through the audition process and talking through her options/acceptances. I highly recommend Ellen and Leo and her team. Good luck with this next year!
Dad who’s lurked for about a year and half but am ready to join the community. We started way early (Spring Break sophomore year) visiting schools to get a feel for the process because we knew for my D to go this route would be much different from our S (Computer Science major). One challenge is there are exactly zero schools in Maryland that offer MT (Towson & UMBC have BFA Acting and you can take a vocal or dance minor) - so we’re exploring out-of-state options as well. We’ve been to more than a dozen schools in New York, Boston and Chicago areas and think we have a good feel. We’ve already signed up for the Mid Atlantic Regionals (https://www.midatlanticauditions.com/), a mini version of unifieds, even though we don’t know what schools will be there this year. We also signed up for a spot at Arcadia University because you don’t already have to have been admitted to sign up for an audition. We do have some pressure off because she went to the summer program at AMDA New York last year and auditioned at the end of the program and was admitted for the Fall of 2019 with a $1000 merit scholarship - you have to make a deposit to keep your spot, but it’s fully refundable up to the week before school starts. So, even if she didn’t get in anywhere else, it’s an option - but they don’t offer very much in aid. This summer she’s doing a 2-week MT class at Adelphi University which awards 3 credits. She’s at a performing arts magnet program (public school) has above average GPA and tests, but not top 2% like her brother, and is currently working with a vocal coach who is a part time teacher at the high school. The coach’s students have gotten into BW, Boston Conservatory, Ithaca, Point Park in the past 3 years and while University of Maryland’s BA in Theatre is non-audition, they have a scholarship audition and one of this year’s seniors earned a full ride. This is going to be an interesting journey.