@lovetoact Totally agree. Montclair is a high quality program. Also, it’s an excellent location near to Papermill and NYC. Many programs have offered scholarship money that made it comparable to In-state tuition but they couldn’t call it In-state.
I do know of one lady that received a degree in performing arts…not sure which performing arts. They went to work as a Las Vegas show girl, then later went to law school. She is now some sort of attorney in the entertainment industry in Las Vegas. So it does happen!
@ZukAndSowash I completely agree with you. I point out constantly to my kids that they are able to do what they do because I was able to do what I have been able to do. And a big part of that comes from my built-in advantage from being a white man.
I also think we should take every advantage we can. I mean, if my son were able to say “I don’t want this because I want a minority to have it” he would… but that’s unfortunately not how it works. The advantage doesn’t go to a minority either way.
@EastchesterMom Interesting comment about becoming a trial lawyer! I had a friend years ago who was an actor - was in major productions in London’s West End (Evita was one). Eventually he went back to school and became a Barrister in the UK and uses his communication skills in court while still doing some acting on the side!
@32barMom - Many a judge has called me a big ham, LOL!
If anyone is waiting on Coastal, S rec’d an email…w a yes!!!
My D is in a BFA progam and I do think that the academic classes are very challenging. They are required to write college-level cited papers and acquire research skills. Since she goes to a school that no one outside of the arts community has ever heard of, I’m pretty sure BA or BFA makes very little difference. She was one of those kids who could have worked right out of high school but really wanted to go to college. There is no doubt that the training she received elevated her performance level by an immeasurable amount. Being with her tribe made her push herself so much more than if she had gone to a different type of college and started auditioning earlier. I, too, questioned the cost, but there were not any in state options for her (no established MT programs in our state), so private it was. Still, ridiculously expensive.
I think as long as you weigh your options and choose your path understanding the cost and benefits, there is no wrong choice. There is a cost to college - not just money but opportunity cost. Especially in film, youth is an advantage and 18-19 is not a bad age to start auditioning. For my D I knew she wasn’t ready for a professional job at 18 and I knew she needed time for her voice to strengthen and stabilize before she could safely work in musical theatre professionally. That said, if a professional opportunity presents itself next year and she asks if she can drop out of school to follow it, we will probably be supportive. As long as you leave school on good terms, that door will remain open. Life is a journey with lots of winding turns - I think the only mistake you can make is thinking there’s only one type of success and only one path to that success and that you need to do “everything you can” to get on that one path. You always have options.
@lithpool congratulations!!! So exciting! D just checked her email - nothing yet. Will keep checking! I didn’t think they were releasing results until next week. I am assuming it was from the department? D was a walk in and did the application right after. Her portal says “accepted” but has said that for several weeks so we just assumed it was an academic acceptance.
@LIMTMom Thank you! S is VERY excited! It was from Kenneth Martin with something about an ‘invitation’ in the subject line.
I don’t know about his portal…
@LIMTMom CCU was shooting for around March 15th, but doesn’t surprise me they started a bit early. They know people are waiting and try to get things started as soon as they can. But that said, CCU does sometimes send out decisions over several days/week, and they are on Spring Break this next week. The portal acceptance is likely academic. The theatre department emails directly with decisions.
@Jpkcmo Has your son still not heard from Penn State? We got the rejection via the portal on 2/24 and a letter in the mail the next day. No email. We are still waiting to hear from Unv of OK too though. I don’t know how to check their portal since she was admitted academically ages ago and it’s separate from the MT so idk? Maybe the fact you haven’t heard from Penn State could mean they are still considering him? I don’t think many have heard from OK though. I haven’t heard of anyone getting rejected yet, only a couple yeses on this forum.
Has anyone had any luck with video auditions? My daughter is turning some in since she has missed their live auditions, but their video auditions are still open (obviously for schools with rolling admissions). Just wondering if anyone has gone this route and if it has proven successful? I’m aware of most likely missing scholarship funding but she is desperate. One of these schools is Belmont.
@mommyMT - if you haven’t already, this thread may be helpful.
@mommyMT My D was accepted to Hartt MT with a scholarship via video audition two years ago, and my youngest was accepted to Marymount w/scholarship via video as well.
@CaMom13 @Gapyearguru Thanks so much! We will continue on then! 
@stagedoormama thank you!! D is nervous because there isn’t an email!!! Well, we wait I suppose! Ugh!!!’
@mommyMT My daughter sent in three video auditions. She was accepted to one, but they already knew her, one waitlist and still waiting for the third. Good luck.
Edited: As soon as I hit enter, my D received a no from her video audition with MM. Pooey!
@lovetoact I would also add that the Head of Montclair is a Director/Teacher at the Paper Mill Summer Conservatory. Last summer the Paper Mill Conservatory was actually held on the Montclair State campus. And yes Paper Mill kids do end up going to Montclair for those reasons.
@FROG65 I’m sorry. I think that you may have misunderstood me. I’m not suggesting that NJ doesn’t have talent the way some other states have talent. I feel (like you do I’m sure) that talent is not dependent on geography. But let me use a sports analogy to explain what I’m saying. If you want to be an elite college football team, say a Clemson, then you have to recruit beyond South Carolina. You have to draw on talent nationally. Montclair is a great program, but they are not CMU or Michigan. So, suppose a superbly talented kid from Maryland has offers from Penn State and Montclair. That kid has a tough decision. Maybe Penn State is his dream school. The family considers PSU out of state (31K) to Montclair out of state (20k) and they say, well maybe the 11k difference is worth it. But if Montclair offers in state (12k) it becomes more likely that the 19k difference is enough to sway them to Montclair. By giving that tuition benefit Montclair increases their chances of getting higher level talent. All of our kids are really talented - but the cold fact is, some of them are more talented than others. Montclair is doing something to get the more talented kids. And it has worked - they are probably in the group that is just below that very top tier.
Now, I have to admit, I don’t know for a fact that this is why they offer in-state tuition for arts kids, and now also for high performing academic kids. I was just guessing. Maybe you have some evidence I don’t have that they have done this to increase diversity. But if this is the case, I would wonder why do they only do this in the arts? Diversity has been shown through numerous studies to improve performance at all levels and across virtually all disciplines. And certainly offering in-state tuition to high academic achieving students would not increase diversity any more than offering the same to average and lower academic achieving students. Why are they doing that? I’ve got one guess - to increase the overall academic quality of the student population at Montclair by drawing bright kids from out of state (which is definitely NOT me saying that there aren’t enough bright high school students in the state of New Jersey!).