My S has his 18th birthday yesterday. All I could think of was what a wonderful time we have had the last 7 months working together on these auditions. The travel time driving long hours in the car, the flights, the anxiety, the anguish of all the no’s at the “Top dream school”, the amazement of how my brilliant and talented son can bounce back from a rejection and smile ear to ear when he says “well there’s one- I’m going to college”. The journey is well worth the hardship. We are closer today than ever before (and I always felt we were close). I’m a weird dad (and one of the few on this forum). I have been to every show he has performed, including matinees and evenings of the same show (I am sure many of us have done 4 in one weekend - singing the score in our sleep). Keep these memories forever. I can’t tell you how extremely valuable this forum has become on the journey. I have learned so much about schools, the process, and people from this 329 page (to date) expedition. For my son’s birthday, I gave him among other things an engraved watch. A normally stoic son, teared up when he read my inscription. “To my son…(to the ending)…I may not be here for all of your days, but I will certainly love you and be proud of you for the rest of mine”. Sorry to be so sappy here…But my next line to him when I saw a tear in his eye was “now use that emotion on stage”. Here is hoping for all of you out there to get the Yes’s that are still to come, keep the faith, love them dearly, and realize that what really matters is you and them as a loving family.
@collegeboundSam Bravo. You get a standing ovation for that one. The journey has been bumpy but well worth the ride. I would do it all over again…but hopefully we won’t have to!
@jbrown I know Kent State has an overflow audition tomorrow. And Western MI has auditions tomorrow as well, maybe Sat too. Kent State was going to let my daughter audition tomorrow and I didn’t contact them until last week but we can’t go bc she’s already auditioning at Western. Give them a call if you can make it out there on such short notice. We also have added 5 schools lately with just video auditions…Ohio Northern, Missouri State (although I think they still have one more live audition in LA maybe?), UArts, Belmont and Studio School of LA. Just trying to widen the field for options. Good luck!
@collegeboundSam well done! I too echo your sentiments about being able to have shared this journey with my D. It is time and memories we all will have with us to reflect back on for years to come. Best of luck in what lies ahead and I look forward to seeing where he decides his home will be!
@collegeboundSam Well said. Here’s to us theatre dads!
Did anyone audition for Montclair on the 16th of Feb or later and hear back?
@collegeboundSam Nothing sappy about what you wrote. It was beautiful, and sums up so much that I’ve been feeling. I will never forget these months … anxious, frightened, sad, lovely, hopeful, proud, thrilled.
@collegeboundSam great post fromt he guy who bemoaned super bowl Sunday conflicting w chicago unifieds on page 143 of this thread, & my turn isnt till next year w D!
James Madison Portal just changed over: My S accepted to Musical Theater. Must have just opened this am as I checked last night on My JMU
@collegeboundSam It was a beautiful sentiment and I know exactly what you mean! We’ve been there with them through every show, rehearsal, voice lesson, etc. These kids amaze me in their talent, their resilliance and their drive.I will definitely miss this time but I am so glad that we had it. Happy 18th birthday to your DS! Wishing him the best on his ultimate destination, wherever he decides. Congrats on JMU! Another great option for him!
Congrats @collegeboundSam and Happy belated birthday to your S! Thank you for sharing your story!
@BWmama Happy birthday to your D!
To all others, thank you for sharing your stories, and continuous support for all our kids!
@toowonderful; thank you for the support and pep talks! You are exactly what your username says—“too wonderful”!
Good point, @toowonderful about the change in the process. I also think, as inferred by @soozievt , technology has changed over time (along with the processes) where universities as a whole are using portals, and Twitter feeds, and Facebook groups (etc.) to “market” to their customers. It is not just affecting acting/MT majors.
@NYYFanNowMTdad , @NoMTinMD . Theater dads Unite.
@collegeboundSam me too! Speaking of which, I probably won’t be on as much the next couple weeks - Big Ten Tournament and NCAA tournament will be taking up my screen time…
Wow @soozievt what an inspirational story. @artskids you, too. No wonder you are both so wise.
Soozievt - I imagine that, in your profession, in general over the past 14 years, you’ve seen that ALL college applications at elite levels have jumped to anxiety levels that are unsustainable and that social media provides great support, but also great angst. Few, if any?, kids in the modern era of MT auditions can run the table like your daughter did. Any parent here on this forum would be over the moon with even one of the acceptances for Syracuse, Emerson, Ithaca, AND Penn State that your kid had locked down by this date. Wow! It’s just a different ballgame with the proliferation of arts schools, professionally groomed candidates, prescreens before you can even audition, and schools notifying in all number of different ways and all different times. You’re able to compare yourself, in real time, even though you know, in your heart, that each family situation and each kid has a unique journey. We do try to remind ourselves that these are entitled, first world problems. Especially within the perspective of your MT daughter’s story. Both your daughters sound like amazing young ladies, BTW. And thank you for coming back here with your perspective each year - so valuable.
Class of 2023, as others have posted here, it does settle way down on April 1 - hang on for a few more weeks. Anxiety is a normal, human response with such a huge family investment - physically, financially and emotionally - in the balance. I had always prided myself on not being a helicopter parent. Until last year. I felt pretty calm and confident all the way through Unifieds and even a few weeks after, but these these last two weeks of March were very stressful and I was addicted to CC, and sheepishly, but obsessively, checking the school portals. This community is right there with you - your kid’s got this!
@afterp89 OOPS, sorry to have left you out. I hear you. Yankee spring training is up and running.
ITA on the helicopter front, @DramaLlama18. I stopped checking school portals (and my kid’s “audition” email account) before January at her request - it was really haaaaaard.
@mommyMT Break a leg to your D tomorrow at Western Michigan. My freshman D will be working the auditions.
@CaMom13 - you are so brave to stop checking portals! You’re my hero. It is truly the kid’s process. But anyway, I would check the portals, but not tell my daughter. Then I’d read about notifications on CC and try to casually mention, “uh, have you heard anything from XX?” Which is, I totally admit, not a great look for me. But you do what you’ve gotta do!