<p>MSP; Thank you. I have been trying to get the time to start this thread and finally carved out a few minutes. I hope it made sense and I presented my thoughts in a way that others could understand. I very much appreciate your input and am glad that you have already had to face many of these questions and as a student can share that knowledge. </p>
<p>Times3; Thank you for clarifying for me and others who may be new to this what exactly a safety school means. I have seen a seperate thread that listed non auditioned BA’s but I may have missed the one that had nonauditioned BFA’s since I had no idea there were such programs. I would wonder though how good they would be if you do not have to audition. Just a thought.
I never thought of safety schools in any form so unfortunately financial safety is another new term for me:) Because of my work and other personal factors, we have lived all over the US for the past 7 years and currently have only been in the state we are in for less then a year. My daughter as you recalled is in another state at school precisely for this reason, and I am most likely going to be somewhere else by the summer. This leaves us in limbo currently on what state we would be considered residents of and something I really need to check into. I am from your comments, taking that once we establish what state we are considered residents of, we can look at what schools based on that state would offer us in state tuition and/or academic scholarships and make a list of these schools and look into them. Just in case we cannot come up with enough for her to attend one of her best fits even if selected. My daughter very well like your son, may decide next year to go for what she is able to but we will just have to see. She has been researching some of the programs that would not be considered “colleges” and I think she may lean towards one of those instead, but that is just my thoughts not something I know of as a fact. MSP recommended one called Vancouver Film School and their curriculm very much looks like what she is looking for but again cost could become an issue and I am not sure you can take out student loans to attend these type of schools.</p>
<p>Connections: Did your kids take gap years just because they felt they needed to or because they did not get into the school of choice. Just wondered because you mentioned that they both worked “real” jobs and did not do a whole lot extra as far as training. If a student does not get into their school of choice, I know there are alot of factors, but if they wanted to work on getting in the next year shouldn’t they be “training” to get better. Not sure if that came out right but I think you know what I mean. Thank you for your thoughts on why safeties are important ie, you may get into one that you end up liking, etc. I was thinking of safeties in a more negative light as a school that was last choice, a school that did not fit you but accepted you so you decided to go, etc. I do think this entire process is a business investment and understand that I am going to have to pay for alot of applications etc, prior to having to pay the “big bill”:)</p>
<p>Gwen Fairfax: I am trying hard to look into just that. Most of the schools I have looked into have acting for film but it seem to be an afterthought during senior year and only one course. I may have seen one school that had it once in junior year and once in senior year. I am wondering why. Is training for the theatre a “better” route for all actors. I think I mentioned before that it seems to me more actors go from TV/Film to stage, then actors go from stage to TV/Film. If that is the case then why is the theatre training much bigger? Maybe there are more actors interested in the stage. My daughter is surrounded by kids mostly interested in the stage and she seems to be the oddball out. I am sure if she was in a school in CA that may be different, but I am not positive of that. We are looking into alot of the film schools to see which ones have a strong acting component to go with it so that she can take more classes involving film. Thank you MSP for that great tip. MSP advised that my daughter take some filmmaking classes so she understands the art from that aspect and also gains appreciation and knowledge of what the directors want and are looking for. Planning for a gap year is a wonderful idea and I thank you yet again for another idea Gwen Fairfax, that I had not thought of. </p>
<p>stagemum; Funny you mentioned Columbia College (CC) as that is a school we were interested in but had no idea at the time that it was a non auditioned school. We looked at the summer program last year and considered going there to see what it was like but opted for UNCSA instead. CC is in a great city and the connections to the Chicago theatre world from what we have “heard” is impressive. Again we are talking theatre here. State colleges that are safe for academics but selective for its auditioned BFA is also a new thought. If we were still in SC where I was assigned a year ago I would think Coastal Carolina would be in that category. This is a school we have looked into due to UGADOG99, however, I have not been able to obtain their 4 year course sequence as it is not posted online.</p>
<p>fourkprz; We certainly have been thinking in this manner and this is why I started the thread, however, I did not look at it as flying without a safety net:) I thought of it as having her goal, sticking with it without distraction or failure thoughts upfront, and then if not reevaluating. I have always thought Plan B means you are not confident in your Plan A, but now realize that in this case it is much more then that. Kind of if I cannot get the boy that is good looking I’ll take the next best looking guy:) Just a joke people, don’t have a heart attack:):)
I also do not want my daughter to just go to any college just because that is the only thing left. This is a huge financial investment and it is important for her to take my money and use it as wisely as possible. She wants to train in acting then she needs to pick the “best” training possible. If she had an academic desire then you could twofold that but in her case it is acting or nothing and therefore I feel like we need to look for the “best” in that. I do not know what could be anymore miserable then the process I am going through now, of course I have not yet went through what you parents of the Class of 2013 are going through:) My daughter also is late on training due to my work and the constant moving. This is her first year at the school she is at and it was done simply to give her some stability. I realized that my profession and the care of my other child who has had some serious medical issues, has provided some real setbacks for my daughter and I am hoping that this year and the year we have left will give her somewhat of a chance to “catch up”. Summer pograms are expensive but that is why we did it before and will do it again, to help her with the training she missed out on.</p>
<p>I am currently working in an area that I feel would not be a beneficial place for her to do anything during a gap year but be miserable and unhappy. I am in the middle of nowhere and even if I bought her a car she would have to travel quite a bit to get to civilization which in this case means training, auditions, a decent job, etc. This is something we will have to keep in mind when considering a gap year if I in fact am still working in this area. My sanity would also be something to consider:):):)</p>
<p>I wonder if you take a gap year and go somewhere to train would you still be considered a freshman the following year or a transfer student? That could make a difference also.</p>
<p>Thank you everyone.</p>