Applied to: Oklahoma City University, Muhlenberg College (finished apps)
In Process Apps: Baldwin Wallace, Wright State, Carnegie Mellon, etc.
Prescreens: None -- was waiting to hear from OCU
Accepted to: Oklahoma City University
Rejected from: No rejections-
Wait-listed at: none
Final Decision: Oklahoma City University BFA Acting (will take extra music courses as well. He also was BM Music.)
Coach: MTCA
Summer Programs: Oklahoma City University Performing Arts Academy (5 weeks)
Background: My son did football for eight years. He was a lineman. He looks like a lineman. In high school he didn't want to do football any more so he finally auditioned for a play in 10th grade. He was in the chorus. I thought he would be an engineer. In 11th grade he was cast as Nicely Nicely Johnson and he told me that he wanted to major in musical theater in December of that year. Before seeing him in the play, I would have steered him in another direction. At the play another mom told me that there were summer programs. After his performance, I had to look into them.
In the way way past, I worked for Houghton Mifflin on an occupational choice product for high school kids for many years. I also took a grad course in counseling. I've created online learning products in the past. When my daughter said she wanted to go into music and be in a rock band I had her touring New England while she was a teenager and asked her after every horrible gig interspersed with the good ones if she still wanted to do this. I had her haul her own gear, set up the sound, stand at trade show booths to get business. She was going to KNOW what it took if she was going to go to music school and it wasn't airplanes and limos. (She is currently a senior at Berklee College of Music. The only school she applied to. Believe me, I begged her to apply to more but she got in early decision and that was that.)
But how do I do this with my son? How does he KNOW what it takes in such a short time? I looked at summer programs, my only option in such a short time period. My son liked OCU's online presentation of the program over all others. It required a prescreen and if we applied by a certain date in January they would take money off the tuition. However, if he got in, he would have to leave his regular school two weeks early. I really looked into the program. He thought he couldn't go because of his regular school schedule. After looking at the program, I told him to apply because I liked the fact that it was 5 weeks. (You need something more than 4 weeks for some of the novelty to wear off, and I was looking for novelty to wear off.) It also had classes and performances. Dance class every day. I wanted him to be just as tired as my daughter was... I wanted an intense environment. It was run by the faculty. It was also less expensive than other similar programs, even with the airfare from Boston to Oklahoma City. (East-coast real estate costs can be brutal and that is passed onto the students.) If he got in, we would just tell the school that he was going and it was a learning experience. If he went and hated it, then it was money well spent because he would choose another direction moving forward. If he went and loved it, then it was money well spent because he would be sure and he would learn new skills.
During the five-week program I heard from my son twice. Once to put money on his card. The second time to send some pants out. (I even reached out to fellow CC'er Addicted2MT to send him a message to call via her daughter.) My husband and I would drive to Oklahoma from Boston for the final performance and then we would drive back to look at colleges if he still wanted to major in musical theater. (And if he didn't, that was fine!) We saw the final performances, we stayed in Oklahoma and had great food, a great hotel, and it was WAAAYYY cheaper than Boston. This was his first choice. He absolutely loved it and this is the direction that he wanted to go in. I was impressed by Dr. Herendeen. I agree that you have to "do" in order to learn the skills, and nothing hones the skills more than preparing for a performance and then delivering. (Each time my daughter was in a Battle of the Bands, the band took their performance to a new level that then stuck.) The fact that they put on Footloose in three weeks was astounding.
My son wanted to go to OCU. We looked at schools on the drive back, Baldwin Wallace, Carnegie Mellon, Wright State, Oklahoma University, Otterbein, Webster... He knew there were other good schools out there and he had a final list, but he loved OCU.
When we were there at the end of the summer program, Dr. Herendeen said my son should try out for acting as well. He was destined to be a character actor with his build. Character actors usually find work.(Yeehaw to that!) Looking at it from a skills perspective, my son really shouldn't spend a lot of time honing his ballet skills. He is never going to be that type of actor. The BFA acting program has vocals, music, and dance. More music can be added. I asked Dr. Herendeen about coaching and he said that everyone should be familiar with the material, however it happens.
I knew that my son wanted OCU, but, of course, there is no guarantee in college admissions. I chose MTCA for coaching as my son had not taken a lot of voice classes, etc. and he needed to close a skills gap in a short amount of time. Five weeks doesn't come close to 10,000 hours. We started the coaching late summer because OCU's early auditions are in November. He also had to take his finals that he had missed earlier in the year in September. (It was a new school policy. Honors physics, etc. after a 2 1/2 month break... whatever... it worked out fine.)
He worked on his audition material, went to mock auditions in NYC with MTCA in early November, and then OCU auditions. While at OCU, we heard from the administration Mark Parker, the Dean, as well as the new Associate Dean of the Theater School who came from USC by way of England, Brian Parsons. OCU also requires that the students audition for just about every play, etc. There are few walls between the programs. They all get along. Everyone knows that Kristin Chenoweth and Kelli O'Hara went there, but Alex Enterline also spoke who just graduated in the BFA Acting program in 2014. He went to the showcase in NYC and was cast because of that in the lead role of the national tour of Nice Work If You Can Get It. He said that the music and dancing in the BFA Acting program prepared him. The auditions just cemented my son's wish that he attend the school. A whole slew of kids that went to the summer program met at a great pizza place in a very artsy section of town near the school. Some of the counselors were there too.
We got the final news in December and received a talent scholarship as well as scholarships for his grades and SATs. My son is going to spend the money that he would have spent going to auditions on piano lessons and taking a Calculus course so he can take more music at OCU. (OCU requires a college math class.) (If there wasn't an associated cost both to my pocketbook and potentially other kids, I would have liked him to have auditioned at other schools for the experience.)
We are done. Good luck to everyone in the coming months!
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Final Decisions; BACKGROUND, Class of 2019
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SUNY
Opinions of SUNY MT programs
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Class of 2019 (the journey begins) - Sharing,Venting, Etc
Well I guess someone had to do it and I feel like CC has helped me so much already that I might as well be the one!
So, about us. We live in the Pacific Northwest and my D has been involved in MT for about 5-6 years. She has taken voice lessons for 5 years and has had a variety of acting classes and intensives including one summer at BAA. She is a 5'9" belter with a strong lyric soprano and a somewhat quirky, comedic personality. She started very late with dance but she is a decent tapper and can learn combos quickly. Her grades are good but her test scores are meh so she will not be applying to any of the "top" schools. She has a variety of regional and professional credits including a recent production of "Carrie the Musical" starring the incomparable Alice Ripley. We are working with MTCA and can't say enough good things about them.
Incredibly grateful that we will have all of you and look forward to supporting each other as we go through the process.
GO CLASS OF 2019!!
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Straw Hats (& other summer auditions) - Summer 2016
Have any women heard from Straw Hats yet??
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Elon early auditions - notifications?
Did anyone else on this forum audition early for MT at Elon, and if so have you heard anything yet? I'm just wondering if they let everyone know all at once (the EA deadline from the school is Dec. 18th), and/or if the MT department will contact students separately from whatever is posted on the Elon OnTrack website. Thanks!
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MT School forums
I really wish the individual school forums were active. It would be so helpful to speak to parents/students. And just see what thoughts come up.
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Academically less selective
Programs in MT in colleges that are academically less selective...or is there a list of these already posted?
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BFA that is more like a BM?
In looking at the Big List, there are not as many BM MT programs. My D is wanting a MT program that is weighted more heavily toward music as opposed to one that is weighted heavily in dance or even acting. Are any of you aware of specific BFA programs that have an emphasis that is geared more to a BM student?
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Manhattan school of music
Anyone have info on this school? I am not familiar with it and I saw that they are offering MT there starting in 2016
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Cold, cough and sore throat remedies, please!
With nine auditions just two weeks away, I hear my son coughing in the other room. For the last few day, he has complained of a sore throat and thinks he's coming down with a cold. We usually just move through these things try to keep it simple--tea with honey and ginger, maybe throat coat, but not much more. Still, with Chicago Unifieds coming up, I'm thinking we need something more pro-active, so that he can get in some practice over the next couple of weeks and be in top form for auditions. Any suggestions?
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NYC Unifieds School List 2016
I know there is an old list of schools that were at the Chicago Unifieds or nearby at the same time so thought I would do the same for next years seniors for NYC. Please feel free to add or correct the list if I missed something.
Programs auditioning during NYC Unifieds (Jan 21-25) including those not "officially Unifieds" but nearby and within the timeframe. (MT, Acting/Drama/Theatre, Design)
Miami
Cornish
Boston
NIU
SMU
Chapman
Manhattan School of Music
Buffalo - SUNY
New York Performing Arts Academy
Temple
Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama
Hartford
Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts
Western Connecticut State
Evansville
Cincinnati
Ball State
SCAD
Tom Todoroff Academy
Westminster College of the Arts, Rider
University of WI- Stevens Point
Santa Fe
TCU
University of Northern Colorado
Roosevelt
Webster
Long Island University
The New School Drama
Otterbein
OU Drama/Music
Montclair
Viterbo
Penn State
Utah
Point Park
Emerson
U Arts
Michigan
Others:
Ithaca (NOLA)
Pace (Pace)
SUNY Purchase (Ripley Grier)
Rutgers (Ripley Grier)
Fordham (Fordham)
NYU (NYU)
DePaul
CCM
CMU
Syracuse
UNCSA
Open call at Chelsea Studios Friday 1/22 at noon:
Texas State
Westminster College of the Arts, Rider
Wright State
University of Alabama
Shenandoah Conservatory
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Thespian festival offers
So has anyone had experience with their child (or themselves) getting a MT offer from their Thespian Festival? I wondered how common this is, as a friend of ours got an offer from a school mentioned on this forum at her festival she attended this month. She's a senior of course.
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Large Schools with BA Musical Theater?
I feel like I'm always making threads like this, trying to find schools to apply to because I never think I'm applying to enough...
I feel like im stuck - all my friends are getting college acceptances already, and I'm still figuring out my complete list of schools, because what I want out of a school has changed so much. I've already applied to American, JMU, FSU, SUNY Oswego, SUNY Geneseo, and will be applying to SUNY New Paltz, SUNY Cortland, Temple, Rutgers, and U of New Hampshire. I'm worried that my poor academics won't get me into some of these places, however, and that my good test scores might not entirely make up for it (3.1 or 2 GPA weighted, 27 ACT 1850 SAT SS). Especially with the way that Musical Theater is, I feel safer applying to more schools.
1) Size. No less than 6-7k undergrads. Bigger than that would be better. Also preferably public for affordability, but most bigger schools tend to be public schools anyway, so I'm not very worried about that.
2) Musical Theater BA, or a BFA that allows for a double major to be complete in 4 years. I've applied to a couple of Theater with MT concentration programs, but I much prefer MT.
3) Other things that I like, but aren't essential at this point: No rural campuses, and the closer to NY the better
I'm also starting to feel pretty hopeless about this whole college thing, I feel so behind; if there's any advice that anyone could give me, that would be much appreciated as well.
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ASU Music Theatre/Lyric Opera Program
I haven't been able to find much here via the search for the ASU Music Theatre/Lyric Opera program. It intrigues me as a possible good match for my daughter given her area of vocal focus and the opportunity to explore both MT and Opera. I was hoping perhaps there is someone in this forum who can offer some comment or perhaps has a student in the program.
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Arizona State vs. Un. of AZ
We are very new to the process of finding programs, figuring out acceptance/audition details, etc. Last week we visited Arizona State University in Tempe and learned some about their musical theater program. My daughter is currently going into her senior year in HS. I have not found much info on this site yet about ASU, but lots about U of A, any input or feedback on that? ASU told us that they admitted about 90 students into their MT program each year, based on what I'm learning about other programs, that number seems way too high, maybe I misinterpreted the information... Any comments, help or input would be appreciated.
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Local theatre auditions
How are your local theatre auditions structured? We have worked with a couple of theatres that structure the auditions similarly.
Auditions: a week or maybe two prior to the first rehearsal.
Call Backs: usually the following day. Definitely within a week.
Conflicts: requested at auditions, asked to confirm for call backs.
Cast list: announced within a day or two of auditions.
Recently my d had an audition at another local theatre that was structured very differently and I wondered what the norm was for other theatres. What has your experience been? Does the structure of the audition change if some of the cast is paid?
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Underage hotel check-in
How many have kids who experienced challenges with checking in to a hotel room, but the minimum age was 21 (and every kid who would be in the room was underage)?
She has successfully rented one room where it wasn't even addressed, and one where the desk agent said "You're supposed to be 21, but you kids don't look like you'll be any trouble".
She has some upcoming summer stock auditions where she will need to stay in hotels with other underage students and I'm concerned. (I've already looked at some of the decent hotels and they all say you have to be 21).
Anyone have experience with this?
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SETC
Does anyone know if my D should take an updated headshot and or resume with her to SETC ? I don't have a current headshot of this year & really wasn't going to get new ones till this summer before senior year when we get her senior pics done .. Someone told me you need to take resume/pic with you but then someone told me they didn't so unsure.
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MT School forums
I really wish the individual school forums were active. It would be so helpful to speak to parents/students. And just see what thoughts come up.
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Are names of school's adjudicators known prior to audition?
I was curious if auditionees knew who they were auditioning for prior to going into the auditions. I think it'd be helpful to know who's in the room with you and do your research... Is there a sign on the door, or the names on a list when you register, etc.?
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