I present this; not for kids/parents to say "we got into School X without a coach"-but as a place for those of us who used a coach to proudly acknowledge that our particular person/team aided the process-and specifically, how. I'll start :) My D had a lot of validation going into her original BFA MT audition season that she would yield a happy outcome. Because she's a high academic, and has lots of interests outside of MT, H & I naively thought that by the time she applied for college, she would be seeking a journalism, environmental science, stats, or sports management degree. Mistake (of many) Number One. Despite not one lead in her (non PA) high school (lots of callbacks and positive feedback) -D confidently, and without our help sent in a prescreen for Penn State's inaugural Summer program; and auditioned for UNCSA's High School Drama (Senior year only) program. And received acceptances to both. OK....at this point, H and I halfheartedly acquiesced that D could maybe do this? In March of D's Junior year, I googled "Penn State Musical Theatre" (or something like that), and found CC! Still, I sent D off to PSU intensive without a rep book (what's that?); with a half-a$$ headshot; and no idea what we were getting into. Remained clueless throughout her initial audition season, sadly. Really never understood good songs for her voice; good monologues; even a good "look" (she's 5'6 and blonde.) We made a horrible college list. Horrible. Biggest mistake of this whole process. She only truly wanted to attend 7 of the schools. All of the rest were schools that I had read (on CC) were safeties. I would pitch them to D; and D would say "sure"-because she was confident she would get into one of the 7. She didn't.
In April of last year, our family made the decision for D to take a growth year. I (she was at school) reached out to two of "the bigs" in the Coaching world: Mary Anna Dennard and Chelsea Diehl. They were both super prompt, gracious, and lovely. A vibe told me that D would respond better to Chelsea. I was correct. Chelsea was, from the first day they met (via Skype) THE most instrumental force in D having a successful audition season this year. Chelsea did all of the stuff that one would expect when hiring a coach: Helped with a school list. Helped with rep. But she and her team did so, so much more. Late Friday night & early Saturday morning "break a leg" texts. Early/late Sunday am texts-celebrating, or commiserating; if an audition went particularly well, or not well. Sometimes Mom doesn't have the right words. Chelsea ALWAYS did. Now, basically April, as Chelsea is welcoming a new class of hopefuls.....she is still ever-available and encouraging to D. She has given advice on FA, programs, how/when to to let a program know that you are declining, etc. For those who say they can't afford a coach: I get it. I lost my job last year, and my H and I are paycheck to paycheck, pretty much. I will say that if I had a younger S or D pursuing this same path, I would budget for a coach. I truly believe it was an investment that has already come back to us, in terms of artistic scholarships and programs we never knew about.
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