5 Ways To Overcome Rejection From Musical Theatre College Programs
What happens when you put your heart and soul into preparing for musical theatre college auditions and then end up with a pile of rejections?
What happens when you get denied from your dream school?
Rejection sucks. Every actor deals with it.
In fact, every actor deals with rejection much, much more than success. Some just deal with it better than others.
You probably feel super defeated. I get it. Maybe you didn’t get accepted to your dream school. Maybe you got rejected from a bunch of schools.
If you’re coming across this blog post, chances are you’re either dealing with the rejection first-hand or you’re a family member or friend of someone dealing with it and you want to help them out. Maybe you came across the post on social media. Maybe someone forwarded it to you to lift your spirits. Maybe you did a quick google search and ended up here.
Regardless, you have a lot of thinking to do over the next few moments… so listen up.
Here are some of my tips for learning from and overcoming musical theatre college rejections.
1. Let yourself grieve.
It’s okay to be upset right now. It’s okay to grieve. Time heals everything, and in a few years you won’t even remember which schools you auditioned for. Trust me!
The bottom line is this - rejection is redirection.
Repeat that.
Rejection is redirection.
Just because you didn’t get into your dream school, your top school, or any school for that matter, doesn’t mean you’re not talented. Just because you were rejected doesn’t mean you don’t deserve to have a career in the theatre industry.
The process of college auditions is a doozy.
But I’m here to remind you something. You are enough. And you deserve to be here.
2. GET SOME FRESH AIR.
Take a hike… seriously. Lay by the pool. Go for a run. Ride your bike. Do something that takes you outside. The more fresh air you get, the more oxygen you will breathe which will increase the amount of serotonin you inhale, consequently making you happier.
3. Do What Makes You Happy.
If your life is solely defined by your work, are you ever going to be truly happy?
You are not your work. Separate yourself from the parts of the college audition process that are out of your hands.
Throw your energy into something outside musical theatre. Do you like to write? Draw? Sketch? Design? Paint? Are you into photography? Graphic art? Playwriting? Blogging? Editing? Scrapbooking? Cooking? Do you write music? Poetry? Are you an avid reader? A gamer?
It’s so important right now to exercise and fulfill your creative mind in different ways.
4. Pan out your options.
Once you’ve settled down, it’s time to consider your options. Rejection is tough - so let’s focus on your successes.
Have some acceptances to think about? Research those programs. If you can afford to take a visit, set up a meeting or shadow a student for the day, do it.
If you can’t make a visit, watch showcase videos, hit up social media, chat with other accepted students and alumni to gather as much info as possible.
Don’t write off a school because it wasn’t one of the “top” programs – this school could be everything you are hoping for.
You don’t need to go to a certain school to make it in this industry… I promise.
5. Consider taking a gap year.
A gap year is typically a year-long break students take after high school and before college. During this time, students can engage in various educational and developmental activities, such as travel or some type of regular work.
For student actors considering gap year, have a plan in place. Here are some suggestions on how to fill your year in the meantime:
Take as many performance-based classes as possible. Use this time to strengthen your weaknesses. Treat it like a job: make a schedule for yourself and show up each day.
Revamp your resume. Re-do your resume. Consider getting new headshots taken.
Get new audition material. Take another look at your audition songs and monologues… can you find some that represent you better? The internet is your best friend - search through YouTube, Spotify, Apple Music, Google, Pandora, etc. to find your new material.
Get a job. College is expensive. Even just to audition is expensive - audition fees, application fees, on-campus visits, flights, hotel rooms, etc. Get ahead by getting a part-time job to start on the right foot!
Make a realistic college list. If you’re going to be re-auditioning, you’ll need to make a smarter list of schools. On average, you'll need to pre-screen/audition for at least roughly 10 to 15 schools in order to have a shot of getting into just one. This is especially true if you are targeting many highly competitive programs. If you're aiming for schools with less competition, you can likely do a few less auditions. Because admission to most MT schools is competitive, you don’t really get to pick where you go to school most of the time, the school picks you.
I've had incredible students who were only accepted into one program. I have also had students get into CCM and get in nowhere else.
When it comes down to it, it’s the balance of the schools on your list, versus the actual number of schools you are auditioning for, that matters. If you can have a solid mix between reach, target, and safety schools, you're going in the right direction.
So, while I know this wasn’t the outcome you envisioned, you do have options. Do some soul-searching over the next few weeks and figure out what the best path for you is.
There is no correct right way to make a successful career in the arts.
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Happy auditioning!
