Help! Useless Mum needs advice

[hgib23]

My DD is auditioning for full-time vocational school (post 16), she already has been offered a place at Joffrey in NYC (with a part scholarship) but its very unlikely we can afford to take this place and also I'm not sure I want my 16 year old to be so far away.

 

She auditioned for a school in Leicestershire for the degree course but was offered the Foundation, she now doesn't know whether to accept or decline the place, as she still has all her other applications in and is waiting to see if she has an audition. We have to pay the acceptance fee next week and the deposit in March, (its a lot of money to lose if she doesn't go). She is now really anxious that she won't get accepted onto any of her chosen courses.

 

I have no idea what to advise her, has anyone else been in this position and can help us.

 

Its so stressful for them this year with the worry of their GCSE's on top of auditioning.

 

 

Edited February 4, 2021 by Jan McNulty
edited at request of OP

[Kate_N]

Looking at this from a university educator's point of view, and not school-specific, I wanted to ask about your daughter's general situation.

 

Does she have BTEC or A Levels or Scottish Highers? It may be difficult to be accepted straight into any UK degree course without those higher level qualifications. It's worth checking with all the places she's auditioning.

 

Again, this is not school-specific, but a Foundation year may be the offer instead of A Levels in order that the degree eventually achieved is a Honours degree (not just a Pass) degree). A Foundation year is still pretty standard in Fine Arts degrees.

 

[Amme]

I just thought I’d mention (in case you didn’t know, as I didn’t know until recently) but the Joffrey school in NY has no affiliation with the official Joffrey school and company in Chicago. Just in case that affects your decision 

[Anna C]

1 hour ago, Kate_N said:

Looking at this from a university educator's point of view, and not school-specific, I wanted to ask about your daughter's general situation.

 

Does she have BTEC or A Levels or Scottish Highers? It may be difficult to be accepted straight into any UK degree course without those higher level qualifications. It's worth checking with all the places she's auditioning.

 

Again, this is not school-specific, but a Foundation year may be the offer instead of A Levels in order that the degree eventually achieved is a Honours degree (not just a Pass) degree). A Foundation year is still pretty standard in Fine Arts degrees.

 

 

I assume @hgib23‘s dd is auditioning in year 11 for a year 12 place, so is 15/16 and taking GCSEs (or the equivalent) this year?  In which case it’s normal to be auditioning for 3 year degree/Level 6 diploma places at (mainly) ballet upper schools e.g. Central and Royal Conservatoire of Scotland for degree courses or ENBS for Level 6 diploma) as well as schools like Tring and Elmhurst which offer A Levels as well as a Diploma.  

 

There are some degree courses that have A Levels or equivalent as an entry for their 18+ degree courses (London Studio Centre, for instance) but for classical ballet training it’s usual to be applying for 3 year degree/Level 6 diploma courses which start at 16+/Year 12.  

[Pas de Quatre]

There does seem to be a move towards running a Foundation Year in many institutions. I don't know how that affects funding. 

[Jewel]

Personally I would wait until she has completed all other auditions/offers then she can make a more informed decision.

 

Make sure that you thoroughly investigate all of the schools.  Some, for example are privately run institutions with very few checks in place.  Others have a track record of good pastoral care but it is often the case that 16 year olds on a degree course are treated in exactly the same way as an 18 year old would be with no parental involvement. Look at accommodation, who owns it, the school as a company or a private individual, what are the terms, what help is there for a young 16 year old living away from home?

 

Ask about things like injuries.  What happens if yous daughter sustains an injury and is unable to dance.  Do you still have to pay the fees if she leaves for that reason.  Read the small print.

 

Who owns the actual school.  is there a board, or is it private individuals?

Edited February 4, 2021 by Jewel

[Kate_N]

Thanks for that clarification @Anna C 

[glowlight]

Firstly congratulations to your dd on her offers.

 

There is often a bit of this going on - some schools wanting financial commitment before others have made offers, but I think it will be even more so this year.

 

My thoughts on how I would approach this:

 

Firstly - is this a school she wants to attend?  Have you considered the various factors which @Jewelmentioned?  Can you as a family afford to send her given whatever the funding arrangements are?  Have you had a chance to review the contract you and your dd will be signing up to and are you happy with it? 

 

Assuming that the answer to all of the above is yes then I would pay the acceptance fee (which is presumably a smaller amount) which will buy you a little more time.  By March she may know whether she has been invited for auditions elsewhere, which may make the decision easier (or it may not!!)

 

I would also consider speaking to the school and asking if you could defer paying the deposit in March.  

 

There are a couple of ways you could handle this - you could say your dd wants to visit the school before making her commitment so you want to defer paying the deposit until this is possible.  Personally I think this is a very reasonable request.  It's only when you get the chance to visit a school that you get a feel for whether or not it would be the right place for you.  In fact I would be very wary of committing to send my child to a school that we hadn't seen.

 

Alternatively you could be completely honest and say she wants to wait and see what happens with other auditions to make sure that she is making the right choice.  They may be less open to this approach as they could interpret this as she sees them as second choice.  

 

I'm sure there has been another thread along these lines recently but I couldn't find it.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 4, 2021 by glowlight

[hgib23]

Thank you everyone for all your really useful advice, its certainly given us a lot to consider.

 

Its very helpful to have different perspectives on this, as there were lots of different ways of looking at it.

 

Best wishes

 

 

[glowlight]

21 minutes ago, hgib23 said:

there were lots of different ways of looking at it.

 

 

 

 

At the end of the day you have to do what feels best for your family.

[MPatti]

hgib23, I would do a lot, can’t stress enough, of research on safety in NYC right now. People leaving like crazy, crime is very very high.  My one friend, single male in his 50s, fit, lived in NYC for over 20 years, left recently as he feared for his safety.  I would want to know dorm location vs studios, etc.  I can’t stress this enough.  If you know locals, it would be best to be able to lean on them for advice if you are seriously considering. It is hard to get a view when we are so far away...

[oliviaT]

Hi just to add that the foundation courses don’t always open up the possibility of a degree if started at age 16. 
 

My daughter’s friend did a foundation course at a well know musical theatre college at age 16 instead of A levels. She had a very good experience of the course itself but she didn’t get any ucas points from it so she then went on to do a level 6 diploma rather than a degree - which meant she couldn’t access student finance. 

 

We had to rule out a foundation instead of A levels for this reason. 
 
I believe some universities offer a foundation year in some subjects that are linked to a degree covered by student finance so it can be quite confusing. 
 

 

Edited February 5, 2021 by oliviaT