Oh no Marissa! I have been checking in each day to see if you had heard yet - how frustrating for you and your DD! I hope that you get some resolve today and that the Hammond can let you know one way or anotherMarissa wrote:Still waiting to hear from Hammond
We are done auditioning this year after the whole Chichester fiasco, DD has decided to take a year out next year, hopefully get a part time job and really focus on her training from end of June after A-levels through to the next round of auditions for 2019, of which we hope to stat auditioning much earlier. I think she will be able to really enjoy her training again as it's become a bit of a slog fitting everything in with A-level exams approaching, but there are a number of older students in her drama & musical theatre classes this year so she knows she won't be the eldest there next year. I did have a few really down days last weekend after she was unable to attend Chichester when she was ill, and where I blamed myself for the fact that she couldn't take up her place at Performers on the foundation course due to the cost. I think that because DD has a positive outlook for a gap year next year it has helped me feel better about it, as I think if she had been very down and depressed my heart would have broken for her.
Her dad is going to be furious and is still banging on about her taking english or law so she has just stopped communicating with him, as every telephone call ends in an argument at the moment - she is 18 and can do whatever she likes for her further education, and he has never been especially supportive of her performing anyway and sees it very much as a hobby and not something that can be a proper job. He has decided that he will not contribute anything towards travel / audition expenses in the future as it's not his choice of course for her (not that he contributed much anyway), so she has also had to deal with the realisation that he only has his own and not her best interests at heart, which when she looked back through her childhood has always been the case, so she has decided to leave him out of the loop as much as possible, but it has been a sad, bittersweet moment watching her look at her father through adult eyes and see him differently. I have had to just step back and let them both get on with it.
Hopefully, this next year we will be much better prepared, as we know when the UCAS deadlines will be, can attend more open days etc, and DD is also now considering applying for both degree and diploma courses so this will open up her options more as well. I have told her though that she must have a solid back up plan as well in case she isn't accepted on a musical theatre course. She did leave it until the last min this year, by not deciding on musical theatre until end of october - everything seemed so rushed. I think I will have to go over and introduce myself over on the 2019 thread!
Just to say a big thankyou to everybody for being so supportive - and I have found so much help, advice and information here and it has been so good to know that other parents are in the same boat with their children, and that we all just want the best for them. You have all been truly amazing and have helped me advise my DD through some of the toughest decisions she has ever had to make, and which will directly impact on her future and career. Well done to everyone whose children have made it onto a course for September, all the best for the future, and to those like us who will be doing it all again - good luck for next year, and hope to hear how your children are getting on again soon. xx