doctorjohn

This is probably a good time to mention, for the benefit of new readers, the National Unified Auditions. Held in February in New York, Chicago, Las Vegas, San Francisco and Los Angeles, the "Unifieds" offer prospectives the opportunity to audition for the best-known BFA programs in the country, as well as some from abroad. A link with the list of participating schools and their contact information can be found at:

http://www.otterbein.edu/dept/thr/unified.htm

Other schools, not members of the Unifieds, also hold auditions during the same days. For example, Carnegie Mellon, North Carolina School of the Arts and the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts, to my knowledge, will hold auditions in Chicago from February 7-9, 2005. (Juilliard, for some reason, has scheduled its Chicago auditions a week earlier.)

A word about procedure. Unlike the group auditions held at various Thespian conventions, the Unifieds are individualized. Each college is assigned to a specific meeting room, where prospectives audition for college representatives. Arrangements for the auditions must be made separately with each school. This is awkward, obviously, but for many families the benefit of reduced travel expenses to several campuses outweighs the difficulty of juggling audition times.

Although the vast majority of students we see are interested in Acting or Musical Theatre, many colleges are also interested in interviewing prospective students of design/technology, stage management, arts administration, directing and playwriting. Check with each school.

We hope to see many of you there!

fosselover

The Directory of Theatre Training Programs, 9th edition, is incredibly useful. Of all the books, we have used it the most. My D's friends who are not planning on majoring in drama, but want to still pursue the art, look through it to see if the schools they are interested in also have good theater training. I will pass it on to the drama club at the HS next year.

Thanks doctorjohn!

Kellster

Thank you doctorjohn. I will get that book. I have another question. Some colleges that have BFAs say on their web pages that they are looking more for potential than than polish at their auditions. Is this true at some places and is there any way of telling which ones mean it? I figure there is no point in auditioning for schools like Julliard or the Cinci Conservatory without lots of training, but there must be some somewhere I would have a chance. I have to admit I am intimidated from reading all the posts from performing arts high school kids and from the moms on the musical theatre thread whose kids have been training their whole lives. Is it really possible to get accepted at the good BFA schools without having done all that? I am going to talk to my parents to see if they will let me go someplace like Stage Door Manor this summer to see if I can hang at all.

thesbohemian

Kellster,
Be afraid. Be veeeeeeery afraid! Mwahahahahaaaaaaaa!!! NO! JUST KIDDING! Just make sure you take advantage of every opportunity you possibly can where you live. If you have the gift, you’ll have a shot. If you really feel like you’re missing out on the arts high school experience, maybe you should look at auditioning for the senior program at NCSA as an alternative to graduating early. You might look into transferring to Idyllwild or Interlochen or maybe going to their summer programs, too. If your parents can afford to send you to Stage Door, they can probably afford that. Really, this arts high school thing can be a double-edged sword. I don’t know how you can really tell which schools look for potential over polish and vice versa, but I keep being told to possibly expect some rejections for already being too advanced at some of my choices. I certainly wouldn’t have been this time last year! Some schools might also have a training method that’s a lot different from what I’ve done that might be viewed as incompatible, too. I know a girl who got accepted to some of the “Ivies” last year and her rejections came from schools she had considered closer to safeties. Another thing we run into is that I’ve heard from people who are very bored with the freshman programs they’re in right now because they’ve already done most of what’s being covered in their acting classes. In the meantime, they’re not growing much and the students who are newer to serious training are growing rapidly and might well pass them. As for actual colleges, if you have good grades and do well on your SATs, you might look at some of the small, liberal arts colleges with BAs that were listed in the earlier threads if you’re still not confident about the BFA schools. As I recall, some require auditions, but most do not have graduate schools. Catawba College is another possibility that doesn’t require an audition for the BFA program until the end of the freshman year. That’s good in a way because it’ll give you a chance to “catch up” the first year. They also have lots of big scholarships for students with high grades and SATs. On the down side, if you don’t get into the program, they’re not exactly a top academic school. Oops! I'm writing too much again. Off to rehearsal ...

chrism

doctorjohn,
By the time the Unifieds roll around, D will numerous auditions under her belt by travelling to campuses, and I think that the Unifieds are the way to go for any further auditions she does after Jan. 1 because of additional expense, time, and general wear and tear on the accompanying parent!! not to mention winter travel, which I am not fond of in snow county.

Would you state your opinion on whether one is at a disadvantage auditioning off campus?

doctorjohn

Some of our numbers from last year may be revealing. Chrism, of the 17 initial offers we made for the BFA in Acting and Musical Theatre, 10 were to people we saw on the national tour. So I don't think that auditioning off-campus puts a student at a disadvantage, unless the school says so. Michigan is blunt--they much prefer to see people in Ann Arbor. But I think for the rest of us, as I've said before, we wouldn't make the considerable investment of time and money if we didn't expect to recruit a significant portion of our class from the unified auditions.

That said, it is easier for us to evaluate dancers on campus or in Chicago, only because I can't take our dance coordinator to NY, SF and LA. (In those cities, I put dance auditions on tape for her to look at.) But that doesn't necessarily apply to other schools. CCM, for example, does an extensive dance call everywhere they audition. But it's a very expensive proposition and most schools can't afford it.

Kellster, of the 16 who eventually decided to accept our offers, 8 had attended performing arts schools, summer college preparatory programs, or after-school theatre programs, and there's no question in my mind that they learned a great deal from these programs. But 8 had only done high school work and perhaps some community theatre. So don't count yourself out. If you believe in your talent, and if you really want to do this, you will find a way to do it somewhere.

Hope this helps.

devron

Looking at the otterbein website (thank you by the way!) I see there is red writing about other colleges and simultaneous auditions. Some of the schools are ones that I am highly interested in, but I don't understand the simultaneous auditions, will their audtions be held at the same place, or will they be holding interviews and auditions at the same time, but at different places for each school? Sorry if this is confusing, or that I don't understand it, but it's been a long day and I still have to do homework!

Tomorrow SMU is visiting my school and I can't wait!

doctorjohn

Devron:

This is the way it works. In Chicago, for example, the schools all rent different spaces at the same hotel, the Palmer House Hilton. Most schools are in meeting rooms on the second floor; a few are up on the seventh. Typically we've been in Burnham 4, and Hartt has been right across the hall, SMU around the corner, Ithaca a couple of hallways away, and so on. Each school sets its own schedule. We do 20-minute individual auditions and interviews. You would come in, we would talk for a couple of minutes, you'd do your audition pieces (which we videotape so that we can go remember you), one of us might work with you on one of your pieces, we'd talk about our program and answer any questions you have. Then you'd be done, and off to your next audition. Some schools do shorter auditions; some want you available for half a day. But the basic process is the same. Most students who come to Chicago do 2 or 3 auditions per day, but I have known some students to do as many as 16. I wouldn't advise that, however; by the time you get to the last one on Wednesday, you may not have much energy.

Does this clear it up for you?

wct

For those of you in Southern California-

If you are going to the CMU presentation "The Da Vinci Effect" Nov.3rd at the Renaissance Hollywood Hotel it would be nice to link up.

Kellster

Thanks thesbo and doctorjohn! Its good to know there might be hope. Wow! I didn't know those arts high schools existed! I am going to learn about them and bring them up to my parents when they both seem like they are in a good mood. Does anybody know if it is possible to start at them when you are a junior? Does anybody know if you can declare for high school graduation and audition for colleges and still go to the NCSA senior program if you don't get into any of the colleges you like and do get in there?

devron

Yes, thank you very much! I went to the SMU information presentation but I was only allowed 15 minutes by my english teacher. I live in San Francisco, so I suppose it's easier to go to auditions there in two years. I understand the process now, sounds pretty easy, but have there ever been any overlaps from audition to audition?

doctorjohn

Devron, by "overlap" do you mean one audition taking a long time, and running past the scheduled beginning of another audition? It shouldn't happen if you allow enough time between auditions. For example, I wouldn't schedule an audition at 9 and another one at 9:30. But you probably could do one at 9 and another at 10:30. If you intend to do several auditions on one day, I'd recommened asking schools if they ever run late, and if so, by how much. The students and parents who have been through this may have some good advice for you.

jewelyard

hi everyone. awesome info on this group.

can anyone tell me anything about the drama department at university of arizona? seen plays, know someone that goes there, etc? i need to add more colleges to my list and have been looking at them.

there is a mom on this group that knows people in the business in new york. if you are still reading can you tell me what the reputation of suny purchase is in new york? also, i heard some rumors that julliard has slid downhill and is now overated. have you heard anything about that?

here is my list of schools i applied to so far ...
juilliard
cal arts
usc - doubt i have the grades
ucsb
uc irvine
utah
cal state fullerton

also, i want to do walk ins at the national unified auditions. does anybody know how that works? can the colleges do wavers if they want you and you are past the application deadline?

thesbo, if we both go to juilliard or suny purchase i want to go out.

thesbohemian

Jewelyard,
Sure. Why not? It'd have to be at Purchase, though. I pretty much added them when I dropped Juilliard. Everything I've heard about Purchase is that the training is awesome, but it can be a weird place to go to school if you're a fairly normal person. I'll be interested in seeing what Alwaysamom has to say about their reputation in Gotham, though.

wct

Jewelyard-

SUNY Purchase has a great reputation for acting training. I have not heard that Juiliiard has "slid". It is still an intense program as far as I know. The audition is intense. Cal Arts is big on experimental theater I believe. Make sure you go visit the campus. Not everyone feels comfortable there. It is very different for some people.

You can do walk-ins at the Unifieds. If they like you they will work around the application issue. I knew a student last year who did a walk-in for Purchase and was accepted and she never filled out an app. She did not decide to attend though. She is at CCM.

Have you thought about Chapman?