If we had to do it all over again....

Ready4March · 03-29-2012, 05:15 PM

I know that my D will end up where she belongs, but this journey (which is still not over) has been a very tough one for my whole family. To date she has not been accepted anywhere (she is still waiting on 4 more colleges). I thought everyone could list something they would do differently about this whole audition process. My list is

tell your D or S to try very hard to keep up their grades while in HS and perfoming all of their shows.
Apply and audition for BFA and BA programs
If you want only BFA - I would say apply to about 20 to 25 colleges. (The talent level is just crazy and your child who possibly had the lead in all of their plays are now going up against the creme de la creme)

If your child can sing, he or she should possibly apply for the musical theatre dept and show the college everything you have (the college will make the decision to place you in their acting program).

SouthernDramaMom · 03-29-2012, 05:38 PM

I'm a parent - but if knew then what I know know I would have my D skip Unifieds. She was so stressed and so off her game that it just was a nightmare. I would do all auditions either on campus or at regional offerings.

Also, I would insist that her list include in-state schools even if it wasn't for theater. She has actually been accepted to a number of schools but now we are trying to figure out how in the heck to pay for any of them. We were led to believe scholarship money would rain down on us. I don't think we were being realistic.

supportive · 03-29-2012, 05:45 PM

My daughter loved Unifieds and even got to do some walk-ins. Personally, I believe students shouldn't just focus on what they think are the top programs. Almost everyone we spoke to at Unifieds were auditioning for the same schools, CCU, BoCo, NYU, CMU, Purchase, UofArts, Emerson, Ithaca, Penn State... Most of those programs only take a handful of kids each year. Also, what was good a few years ago, may not be as good now. Many kids get so caught up in that that they may not look into some of the "lesser" known schools that also have great theatrical training. Sierra Boggess went to Milliken, Jennifer Garner went to Denison, Marin Mazie- Western Michigan. That's just a few. Also, kids really need to find a good fit- not the most prestige. One of my daughter's friends got waitlisted at one (state) school and rejected from the other 7 MT programs where she auditioned. She was going for the name and I really don't believe she did that much research. She also felt like she HAD to train in NY- but she has never even been to the city. JMHO!

OneToughMommy · 03-30-2012, 12:28 AM

I would have retained an acting coach, if only to keep my D focused on audition preparation. They have so much going on in their lives at this point, and it can be difficult for them to make the time. Plus, I think it would be helpful for them to have someone to interact with and nag them, who isn't Mom.

We did have a good result, but I think D might have had more choices had she done more prep.

kcdunlap · 03-30-2012, 12:43 AM

I guess each and everyone of us have had a unique experience.

I feel my son did it the right way. He knew what he wanted to be in NYC. He only applied to 4 audition schools (NYU, Pace, Fordham and Marymount). He stayed busy at school and didn't over focus or stress over the process. He did his auditions (thought he did horrible at NYU) but, over all felt the rest went good. He moved on after the auditions and it was going to be what it was...

He's been excepted in 3 out of the 4 and haven't heard from Marymount yet but his audition was only on the 17th (not sure how quickly acceptance go out)....now I'm sure if the outcome had been different; we both might be looking at the process but for him he was true to himself and it worked.

lorilynne · 03-30-2012, 12:14 PM

Very thankful as well. D got into:NYU/Tisch- acting, SMU-BFA, U of Miami - BFA Acting, Chapman- audition BA, Waitlisted: BU- BFA acting, Emerson- BFA acting, Rejected:USC BFA, UCLA, Carnegie. ATTENDING- USC BA

She always wanted USC and would take BA over BFA any where ( except maybe Carnegie). She also wanted the college audition experience.

Important takeaways/advice- make sure you have 1-3 academic safety/ match schools you will be happy to attend. To broaden that set - keep your grades up!! That also expands merit money. D got 50% tuition to USC and several others.

I think working with a coach ( in our case- Mary Anna Dennard) was critical to her success. She had great material, was well prepared and had a realistic expectation of results.

I would have all material selected (and essays written) in the summer before senior year. D did and it made for a much less stressful senior year.

Try to get an audition in before Unifieds so you may have a "win" before you go into the season. D found out she was in to SMU at Unifieds and it really eased the nerves. ( she also had 2 early academic acceptances - so she knew she was going to college).

Know that the whole college process is a crap shoot and the audition process adds another layer of that. Only a very few people ( especially girls) will get into all or most of schools they audition for. Celebrate your successes instead of focusing on rejections.

Good Luck to all in the future. CC is a wonderful place to build your knowledge. Try not to obsess over it!

Ready4March · 03-30-2012, 01:17 PM

lorilynne, one of my biggest mistakes was not making my D apply to academic safeties. We are now in a situation of hoping/praying that her top choice DePaul will accept her off of their waistlist. I would stress that the most to any up and coming Seniors. It is so aggravating to be sitting here at this point with not one acceptance letter. Just a bunch of waitlist and rejections. And although we are very thankful for the waitlist - I would have felt more comfortable had she already had at least 2 acceptances academically. My D insisted on mostly BFA's.

supportive · 03-30-2012, 01:24 PM

^ And what makes me mad is that the boys have it so much easier. A boy at my daughter's school got into CMU. This is a kid who skips school, does drugs and smokes, and doesn't make good grades at all. I actually lost a little respect for CMU for admitting him! He doesn't get respect from the kids at school either but he's a boy and was cast in just about everything. The only consolation is that kids like this can't handle the hard work that goes into the craft!

fnpmom · 03-30-2012, 02:10 PM

Lorilynne, For the sake of all those on waitlists, I hope your daughter will let the schools she will not attend know right away since she has already decided. If you have already done this, thank you. Congratulations on all her acceptances!

abtsmom · 03-30-2012, 02:16 PM

We spent money to travel to my son's top three schools to audition thinking the audition would be more comprehensive--this was a waste of money. He could have done them at Unifieds (we had already visited those schools and that's why he wanted to go there).

He definitely should have put more effort into his audition material. The money we spent on travel should have been put into a coach.

What we did right--he took online classes during the summer before senior year to lighten his academic load during the year. This was a blessing since he had rehearsals for the school production every day after school and was in a community theater production for 6 weeks at night.

Safeties are essential--and apply very early so that you have acceptances in hand before the audition season starts. This built my s's confidence going in. (And he felt he would be happy at the safeties)

Remember that everyone's audition experience is different. I have been shocked by some of the unprofessional behavior of the adults evaluating the students' work. And then pleasantly surprised bysome who worked with my s. And it doesn't matter what the prestige of the school is--there is no correlation to the prestige of the school either way. Have no expectations either way going in.

Contrary to other postings, we did not see that it was any easier for boys. In fact, for straight acting, it seemed there were often far more boys than girls. I would have had my s audition for MT where there seemed to be fewer boys since he can dance and sing. (I think we mistakenly believed he had to be as good a dancer as some of the girls who have been dancing since they were 3)

We auditioned at too many schools (and too many of the same type of schools). By the end, he was almost too exhausted to get excited about them.

lorilynne · 03-30-2012, 03:22 PM

she has let several know and will finish up this weekend as she is out of town with school. I agree with the importance of doing that. However, the reality is many never get to their waitlist because they over accept knowing they will not get everyone.

EmmyBet · 03-30-2012, 04:43 PM

This is a very interesting thread. Thanks for starting it!

What would I wish we had done differently? I could say I wish my D had started preparing for her auditions earlier, but on the other hand she did what she was ready to do, when she was ready to do it. We can always look back and imagine how much more prepared she could have been or how much better her material would have been, but she could only do what she could do. Life goes on.

She had some nice coaching, but I suppose we could imagine that could have been better, too. I'm not sure there is anyone around here who would/could have given her admissions-focused coaching (we tried to find someone, believe me). Should she have gone to fancy camps (she went to music camps for years, but never for theatre)? Really I think everything she did made her who she was, and I don't regret the choices she made.

She had a good, balanced list. She did have lots of non-auditioned programs, including a non-auditioned BFA. There is a thread listing those for anyone who wants a list. We all were very glad she had several rolling and EA admissions in the fall. I would recommend to everyone that they at least consider doing that.

I probably would say that she made a mistake going to Unifieds, but we didn't know that until she got there. She started getting incredibly nervous about a week before, and was very flat and unsuccessful at all of her auditions (and was rejected by all of them). She did great at the two auditions she did on campuses. But we couldn't have known that in advance, and the above posts show that it's different for everyone.

I wish she hadn't been as dead set on a couple of her reach schools, because the rejections were devastating. But I never would have dissuaded her from setting her sights high - no one can predict where someone might or might not get in.

I would tell anyone starting this process to make a good, balanced list, not to assume anything, and never to take the rejections personally - but I suppose that's about as easy as telling a snowball not to melt in July. Always remember anyone can have a life in theatre no matter what happens during this crazy college admissions process. Just go in with your eyes wide open. Thank you to CC for all of the wonderful support and information. I do know she'd never be where she is without what we learned here.

fnpmom · 03-30-2012, 05:41 PM

Few get off the waitlist but for the few who do, it means a lot to know sooner rather than later.

snapdragonfly · 03-30-2012, 09:00 PM

There's so much I would have done differently but I kind of don't like to dwell on it much - and much of it doesn't especially apply to everyone across the board but was more specific to my D and our situation.

One thing we did do right and I will tell EVERYONE if they only make sure of one thing, it's this: love thy safety. Get at least one safety all across the board - academically, financially, and artistically - that you would be happy enough to attend. Even if it's not the dream school. It's very important that you would be satisfied with the school - if you hate the idea of going there, you aren't going to have that comforting knowledge that no matter what happens at auditions you will end up somewhere decent anyway.

It takes a lot more research to find those good safeties. But it is really worth it.

We had a couple and ended up not going there because we scraped up the money for a school that was a fit in the other two areas and almost a fit or a reach financially. But I think she would have been fine at either of her safeties.

~and big hugs to everyone with rejections (which is everyone, isn't it?) Some days they sting more than others. It's part of this career, though...it won't get any easier, so it's good to learn to deal with them now.

Flossy · 03-30-2012, 09:23 PM

I would do a lot less traveling around for auditions. My daughter had researched her schools very well and there wasn't much in the way of surprises on any campus. I didn't see any advantage to it and at some schools the on-campus audition day seemed more out-of-control and unorganized than Unifieds. That money would have been better spent on additional training or coaching, although she did learn to handle herself in an airport. I would urge her to do less schools but choose them more carefully. By the end she was just very over the whole thing. And I would NOT encourage her to apply to more programs hoping it would increase the odds of an acceptance. Rejections from schools you don't think are all that hot to begin with are particularly annoying.