I get your frustration @claire74 . I get frustrated by all of it too. Musical theatre is expensive! from the summer programs, classes, lessons in three areas, costumes, dance clothing, shoes, shows, etc. I can equate my D’s expenses as similar to a sports kid who wants to go to college and play ball. My nephew has done this. Same crazy expenses only encompassing uniforms, travel league cost, training camps etc. he now plays baseball in college on a scholarship. He is very good but I don’t know if professional ball is in his future…his parents had the $$ to pay for all this stuff. I don’t agree though …that the disadvantaged MT kid is the same as a disadvantaged regular college student. there are so many more expenses involved with MT. You have to have cash to audition and travel money to go to schools, etc. you have to be accepted two ways. I’ll never be convinced that money doesn’t play a huge factor. Yes a regular college student might want SAT prep but most kids do fine without it if they’re smart anyway & a lot of it nowadays is online and free. Most of the schools well known for MT and the training they provide and the connections and so forth are expensive and out of reach for a lot of families. Yes perhaps that’s just life and I know life’s not fair but it’s annoying. There are kids at my daughters school who are in the theatre dept that have never seen a Broadway show on tour or in NYC. I am personally sponsoring one kid on a school field trip to see a show because it really seemed sad to me and trust me we aren’t of the wealthy sort. I know of 2 who have major potential talent wise but no access to additional training or summer programs that cost big bucks. Yes they can apply for one of a few scholarships but if they don’t get it they can’t go. Those kids are at a disadvantage without the additional training and support. Everyone tells people on this forum “take lots of dance, get your voice lessons in” etc because you need the lessons to help you in the audition. If a student cannot afford these then they’re on their own and probably will tank at the audition. A regular college student doesn’t need all these other things that cost money to get in.
I do think every school that garners tons of applicants and takes few , should prescreen before making you apply academically. If the audition is all that matters then the most popular schools should do what Otterbein does. That way if you don’t pass the prescreen you don’t waste money applying academically.
Sorry to stray from the OP’s comment lol as I know I’ve done.
@claire74 - I don’t disagree, but what makes you think they don’t tune some kids out after 1st 30 seconds (or less) at a live audition? And you traveled to get there?
@too wonderful, I absolutely think they do tune out kids after 30 seconds or less. But at least the kid got in the room and had a chance to perform in front of the entire panel and to blow them away (which is not easy to do on a recorded prescreen). And regarding the traveling, that is a decision we all make when we draw up our lists. If I want to save travel money, that should be MY decision, not the school’s. There is one school–Wright State, I think–that made pre-screening optional this year. Maybe that is a route for others in the future. But for now . . . “I wanna be in the room where it happens, the room where it happens…”
Then I hope you get to be there. Fair warning - my D passed her only pre screen so we didn’t have this experience with college, but now that she does video submissions for work etc she far prefers that sort of rejection to rejection coming from the room.
As I have been in the depths of this process without much of a parent or mentor helping me I have found several ways to get by without breaking the bank. However, I still believe this whole process favors people who are more wealthy and have money for the “extras” but this isnt exclusive to musical theatre.
Most schools have fee waivers if you can qualify.
I used my school’s library to do a lot of computer work for college applications.
I met with my guidance councilor at school every once in awhile. She knows very little about the MT process, but I helped her help me.
So far this hasn’t cost me any money.
I only did on campus auditions to near by schools the others had to be at Chicago unifieds or they didn’t make the cut. I am also only staying for a day and a half to save money. Chicago Uni will be one splurge.
I saved money by not getting a coach. I know music theory very well and repertoire. Instead of a coach I submitted on to Stagelighter to someone in the Musical Theatre college faculty section, I won a $20 gift card as well and I recommend Stage Lighter it is very worthwhile. I do take voice lessons paid for by my parents, this was worked out because I don’t play any sports or other costly activities so they equated this to that.
For summer program, I found a musical theatre two week intensive at the University of Minnesota, near me. It only cost $300 and I had a job the other parts of the summer so the cost wasn’t bad. The intensive program was a life style of a BFA preview. Early daily dance, voice labs. Acting classes. Scene works. Small group. (PM me if you want more info, I highly recommend the program).
I spent a lot of time at my schools free after school ACT study group.
Of course, if my parents or myself were wealthier I could be working with an acting coach and MTCA. Afford the app fee and apply to more schools. Travel to non unified schools. Etc. I think being crafty can save money and get you far. And these crafty skills are essential for a future in this field.
@parachuteboy. You are an inspiration! Your commitment and motivation will serve you well in the future and count every bit as much as your talent. Good luck!
Awesome post @ParachuteBoy .
Thank you. I’m sure it is a blessing to have as helpful parents as the ones on this form. However, I think having the student figure things out, organize schedules, and research schools/songs/monologues is a big testament to their aptitude to handling the theatre lifestyle. There are many actors in the world who are unsucdssful because they might only have talent, they don’t have the other brains side to this world. So while I wish my parents would do a lot of things for me, I do believe that the past 7 months, and probably the next 7 too, I have gained a lot. I would consider not completely robbing other students of this challenge.
@ParachuteBoy you are inspiring me to make my D do more on her own. I wish you much success in your journey!
Haha thank you, it’s not a bad idea. I think it shows which students are more passionate about this major. Because after all it’s the student who is going into this field, not the parent. The process is extremely intense and stressful and I don’t reccomend going into MT to anyone, but for some students it’s worth it. I’m guessing there’s plenty of kids in BFA programs where there parent did a lot of work to get them in and while the kid may be smart and talented they are now realizing, years into college, that this isn’t the lifestyle for them. I’d say if the student isn’t extremely willing to throw all this stress onto themselves then perhaps this isn’t right for them. And there’s nothing wrong with being fit for a different major, I wish I had a love for physics or wanted to be a doctor or a lawyer.
That being said, it wasn’t till 2/3 of the way through my junior year that I really got fully engaged. I had lurked this website and was curious through YouTube. So don’t lose hope if someone isn’t immediately gun hoe from the beginning
I thought that MT was bad until I had a D who was applying for art school and was sending out a music supplement too. At least with music, you have some idea where you might stand–it is only subjective up to a point–then technique kicks in and you can say things like–they can’t hit the notes, are off key, etc. But not with art. It is 100% subjective! I helped haul her portfolio around in National Portfolio Days and heard vastly different critiques of all her pieces–there was never a clear consensus. Every single school picked out a different piece as her strongest piece and for different reasons. Some wanted figure drawings, some didn’t. Some wanted to conceptual pieces, some wanted realistic drawings. The differences went on and on. We had to try to remember what they all said so that when she was going to submit her portfolio to each school she would know what pieces to highlight or leave out. And every single school needed portfolios in a different format. Some slides, some slideroom on line, some wanted actual pieces shipped to them for review. It was mind blowing. I really think that was one of the reasons we threw in the towel and let her apply ED.
Back to MT…One thing that I do like about the pre-screen is that at least you can control for factors like illness. There’s nothing worse than realizing that your single shot is on a day that you are not physically at your best. At least with pre-screens they can hear you when you are healthy and if they suspect you are ill at an audition, they can refer back to your pre-screen to give you the benefit of the doubt.
I slogged through three National Portfolio Days (sophomore - senior years) with artist S and pulled teeth to get him through two pre-college intensives and the college application/portfolio upload process. I’ll take that over the MT college application/prescreen/audition experience any day.
Usually you can’t know names of adjudicators beforehand, especially at Unifieds. It might help to go through the faculty on each school’s web site, and familiarize yourself at least with the heads of MT and the theatre department. A lot of times they’ll give you a business card in the audition if it’s Unifieds, and if it’s on-campus they might introduce themselves at a panel or info session before they audition you. For UArts it depends on the audition weekend, but various teachers switch off and the heads of MT and the Brind School always do callbacks. The same people usually go to all the Unified auditions though–my voice teacher who is the head of MT voice, and the head of the Directing, Playwriting and Performance major. It’s totally different for every school though! And if you don’t find out in the audition, people in the Facebook group or on here will probably know.
I just wanted to briefly clarify that, at least in the case of Northwestern, this is a bit misleading. The school now requests that MT applicants submit an MT Supplement, which includes all the components of a pre-screen video. In addition, once you are admitted to the unversity those who are interested audition again for the MT Certificate, plus you audition every quarter for the 60+ shows on campus. So those students pursuing an MT performance career will audition constantly at Northwestern.
@MomCares - you are absolutely correct. What I was referring to (since I am the one who made that comment earlier) was the idea that you are not required to travel/spend $$ on audition fees etc - which had been questioned in the previous post.
Point taken! I just wanted to be sure no one was left with the impression that you just submit a paper application and are done. Ah, that the life of an actor could ever be that simple. 
Also, to add to MomCares–
My own D (acting at NU) included her 4 audition monologues when she was applying to Northwestern. She actually included the monologues in all her BA applications, as her artistic supplement. The way she did it then was to provide a YouTube link. Now there are better ways.
At NU, they definitely viewed her monologues–One of the deans referred to it specifically when she met my D at a social gathering when she was a newbie Freshman!
But @toowonderful, this was indeed a tad cheaper than flying out to audition!