<p>First off I’d like to thank everyone on this forum for all the information. You all have helped me learn about new schools and have provided much comfort for my mother and I.
In the past two months I have auditioned for 13 schools for an acting major so far and it’s been wonderful and fun, though if had experiences good and bad.
My first audition was for UCLA, nerve-racking but a nice first audition as I was very comfortable with the campus and program due to a couple of summer camps I’ve attended there. The faculty was very straight forward and friendly and gave a good vibe, outside of the audition room, in the audition, and in the interview. All went well.
AMDA was the only audition in my hometown and it went quite well. Friendly and helpful faculty but very detached feeling from other auditioners.
Pepperdine was wonderful, it has a beautiful campus and very cool people. However I was not totally sold on their acting program, though if you want to go into music they have an incredible program. The audition was oddly casual, but went quite well.
SMU was my first auditions at a unifieds situation (Chicago unifieds). The audition was very short and I didn’t get much feedback. They also didn’t ask many questions which I found odd. The student outside running the table was more informative and interested than the admissions folks auditioning me, which was unfortunate.
Purchase at SUNY was a very fun audition. Everyone was kind and gave a positive vibe. Short, sweet, to the point, but still got to know me and I had an opportunity to ask questions.
I auditioned for the Atlantic Acting School as a walk-in and I’m very happy I did. It was one of my best auditions; the admissions people there were able to work my monologue and have a nice in-depth conversation about the school and my goals.
DePaul did not go so well. DePaul was my dream school and I was very excited to audition on campus. It was a freakishly cold day and I was already sick to begin with. The admissions director seemed nice enough though he was not involved in the first part of the audition. The vibe in the green room was very tense before the monologues began. The school definitely did not feel the same way it did when I toured it last spring break and fell in love with it. The audition room had flat acoustics (surprising) which was very off putting. The woman auditioning seemed very disconnected and rarely looked up from her paper. She had me do a classical on top of my contemporary and then sent me on my way, not really getting to know me as a person at all. According to some other folks, it was a similar experience for everyone. The class/movement audition was very very fun, a real release of tension. I did not get a callback, nor did most people at my audition. Only five were called back, four of them males. I find it very odd that you don’t get an interview unless you are called back.
A day after my unfortunate DePaul audition I had my audition for my other dream school, Rutgers, in LA. The audition just happened to be going on in a hotel that was giving a life affirmation expo. If at all possible, I highly recommend doing auditions near life affirmation expos. Though that is very unlikely, probably impossible. It was pretty cool. Anyhoo, every faculty member from Rutgers was helpful and friendly and the audition went very well.
That day I headed to LA Unifieds where I did a walk-in for Montclair, a very pleasant audition, where I was able to have a wonderful, in depth conversation with heads of both their acting and musical theatre departments. They were incredibly informative and engaged in the audition.
At Unifieds I also did a walk-in audition for The University of the Arts, a school whose program I am intrigued with. The man auditioning me was interested and gave a nice vibe, though the audition seemed a bit flat and unfortunately short.
Just today I completed my rounds at LA Unifieds, starting with Point Park. The woman running the audition was lovely, she was completely present throughout my auditioned and played around with one of my contemporaries, as well as giving me a chance to present a classical monologue and sing a bit. She then took my mother and me out of the room and talked to us for a good while about my goals, my interests, and my idea of the right university. One of my favorite auditions thus far.
Roosevelt (CCPA) was another weird audition. Though they were at Unifieds, they seemed oddly exclusive, not even having a table or representative outside to help people. The school was expensive to apply to and tough to schedule an audition for, so I expected the audition to be lengthy and involved. Much to my dismay, the audition was just a presentation of the two monologues and nothing else. I was asked no questions and had no work done on either monologue.
My final audition of the LA Unifieds was for The New School, another walk-in whose curriculum was fascinating. The folks running the audition definitely were the most friendly and had the most comfortable vibe (I’m a big vibe person, I promise I’m not some crazy hippie). The head of admissions was outside and was extremely helpful in answering every question I had regarding their program. The woman in the room was very cool and gave an extremely fresh and unconventional interview, asking questions that really made me feel like she got to know me as a person as well as an artist. Another one of my favorites.
Advice for anyone who wants it (and/or has taken the time to read through this eternal post):
-Nerves are good.
-Walk-ins can end up being your best auditions, try some
-Bring TONS of head shots and resumes
-Be as friendly as humanly possible WITHOUT BEING FAKE
-Manners (thank yous are always nice)
-Take any notes they give you
-Never say no
-One bad audition won’t ruin the best
-The amount of time you spend in the room means NOTHING
-Be fearless, take risks
-Don’t stress about time limits, most schools would rather watch your work than a stopwatch
-Learn from each audition
-BE YOU, BECAUSE YOU ARE ENOUGH (: (cliched as it sounds, it’s the best auditioning advice I’ve received) </p>
<p>NYU tomorrow (another dream school), much excitement and many nerves. Breaking lots of legs (: </p>
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