Sorry @claire74 - gotta disagree. At least with a prescreen you can redo and redo until it’s the best you feel you have to present. I would say that, in the vast majority of instances, the people reviewing the prescreens know what they are doing and choose students who should be passed along.
My S’s CMU audition (first one) went a long way towards assuring me that we weren’t kidding ourselves. Without it, I’m not sure we would have had the faith to pursue the BFA option that he eventually got.
@jkellynh17, I agree. My son applied knowing full well it was a long shot, as most kids do. The experience was so positive though, that he came out smiling and brimming with confidence for later auditions. Those CMU auditors really know how to make a kid feel good, without building up their hopes too much. We pretty much know the outcome this weekend, but don’t regret the audition.
Agree with @claire74 - we don’t regret the audition for a minute! My D’s 2nd audition - gave her confidence for the rest. Forever grateful to Gary Kline for taking an audition cut out of her book and telling her which cut was her ‘money’ song! Invaluable advice at a critical time.
CMU was one of my daughter’s earlier auditions, too. She sang for Gary, who she had worked with two years ago in the CMU summer program. He was pretty critical of her back then, even telling her she had a lot of work to do vocally to qualify for the “top” programs. But this time, with two years of that work behind her, he had nothing but compliments and made sure she saw Don Wasdworth on the acting side. While we, too, have absolutely no expectations, she felt that his stamp of approval was more than worth the time and expense of auditioning and gave her the validation she needed to go into her other auditions prepared and confident.
I agree completely with whoever said it’s easier to do a good job on a pre-screen. We took many shots of my D.'s songs, monologues and dance cuts and were able to pick the versions that showed her at her absolute best to send in. And she made these recordings in her home studio, with an accompanist she’d worked with on these songs, and with her supportive coach offering advice between takes. She passed all six pre-screen she sent in, including to the big name schools, so that also served as a huge confidence boost before the in-person auditions and gave her a sense that it wasn’t crazy for her to go this route and that she belonged in the mix!
Agree @Fotokat! Pre-screen filming was no joke!
Recording pre-screens was a nightmare for us. It was not easy booking time with an accompanist, around their schedules and ours - everything was rushed, rushed, rushed with multiple students waiting their turn. D was allowed 10 minutes. This was after school at a PA high school, after a 9 hour school day, before dinner, with accompanist resentful and needing to rush off to another gig. Still, D passed 4 of 6, but the washed-out, worn-out girl in the video was not the best representation of her talent.
That’s unfortunate @hopecladwell, and i hope she has some good choices when it’s all said and done! This is also a good reminder to those doing this in the future to start planning early!! Rushed and exhausted are rarely a recipe for success, so i commend your kiddo for the passed pre-screens she got! We had songs and monologues picked out over the summer and we’re incredibly fortunate to have support from teachers and staff at her PA high school. Still, we planned for and payed for the coaching, choreography, accompanist, videographer, reserved studio space on a weekend. I don’t need to tell anyone here how challenging and costly this can be! In my family we joke that my two older kids got cars in high school, my youngest got to prepare for and apply to 16 different college MT programs and travel to auditions. I’m grateful every day we were able to support this endeavor.
@ham4ham- you may have found the page already, but it’s Class of 2020. Hope that helps you find it!
On to topic of helpful auditions, my son had a great experience with University of Utah. It was his first audition on the first day of the LA Unifieds. He said after he did his song the auditor gave him some suggestions on what he should do differently, then had him sing it again. At the end the auditor said, “There, sing it like that and you’ll do well the rest of the day.” My son ended up getting waitlisted at Utah, and I’m sure the advice helped him relax and do better at the rest of the auditions that weekend.
@hopecladwell that is exactly what happened for me.
Thank you @Fotokat . I should have mentioned our experience was last year, and my D is happily ensconced at one of the schools for which she passed a prescreen. We didn’t wait until the last minute; we were relying on the help and advice of a teacher at school, a teacher my D worships and could do no wrong in her eyes, and who she felt knew more and better than her meddling parents, lol! We got lucky despite the quality of the prescreen.
My S being accepted at CMU last year was an affirmation to him that he was on the right path. To top it off his CMU audition was one of his most fun. He made the difficult decision to go elsewhere (finances was a part but not the main reason for his choice) but CMU is sort of a right of passage for many who do this.
I’ve said it before but will say it again, I LOVE how Arts makes prescreens optional!! I wish everyone did that, because the risk/benefit is so individual. We were on the side of hating prescreens. Some kids (mine is one) just really do better with that human interaction, plus we were technologically challenged. U Arts said if you do the prescreen and pass, then you automatically have an audition day callback. If you don’t pass, you save yourself a trip. On the other hand, if you prefer in-person auditions, do that! The risk then is you’ve made the trip, and might not get a callback. This makes so much sense!!
@bfahopeful - NYU does accept more BFA students - but you have to remember that the studio system changes things. It’s part of what makes them great - they have SO MANY options for types of training. BUT - if you have a very specific type in mind (which my D did) your odds are not significantly better than at many other schools. But when it hits- it can be a really cool thing
And @bfahopeful you may even get admitted to more than one studio 
@toowonderful - we know many kids there that LOVE it! Sounds like your daughter does too. It is a fantastic and very diverse program which makes for some great opportunities.
alright so, not to set things into pandemonium but CMU has begun calling MT/Acting majors…
that is awesome @musicalkid98! Did a call come to your house? Good luck everyone.