@beachymom I’m echoing everyone else… START EARLY. If you can do it schedule auditions early and maybe a school or two that are perhaps more of your safety school or one that is less
competitive and you have better chance of getting a yes, especially if you have a girl! You will appreciate that early yes when you are struggling to get past the rejections that are sure to come in march! It will assuage some of the panic.
Take the summer and FORCE your child to do the essays and application when it is available. Everyone can give me all that crap about “oh my kid needs to do it themselves and be self motivated and blah blah” sorry that’s crap. Your kid is not self motivated in the summer. You must force them to do it, why? Because it’s YOUR $ ! It will be YOUR stress filled wacked out house in late fall if you do not ride your kids -ss to get it done! It’s not the normal college app process…And let’s not pretend it is.
Make a list of schools early. Like now. research is key.
Most of all …give your kid a good “reality check " speech. …OVER & OVER. It should go something like this " you are not the best performer out there no matter how many times you were Ariel or Marian Paroo or Jo March. So was every girl at the auditions you will attend. Being female your chances are already lessened. You cannot take the denials personally although you most certainly will. If you want to bail from this … I totally understand, it’s ok and no one will think less of you. That being said , if you still want to go for it. I’m behind you and will help you as much as I can” <3
My advice would be to think carefully about summer activities as well. My S was in 2 back-to-back intensives for a total of 8 weeks, in addition to his regular lessons, and that made it very difficult for him to get ahead of the game last summer.
The Summer Immersions definitely help in the preparation for auditions as well as helping the kids see that while they are uber-talented, so are the other kids that are auditioning for the same spots. I would also say that you need to make sure to have safeties that they can see themselves realistically attending. We had safeties but scrambled late to find one that she really could see herself attending. This created some real stress when she starting getting some redirects. Also, have a WIDE range of schools as far as reach goes because not every kid will get accepted into BW or UM.
@FourFoxes and @owensfolks don’t fret!! I have several wonderful incredible friends I have made here, and our kids now know each other too and they are scattered all over the country!
@beachymom I’m building on what @theaterwork said: tune out the local teachers, vocal coaches, directors, etc., who say “Oh your child is so talented, I know she’s going to get in everywhere!” Back away, back away slowly. Even if your child is in a performing arts high school, has won tons of awards, and has danced/taken voice/been in shows since she was a toddler - don’t listen!
Most people, even those who work in the industry, have little understanding of how brutally competitive this process is right now and how rapidly it is changing every year. I live in an area where we see a half dozen kids or so go through this process every year, some exceptionally talented, and they all get rejections. There is little logic or reason to the acceptances/rejections (oh, if she got in there - surely she’ll get in there: NOPE, NOPE, NOPE), and every school seems to be looking for something a little different. This is the main reason I support hiring a national coach if you are open to the idea, there is just so much going on out there, and most of them are on top of all the information and have helpful resources.
And like everyone else has said - get as much as the paperwork out of the way as you can as early as you can. October was brutal in our house and I didn’t think we would survive it, because we were still working on applications, essays and starting prescreen videos all at the same time.
Finally, make sure your child has other things going on in her life. Some people say auditioning seniors shouldn’t do shows during this process. I think the shows and other arts-related activities are what kept the sanity level manageable in our house. My son had a fall play that he threw himself into, and his spring musical opens this weekend. It may have meant a little less sleep, and probably affected grades, but he has been able to leave all of this behind and spend time doing what he loves.
@remartin67 Likely not, but there are other performance opportunities for first semester freshman. UArts likes to support new work in various incubation stages.
My kid is a boy, but I think the same speech @theatrework suggested will be important, just with a twist on the gender. Oh how I wish he’d found his passion sooner, and started training sooner. But I do believe that things work out, so we are banking on raw talent and as much training as we can pour into the next 9 - 12 months. Thanks for the advice guys! AT least we can make that early part of the process a bit easier on ourselves.
touche @theaterwork. The earlier, the better! No matter how much I pushed and stressed getting things done early, I always felt behind. It is not fun playing the overbearing task master - especially if your student is not home for many weeks the summer before senior year. Both of my older kids were gone 6 of the 10 summer weeks and my junior is planning to be gone 6 of the 10 summer weeks. Fortunately, they write their base essay as one of their last English assignments junior year. I will schedule headshots right as she returns from her intensive and we’ve started on her list. If I can push her to get the list close to final over the summer, prescreens can be done in September. AH our best laid plans!
@heliobike My D will cut back on the number of shows she does senior year. She attends a PA HS half days (they put up 7 shows) and her HS also puts on a fall play and spring musical. She will not do two shows at a time her senior year; she had too much overlap this year and everything suffered! I agree the shows can keep their minds off the mailbox!
And might I add - the support here is unparalleled. I’m thankful for each of you allowing us a glimpse into your journeys. Huge BALs to everyone, now and in the future!
I know I sound whatever in my post but I feel like a reality check is key. Especially if your kid has been every teacher’s “pet project” for years! Lol
“You’ll get in everywhere” " they’re crazy to say no to you" blah blah, ignore this rhetoric! I cannot stress that enough! IGNORE IT. It means nothing
Sorry @beachymom about not seeing you had a boy! So… odds are somewhat better but DONT tell him that! Cause I heard some guys sing at a school this audition circuit and wowsa… just sayin, Broadway bound like right where they stood.
So , sorry to sound negative nelly.
And yes like @artskids said… ride that butt in the summer!! YOUR sanity will be the one saved!
I agree, the earlier the better. I also highly recommend you read the entire (and it is long) thread “advice for juniors” - that is the best thread hands down on this board…in my opinion
@beachymom I will echo what most have said. Summer is the most important time for prep. Use that time to pick out monologues, research schools, get contrasting songs that work and show off your kiddos voice. Wherever he/she is lacking get some lessons. Common app essay did not change for us so it was open and ready to start. My S wrote the draft of two essays (to see which one worked better) and worked on edits over the summer. At end of summer he showed them to a relative who used to be a college counselor and she chose the one that was better and gave him some editing suggestions. He filled out the personal information section of common app in early august and finalized his monologues and song choices. He got accompaniment recorded in August too. 32 and 16 bar cuts for 4 songs. And then the week before school started he worked on the common app section that asks about all his extracurriculars. He finalized his short theatrical resume and long complete resume that week too (see UMich website and NYU website for help with that). The long resume took some time to pull together but definitely helped when filling out the extra curricular part of the common app. Prescreens and final edits on the common app essay were done the first month of school (and you if you can use school facilities that is all the better). Almost all of the schools have their own additional essay requirements so it is critical to have the common app essay in final form by early September. Late September beginning filling out school specific apps on common app. October finish school applications. As for scheduling auditions and choosing schools: look for schools that are on rolling admissions and schedule two of those in November and early December (which means you need to leave weekends in November open). Early auditions will give you time to re-work material if necessary and get some auditions under his/her belt. It took my son 3 auditions to get the hang of his material and the feel comfortable with the process (and he was prepared, just needed polishing). But just trust me, the first 2-3 auditions are gonna be much rougher than the rest. That being said, some schools like Elon and BW accept kids who audition early so if you want one of those schools, the early bird gets the worm. Practice slating all the material at once. Practice slating the songs/monologues at once and one at a time. Know which schools require Shakespeare and prescreens and post war monologues or contemporary only. Have songs with all cuts in a binder by October. In December you should schedule all auditions so make sure applications are in by November. This process works better with someone who is really organized and having a parent help with the process is common so ignore all the other people who tell you that you are doing too much for your kid. Save up money for the audition process. If you do two unifieds and travel to schools the costs will be outrageous.
@beachymom To add to what MomofMTBoy said, we found that a couple schools (like Otterbein and Marymount Manhattan) really seem to prefer students to audition on campus. So for those 2 plus any local schools we went out of our way to audition for them on campus. The rest we did at Unifieds. We are fortunate enough to live very close to Chicago, so we spread the Unifieds out over the week and drove back and forth. I know many people get hotel rooms and plot out all their auditions over the course of a few days. Not sure which is more stressful but we all do what we think is best at the time.
@beachymom My son did like most others with regard to his applications and they were done by the end of September. With regard to auditions my son found his passion for MT late and did not do any auditions until Unifieds in Chicago. He also did Marymount at a regional audition and then UNC here in Colorado on campus. So far he has two BFA acceptances and is waiting on a few others. He also has had quite a few rejections and those are HARD! Just be there to support your son in this process and listen to him.
