@sopranomtmom my D made all her auditions-but it sounds like she had a similar week, in terms of the highs and lows and resilience!! I hope that your gal feels well soon.
@sopranomtmom Oh no! Hopefully it’s a short-lived allergy issue. BAL to your D in LA! 
Crazy week indeed!
@sopranomtmom I recently had a severe allergic reaction in a hotel I was staying at from a cleaning product they used. Of course have her take Benadryl but know hotels have ozone machines they can put in rooms the clear them of allergens. You have to be out of the room for an hour.
Quick update from this week (she made it through Chicago unifieds - yay!) :
D auditioned for SIU the weekend before, and got an early admit email the following Tuesday! So hooray, she is admitted to an audition BFA from her list! Lovely people there, and a nice interactive audition experience.This week she auditioned for 9 other schools, including one that she was never able to book but we miraculously snagged a walk-in (I say “we” because I was camping in front of that school’s table for a while that afternoon, lol). Then, while we were here, she got a call from a school whose auditions had filled up early, that they had finally scheduled her - she moved from #12 on the waitlist for auditions, to #2, to finally getting a time slot. Overall a fantastic week, and so proud of her for how she’s handled herself this week, and really impressed by the schools we met with - it’s getting real!!
@CentralOHmomof4 My D didn’t do any unifieds, but I’m curious. I always thought it was like a group audition thing – you perform your pieces in front of several schools at the same time. But as I read these posts, I guess it’s running from room to room for individual school auditions? That means you could be doing your pieces like 10 times in one day! Just wondering how it works. 
@daughtersdreams we didin’t do unifieds either, it’s very interesting to read about it though!
@daughtersdreams - in general, each school is an individual audition- so yes, you end up doing your audition pieces over and over
Right, @daughtersdreams - each school has their own schedule and location, and you set up audition appointments with each. And, in some cases, they will have openings on their schedules to accept walk-ins, so that can allow you to slot in some more if schedules line up. With Chicago Unifieds, at least, most of the schools were in the same hotel so that makes it very convenient. But some schools had locations nearby, because it costs them like $1000 a day for the schools to be in the official unifieds, but having a space close by and around the same time, is much more reasonable, and I imagine lets them control their day better (no hundreds of kids asking for walk-ins). My daughter did three offsite auditions - one picked her up and drover to their school, one was a short walk from the hotel, and the other was a short cab ride. Some are quick in-and-out, but some have parent meetings and dance calls, so 10 a day would be over the top, but two or three for sure! Ohio has a group audition-type experience where everyone is listening at once, but it seemed like most of the schools treated it more as a prescreen than a full audition. My D did that as well and it was a good experience.
@CentralOHmomof4 … congrats on the SIU acceptance for your girl! I think Prof Fink has a great program going there in Carbondale!
@daughtersdreams my D had seven scheduled auditions and did one walk in during NY Unifieds. It really was a godsend…sorry you thought it was something it wasn’t. I’m going to assume you didn’t use a coach or they would have explained that to you. On the other hand, it’s not a bad thing to audition on campus because you get to see the school. It’s just so time consuming and expensive!
@marg928 Well we did use a coach, but just for a few weeks of monologue & song selection and prep. She suggested unifieds, but since we jumped in to this audition very late, it was an issue coordinating schedules. There was no way I could drive my D to unifieds in NY because of conflicts and neither she nor I wanted to fly anywhere for them. So we just stuck to colleges we could reasonably drive to.
@CentralOHmomof4 Sounds like long crazy days and probably a lot of fun for some of the kids.
From the bits and pieces of experiences shared on CC, it looked like unifieds would be hectic and stressful and my D just didn’t think she would do well in that environment. She felt she could present her best self by doing on-campus auditions even if that meant having fewer options.
our coach encouraged both NY Unifieds and Chicago…luckily we didn’t do Chicago because so many of them are stuck there right now due to the east coast storm! (although they seem to be making the best of it!) He said Chicago Unis were a bit more “chill” than NY but for us being an hour from NYC it was a no brainer to get in all done in NY…plus that next week into the weekend she had four more schools holding auditions in NY.
@marg928 I was bopping around cc. Are you auditioning for pilots and BFA’s? I applaud you. That seems like such a big feat. 11 schools was enough of a process for us last year. I feel like I have so much time to myself this year. Break a leg!!
@Ducky312 apparently that’s what we’re doing LOL. Honestly I’m starting to panic a little. My D has had her agent for two years so by now we know that pilot season is busy at this time of year…but I guess since she’s turning 18 in March she is getting so many more auditions than she did last year. Today she got an email that she has one for a pilot that’s filming in South Africa in March! What the heck am I supposed to do with that? I have tons of questions now, mainly will she be allowed to graduate if she disappears for who knows how long…will she be able to attend her prom and graduation? As a mother these are the things I’m worried about and she’s just going along with everything, all the while thinking that none of that matters because the chances of booking any of these things are so slim. That is true, but I feel that you shouldn’t audition for something you’re not willing to do. I have a call in to her agent to ask some of these questions…waiting on a call back. Luckily she is done with her BFA auditions (except one) so Pilot season hasn’t interfered too much.
@marg928 good for you with the agent. We held off, but she was able to get an ensemble role in an equity house before all her BFA auditions last year. I always had the theory if you don’t audition you won’t have the opportunity. But my daughter also chose to live out the end of senior year as a regular teenager. It was a good choice for her. She is now thriving in the program she chose.
Here’s a funny tidbit…my D’s agent has a BFA in MT from Pace. She has told her she doesn’t need the BFA and that she goes to many showcases and maybe takes one person on. She says that my D is ahead of 95% of the graduates already just by having an agent. I know this is all true but I still want her to have a college experience. This is why I think a BA program may be best for her.
@marg928 so is your daughters agent encouraging her to not go to college? Or just not to pursue a BFA? I mean I understand getting an agent is difficult after graduation so is she saying that your D is at a tremendous advantage since she has one and should just go with that?
@marg928 it depends on the program and the agency. UNCSA had 70% of grads with either an agent or a manager or both before graduation. Two seniors last year were already working on tv projects prior to graduation.
Some schools have a lot of success getting kids signed- but even that (as you said yourself related to chances of booking a job) isnt a guarantee of work.
I have also heard some agents note what you said above and others say they sign several each year or may really like kids from certain programs.
In the end it is all a crapshoot.
I tend to agree with you that a college experience is important. My D has grown so much and it hasn’t even been a year.
A BA will definitely be more flexible should your D work while in school. Not all BFAs encourage or allow outside work b/c it is too time consuming.
Interesting info from an agent. Thanks for posting.
@theaterwork yes she’s basically discouraging the BFA more so, her point being that at the end of the four years the goal is to get representation and she already has that. But my D is very serious about this and wants great training…but I guess on the job training has value as well. She just doesn’t feel like she’s good enough right now. I know she has raw talent she just needs the polishing. I’m leaving this all up to fate right now! I spoke with her guidance counselor today to discuss what would happen if she were to book a role and have to miss school for a month and she said they would make it work…that made me feel a lot better. Perhaps it would be foolish for her to go into a BFA program where she wouldn’t be allowed to audition on the outside and miss out on four years of opportunities…
@marg928 Sounds like your D is a very busy girl! Lots of opportunities in front of her. When the time comes to make choices, she’ll know what’s right for her.
As for auditioning for something you dont intend to take if cast – if you know 100% that it’d be a no, then pass on the audition. But if there’s even a possibility, if the terms were right, then being scene is always a good thing. You never know who’ll be in the casting room and remember her for another project later on.