HELP! Audition Tips for the Class of 2012?

College Majors Theater/Drama Majors
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<p>There’s a similar one of these threads I was reading on the MT boards, but for more theatrical purposes, I’ll start a new one here.</p>

<p>Anyways, as I get closer to the end of junior year I find myself both excited and pants-wettingly nervous about the upcoming auditions process-- my first one will be in either June or July for AMDA, and then later on down the line there’s Unifieds and all the other ones in between. Is there anyone out there who’d be willing to offer pointers? I’m pretty new to the game, as I have a limited scope of experience; I did a few community theater shows when I was very young (didn’t stand out at all) and haven’t had any experience acting professionally-- most all of my training is with my high school’s drama and musical theater departments-- and I come from a rather small town in Southern California where being a standout isn’t such a big deal (the “big fish in a small pond” mentality).</p>

<p>Schools to which I will very likely apply/audition:
-AMDA
-Bennington
-NYU
-Emerson
-BU
-Fordham
-USD
-CSU Long Beach
-San Diego State
-Chapman
-DePaul
-Florida State
-UNC School of the Arts</p>

<p>This list needs to be whittled down, but I’m not sure which ones to cut yet. Anyways, yeah: any advice that can be offered is extremely gratefully taken! Thanks much!</p>

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<p>You might want to look at the thread on this forum entitled “Audition preparation advice for Juniors.” </p>

<p>It is not a recent thread, but it has a lot of advice that is still very good and relevant.</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/theater-drama-majors/688751-audition-preparation-advice-juniors.html?highlight=audition+preparation+advice+for+juniors[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/theater-drama-majors/688751-audition-preparation-advice-juniors.html?highlight=audition+preparation+advice+for+juniors&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>Thanks NJTheatreMom! I’m reading it now and you’re quite right, it’s a treasure trove of info.</p>

<p>Of course, anything in this thread that isn’t in that one would be just as helpful. ;)</p>

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<p>Don’t suck.</p>

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<p>hey! one of the schools on your list is on mine as well (florida state!) I’ll be auditioning for programs instead but i just wanted to say we’re pretty much in the same boat.lol I’m trying to do all the preparing i can!</p>

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<p>Gee, louisorange, that’s INSIGHTFUL.</p>

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<p>StrangeBro, best of luck to you. I suggest you seek some help in finding off-the-beaten-track monologues by visiting a drama bookstore, if there’s one in your area, that has a large and varied stock of scripts and has a knowledgeable staff. My d found that very helpful, in addition to having a great acting coach.</p>

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<p>StrangeBro…make sure you have a few strong monologues to pull from: 1 classical monologue (before 1900) and at least 2 contemporary (after 1900 required but really should be more recent). Most importantly, stay within your type when choosing your monologues and best of luck!</p>

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<p>StrangeBro - Your questions are all excellent, and you are helping both yourself and others in your position with these threads.</p>

<p>I’m posting a bit of advice I just put on Lauren’s thread, too. This post isn’t so much about auditioning as it is about creating a balanced list. Because getting into auditioned schools is so difficult, I really feel it is absolutely necessary to have other options and to have some feeling of control over results that are otherwise are quite unpredictable. Of course, there are theatre applicants who only apply to auditioned programs and are prepared to take a gap year and re-apply, but they are rare. I’m assuming that most kids who are auditioning will have non-auditioned schools on their list, too, so here are my suggestions:</p>

<p>I think it is very common for an auditioning kid to have 10-12 schools. It depends on the person, but most people would like a choice when they get to the end of the process. If you look at the group from this year (which resembles groups from past years), you’ll see that results vary wildly, but that a nice outcome is based on a varied set of options that looks something like this:</p>

<p>Auditioned schools -

  1. Highly selective: usually accept 10-15% of applicants, or even less
  2. Less selective: usually accept 20-25% of applicants
    There are no safeties here. 25% is a low acceptance rate by any standards, like a “top 50” college, so you can’t count on any of these schools.</p>

<p>Non-auditioned schools (all based on academics):

  1. Reach: again, anywhere from 10-30% acceptance rate, where your stats are below the top 25% of applicants
  2. Match: at least 40-50% acceptance rate, where your stats are at least at the 50th percentile
  3. Safety: over 50% acceptance rate, and where your stats are solidly in the top 25%, AND you know you can afford it</p>

<p>Take your list and see if you have a couple of schools in each category. Of course no one is required to do the highly selective or reach schools, but many kids want to give those schools a try. I really recommend having at least 2 safety/likely match schools; most kids really hate having only one acceptance and no choices at the end of the process.</p>

<p>If you look at the results for most of the kids this year and in previous years, they have done a good job of having a couple of safety BAs (even BFAs - there are a couple available), and have gotten into some of their match schools, plus some of their less selective auditioned schools. Many kids get into one reach school or another, but some do not. There is nothing to be ashamed of in that - it is like getting rejected from an Ivy.</p>

<p>I found it helpful to keep our list organized in this way - split in two, then again into levels of selectivity. Of course, within each list my D had her preferred schools (often one school was a backup for another one she liked a bit better).</p>

<p>I reminded her the other day that the only schools she was rejected from were in the less-than-20% acceptance rate group (mostly 10% or less) - and she was waitlisted at one of those. I hope she understands she has a lot to be proud of. She certainly had lots of good and varied choices when she was done.</p>

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<p>EmmyBet, where did you get the admissions stats for auditioned programs? I found during the auditions this year that the auditors or staff would say there was anywhere from a 15% to 30% increase in auditioners as compared to last year, depending on the school.</p>

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<p>How about if I respond on the thread about acceptance rates? That seems like a good place for it. I’d really like to get some info there for kids to understand more.</p>

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<p>But the short answer - which I meant to include here but got cut by accident - is that I don’t have anything but what people hear from the schools, what we heard and what others have posted on CC. It’s pretty unscientific, but still helpful, I think.</p>

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<p>Strangebro- you might find some good tips also over on the Musical Theatre forum as well as here since drama and MT have so many issues in common.</p>

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<p>Here’s some advice we got and it worked for our D:</p>

<ol>
<li><p>Read and understand the ENTIRE play from which you take your monologues. Understand everything about your character, since auditors will ask those questions. Biggest mistake you can make is perfecting a monologue without knowing anything else about the play. Auditors hate this!</p></li>
<li><p>Have three go-to monologues, and even if your particular schools don’t require it, make sure one is classical. And make sure that all three “contrast.” </p></li>
<li><p>Learn from each audition. Our D auditioned for Ithaca early on, listened and used coaching advice from that auditor that made her classical monologue stronger for subsequent auditions. She didn’t get into Ithaca, but the advice likely helped her get accepted to three other BFA programs.</p></li>
<li><p>Let it roll off your back, if you have one bad audtion and learn from it. The most important audition you’ll do is “the next one.”</p></li>
<li><p>Most importantly, have fun! This should be a memorable time of your life. It’s normal to be nervous, but don’t let it ruin the overall experience for you. Enjoy the time with your parents, eat at some good restaurants, see some performances when you’re not auditioning, and just do your best to enjoy what will be an experience that you’ll remember for a lifetime.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>Also, EmmyBet’s advice is VERY good when it comes to making your list of which schools to apply:</p>

<p>From looking at your list, I see about six extremely selective schools, including BU, Emerson, NC School of the Arts, NYU, DePaul and Fla. State.</p>

<p>You might might want to change up your mix a little and maybe remove a couple of those, and replace them with solid, but less selective BFAs such as UArts and Hartt. Those two schools are tough to get into, but your odds are better since they typically audition fewer students than the highly selective ones on your list. The other nice thing about Hartt and UArts is that both schools offer talent-based scholarships, and they do so to make themselves more competitive with the more prestigious schools. As an example, my D is being offered $12K a year by UArts.</p>

<p>AMDA is probably the least selective school among the BFAs on your list, so I’d suggest you leave that one in. No BFAs can be considered “safeties,” but AMDA is close.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

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<p>Thanks for the help all, especially EmmyBet and racroce! I’ll be sure to keep the ultra-selectives in mind when I’m shortening in the list; since I’ve posted this, I’ve cut SDSU but added Texas Christian, so we’re at the exact same length as before.</p>

<p>Anyone know about any safety BA or BFA programs? I’ve got Fordham there, but that’s a competitive BA, I think. Someone else suggested Roosevelt on another thread, but I don’t know about that one.</p>

<p>racroce, as for UArts: I looked at it, and I like it, but my parents flat-out refuse to pay if I go to school in Philadelphia. I’ll investigate Hartt, though; I have an aunt who lives in West Hartford. :D</p>

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<p>StrangeBro, please be aware that audition-based schools are not a safety school for ANYONE as the acceptance rates to audition-based programs are VERY LOW (not to mention the subjective nature). Fordham’s BA is BY AUDITION. It is not nearly a safety school! (I know kids accepted to NYU/Tisch and rejected by Fordham’s theater program in fact). Roosevelt is a BFA program and so not a safety school (though the odds there are somewhat better than at elite BFA programs). </p>

<p>In terms of a safety school, first, it can’t have an audition. Second, the term “safety school” is relative to each applicant. We cannot tell you what would be a safety school for YOU as it depends on having a complete academic profile of you. One kid’s safety school is another kid’s reach school. For a “sure bet” safety school, look for colleges where your academic profile would be in the top range of applicants to that school and where the acceptance rate is not low. That is a very general idea, but it is an individualized thing.</p>

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<p>I’ve been told that there is no such thing as a safety audition school. My daughter, also an 11th grader will probably use Temple U as her safety. It has a good theater program, non-auditioned. Temple has rolling admissions, so she will apply as soon as applications open.</p>

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<p>Thanks soozie and Glass. I’m looking for non-audition schools as my safeties-- my academics give me a fighting chance just about anywhere except the top tier (HPYS, other Ivies, CMU, top UCs). My academic profile can be found here: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1118399-chance-theatre-acting-inclined-junior-ill-chance-you-back.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1118399-chance-theatre-acting-inclined-junior-ill-chance-you-back.html&lt;/a&gt; (old and discredited chance thread).</p>

<p>The major non-audition schools I’ve heard of are Temple and URI. Any others you can suggest?</p>

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<p>At CMU (assuming you are auditioning for the BFA— would be different if you were applying in general) your grades are just fine! Admissions are highly audition-based.</p>

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<p>URI does have a non-auditioned BFA. There apparently is another non-auditioned BFA in Texas, but I’ve forgotten the school. It was mentioned by snapdragonfly.</p>

<p>There are so many lovely non-auditioned BAs that you literally have hundreds of choices nationwide. It is true that many people on these threads talk a lot about Temple (but I thought you can’t go to Philly?), also Muhlenberg, Hofstra, Columbia College in Chicago, and many, many others. In building that list you need to start with other questions like what you want in a college - location, size, etc., as well as academics, so it’s hard just to throw school names at you.</p>

<p>Some schools do have an audition after the first year from a BA into a BFA - no guarantee, of course, but at least another chance. Hofstra and Columbia College do this. I also know that UW-Milwaukee (a great theatre town, by the way) also has that route, and other posters here know of more.</p>

<p>You’re doing great with your research. I’ll agree with racroce and soozeivt about the “selectivity tiers” in auditioned programs: one the one hand, it is helpful - I’d say preferable - to have schools on your list that are less selective, perhaps less “elite,” but on the other hand, they still only have about 25-30% acceptance rates (which correlate to places like CMU, Vassar, and many top-tier academic admissions), that are unquantifiable and nearly impossible to predict for an individual student in any given year.</p>