<p>Oh, and for the record–my son auditioned for two of his top three schools (Ithaca and Otterbein) in December and ended up being accepted to both. He did one optional audition in October as a dry run, which helped. The post-Christmas auditions were not ultimately successful and he felt somewhat “meh” about them, and even started feeling burned out by late January. His very last audition was JMU, and he wasn’t psyched for it, nor did we follow our usual audition rituals (it’s an hour from home, so no travel involved), but perhaps because it didn’t feel high stakes, it actually went very well and he had a great time. Liked the school and was accepted. He did one school at NYC Unifieds–DePaul, no call-back, but it was fun, he liked the auditors, and the experience was worthwhile. As somebody else posted earlier, it was cool to see the “real world” auditions going on in the other studios while we waited, allowing for a glimpse of what his future might be like as a working actor. Anyway, if your kid wants to try some auditions a bit earlier in the season and has prepared thoroughly, based on our experience it seems to be worth a shot.</p>