<p>Overheard at auditions last weekend during Q&A session (at an excellent, well-renowned program) with current students, parents, and applicants waiting to audition: applicant asks current students how they deal with the fact that the dance program at this school is “secondary.” Ummmm, ouch? First of all, the dance program is excellent at this school, but more importantly, what would possess this kid to ask that? The current students were CLEARLY taken aback, but handled it well. They let the boy know that the dance program was phenomenal. But you better believe those students are going to let the audition panel know what this kid said! Sheesh! Keep your insults to yourself! If you think it’s so awful, why are you auditioning there?</p>
<p>Wow, what a great question. “How do you deal with the fact that your school sucks?” That one wins the Golden Shredder Award for the most inappropriate and insulting question of the 2013/2014 audition season. Someone forgot to recharge the batteries on their filter…</p>
<p>I have actually heard very similar questions more than once but always asked by a parent whose real objective was to open the door to spew off Johnny or Suzie’s extensive resume of training (also disgusting btw). I’ve never heard a student ask that kind of a question. Golden Shredder Award indeed. I second the nomination.</p>
<p>Maybe I misunderstood the question the student asked because I didn’t think it was “your school sucks”. I thought the question was maybe referring more to “If you are a dancer that acts and sings, how do you deal with the fact that dance is secondary to the voice (or acting) training in your MT program?”</p>
<p>This is an issue that we consider a lot in deciding which schools to apply to — do we focus on my child’s strongest talent or look for more training in the weakest area? VERY few schools, if any, are equally strong at all three, and there are pros and cons to going to a school that caters to your strength. For example, if you are already a killer singer, do you want to enhance that training by focusing on schools with top vocal departments heavy on voice training. Or, do you choose to look for the programs that are known for their training in acting (which may be your weakest area and in need of the most work), and supplement your voice training through extra private lessons or electives.</p>
<p>This sounds as though it may have been asked by a student that was very strong in dance, and was looking for a program that was more dance oriented than vocal or acting. It also could have been from a dancer trying to show-off a bit because he/she thought the program was not advanced enough in dance…which would be a rather insulting and arrogant question to have brought up.</p>
<p>@weski2 - while it’s true that all of the schools have an emphasis in one or two of the three areas, it’s still a borderline inappropriate question that requires too much of a followup explanation to keep people from feeling insulted. It’s probably better to lay low, do your best at the audition, and see which schools send you an acceptance. Then the REAL research can begin - by scouring the MT boards on CC, of course! In the end it doesn’t matter which schools you want to attend, it only matters which schools want you.</p>
<p>@weski2, there are ways to ask the question YOU are posing that are not insulting or loaded. For example, you can ask whether dance classes are leveled, and if not, how they deal with the different experiences of the kids in the same class; you can even ask if there are challenging dance classes for someone who has been dancing all his/her life. No, this question was clearly a slam…from the way it was asked and the wording. The kids answering took it that way, too…it wasn’t just me. And as we all know, perception is reality. This boy was perceived as being insulting.</p>
<p>I heard this at a college audition workshop, not at an actual C audition since D is a jr. “Make college visits AFTER u know where ur acceptd, not before. With MT being so competitive, and schools so spread out, save $$$ for the places that actually want you to help u decide which to accept.” NEVER had it occurred to me to do that. D and I have and will visit a few in-state schools “before” to see her friends in shows so we might as well take the “prospective student tour”, but will save out of state visits until after acceptances. So, see, it is possible to overhear positive and helpful things as well! :)</p>
<p>That’s our approach as well. Besides, with the virtual tours that you can do on the school’s websites and the “virtual” tours that you can do through the CC message boards, there is plenty of information available before you actually visit a school.</p>
<p>So true, @addicted2MT. I have heard on the audition circuit about parents who didn’t check to see whether a school required an on-campus audition and ended up making campus visits during junior year or the summer before senior year that they then had to repeat in order to audition. It’s a good idea to do some advance research about which schools you’ll HAVE to travel to at some point in the audition process and which can wait until after she’s accepted. We just visited the local-ish ones before his senior year and left the rest until we had a better idea of his college audition schedule. </p>
<p>The question of when to visit has been discussed many times here on CC. The decision may be different for each family. While it may sound like a good idea not to visit until acceptances are in, keep in mind that if you don’t have results until April 1, you will only have a month to arrange travel to the schools who ‘want you’. That time of senior year is often busy with spring shows so it may be difficult to arrange time away. It may work for some but if you can swing it financially, it’s better to visit earlier than in that short decisions window in the spring. Ideally, some schools will have been visited prior to applications to determine what schools are on your list, and where you want to audition. I realize that not everyone is able to do this but if you can, it’s a good idea. Looking at websites and reading posts here can only go so far in providing information. Seeing a school in person, talking to current students, seeing facilities, eating in the dining hall, viewing dorms, meeting with faculty, sitting in on classes if possible, seeing a show, are important things to consider when weighing the option of an in-person visit.</p>
<p>D only visited the three schools where she had to attend an on-campus audition, and auditioned for the rest at Chicago Unifieds. I agree that beyond the required out-of -state visits, wait until you are accepted to a program before planning a trip! Unless of course you have unlimited finances ( or unlimited credit, HA!). </p>
<p>Always kinda scary posting what was heard or done at auditions, in case the “culprit” is reading the thread…but two things that I thought were pretty funny. At Unifieds, I heard a parent ask the TCU rep if TCU is a Christian school. I found this pretty funny because if she had done her homework, she would have known that the college is called Texas CHRISTIAN University.
Second story is kinda long, but starts with a random mom, we’ll call her Mom 1, wanting to touch my D’s hair. What was my D going to say? Very weird. Then at the same audition, another mom, Mom 2, was listening to my D’s audition not only trying to look through the peep hole, but by placing her ear to the door for both entire songs. Her face was priceless when she heard my D repeat a song for them. BUT WAIT…here’s the kicker. When my D finished singing, Mom 2 was still listening at the door (I was down a few doors watching these moms) when the professor opened the door! Mom 2 almost fell in the door and the prof asked her if she was my D’s mom…she had to say “no”, but I waved from down the hall telling him I was her mother. Pretty funny. The one on one time with both professors in the room was terrific and I’m so glad it wasn’t me who almost fell into the room. LOL</p>
<p>@princessjpmom - our unlimited resources dried up today when I checked the Power Ball numbers…</p>
<p>@rbgirl - I am SO glad for you that the prof had the foresight to ask if Mom 2 was your D’s mom! How horrible and unfair would it be if they assumed that it was YOU listening! @cheeseheadmike - u crack me up! </p>
<p>Have our Power Ball Ticket on the kitchen table!
Son hasn’t visited most of the schools he auditioned for. He was at a pre-college program this summer for six weeks and there wasn’t time, money, nor a great desire to see a school he may not attend. His school musical is the end of March and if all goes well we will make some visits during his April vacation.</p>
<p>@rbgirl - man, you couldn’t write a better comedy skit. It would have been even funnier if the door ■■■■■ (today’s phrase of the day?) had answered YES to the professor’s question.</p>
<p>“Door ■■■■■”…bahahaha</p>
<p>I cannot say enough times how important it is to visit schools AFTER you have been accepted, EVEN IF you already visited them before. Students look at the schools VERY differently once they know they are “wanted” AND the schools are much more likely to roll out the red carpet for accepted students. And yes, it can be a time crunch, but try hard to visit at least the top schools in consideration. Go to classes, talk to as many students and faculty as you can, take a voice lesson, take a dance class,… It all really feels different once you’ve been accepted, then it is YOUR job to figure out which is the best fit for YOU.</p>
<p>We don’t have any more money than the next family, but we are visiting most of the schools that my D will apply to next year. I just don’t know how you get a feel for a campus via a website. She took one school off her list after we toured last summer and another one moved up several notches. This summer we will leverage her plane ticket to her summer program and do another 5 campuses. My attitude is why waste the time, energy and money to apply and audition for a school that you don’t feel fits you. This is a huge financial commitment over four years, I am willing to use our vacation fund to visit the schools she is interested in. The only downside is getting too fixated on one campus and knowing she has very little control over where she goes. Just one approach – but place and campus vibe are very important to my D. This is going to be a crazy journey!</p>
<p>Veritas, thanks for clearing it up for me. I was trying to give the kid the benefit of the doubt since I had not heard his actual question myself. </p>