<p>My daughter attends Elon. Just want to note that one of their four undergraduate schools is Engineering, and all students can cross-register, although MT students follow a very tightly prescribed program which precludes this de-facto.</p>
<p>Hey guys,
As college auditions start to wrap up, I thought it would be a great idea for us HS Seniors/Transfers to make a thread giving a big list of advice to HS Juniors who will be going through the same thing next year. I know that I had no idea what to expect, and I hope this will be helpful to anyone who feels overwhelmed at the thought of college auditions!</p>
<p>Some tips:</p>
<p>-Know the difference between a BA and BFA. There have been multiple threads on this in the past. Feel free to apply or visit both types of programs, but know that there is a large difference in philosophy. Essentially, a BA student wants a normal college education centered around theatre while a BFA student wants to receive training to become a professional at the end of the 4 years. A BA student will have more options at the end of the 4 years than the BFA student, who will most likely start trying to get jobs upon graduation.</p>
<p>-Know the difference between university and conservatory. Itâs a great idea to visit both types and get a sense of which feels right to you. Personally, I feel that a university offers a more enhanced, enriched educational experience with more opportunity to experience and grow from diversity. The university gives you a more complete growing experience in my opinion. Other people feel that academic classes and an academic setting pulls away their focus from their craft. They might have hated taking academics in high school and canât wait to get out. You decide which is right for you.</p>
<p>-Prepare, Prepare, Prepare. ALWAYS bring more material than is written on the audition guidelines list. If they ask you to prepare 2 monologues, bring 4 choices. If they want two 16 bar cuts, bring the 32 bar cuts as well, in addition to 2 other song choices. Double the requirements at every school and you will feel much safer. In total, I prepared 5 monologues (2 shakespeare, 2 contemporary dramatic (contrasting), 1 contemporary comedic), and 6 songs (One pop uptempo, one traditional ballad, two traditional uptempo, one contemporary ballad). PREPARE and when the auditor says âDo you have anything else in your book? Let me take a lookâ you will feel confident and gratified.</p>
<p>-Try to audition on campus if possible. Even if you have visited before, auditioning on campus gives you a better opportunity to meet the faculty, current students, and to get a sense of the atmosphere. The setting is more relaxed on campus. At least for me, Unifieds threw me off a bit. The worst was the dance auditions. I had to warm up for dance with barely any room in the corner of the lobby, and for the auditions, there were no mirrors and I did significantly worse than I would have if there had been mirrors there. Also, you donât take into consideration the stress of auditioning for many schools in one short period, or the intimidation of seeing hundreds of MTs walking around in spandex, or the idea of being sick during Unifieds (which I was). It wasnât such a wonderful experience and I wouldnât do it for any school that I was seriously considering if I were you.</p>
<p>-If youâre doing MT, donât neglect the fact that DANCE is a major component of most of the audition processes. You may not be accepted to a school simply because they didnât see enough dance skill. You canât really fake a dance audition, you need to be in classes multiple times per week. Yes, a school may say that âpotentialâ is enough, but they might also be neglecting to say that âyou need to have Aretha Franklinâs voice if you arenât a dancer.â Donât let it slide. Schools often will accept one person over another because of their dance training alone, and that is a fact.</p>
<p>The two most important words of advice:
FIRST:
You will probably not get into every college you audition for. I donât care if youâre Bernadette Peters, Kristin Chenoweth, or Patti Lupone herself. Itâs almost a complete crap shoot. I know many people who were denied admission to mediocre schools, while accepted to top schools. I know talented people who werenât accepted anywhere. I know people who I consider to be lesser singers, actors, dancers, but they were accepted to some schools over other talented people I know. Donât get yourself worked up and thinking you will get in everywhere only to realize that when they say 3% get accepted, it means that no matter how talented you are, it probably wonât be you. And if you are one of the people who arenât accepted anywhere, DONâT GIVE UP unless your heart isnât in it anymore. Get training and re-audition the next year if you still want it. Donât gauge your talent on these schoolsâ answers. While they may claim that they accept based on âpotential,â the majority of the criteria is based on product. Accept that you may need to work on your skills and creating a better product before you are acceptable at some schools.</p>
<p>SECOND:
You will end up where you need to be. The school that sees your potential and accepts you will train you best. A school that says ânoâ is not right for you at that time. Donât try to take control of the process - do the work and let your path be chosen for you by the schoolsâ answers.</p>
<p>Great post collegsearch26!</p>
<p>only thing to add⊠depending on the program students graduating from BA programs may also plan on and be ready to pursue professional opportunities directly after graduation. However, often BA programs will require more general education courses outside of your major than BFA programs (although there are a few exceptions either way), so it is important to research the required and AVAILABLE curriculum and opportunities at all schools on your list. :)</p>
<p>As a parent of a child currently in their second year of an MT BFA program, I would add the following. Getting accepted into a school may also be, in part, a numbers game. If you only apply to 4 or 5 schools you may or may not have your best auditions on those days, you may or may not connect with the auditioners, you may or may not be the âtypeâ they are currently looking for, etc. It may be that ideally you want to attend a BFA at a university or one at a conservatory, but personally I think the very first objective, if you have your heart set on a MT BFA, is to get in somewhere and to give yourself options. If you are female you are competing against as many as 600 or maybe more people for as few as 6 spots. Those are not great odds. If you are male, consider yourself lucky since your odds are about 4 times better (or more) than that of the girls. I think it is very important to increase your chances by applying to more schools and I think applying to both conservatory programs and university programs is smart. Also, the more auditions you go on the more comfortable with the process you will become. Once you are accepted into some programs, then you can decide, based on your options, which is most suited to you.</p>
<p>I also think there was a lot of sage advice above about getting some training. Even a few professional lessons, vocal, acting and dance can make a considerable difference. And no one should go into a musical theater audition without any dance experience whatsoever. At least take a few classes at a local studio so you have an idea about movement. Also, show up for your auditions prepared with the correct audition pieces as requested by the schools, the correct number of bars for music, and the correct equipment. If you need a CD and a player, have that. And have some appropriate dance atire if there is going to be a dance audition. At one audition I saw person walk into their dance audition in jeans and cowboy boots! They looked ridiculous.</p>
<p>But also remember that it is important to have fun. Enjoy the process. Let the people you audition for see who you are. Allow them in. This is one of the most exciting times of your life. The more prepared you are the more you can enjoy it.</p>
<p>Hereâs my suggestion to those still creating their list for next year
If you absolutely want a BFA MT, choose AT LEAST 8-9 schools to audition for, but try to audition for as many schools as possible. It is also CRUCIALLY important to apply to BA programs as well such as Muhlenberg, Northwestern, USC (MT minor), etc. so that if all else fails, you will have back ups and places to go next year.</p>
<p>Applying to BA non-audition programs is great advice and a must BUT Northwestern and USC or by no means âbackupsâ-- they are very competitive programs IMHO.</p>
<p>a non auditioned program is only a back-up if the applicantâs stats are WELL above the admitted student range. I think that Northwestern is not considered a back-up by many (if any :))⊠USC and Muhlenberg also look for higher academic stats, I believe.</p>
<p>A âsafety schoolâ is a non-auditioned program, where the applicantâs academic stats are well above the admitted student range, that is affordable, and that the applicant would be happy to attend. </p>
<p>I believe there are a few non-auditioned BFA programs to look at as well as non-auditioned BA programs that may fit the bill⊠but just because a program does not require an audition does not mean it will be a âsafetyâ for every student. A safety for one will not be a safety for all. :)</p>
<p>Definitely true. Perhaps the best safety is a state school or low academic reach.</p>
<p>My daughter applied to a number of audition based BFA and BA programs as well as one non-audition state school. Guess which one she did not get accepted to??? The non- audition program had a huge number of applicants and while her stats were very good, apparently they werenât good enough to compete with the number of kids applying for MT. From all indications, she would have been accepted there if she had applied for most other majors. We have talked to a lot of people since and it appears that in this case the non-audition school was a reach in part because the ratio of students applying to open spots was higher than most of the auditioned programs. Our other state school with a non-audition MT program is giving priority to students within their area, so while she didnât apply there, I donât think she would have had better luck. Fortunately, she had good success with her auditions so it was not an issue for her. But I would definitely not consider either of these non-audition programs at state schools as safety programs.</p>
<p>To reinforce whatâs been said above, while some non-audition BA programs are great safetyâs, there are other non-audition BAs that are as competitive as auditioned BFA programs. Plus a few BA programs impose VERY rigorous academic filters. Remember there are many kids who intentionally choose a strong BA over even the best BFA. </p>
<p>Assuming a top BA theatre program is a safety - even if your stats seem solid - can be risky, as the best of these programs have FAR more applicants per theatre slot than for the school at large, so average overall stats at a few schools are lower than stats for the theatre program. Even if you pass the academic screen, some non-audition BA programs carefully evaluate theatrical resumes and recommendations, so even some applicants with perfect stats are not admitted. For example, we know several kids who were admitted to Yale but not to Northwesternâs theatre BA in prior years.</p>
<p>So as has been said above, do be sure that you clearly understand the nature of a specific BA program before considering it a safety.</p>
<p>This is GREAT food for thought. I think a lot of us were assuming that if you didnât have to audition and you had great academic stats, it was a âsafety.â </p>
<p>The reality seems to be that you honestly canât count on any well-known theatre program as a safety, even if the academic standards are well within your reach. From what Iâm hearing it ALMOST sounds like some of these ânon-auditionâ programs are doing a sort of âaudition by resume.â</p>
<p>BA schools are not safeties just because one has great academic stats. For example, Yale is a BA school and they turn away people with perfect GPAs, valedictorians and perfect SAT scores. A non-audition BA school is only a safety if your academic profile exceeds 75% of admitted studentsâ stats AND if the school has an acceptance rate thatâs at least over 25%. In other words, you can have academic stats that are at the top of the range for a school like Stanford, but with an acceptance rate of 7%, it would still be a âreachâ odds school. One must examine their own academic profile vis a vie the admitted students to that college, as well as the overall acceptance rate to determine whether a school is a reach, match, or safety for yourself. One personâs safety school may be another personâs reach school. And schools that accept fewer than 25% of applicants tend to be âreachâ odds no matter oneâs high academic stats.</p>
<p>I donât agree with the âaudition by resume.â That would only be pertinent at a school such as Northwestern where you are applying into a major when you apply. At a great many BA colleges and universities, you can indicate a possible major but you are not applying or being admitted directly into a major but just into the college and declare a major later. Your theater resume is not weighed in terms of an acceptance for theater, in other words. That said, obviously at selective colleges, having solid extracurriculars in areas of interest and achievements in those areas are important in admissions overall but are not weighed for a particular major as you are not accepted into a major.</p>
<p>Speaking of Northwestern, it would never be a Safety for anyone, in my opinion. It has a 27% acceptance rate. For many, it is a Reach school. For many, it is an âout of reachâ school. For someone who is in the top 10% of their HS class, has a combined CR/M SAT of at least 1480, an unweighted GPA of 3.8 or higher, a very demanding HS curriculum, significant extracurriculars with achievements in them, etc, Nortwestern might be Match/Target school.</p>
<p>It is also worth mentioning that average stats can change wildly year-to-year so it can be risky to count a school as a safety since you only have access to LAST YEARsâ stats. </p>
<p>For example, Northwestern had a record number of applicants this year, so the school as a whole says it will have an acceptance rate of around 19% this year versus 26% last year. The acceptance rate for the Theatre school, which only accepts 100 students (including MT, actors, designers, techies and teachers) is far lower than that. Consequently last yearâs stats no longer apply.</p>
<p>snip from article *************</p>
<p>The admission process will be much tougher for the {Northwestern} class of 2015, Watson said.</p>
<p>âIt certainly means that weâre going to be much more selective this year,â he said. âThe acceptance rate will be below 20 percent for the first time ever.â</p>
<p>Along with a 25 percent increase in the number of Early Decision applicants, a large number of applications means there are more students who really want to attend and thrive at NU, Watson said.</p>
<p><a href=âhttp://www.dailynorthwestern.com/campus/what-spike-in-applications-means-for-northwestern-1.2434259[/url]â>http://www.dailynorthwestern.com/campus/what-spike-in-applications-means-for-northwestern-1.2434259</a></p>
<hr>
<p>I understand that many schools had a similar uptick in applications this year, so I assume stat-inflation will be widespread for this yearsâ incoming classes.</p>
<p>If anyone wants advice on how to train for Musical Theatre college, here is a list of suggestions.</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Voice Lessons once a week for one hour. Practice vocal technique 6 days a week, letting it rest on the seventh.</p></li>
<li><p>Dance Classes at least two times a week. Train in ballet and jazz. If you have time for a third class, take tap.</p></li>
<li><p>Acting Coaching sessions as much as possible. Find a high quality acting coach who can help you act with your monologues and songs.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>If I were to do my senior year over again, I would NOT have participated in any theatre productions that conflict at all with auditions. You will have your whole life to do shows, donât stress yourself out with your school productions if you can avoid it.</p>
<p>Itâs been our experience that the on campus audition is a better way to go.Thatâs not to say that you wonât get accepted by going to unifieds (my daughter did), but it seemed to us that there was a less rushed feel on campus and that there was more info for parents and the student. Unifieds did have a âcattle callâ feel to them. Financially and logistically, I know that on campus auditions are not always realistic. But what we did with out D was make sure we at least tried to go on campus for her top 3 choices.</p>
<p>The other thing we did was schedule her top choices near the end of her audition season. That allowed her to really improve her monologues before she worked them for her top schools. Not only did more practice help, but in some of her earlier auditions, the adjudicator actually gave her notes that helped her improve both of her pieces, which in turn made them stronger later on.</p>
<p>Some other things we learned:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>No BFA programs can be considered âsafeties,â but we did benefit from balancing her list between more selective and less selective schools. For example, she picked 10 schools for which to audition. Two we considered longshot extremely selective programs, six were a litte less selective based on the number of auditions vs. spots, and two were lesser known programs that typically audition fewer kids. She also had two BA safeties. </p></li>
<li><p>Our D prepared three monologues, and really worked hard on them. Although most schools require no more than two, it was good to have an extra one. She had one classical and two contemporary. Iâve heard of some kids trying to perfect five or six monologues, and that seems like a lot to me. If you can get really good with three, I feel youâll do great.</p></li>
<li><p>Most importatly, try to enjoy the process and do your best. Thatâs all you can do since weâve also learned that this can be an extremely subjective process. You need to have talent, but you also need a little luck.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Racrose, good suggestions. We went to Chicago Unifieds, along with 1,200 other students, I hear! Staying at the Palmer House was ideal, and on the advice of CC folk, paying the extra for the executive level was wonderful, because breakfast was included, and twice we made dinner off the multitude of delicious and included appetizers. If you go to the Palmer House site right now, you can reserve a year ahead, no refun and get quite a large discount, way better than Unified rates. I knew we would take out travel insurance, so I wasnât worried about the no refund.</p>
<p>My daughter auditioned for 9 schools at Unifieds without a problem, two of them being walkins. We arrived on the Saturday, because Roosevelt had itâs dance call on Sunday, along with UMich offering auditions that afternoon (must be invited). Lots and lots of kids, but all wonderful and gracious! It was a fun experience! I recommend having a couple of auditions under your belt before going there, but my daughter had some quick ones, and some longer ones with interviews. Has received 1 acceptance and 2 rejections so far from Unifieds.</p>
<p>Walkins are a bit of a tizzy, because if you like them, you must rush back to redo the application and FAFSA process for them. I think itâs better to arrange all first. There were 50 schools in all there, so many were âunofficialâ. So find the schools you want and then find out if they go to Unifieds.</p>
<p>My daughter did 5 auditions on campus. Although they said they were taking longer to truly get to know the kids, we found that not to be true. So many kids trying out that it still felt like a cattle call, and no interviews were really done, just a lot of time waiting for turns to sing, monologue and dance. We had visited a lot of schools beforehand, so I think Unifieds worked well for us.</p>
<p>After seeing the HUGE increase in numbers, and the number of kids auditioning for 10 plus schools MY BEST advice would be to be sure to have nonaudition schools as well as smaller BFA or BA programs that draw mainly from the surrounding state or area and audition way smaller numbers, so chances increase to 10-12% rather than the 1-6% my daughter is dealing with!</p>
<p>We also used 1 and 1/2 years of voice and monologue, song presentation coaching over SKYPE and in person. If you would like names of amazing coaches - pm me. It was well worth the money!!!</p>
<p>
I was sad to see that commentâŠI disagree that school productions are expendible and just âget in the wayâ and that you will âbe doing shows the rest of your lifeâ; my advice to juniors would be to enjoy your school and community productions, plan ahead and schedule your auditions around them. My son did all of this, and had show choir every weekend Jan-Feb and still made all of his auditions (he started in the fall) with good acceptance results.</p>
<p>Itâs sort of like saying, âskip the prom and go on that auditionâŠyou can go to dances for the rest of your life.â you only do high school once - you donât have to shortcut your high school experiences in favor of future âpossibilitiesâ. And the harse truth is, some of you may not be performing in shows the rest of your livesâŠat least at the level you are dreaming ofâŠand even when you get to college you most likely not even be cast in a college show every semesterâŠso it may be a while before you perform again, other than in acting classes.</p>
<p>It is not necessary to skip high school activities for this processâŠjust plan ahead!</p>
<p>nicksmtmom, like your son, my daughter did not skip anything in high school due to college admissions/auditions and was involved in a ton of stuff including many shows. This was with 8 campus auditions (no Unifieds). Immediately following her college auditions, she was severely injured in an accident and was out of everything for the remainder of the school year and so I am glad she was in a lot of stuff leading up to that and it was very sad to miss being in the spring performances she had been rehearsing to end her HS experiences.</p>
<p>Iâm with you, Nicksmtmom! My D handled 10 auditions well while also taking part in her schoolâs production of Trojan Women, which theyâll perform next week at the MA State Dramafest. Thereâs already enough pressure on them with these college auditions. They need to be able to enjoy their high school senior year too, and for my D, being a part of her schoolâs Dramafest team is hugely important to her! The way I look at it: by this time next year sheâll be engrossed in a VERY intense BFA program, where sheâs training from 8 a.m. until 10 or 11 each night. Her final year high school production is really her final time to enjoy pressure-free performing with her friends.</p>