<p>For those of you that have been through the process of auditioning, did you get most of the audition dates that you requested? Do you think the probability of getting your requested dates is affected to a large extent by how early your application is submitted?</p>
<p>Some background behind the question: We want to fit in two or three schools on a single trip. Because we live a substantial distance from all the schools to which my son will apply, the cost for the cheapest trip to a single school is going to be close to $2000 (airfare in Canada is not cheap: once we are in the US, it is much cheaper). That cost covers two people; while my son has travelled internationally a couple of times on his own, crossing into the US has become progressively more difficult for unaccompanied minors and he doesn’t need extra hassles when on the way to an audition that he can’t afford to miss or be late for. I costed out a three-school one-week trip and it was just over $3000 for air, rail, car rental, and hotel. In addition to the desirability of getting audition dates which allow us to fit in two or three schools on a trip, we need to indicate holiday preferences for work very soon. In the frigid sunless north, February and March are prime holiday times. New York, Cleveland or Boston in February would be a huge improvement in terms of temperature and hours of sunlight!</p>
<p>Our experience was that we did get the requested audition dates, and were able to combine five auditions into one (long) trip–same travel issue (distance) as you. We couldn’t ask until he had passed prescreens, but I have heard that schools can be fairly flexible earlier on. Others probably have opinions?</p>
<p>Same here, no trouble with requested dates, but you can’t pick your times. So, you need to allow for bad weather- in the cities you listed, you can count on heavy snow for at least one of the days! Some schools tell the student to plan to make yourself available until as late as 11PM. which not only makes for long days but tricky logistics for travel. American cities are simply not good at snow removal- they don’t get it, even though the same thing happens year after year. And, of course, the airports are impacted also, so allow enough time to get from one place to the other.
Getting the application in early does help in getting the date you choose, since it’s logical to work “down” the list. Good luck!</p>
<p>DD also found that when the date they gave her just could not work because of flight times cross country they moved her to the following day. Fortunately they were doing auditions both Friday and Saturday on one weekend. We had had to guess times to book the flights early enough. Crossed out fingers she would clear pre-audition qualifying cuts when we made the reservations, too. We found folks very reasonable with reasonable requests. .</p>
<p>Similar situation here, we were able to get the dates that we requested but had the applications in on the early side. Luckily, no prescreening for S’s instrument last year. </p>
<p>At one school there was only one date for his instrument but the admissions office was very nice and told us to request in a letter with his application an early time so that we could fly out late that afternoon. This worked out well for us. We planned that travel weekend around that school’s date.</p>
<p>We did 2 travel long weekends in February with 2 auditions in each, with an extra weekend in between. One was a Friday - Monday in 2 cities where we had drive 8 hours in between. We planned a stopover with family on Saturday night. Extra time allowed for bad weather. The other weekend was 2 schools in the same city, a Friday - Saturday audition. One of the schools had one Saturday available in his instrument. We made sure to sign up for that Saturday as early as possible to guarantee it. That weekend was pretty crazy since it was 2 consecutive days with lessons and meetings also. Would recommend an extra day in between if at all possible, the first audition was very stressful knowing that there were still lessons and another audition the next day. </p>
<p>I think if you let the schools know that you are traveling a long distance that they may be more willing to accommodate you on the requested days. We did not request any time of day except at that one school. Some schools state that you may be asked to return later in the afternoon for additional auditions and some schools have full audition day schedules where you are required to spend the entire day with activities and testing planned. </p>
<p>I found, as others have suggested, that putting all the possible dates on a calendar or chart (in pencil) to get a good visual was very helpful. The audition dates are probably posted on many of the websites by now. We were lucky and were able to do 2 early auditions in the fall and another local audition in January. Leaving only 4 for February worked out very well for us. </p>
<p>Planning one long week of auditions should work provided that you allow enough travel and rest time in between. Three schools could be doable in one week on a string instrument. I found that there was a lot of angst on my part during the beginning planning phase, worrying about how it will all work out, especially making all the travel arrangements. I am the type who wants to know NOW and am not very good at the wait and see part.</p>
<p>If you are auditioning in the winter…please consider the possibility of bad weather. Most old timers here have heard this…but in 2003, DS had an audition at UMDCP on Saturday of President’s Day weekend and his Peabody audition on Monday (President’s Day). We couldn’t believe how lucky he was and how convenient this was. He didn’t even have to miss school.</p>
<p>President’s Day weekend in 2003, it snowed 30 plus inches in the DC metro area and EVERYTHING came to a screeching halt…EVERYTHING. We ended up staying in DC (thank goodness we had relatives we were staying with) until the reschedule auditions on Wednesday. </p>
<p>That was a VERY extenuating circumstance…airports were closed all over the country and faculty was unable to get to Peabody for the auditions on Monday. In fact, some still weren’t there on Wednesday. There were people at that audition who had flown as far as Pittsburgh and then rented SUVs to drive the rest of the way to get to the auditions in Baltimore. Peabody was very accommodating in rescheduling times and doing auditions first for folks who were THERE (DS did his first thing in the morning rather than in the afternoon when it was originally scheduled). So schools ARE understanding.</p>
<p>I guess my message is…be prepared for anything.</p>
<p>So if we get applications in this week, do you still consider this early? Most schools have Dec 1 deadline, but Oberlin - early deadline is November 1. We also are doing a lot of flying but have no schools that are in a similar proximity to each other.</p>
<p>If the apps are ready, send them in. Schools go through them in order of the date they are received and once they’re in the mail, it’s one less thing to worry about!</p>
<p>I’d have to agree with most of the responses. The only problem we had was attempting to change one when another conflict arose, which required trips to Boston on consecutive weekends. That was our fault, though.</p>
<p>For my son’s schools and instruments, it was “Don’t call us; we’ll call you” (and we’ll tell you exactly what date and time to be there, without loads of notice—). He had two auditions that were scheduled for the same day in different cities (and these were two schools that one would think would be very well aware of each other’s audition schedule, given the fact that there is so much overlap among applicants). There were obviously enough students that were affected by this, that they opened a second day (and gave him Sunday morning…early…not anyone’s favorite time for an audition!). </p>
<p>He also had two auditions scheduled for a different Sunday and a Thursday (two instruments, same school), and they kindly moved his Thursday audition to first audition Tuesday morning (with the graduate students; the undergrad auditions were the ones later in the week, so that was a little nervewracking). At least we didn’t have to hang around for four days.</p>
<p>I did find everyone very nice and accommodating, when they could be, as in the case of these two auditions which needed to be changed. However, when waiting for prescreen results and dates, it is often really hard to plan air/hotel travel plans. I did purchase tickets for the one we knew about in advance, assuming he’d pass the pre-screen (which he fortunately did, and purchasing early saved money), but it made me nervous to be putting the cart before the horse.</p>
<p>Good luck to everyone embarking on the audition journey!</p>
<p>Here is where having had a visit and sample lessons can help. We are in the process of scheduling a special audition at one school for my D. The scheduled times (especially the 1st, recommended one, can’t work.) So, D sent a cd to the dept chair (whom we had met at our visit). The teacher with whom D had had a sample lesson spoke to the chair as well re my D’s singing, so after hearing the CD and the feedback from their voice teacher, the chair is happy to schedule a private audition. I imagine this is possible at other schools as well when necessary. Without the previous personal contact, this would be much more difficult. Let’s see how well we do with the rest of the audition scheduling…</p>