<p>Thanks gem & MichaelNKat - I knew I would think of more so here goes;</p>
<ol>
<li> Audition Trips - Be prepared to spend well over $10,000 if you have to
fly (flights, hotels, meals, cabs, car rentals,shows et). We
live down South, but if you live up North then you might
save $ by driving to many of the schools.</li>
<li>Audition Trips - If your spouse can join you, try to include him/her on
one or two trips. It’s a nice change for you & D or Son.</li>
<li>Audition Trips - When in a city, try to see a show or two (professionsal
as well as the schools).</li>
<li>March - The looongest month…waiting for that April deadline. (Try not to
stalk the mailperson.) Keep extra busy (my D did just that by
directing the middle school musical - she was so happy to have
her mind diverted)! I, too needed to keep busy.</li>
<li>Illness - If you have any issues such as we did with a constant sore
throat, make sure to get a 4th opinion if needed!!! I can’t stress
this enough as D had amazingly auditioned (yes, even belting)
through this and NO it<br>
wasn’t Reflux, etc. etc. After taking up to 10 meds at a
time… this summer she convinced Dr. #4 that she needed a
Tonsillectomy - turns out she was right - had silent tonsilitis and
major inflammation! PARENTS - listen to your kids - they know
their bodies. (Josh Grobin & Mandy Moore to name a few went
through similar experiences.)</li>
<li>Audition Competition - Many and most auditioning have had similar
experiences to you in high school i.e., leads,
directing, vocal/actg./dnc. awards etc. etc. - know
that going in so that you are not too cocky. Just
concentrate on yourself not others.</li>
<li><p>High School - Maybe take a break from the Fall season shows so that
you can focus on school and auditions (you will be missing
many school days going on long wkend. trips). There’s
always the Spring show(s).</p></li>
<li><p>College Confidential - GREAT site, but know that few get into
programs early. You can drive yourself crazy learn-
ing of each persons acceptance. Try to be
PATIENT knowing that the deadline is APRIL. It is
a very emotional, crazy, rewarding time…breathe!</p></li>
</ol>
<ol>
<li>Audition Scheduling - Take advantage of weekend auditions. Less time missed from school and work = less stress.</li>
<li>Audition Scheduling - For auditions at the school, give yourself 2 days per audition. One day to travel, get settled in at a hotel and get the lay of the land (like where the building is where auditions are held, where to park). One day for the audition and traveling home. On site auditions can take up to 5 hours to complete. Don’t pack everything into one day if you can avoid it.</li>
<li>Weather - If you are auditioning in New England and particularly in upstate NY, be prepared for snow. Lots of it. Plan accordingly.</li>
<li>March Madness and CC - As Mainstage said, it gets a little nutty on CC in March. People posting acceptances, rejections, “I got a phone call” and “why haven’t I heard” posts. Remember that notifications come out in waves at most schools and where you are in the sequencing means nothing. At one school to which my daughter applied, acceptances started coming out March1 and were posted on CC. In mid March more rejections were posted than acceptances. She heard nothing until the end of March and was accepted with a sizable merit scholarship. The timing of the notification means nothing.</li>
<li>Auditions - Don’t try to read the auditors. You really can’t. There’s no way to know what they are really looking for or how you really did. The only thing you know is how you feel you did and even then don’t fall into the trap of being overly critical of yourself. At one audition, while my daughter was singing her ballad, she heard an auditor say to another, “She doesn’t have it.” Really shook my daughter up. My daughter was accepted into the MT program with a merit scholarship. Who knows what the auditor was really talking about!</li>
</ol>
<p>I am so glad to see this in writing on CC. PLEASE do not try to “read into” anything that goes on in that room! In the example above, the auditor could have been referring to the application file.
Please take it from the other side of the table; we talk about many, many things over the course of the day and often the conversations do not pertain to the auditions until the end of the day. Another consideration is that if you are trying to analyze the behavior/response of the auditiors, it is taking your focus from where it should be - your audition performance.</p>
<ol>
<li>Keep an audition journal. Try to spend a couple of minutes after you get back to the hotel to write down your impressions of the atmosphere, how you FELT about the people you encountered, what the grounds were like, how safe you felt, what the food/dorms were like etc. Most people have the stats down by the time they actually audition, but you need to remember how you FELT in the end if you are trying to decide between programs.</li>
<li>Carefully examine and compare the curriculums of the programs. If you are studying MT, you want to come out of school a triple threat. Will the school that you’ve chosen prepare you to be a triple threat? </li>
<li>Is the school a good fit? You can only know this if you know yourself. Are you a city person or someone who loves the quiet and needs trees? Do you want a “campus” feel, or is a school that is very much a part of a big city? </li>
<li>Who teaches the classes? Are grad students teaching the freshman and sophomore voice, acting and dance classes? Will those same grad students be auditioning right along w/the juniors and seniors for main stage productions?</li>
<li>Try to see a musical at the schools you apply to. We were both surprised and really disappointed when we did and it can tell you a lot about the program.</li>
</ol>
<p>Someone PM-ed me, and I thought I’d post my answer and bump this thread in the process because it contains so much good stuff :). </p>
<p>Here is what my D did this year; she opted to get all her applications in before Labor Day. This worked for the majority of schools she has applied to (there were a few whose applications were not available until a bit later). For most schools, she had printed copies or made notes from applications for the year before, which helped her to get started over the summer with some of the essays. </p>
<p>She scheduled half of her auditions before Xmas break and worked her being in shows around that, which was possible because she does not attend a performing arts high school and did not have mandatory shows to be in during the fall semester. She did one 5 week show that wrapped early October, and sings in the school choir, and does musical direction (at school). </p>
<p>I know that some people recommend against doing early auditions, but on the other hand, since there is also senior year and senior year grades to worry about, in my D’s case, she felt she needed to schedule them in 2 separate “batches”, one in the fall, and one in the spring.</p>
<p>In regard to “what she is going to auditions with?”, she has one “easy flip over” binder with 5 songs and 5 monologues. It also has a folder with her headshots/resumes. </p>
<p>Her audition bag contains her dance stuff (unless she wears it underneath her dress or the audition does not have a dance portion) and her dance shoes. She usually packs a bottle of water and an energy bar. My D wears comfortable shoes to the audition and packs her dress shoes in her dance bag. </p>
<p>Now please know that we have seen people with garment bags, roller suitcases etc., so anything goes, but D likes to be prepared but travel light :). </p>
<p>One thing I wish I had done different is audition at more schools, I had only auditioned at SUNY Fredonia and UB because being a NY resident, those were the cheapest options and I didn’t like the idea of my parents shelling out $20,000 a year on me. Anyway I went to UB for a year and found that I really didn’t fit in there If I would have auditioned at more schools I may have had more options and had been able to choose a better fit for me.</p>
<p>I’m worried about the cost of auditioning. I’m a junior who lives on the West coat, and from the amount of schools I’m already really interested in, I have a feeling I’ll be auditioning at a lot of places. Does anyone have any advice on how to cut down on the costs of auditioning/campus visits?</p>
<p>Unifieds. One trip for about 3 days and you’ll get a whole chunk of your auditions done. And since it cost so much to visit the actual schools, visit them after you get accepted to see if it’s somewhere that you’d be happy to attend. That’s my personal plan for this year.</p>
<p>“whatever happens, happens”…very good comment, I think…a friend of mine whose son is a nationally ranked figure skater uses the line from the stock exchange “it is what it is” when the results are posted…because that is JUST what it is. Sounds trite but it has helped me get through some situations. Any activity where you are being judged has subjectivity and a short mantra like these can help. Its also rock bottom true and can’t usually be changed…</p>
<p>My brother gave me just three simple things to remember going into my audition which were invaluable to me!</p>
<p>Know that…
YOU want to do well!
THEY want you to do well!
…and you may never see these people again in your life so give it everything you’ve got!</p>
<p>I guess these aren’t things that I wish I knew going in, but I think that they’re important points for anyone to remember at ANY sort of audition. Too often I think people - including myself - preparing for auditions feel as though we’re on some sort of uphill battle with a big scary panel waiting for us at the end of the process. But we tend to forget that these schools genuinly want us to be great at our auditon because they want to bring the best young talent they can into their programs! And the fact that you will probably never see them again could be due to the fact that you may not make it OR that you get accepted to a wide array of schools and end up not choosing them anyway.</p>
<p>To sum it all up, I guess I am saying that half the battle can be tied to the old saying…MIND over MATTER!</p>
<p>lucyloves – The only true saftey is a school which is an academic safety and does not require and audition. Even auditioned programs that are not as competitive are competitive. For example, I teach in an auditioned BA program. We have an 18% admit rate in the musical theatre concentration. This is much higher than most BFA programs, but not a safety.</p>
<p>It is important to find one school for your list that you are sure is a safety academically and where you caould see yourself happily going. There is quite a bit of conversation about this on the rejections thread…</p>
<p>lucy - I totally agree with KatMT. I’ve said over and over that I recommend that families search far and wide and do not stop until you find a non-audition program where your child can be happy. KatMT is also correct that it must be somewhere that your child can get into academically.</p>
<p>For upcoming families - the MT programs are very competitive and very many extremely talented kids have trouble getting in.</p>
<p>Be sure you know the strengths and weaknesses of each school you are auditioning for. Know what you want to accomplish in college. If you want to strengthen your dance ability find out if that college has a strong dance program. All schools are not equal in all three areas (singing, dancing, acting). That includes the big names you hear! This takes a lot more research than speaking to 1 current student and looking over the requirements.
I believe in finding a school that fits your personal likes and dislikes but also remember the goals you have in mind when you graduate from college.</p>
<p>I have a somewhat different view of the Unifieds than MarieMTmom - although I definitely agree that having a specific reason(s) for each of your schools AND intelligent questions for each of them is a big help.</p>
<p>I did all of my auditions in Chicago and I loved it. I didn’t pick up on a competitive air - almost everyone I met was extremely friendly (especially considering the circumstances). I’ve got several older friends who had gone through the process in Chicago, as well as quite a few who were there with me, and we all really enjoyed ourselves - I think going into the weekend with a mindset of “I’m gonna be the best I can be, show off who I am, and hopefully my schools will want that” is a huge help in destressing and just having fun. I found the atmosphere to be incredibly energizing, and if you audition in Chicago in the coming years I HIGHLY recommend spending the extra money to stay at the Hilton Palmer House, which is where all the auditions are as well. There was so much positive and excited (and, on the night before the auditions started, nervous) energy and it’s unbeatably convenient. I was able to go back to the room between auditions, re-warm up if I had a few hours off, power nap, and really relax so that when I went into the “room” I would have the energy to hopefully make my audition stand out. Also - it’s Chicago in February and so it’s cold and snowy, and so not even having to leave the hotel just makes for a more pleasant experience and you don’t have to worry about adjusting to the temperatures.</p>
<p>I’ve been telling this to my junior friends who will be auditioning for MT programs next year: I would definitely go back and do the Chicago Unifieds again (if I HAD to - finally finishing up this process is the best feeling ever!).</p>
<p>While there are certain advantages to doing Unifieds and many choose to utilize them, there are also some important disadvantages. The first is that you are putting “all of your eggs in one basket”. If you are having an “off day”, all of your auditions are impacted. As others who went to Unifieds have reported, unexpected illness is just 1 example of an unanticipated turn of events that made Unifieds a disappointing experience. Obviously, if your auditions are spread out over several days separated by time, the risk of illness or other disruptive events is ameliorated.</p>
<p>In addition, there are many benefits to auditioning on campus ranging from seeing the school to talking to current students. There is a lot of important information to be gleaned from on campus auditions that is simply unavailable at off site Unifieds.</p>
<p>Our experience a year ago confirms MichaelNKat’s caution: S got very sick with the flu just as we arrived in NYC for unifieds. Fortunately, we had scheduled a mix of unifieds and campus auditions. Looking back on last year, we saw it really does matter to be healthy; his only turndowns came from the auditions for which he was sick, even though for some of them, he thought he’d done pretty well.</p>