Has anyone heard from uncsa?
@berrytenor my D’s friend got an acceptance call yesterday. We have not heard anything yet.
@honar01 hello! Please feel free to put your friend in touch with me if they have any questions about UNCSA. My daughter is a very happy first year drama student. The new Dean is amazing. Lots of folks answered my questions, I’m happy to do the same.
Does anyone know if all acceptance calls from UNCSA went out yesterday? I thought they usually contact everyone in the same day.
@drama315 they are suppose to go out today! I heard it takes a few days to call the accepted class. I waa told they were notifying via email.
@drama315 UNCSA added an additional audition day (today is the final one). So I’m fairly certain there are still calls to be made.
I’ve read some working professionals/ former MT student posts from prior years with the paraphrased sentiment “If you think this process is bad, wait until the “real” world auditions”. I don’t want to take anything away from those comments, especially since we haven’t been in those shoes yet but here is why I think this college proces is especially brutal:
- I can't imagine any professional audition keeps you waiting to hear something from November to March. Or even January to March.
- The "one shot" / finality of these auditions. Other than a gap year, these kids have one school year to choose, prepare, perform and submit their audition material. Yes, big professional dream roles come up infrequently but they are really more "Thank you next" if you don't get a part.
- The lives of these kids for the next 4 years will be radically different depending on these results. We don't know if my S will be living in Ft. Worth, St. Louis, Pittsburgh, Norman, OK, Manhattan, Ann Arbor or Ithaca 6 months from now. The difference in those lives for him and us parents couldn't be more diverse. For any one who is a planner, this is a nightmare.
- These kids are 17 to 20 years old. Sure, plenty of child stars have spent their lives on the audition stage but for most, this is the first BIG audition of their lives. Some have only been in the craft since middle school or even high school.
- There is a randomness to the selection process. Similar to any big role, casting directors are the only ones that really know what they want for a particular role but there are 100 - 200 kids every year that have the talent and "deserve" to be at Carnegie Mellon but only 12 get picked. Male, female, ethnicity, height, soprano, alto, tenor, bass, hair color, who was "on" during unifieds and who was under the weather, etc all play a factor in any given class.
- If you "win" one of these spots, we get to pay these institutions 10's or 100's of thousands of dollars.
Just my sharing, venting and discussing.
@Jpkcmo My kid is a freshman so I have no experience with the “real” world yet, but I just saw an interview with the gal who was the voice of Ariel in the Disney little mermaid animated movie. When she auditioned for the role, she had just come off a Broadway show that closed after only 7 weeks. She didnt hear an answer from the casting team for a year, and had forgotten all about it by the time they finally called her.
I agree with much of what you say @Jpkcmo and point number 6 made me laugh. Yes! You’re paying for this privilege.
I do disagree on the comment on this being more random/unfair than professional auditions. I read an article last year and they quoted the director of the CMU auditions as saying they see about 60 kids a year that they’d be willing to offer admission to for MT. 12-15 out of 60 means 1 in 4 fully qualified candidates gets an offer from CMU … that’s unfair but no more so than the fact that hundreds of kids with perfect scores, grades and ECs get turned down by Harvard each year. And 1:4 is likely a much better ratio than the numbers of fully “ready” MT actors who get cast in Broadway shows vs the number who audition. When you aim high, expect the odds to be low - that IS reality, the reality of this process and the reality of the profession.
From the comfort of being on the “other side” of admissions I do believe strongly that most kids are accepted into the right programs for them. The rejections are hard but they are less random than they appear to be. I do agree this process could be made less painful and more transparent and I hope the school make progress on that front.
I agree with you that any casting process is super difficult especially on young performers who are somewhat “naive and obviously hopefully HOPEFUL:)”
I think many professional actors would say that college acting and the process is somewhat sheltered. Mom and Dad are usually footing the bill too. Much less stress then making a quick decision to not go to your waitering or temp job to audition and there by the audition holds a lot of weight if you don’t get it…you also just lost your day shift or even job.
The process can be brutally long. You can be called back for shows many many times extending months (especially bway) only to ultimately lose out to a “star” or “name” who gets brought in at the end of the process. Also you can get cast in the regional production or workshop or reading spend months working on the role only to get replaced when the show moves on (and up).
You can get a role in any regional theater across the country or a tour and be away from your family, job, friends for a year or months…all the while stressed about subletting your apartment and/or dealing with apartment issues from the road or trying to retain your day job while 'absent". You plop down in some random city and this is the second or third city you have lived in in so many years…you don’t even know what your NYC apartment is like anymore.
Many roles are up in the air especially with color/gender blind casting…there are no rules. You audition at a chorus/open call and because the call is required by the union- they aren’t even looking for ONE person . It is entirely cast and the young casting assistant just sits behind the table with the pile of headshots turning them over after each person has finished. Meanwhile you have been on line since 7 am. and skipped out on paying day jobs to wait and wait in the room to be “seen” by someone who isn’t even looking.
Every single call you go to is full of a room full of girls/guys who look exactly like you and who you have seen a million times at all the other calls and know exactly what they are capable of and how good they are. All of whom have credits and school names behind them and are as hungry and dedicated as you.
Try telling your agent you can’t go to a call b/c your boss has said “one more absence and you will be fired” (and rent) and then your agent drops you b/c you aren’t “available”.
. Being told to prepare and spending $$ on voice coaches/acting teachers to learn lines and songs for an audition and then you show up and find out that someone forwarded you all the wrong materials.
Watching as a choreographer or music director is at a party and seeing their “partner” or girlfriend and then seeing they are the one who books the job.
Honestly I could go on… trust me the stakes and the heartache in the professional world are brutal. When ppl say “wait till you get in the real world” they really really mean it. Enjoy it now.
@Jpkcmo, I agree with your points. These auditions determine the next FOUR YEARS of the auditioner’s life, and barring a gap year, this is their ONLY chance. That’s very different from any “real world” audition.
Yes, it’s disappointing to not get that Broadway show/TV series/big movie you auditioned for. But there will be other auditions, and if you made it to final callback, that means they liked you and will probably call you in to audition for other projects. But with college auditions, this is the ONLY shot you have.
Another big difference is that if you go to a professional audition and don’t get cast, your life continues exactly the same as it did before. You keep working, auditioning, etc. But with college auditions, if you don’t get an acceptance, your life CAN’T continue the way it did before, because you’re graduating high school. Your regular school years are over. So if you don’t get into college, there’s a big question mark over what you’ll be doing next year.
The movie “Every Little Step” about the casting of A Chorus Line’s 2006 Broadway revival is soooooo good. Highly recommend for a peek into the real world of auditions (this one went on for over a year) and a great history of the musical. Something to do while waiting to hear from schools.
Anyone else have this happen? S applied to “University X”, was accepted academically and then auditioned for their MT BFA. A week ago, got the NO letter on the BFA acceptance, but then yesterday received his financial aid outline which shows not one but two theatre talent scholarships as part of his package. This one has me scratching my head a bit.
Yesterday, I sat with my D at a college audition. There were about 30 kids for each audition (MT, Acting BFA, Acting BF). We were there for Acting BFA. A callback list for movement was posted and 6 names were listed. You were cut from the audition if your name was not listed. So at that point you know “I am not going to this college.” The 6 names (3 boys/3 girls) listed were all non-white.This seemed to be consistent for all callbacks. Why couldn’t this college put it out there like a cast call "looking for a certain “type”. It would’ve have saved everyone money and time. The director of program said in Q&A “hey, when this all done, give me a call if you need help deciding where your kid should go. I will help you with those choices. They are just not coming to this college. I want them to pursue their dream. I want them to be happy.” -This is really nice but at the same time why didn’t you just say no based off the prescreen? My D wouldn’t show up at a cast call if it listed a specific type. I am happy for the kids called back and firm believer in diversity. So are these college auditions a true reflection of the “real world”?
@FROG65 - I’m going to venture a guess that was Pace?
Well if you look at most college MT classes, the classes have a majority of white students and in many cases a preponderance of them. Those kids were all admitted via auditions too so it seems like your experience is an unusual one. Possibly the school took a hard look at their program late in the game and realized they really needed to step up their class diversity? It’ll be interesting to see who is in the freshman class next year.
@Mark80 - that is a poser. Did your son get redirected to another theatre major?
@FROG65 Isn’t it possible that the 6 students (who happen to be all non-white) were simply the most talented in the eyes of the evaluators?
@CaMom13 - He did not. We’ve not heard a word since his notification arrived that he wasn’t accepted to the BFA.
Sounds like we have some potential thread stopping topics…take a deep breath everyone and wait 24 hours before responding… 
@Mark80 - Well, that’s just weird! And annoying!