I’m very late to this party. My son is in the application process. Let me just say he goes to a small school of less than 500 students and we had zero helpful advice from his guidance or music teachers through the school. We have been fumbling through since August or September, but by the time we learned Unifieds were a thing, the registration had passed. :-/ Here’s his list so far with all 3 prescreens resulting in rejections.
- Illinois State University-accepted academically with audition 2/16/19
- Columbia College Chicago-accepted, scholarship offered, safety school (no audition until 2nd semester)
- Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt-audition 1/26/19
- Boston Conservatory at Berklee-prescreen rejection
- Juilliard- audition 2/7/19 in Chicago
- U of Cincinnati CCM- audition 1/19/19
- Penn State - prescreen rejection
- Baldwin- Wallace - waitlisted for audition, 20th on list, not likely to get
- U of Michigan - prescreen rejection
- Oklahoma City University - accepted academically with audition 3/2/19
The top 3 listed are his top 3 (in no order). We list in central Illinois. His rejections were schools we would have stretched to afford, but wanted him to have experiences and choices, even if rejections. He is an amazing actor/singer who was a 3 sport athlete and NO dance. Any predictions if he will bomb these auditions due to his lack of formal dance instruction??
Hi @pegski Just wanted to say hi and welcome! My son and I will be at CCM also on 1/19 and in Chicago at Unifieds.
@pegski - Don’t despair! You chose some super tough schools for prescreens! 
If he has an amazing voice he totally has a chance but I would get him into some basic dance classes this month - he won’t learn to be a dancer in a month but a little warm up and exposure before the auditions will give him a better frame of reference for the dance calls. Break a Leg!
He has danced in a lot of community theatre shows at our local muni opera, so he feels he knows the lingo and can learn the movements. I’m just curious if some of these big schools pick triple threats only? His dance portion of the prescreen videos was horribly basic.
@pegski It’s not uniform like that at all - some programs really want strong dance, some don’t. CMU doesn’t even do a dance call, NYU levels dance so “movers” get trained and “dancers” get challenged. I think of CCM, OCU and CCPA as being dance-heavy schools though - maybe someone else can weigh in. Have you thought about going to Chicago Unifieds to see if you can get walk-in slots? It kind of seems like you’d have everything to gain and nothing to lose.
Great! 3 of his auditions are to dance heavy schools! haha CMU? Which school is that? I didn’t know you could walk in at unifieds? Registration had closed, so we didn’t explore further. Does anyone have any information on Columbia Chicago? He loved the setting and wants an urban campus in the city where he can network. But a friend cautioned me against letting him go there? She has not shared details except “they make promises they can’t keep”. She teaches high school drama in the city, so her warning concerns me! Anyone have information?
@pegski hi one doesn’t register for Unifieds. It’s a free event. So you can go to any session and do walk in auditions. Or you can schedule auditions you’ve already been invited to during Unifieds if the schools you applied for offers those dates & times. Go on Facebook and like College Audition Coach and watch her 5 part video series on Unifieds. It’s very helpful. Mary Anna Dennard also has a 5 part video series about all things Unified on her website. And many athletes pick up dance easily because they are used to being coached. So go for it. CMU is Carnegie Mellon University acronym. Break a leg at your upcoming auditions. And try and find a Unified weekend that works for you. My daughter got an offer from a walk in at a Chicago Unifieds last year. It can be a great way to see more schools in a short amount of time.
You don’t really register for Unifieds. You apply to the different colleges, select Unifieds as your audition location, and are assigned an audition time. Some schools have walk-ins, others do not. It really depends on whether their audition slots are filled. CMU is Carnegie Mellon University. And don’t let the schools being dance heavy deter you. My D is a junor MT at Point Park, and while she had a fairly extensive dance background, her class has dancers at all levels.
Re: OCU – they do have a phenomenal dance program (the Ann Lacy School of Dance), but my D and I personally know several MT girls and boys with limited dance experience who have gotten accepted to OCU for MT in the past few years. Tell your son not to be discouraged – just go and give it his best shot! If he’s a strong singer and actor and comes in with confidence and a good attitude, I think he still has a great shot at OCU and many other schools despite his limited dance experience. From the students we know in MT, it seems to be more of a negative to be a girl with limited dance experience than a boy with limited to dance experience – but there are exceptions to that as well. Best of luck to your son! 
Thanks all! We appreciate the advice!!
@pegski this weekend is the Missouri Thespian Conference where many colleges will attend. Some audition consortium style auditions will be there this weekend. Since your looking in the Chicago area this could be a driveable event to attend in Kansas City Missouri. Google Missouri State Thespians. Here’s a list of other consortium auditions. But many have already been held. But check out Missouri offerings this weekend. I know some MT colleges are holding auditions in Kansas City this weekend in conjunction with this event. Others may know of other state thespian conferences colleges attend that haven’t been held yet. I think Colorado has one as well. Best wishes.
@SETCT
@thespians1
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@moonifieds
Texas has Moonifieds, North Texas Unified Auditions at Collin Theater & Texas Thespian Conference in Nov. etc. This conference moves from state to state so in it’s way Missouri this weekend. But usually college reps w/info attend.
@pegski CCPA at Roosevelt is NOT dance oriented if you are auditioning for the MT Voice focused program! They have an MTD program that is for dancers, but the regular MT program I heard doesn’t even take dance the first year (which surprised me). They have separate dance auditions for the 2 programs. So no worries!
@pegski CCM, OCU and BW are equally heavy dance and singing schools, so it’s my opinion you need to be even stronger in singing (advanced) if you are not strong in dance.
Schools he should try to to do walk ins (first morning during first hour is best bet) that may regionally be of interest to him are Viterbo (WI), Ball State (IN), Univ of Illinois (they were in a suite in Chicago last year), Wright State (OH), and Otterbein(OH). I mention these because I think they all took walk ins in Chicago last year (if you are persistent) and he seems to be interested in staying in the North Central region. Being very polite, patient and persistent each morning with the door monitor helps. Go to their website for further details.
Also, check out Northern Kentucky Univ’s and Webster University (St. Louis) programs on their website. I can’t remember their audition policies at Unifieds but they are both established programs (as well as the others I mentioned above). It may not be too late to schedule appointments for some of these schools.
While all MT auditions are competitive, your list includes some of the most statistically competitive, except for the first two.
@pegski I’m an old timer from class of 2020 and class of 2021. Been through this twice. Just wanted to say that with zero dance training, maybe your son should consider looking at some straight Acting programs or a BA program that has more flexibility in allowing non MT majors to take voice and dance. If he truly has not dance experience at all it’s going to be tough at most of the school on his list. I am not familiar with #1 & #2 schools, so maybe they are better options. I wish him all the best!
@daughtersdreams My dancing d learned last year that voice is much more important than dance, especially for guys. Her extensive dance training did not get her in the top schools, and her boyfriend at the time had very little dance experience (took a few ballet classes that summer and fall but still was not even a ‘mover’) and got into most programs. He is at Elon now. So, yes, keep the option open and consider an audition or redirect to acting somewhere where you can take voice and dance if he is interested. But I wouldn’t go as far as saying it’s a deal breaker, especially for a guy who can really sing. Some great programs don’t even have dance in the audition.
@pegski I’m curious what he is auditioning for at Julliard since they don’t have MT - singing or acting? or both! I want to say Univ of the Arts doesn’t have a dance audition at Unifieds (correct me if I’m wrong). BTW the boy I was talking about above tripped over his own feet and sprained his ankle during his dance call at BW and still got waitlisted!
@pegski I’d echo what some of the others have said. Right or wrong, dance doesn’t seem to be as big a factor for boys. My S had several options with only his experience from shows and a couple of music theater dance intensives - no formal dance training. Since you’re close, I’d try to get some walk-ins at unifieds. There is thread that was going not to long ago regarding schools that typically offer walk-ins. Take a look at that list and see if any of those schools might be interesting.
Re: OCU - two things. 1) If he is a strong singer, dance ability will not be an issue. OCU has an amazing dance school and one of its best features is it offers 10 different levels of dance in each discipline. That means that someone with beginning skills will find a class targeted to students of the same skill level. Students level for dance each semester. The school knows some will come in with beginning skills while others will come in with very advanced skills. They have the right dance training for all and will level you in to a class that meets your ability.
Also re: OCU (our D went there so it is the program I know most about) - you may consider auditioning for the BFA Acting program in addition to the MT program while you are Acting majors have had good success landing parts in musicals post graduation including leads of national tours. They do get some voice and dance – not as much as MTs and the voice is with different instructors. But it is a great program. Since you will be there I would highly encourage you to audition for both programs. (I believe it is still one in the same audition – you just let them know you are interested in both degree programs - but check this to make sure this is still the case There is probably additional paperwork that is required at a minimum).
OCU Acting has also gone to Chicago Unifieds in recent years. If they will be there and you decide to go to Unifieds, you could possible do the Acting audition there. MT auditions for OCU must be done on campus.
Another possibility for you might be Illinois Wesleyan. And also Southern Illinois University. And Western Kentucky University. Western Kentucky has a BFA MT you audition for I believe at the end of your freshman year. Millikin might be of interest also since it is in Illinois. And Western Michigan is another to think about.
I agree, you have some very heavy hitters on your list so you may wish to add some additional schools that may be slightly less competitive.
We only know one person who went to Columbia in Chicago for MT. She left after her first year and transferred to Western Kentucky. I honestly am not sure why she left. But I do know she did not feel it was the best place for her after being there for a year.
@MTdreamz my son is a sophomore MT major at CCPA. CCPA is dance oriented. The MT program requires ballet your first year and you are able to take additional dance classes nearby at Lou Conte Dance Studio for credit if you have room in your schedule or for a discounted fee. He is taking Jazz this year as well as a conditioning class and he is taking ballet at Lou Conte. The MTD program is more dance focused. During auditions, there are two separate dance calls for each major. The MT call is definitely more for movers, but still isn’t easy by any means. The MTD call is much more intense and rigorous. Just wanted to chime in for those auditioning at CCPA this year. Break legs all!