CMU, Michigan and Syracuse all required a 4 hour block when D auditioned. Some of them didn’t take quite that long depending on where you fell in order of being seen. CMU no longer does a dance audition so their’s may be a bit shorter now. But you still needed to block the time out just in case. Some people did walk ins afterward if they weren’t needed the entire 4 hours. We found that there were as many or possibly more “non-unified” schools than “unified” schools in attendance in Chicago. I would err on the side of scheduling auditions the weekend prior and early in the week. By Wednesday afternoon and Thursday morning most schools had packed up and moved on.
We went to Chicago. It was nice because most of D’s auditions were in the hotel in which we stayed (Palmer House). So we didn’t have to venture out in the cold, it was easy to run back to the room if needed, and it was a very fun, social environment for her since many kids were also staying at PH. In NY, I think auditions are held in various rehearsal studios and on some campuses or other venues so it is a bit more spread out. But someone who has been there for Unifieds could better address how that works.
As an aside, in Chicago, we were able to get a great price on a room on the Executive Level of the Palmer House the summer before by pre-paying. It was great because the lounge on that floor had breakfast, drinks, snacks and heavy hors d’oeuvres included and a place for me to go if she needed to be by herself to get ready. You might check and see if they’re offering any special rates. We did have to add an extra day on the front end and they were very accommodating to do that for us later.