<p>Cal Arts is a bit of an outlier in terms of dress code. It’s the “edgy” school. And Bisuou, I think I know the other CA school your talking about. If so, that’s the “starlet” school. Most are normal. lol.</p>
<p>We are back in the hotel after the audition at UNCSA, North Carolina School of the Arts.
The day started with check in at 8:30, followed by a general information session with Bill Poole. He’s a really friendly guy. He gave an overview of the school for about a half hour. Then there was a second session with Carl Forsman, the drama school dean, Bob Francesconi, assistant dean who teaches movement and mask and Mary Irwin assistant dean of acting. They talked more about the curriculum and the type of training they offer. It sounds like an amazing program and my D loved Bob Francesconi in particular.
Our audition time was 1:40 so at 10 when the sessions were over we went for a walk and then to lunch. The campus is small and easy to navigate and Winston Salem is also easy to get around.
The auditions ran about an hour late so we had a bit of a wait. There were some current students available to chat with if you were interested.<br>
My D was very happy with how her audition went. They are required to do 3 monos and sing 16 bars acapella. Afterwards they asked her some questions and she said she was fine with the questions but can’t remember what they were. lol.
While she was in the room auditioning some students came out of a nearby room where they were rehearsing I think, to pick up some chairs. They were kind of goofing around. One of these kids OPENED the door to the room where my D was auditioning. Everyone in the hallway waiting to audition gasped. The current students monitoring the audition quickly shut the door. I was pretty mad!! I could just picture being halfway through a mono and have an interruption like that!! Fortunately after my D came out she said she didn’t even hear it. I know they are supposed to act through anything but seems only fair everyone get a quiet room with no distraction for an important audition. Moral of the story - watch the door where your kid is auditioning for random door opener. Lol!
Bill Polle said if UNCSA decides they are not interested in you, you will get a thin letter in three weeks or so with a rejection. If you don’t get a letter you are still being considered and you probably won’t hear either way until March. No thin letter is not necessarily an acceptance; it just means you are still in the running.
Overall nice day and a great program! And the school mascot is a pickle! Who doesn’t love that?</p>
<p>Dramamom0804, our paths almost crossed! My S and I were at UNCSA yesterday! We drove 8.5 hours down on Friday and came back today. I’m already tired and we’ve only just started the process! </p>
<p>My S had a very similar experience to your D and we were also very impressed with the program. Nothing to add except that on Saturday, about six students didn’t show up, so the students were actually about an hour ahead of schedule rather than behind. My S really liked the school.</p>
<p>Does UNCSA have Musical Theatre or just Theatre?</p>
<p>UNSCA has one program that combines both, I think. ActingDad knows best as his daughter is there.</p>
<p>No they don’t have MT persay. It’s an acting program but they do teach dance and singing as part of it. They put on one musical a year. They believe it leads to a more versatile actor but acting is the emphasis… I guess that’s why the audition is nearly all acting with a brief vocal check and no dance call. The students who were there said “don’t worry if you can’t sing or dance; if you get in they will teach you.”
Connections, too bad we missed each other. We had time for a nice lunch today and a nice dinner so it feels a little more fun than a dash-in dash out trip, even though it’s a long drive.</p>
<p>notactingmom- </p>
<p>The auditioners at Guildhall were for the most part dressed pretty formally. We started in movement clothes and some changed into other clothes (i did) and some didn’t after the movement session. Some of them had pants and a dress and others had their yoga pants with a stylish button up shirt. Hope that helped and best of luck to your D on Wednesday!</p>
<p>From my daughters experience last year, acting auditions tend to be more casually dressed than MT. I saw more people dressed more formal at UNCSA, CMU, and NYU audition then at guildhall, Juilliard, Purchase and LAMDA. I also saw a good mixture at Mason Gross, Fordham. I remember at Guildhall both my D and another female (somewhat older) both wore black jazz pants and black shirts from the beginning of the audition as movement was first and she just put on boots after and changed the black shirt into a nicer black shirt.</p>
<p>Thank you very much for the responses! I will advise my daughter to go to the audition in the movement clothes and then change into her nice outfit after they will be done with exercises.</p>
<p>My D auditioned today at UCLA. Applicants were dressed much nicer and most of the girls were in nice dresses. So, my D didn’t feel awkward :)</p>
<p>NYU audition in nyc yesterday–such an awesome experience, I am glad that it was the first of my auditions!
Came in half an hour early for the 1:45 session and it seemed like everyone who was auditioning that day was already there. Although nice enough, some workers had misinformation about locations for waiting, seemed a little disorganized. 1:45 though the director came out and introduced himself and explained the program–funny guy, really made everyone in the room relax. Then, about half an hour later MT and Acting were split up and the acting group was ushered to the second floor lounge where we were again split into three groups, about 8 in each I think, then each group went into the audition rooms with their respective auditors together. My auditor was so nice, had us do breathing and body exercises and had us do introductions to ease our nerves. Personally, I am the type of person who is very nervous in any audition, knees shaking, lip quivering (I honestly have no idea what that is about) and the whole process, the director’s introductions and the auditor’s friendliness erased all the nerves, made me feel really prepared for the audition!
When it was my turn to come in, I handed him my resume and gave him my name to find in his ipad. He asked me the pieces I was doing, though normally he would already have that information beforehand–I don’t think mine was processed when I send it in through the nyu site. Very informal, no specific way to cite pieces or anything. I did both my pieces and then he asked me some questions as to the audience of the second monologue and gave me some direction to do it again.
Interview was good, though sometimes I was distracted as he would look away from me as I answered to type in my responses. Typical “how do you get into character/what made you choose acting” types of questions, nothing about my resume was pretty much looked at.
All in all, I felt good coming out of the audition room, but I’m trying not to look too much into it as every other person I saw coming out of the rooms were very happy with their auditions and it kind of makes you question if the auditors are just being really nice 
Mostly everyone was dressed nicely, a lot of dresses/boots for girls, guys were pretty casual–no need for movement clothes in my opinion for Acting, “warm-up” sessions are pretty brief.
Hopefully this helps :]</p>
<p>Today my D auditioned at Juilliard. Arrival time was 8:45. We went in, she checked in and then was sent upstairs. Family and friends stay in the lobby.
My D said she was in one of what turned out to be 7 waiting rooms. They had a group warmup and then she texted to say she would be in the 10 oclock hour.
Family and friends were invited up to a Q and A session. I went for about 20 minutes but I have to admit I left because it was really hot and I started to feel queasy! Nothing like being outside where it’s ten degrees and then in a stuffy warm to do that to you.
My D came down around 11 and said she felt like it went really well. She did the two monologues and then they asked her to step in the hall for a couple minutes. Then they called her back in and asked her to do an adjustment to one of the monologues and to sing. She said they didn’t ask everyone to do this.
They were all told to come back around 1:30 for the callback list. We went and had lunch and then came back. She told me there did seem to be quite a few older actors there, as well as people from other countries.
Juilliard was very well organized. Very. It was fun to watch the music students and dancers traipsing by on the way to class. It is an amazing school. One neat thing I heard during the Q and A was when the Office Manager told us, “Please don’t silence your cell phones. If your loved calls and is done auditioning, just answer that call and go support them.” I thought that was a nice sentiment!
The callback list actually didn’t go up until 2:45. They kept everyone updated along the way though. They auditioned 155 today and called back about 15. Unfortunately my D didn’t get a callback, but was fine with that and said “I want to go to North Carolina anyway!” 
(Someone seems to have fallen in love with UNCSA after last week’s trip!)
Hope everyone else had a good day in NY today too. It was COLD, but the snow was nicely cleaned up already.</p>
<p>PACE UNIVERSITY</p>
<p>I finally heard from my D. I knew it would be difficult being at home instead of there with her, but it’s been even harder than I thought. I’ve had to resist the urge to text/call/email too often to find out how things are going. “The waiting is the hardest part.” - Tom Petty :)</p>
<p>D had a long and tiring day at Pace. She was scheduled for the morning session but ended up being there from 9:00 this morning until at least 5:00 p.m., I think. I’m glad she didn’t have anything else scheduled today. Those auditioning for BFA Acting were divided into two groups and she was in the second group. She performed her monologues and was given a scene to do with a partner, a very nice girl from Texas. They had some time to rehearse together before they presented their scene. That took until 11:30 and then it was callback time. My D did not receive a callback for movement (she thought about half the group did), but she and another girl were taken aside and asked if they would like to audition for BA Acting - International Performance Ensemble and she decided to do it. Others who weren’t called back were given the option to audition for the Film, TV, Voice-overs, and Commercials BFA instead, and she thinks there may have been a few who weren’t offered an alternative.</p>
<p>The BA audition was to begin at 1:30, so she had a nice break for lunch. She was near the end of the group so she had plenty of time to hang out with the other girl who was asked to do the BA and the girl’s mom. They each performed one monologue and were told the movement portion was required for everyone auditioning for the BA program. My D was excited about that. She hadn’t done one before and as a dancer, thought it might be another opportunity to show one of her strengths, but of course it turned out to be very different from a dance audition. She found the gentleman in charge to be intimidating and strict and wasn’t sure he was impressed with her. At that point, I reminded her not to read too much into it one way or the other. This site has taught me well. </p>
<p>It must have been a slow day, because at some point during the waiting, representatives came around and told them that if any of them wanted to audition for the Film, TV, etc. BFA, they were welcome to do so, so D signed up for that too. I believe she said that one took the longest to complete.</p>
<p>She told me after all this she now feels very prepared, so she definitely wants to do some walk-ins tomorrow in addition to her two scheduled auditions. She gained some valuable experience today, met some nice people, and was about to go out for the evening to see a Broadway show, so I’d call that a pretty successful first day.</p>
<p>dramamom0804, we were at Juilliard the same day as you! I was wondering how on earth to connect with CC parents! What do we do next time? Wear a T shirt? I was too shy to go up to each and every parent and say, “Excuse me, but are you dramamom?” Nothing to add to your account–we had a very similar experience. The only thing to add is that the chances of getting in seem incredibly low based on what they were saying. They told us that they admit 18 students, <em>including</em> MFA candidates and that last year they admitted 8 BFA students, and that they planned on admitting 8-10 BFA students this year depending on need. Of these 8 BFA students, a sizable portion are either transfers or internationals. So from what they were saying, it seems that they admit about 4 non-transfer, non-internationl students total! Talk about a long shot! Also, they were saying how the ages vary widely and one of the students was 37. They were lovely and lively and very welcoming and it’s worth auditioning for them if you aspire to go there, but I’d really suggest going in with the attitude that it’s a very long shot and to just have a lot of fun with them.</p>
<p>Haha connections that’s funny. I was in the lobby a good bit of the time. The best way to recognize me right now is that I have reddish curly hair and a limp! In fact at Juilliard I distinguished myself by coming out of the bathroom and limping across the lobby with toilet paper stuck on my shoe! Classic!!
I talked to a few other moms and mentioned CC as part of conversation and they weren’t CC’ers.
I think maybe we should develop a patch that we can attach to our Sherpa bags that just has the letters CC on it. If you aren’t a CC’er you would just think it’s initials!</p>
<p>NY unifieds: UNCSA, Syracuse, and Depaul</p>
<p>UNCSA: Had the afternoon session on Saturday (met a couple of CC parents there, you know who you are!) The information session was first, and was really helpful. UNCSA auditions around 450 and accepts around 35 to yield a class of 25 or so, I think, which gives them around a 7% acceptance rate (yikes). I ended up having to wait for a while until I was called in to do my monologue/song, and it was late in the afternoon after a long day of traveling and auditioning (I woke up at 4am ugh) so my energy ended up being low for this particular audition, and I definitely didn’ t do as well as I’d have liked. The interview portion was SO nice, one of my favorites so far. The Dean is really young and he was so funny, he immediately put me at ease - I felt like I was talking to someone my own age, and we were just cracking jokes back and forth. It was awesome. I don’t think I’ll get in, but it was a wonderful experience.</p>
<p>Syracuse: Had the morning session this morning (Sunday). There was an information session for both Acting and MT students and parents before the auditions began, and I must say, I was really, really impressed. The Tepper semester, the Syracuse Stage partnership, the Acting trip to London to work at the Globe, along with the faculty’s commitment to emphasize aiding students in the transition from college to the real world… Something the program director said about theatre made me want to stand up and say “YES!!” - I think his exact words were “The purpose of theatre is to tell stories about the human condition, about what it means to be alive.” Everything just fit exactly what I’ve been looking for in a program. The acting movement warmup was super fun and non-stressful. They called us in one by one to do our monologues and had a short interview - what interested you about Syracuse, where are you from, what high school do you go to. One thing I really noticed was that both auditors really paid attention to me during my monologues - at my other auditions, they would spend a lot of time looking at notes or whatever and then look back up at me. But at this one, they were focused on me and I really felt like I was being listened to. It was a great experience. Syracuse definitely moved up higher on my list after today. </p>
<p>Depaul: I had the afternoon session today (Sunday). This was one of my favorite auditions. There was an information session at the beginning during which the admissions director talking about the process and answered questions. I was the first to go in my group for the monologue, and the auditor (one woman) laughed at a joke line, which was a huge relief. After everyone went, there was a class session. It was SO much fun! There was a little movement and voice warmup, and then we did some improvisation exercises. Probably my favorite one was when all of us had to sit in a circle and improvise speaking about a racial issue at a meeting of student leaders, but we could only talk in gibberish. They only called back maybe 8 of the 30 or so people, and I wasn’t one of them. I wasn’t too disappointed, because I knew it was a long shot, and because the audition itself was so much fun. </p>
<p>Some adjustments I heard about: one girl I spoke to auditioned at Julliard and had a line in her monologue about “the purity of love.” The auditor stopped her and told her, “Make pure love to that chair.” The poor girl had no idea what to do. The Depaul auditor also stopped a girl one line into her monologue and asked her to sit down and pretend she was in a coffee shop. One guy told me about an audition he did (I forget which school) where the auditors told him to do the monologue while putting on and tying his shoes. Lesson learned: be prepared for anything. </p>
<p>I had SUCH a good time at NY Unifieds! I’m actually sad that it’s over. I hope everyone else that went had similar good experiences. :)</p>
<p>daniellececilia, thanks so much for sharing your experiences! So glad you had a great time. Please keep us posted.</p>
<p>“Pretend you’re in a coffee shop.” Fine. “Do the monologue while tying your shoes.” Fine. “Make pure love to that chair.” Not okay to request of a high school senior under any circumstances (“anything for the art” doesn’t trump all else in a college admissions interview or audition). </p>
<p>Since this was for Julliard, I don’t find it too surprising. They are auditioning students of all ages, and are looking for extremely mature students to take on the rigor of their program.</p>
<p>mountainhiker, making that request of a teenager says heaps about the auditor, but it says nothing of assessing a potential student’s ability to take on the rigor of the program. There are countless ways to assess that. I understand part of the goal is to make a person think on their feet and act while they are outside of their comfort zone, but even at Julliard, they aren’t above all. Believe me, I’m no prude and I am extremely liberal when it comes to art, but we’re not talking about a philosophical argument of art pushing the boundaries. This is about what a college employee may and may not say to a potential student in an interview or audition. </p>
<p>I agree. What does that have to do with rigor? Nothing.</p>
<p>My own kid had one auditor lean in and ask her to do her monologue in an “intimate” fashion. She came out of the room saying he was creepy. So, did the next girl. No. I’m not naming the school. </p>