When did the majority of you start applying to schools? Sept of Senior yr? Also, once you apply how long is it normally until you hear if you are accepted academically, then allowing you to set up the audition? I know if the school needs a prescreen then the process is different since I saw that some schools just want you to send in the prescreen before applying and some want you to apply first and foremost…
D started in Aug/Sept- and was done with all apps (that was quick, all but 1 were common app) main essay, supplemental essays etc by early October. Prescreens got dragged along a bit - she was in 3 shows fall of senior year, and also wanted to get mock auditions (which they did at her school) and her “practice audition” (Muhlenberg for scholarship) out of the way 1st. That wasn’t submitted until Nov, but she only had 1 prescreen school.
Since so much is electronic these days, many of her BFA schools had quick turnaround with ability to schedule- you would get an email back within a day or so (less than an hour for one- that was impressive) with your access code/application #/whatever account (WRITE THOSE DOWN ALL IN ONE PLACE- alphabetically by school worked for us) and then you could schedule. She had one with a separate artistic application (BW) and that one was the hardest- many specific pieces of paper rather than electronic. Our process went smoothly there, but there are LOTS of horror stories here on cc of lost transcripts, recs, you name it. We had no problem getting dates/times we wanted
As for hearing about academic acceptance- that is something I wish we had done differently. D did have several quick academic acceptances, (maybe a month after submission?) BUT they were not from schools she was interested in without the artistic component. I felt confident her safety schools (and I mentioned in other thread- she had 3) would work out- but we didn’t get confirmation until March…and that made for a LONG senior year. (Esp as she got several artistic “nos” before her 1st “yes”). If I were doing it all again I would want there to be a safety with rolling admissions on the list!
Yikes @toowonderful , no academic acceptance until March…isnt that a long time to wait? Because then you couldnt schedule your audition until you heard from them??
Every school has a different process. Your assumption that there is an academic acceptance (or not) that comes first before scheduling an audition or even having an audition is not the case at many schools. For one thing, not every school has a bifurcated process whereby the academic and artistic acceptances are separate. At many schools, it is all one decision…all or nothing (ie., CMU, NYU, U of Michigan, Syracuse). Further, the process of obtaining an audition appointment works differently at many schools. Some schools allow you to line up an audition appointment before you send in an application. Some schools require you to submit an application and as soon as you do so, you can line up the audition appointment (no wait for an academic acceptance, for example). Some schools require a prescreen first before lining up an audition appointment. So, what you need to do is to examine the procedure of each school on your list in terms of what the process is to line up an audition appointment. That all should be noted on a spreadsheet or whatever record keeping device you are using.
As far as a time frame for sending in applications…my daughter sent in her apps mostly in Sept. and October, but maybe there were some in November, but I can’t recall now. There were no prescreens. We prioritized schools that required an application to be filed in order to schedule the audition (some schools allowed audition scheduling without the app being filed). We got all our first choice audition dates (did all on-campus auditions). I have advised many kids in this process for the past 12 years, and the application season pretty much spans Sept. through December (at least for BFA schools) and sometimes into January. For programs that require an application to be filed in order to get schedule the audition, ideally those should be done by late October or early November.
S started applying in August - maybe even July for Point Park b/c they do rolling academic admissions - and had everything submitted by early October. For many programs you can schedule auditions before you have an “official” academic admit, as long as all the required materials are submitted. When everything has been received/processed a “magic portal” is unlocked that allows you to schedule your audition. At UMich they don’t give academic admit, but if you get invited to audition you can assume you have passed the academic requirements - if you don’t get accepted to the MT program, you will not be admitted to the university - UNLESS you have also applied/paid fees/met the requirements for another major. At other schools you may be academically admitted to the school very early in the process, but not get artistically accepted/waitlisted/rejected until Spring of senior year, after all of that program’s auditions are complete. Some of the more “humane” programs give a “yeah” or “nay” shortly after each audition date - others wait until all auditions are finished. The student will get lots of “Rah! Rah! All Hail Our School!” stuff throughout the year, but be in limbo for MT/Acting/VP until the bitter end.
Schools like BW and CCM leave you totally in limbo until you are accepted/rejected to the MT program. Then after the MT rejection the student may get an “invite” to consider another major at “our terrific” school. This scenario is common for programs that are in a “conservatory” within a larger university. My S was waitlisted (shortly after November audition) at BW until the bitter end. We never even received acknowledgement that all of his application materials had been received. A phone call with a nice admissions counselor assured us that, yes, everything was in, and yes, he qualified for a merit scholarship, but there was no “official” admit, until he was ultimately “released” from the waitlist in April. THEN he got the “would you consider another major?” letter.
Regardless, most of the competitive programs will require all application materials to be submitted by November 1 or December 1 - a few as late as January or February 1. But to be considered for competitive scholarships, almost all schools will require submission by November1 or December 1, regardless of major. Of course, there are exceptions to these timelines and it is best to consult every website for each of the schools being considered in July - September of senior year. Doing “walk-ins” at unifieds can also alter this timeline, but in some cases the opportunity for scholarship consideration will have passed if the student has not already applied according to the posted deadlines.
Long story short - get the application and prescreen materials in as soon as possible, schedule auditions as soon as allowed - and the wait. . .
@theater work - D’s auditions were finished by beginning of Feb (Chicago unifieds 2014) For her schools, you couldn’t schedule an audition until you had applied (and of course, paid your fees!) but that was all quick. She had all auditions scheduled by the end of October EXCEPT the prescreen school (Ithaca) where she had to wait for result. (It only took a couple weeks) What was LONG was the wait between auditions (most of which were January/February) and results (mid March/early April)
Soozie explained some of the process above- but at some of D’s schools, (in her case, U of Minn, BW and Ithaca) academics are rolling - so she got academic acceptances very quickly -BUT she was only interested in attending those schools as part of the BFA/BM program. Other schools, (most of the ones Soozie mentioned above were on D’s list) give out academic and artistic decisions together - so she didn’t hear anything until March. And none of her BA reach or safety schools were rolling… So no news there either.
If I am correct- Michigan won’t pass your prescreen unless you are “academically qualified” (not sure what that means, my guess would be “in the zone” for their academic threshold) but I don’t know of BFA schools that requires you to be academically ADMITTED before scheduling auditions. And there are exceptions- like Otterbein telling people not to apply until they pass prescreen.
Lots of information to digest @theaterwork ! 
I just wanted to reiterate that every school is different as to what they want and when - it can be (and was!) totally overwhelming.
D started her apps in August … and continued doing them all throughout the year as we added more schools to the list.
I really tried to do a spreadsheet - I had a great one that was sent to me by an AWESOME parent here! I pulled a lot of information from it too. But in the end, I’m very old school and needed somewhere to always jot notes and a spiral notebook ended up being my best friend. I had master pages w/ lists of audition dates … and then every school had it’s own page (or 3! I left space!!) for all other info. My memory really works best if I’m handwriting something and re-reading it - so my method really helped me keep everything straight.
Your mileage may vary!
My D had most of her essays written in August before school started…b/c she was taking 4 AP classes and wanted to do the fall musical, she knew she wouldn’t have time. The Common App doesn’t really save time, b/c even schools that use the Common App had additional essays the kids have to write. I think my D had to write 20+ different essays (for 16 schools…granted, some of them were Honors essays). So, she tried to get them done in August, and got the vast majority done, but she actually finished ALL of them in September. Her first audition was in November, but we were gone for auditions EVERY weekend between the first weekend in January through the first weekend in March. Every. Single. One. it is a long, drawn out process, and I would urge you to urge your kid to get those pesky essays and apps done NOW. Once school starts, it’s a crap shoot. And don’t forget cut and paste. Cut and paste saved a lot of time. Just remember to change the names of the schools in your essays. 
I don’t recommend starting as late as we did unless you thrive working under pressure, but don’t despair if you haven’t started the essays yet or are still fine tuning your list. The final ones were sent Thanksgiving weekend from our house. We did the easier ones first (Ball State and a few others offered free and fast tracked apps so there were no essays), then we concentrated on the prescreens. August through October was mine and my daughters busiest time at work, school and outside commitments so we started later. Like everyone has stated each school is so different so you need to check out each schools requirement. Also after some walkins she sent in more apps-that’s when you really hope they are on the common app. Cut and paste is definitely your friend tweeking each essay to that particular school.
We were still adding schools over Christmas vacation, but I do not recommend that to anyone. (Though one of the ones we added ended up being the one he’s going to, and he’s very happy there.)
Well I am really just trying to get an overall picture of what others have done. I know it’s going to be tons of work. My D is a jr so I am early to the game but really not it goes so fast do I am garnering info now! She’s “pretty sure” MT is her college plan but who knows if she changes her mind. I’d say now she’s 85% sure. I don’t have other kids so no previous college experience other then my H and myself & we applied to like 3 schools between us! Lol & we all know that was a LONG time ago! This forum is very helpful & thank the good Lord for it.
SUBMIT EARLY! I submitted one batch in early October (I remember getting a fee waiver from UArts for applying by 9/30), one batch in November, and some last-minute in late December/early January (do not recommend!!!) because I wanted to change my common app essay before applying to academic reach schools. If you wait until the deadline, it’s impossible to get your choice of audition date. I had to audition by myself for NYU, on a Tuesday when my parents couldn’t make it down to the city. Get those supplements done ASAP! And get them done well the first time!
Not only is it sometimes impossible to get your choice of an audition date if you wait too long, but some schools do indeed run out of audition slots ENTIRELY. So it’s really not worth putting it off, b/c arranging those auditions can be like doing a Rubik’s Cube.
A few schools let us schedule auditions before the applications were in, so we did those immediately. We were done scheduling, and my d powered out all of her essays, by early October and then we had a few conflicts so we had to move those around, but eventually everything worked out. Start early, and make sure you schedule some “warm up” auditions as well.
This is super helpful – just to get a general idea – thanks for posting!!