More than likely just venting but HOW can one plan for auditions when many schools aren’t at Unifieds AND hold their on campus auditions on the same or near days? We want to knock off as many as we can in NY and Chicago but several other strong programs aren’t there and only have a few days, some in direct conflict with Unifieds. We’ve been told to cast a wide net, but in doing so, not sure how she’ll be able to audition at about 50% of them. Of course this is pre prescreen and I’m sure that will narrow her options (almost hope they do). Maybe I’m just starting to freak out on CC so she doesn’t see that side of me. 
@rickle1 Going through the process last year, I completely understand your concerns, and unfortunately, don’t have a solid answer for you. I suppose it depends upon the schools you’re looking at auditioning for. My S had only four schools on his list that required prescreens, and he passed two of them. In the end, we found that the two schools that didn’t move him forward allowed more room for other schools, and in the end, the one school he really wanted to audition at, only had on campus auditions or were full, (can’t remember which case the scenario was), so in the end, he was not able to audition at Elon, due to scheduling conflicts. Somehow, we were able to figure the rest of it out.
It also seemed that there were more schools auditioning at the same time nearby the Unified locations that were not part of the official unified auditions, so if there are schools that you’re interested in that do not participate at unifieds, they may be nearby, so it doesn’t hurt to ask.
To help with figuring it all out, I printed off a calendar and kept filling in potential audition dates with different schools in pencil, and then when an audition was scheduled, I wrote it in pen & went back and erased the other potential audition dates for the school scheduled. The calendar had lots of use and movement, but I used it quite a bit during the entire process. I also included drop-dead submission dates for schools so that S wouldn’t miss anything.
@lithpool Thank you. Very helpful. Like the calendar idea. We started a spreadsheet but I think she’ll take to the calendar better. How dis you find out if non-Unified schools were near by / same day(s)? From what I can tell on their sites, they simply list on-campus and regional type dates. You’ll probably tell me to email / call all the schools to find out - just takes time which is hard to do with work and D is full time in fall theater mode. Oh well - well get through it. I think the reality is she’ll miss some and that’s probably normal (and ok?)
we did a similar technique as lithpool. We did try the individual monthly calendar, but I found it easier to see it all in one document. We created a new tab on our spreadsheets for all the non unified schools. I only listed every fri, sat and sun across the top with dates from Jan through March (we weren’t able to do any fall auditions). Then we listed each school under each date they had auditions and color coded each row/school. We also listed unified dates. It became very apparent that certain schools HAD to be done on certain days. For instance, I could quickly scan and see that Indiana had 2 dates, one conflicted with chicago unifieds so we penciled them in on Feb 16 and marked through the other schools on that date. (We did not delete the other schools just in case we needed to make adjustments) Doing that took one of the Fl Southern dates off and the only other day for them was going to be Jan 26, so then marked the other schools off that date, etc. Does this make sense? It sort of just all fell into place, which i couldn’t believe. I was so overwhelmed this time last year as you are. The stress level really escalated when she passes 10 or her 12 prescreens! But i gotta say it amazingly all worked out.
We used a similar technique to schedule auditions at Chicago unifieds on yet another spreadsheet tab lol.
I will say we could never fit in Elon!! Their days are just difficult to schedule anything else around! We couldn’t find a way to get out of there in time to head to another audition the next day. I really wanted that one, lol. But it didn’t work out. Also we had to take the very last day of auditions at OKCU, which we knew wasn’t ideal going in, but it was the only time we could fit it. We left there so stressed knowing so many offers had already gone out and we both loved it! But again it mysteriously works out…she is a happy, very busy freshman at OKCU this fall : )
Hang in there, it’s a WILD ride!!
^ thanks and congrats!
We were luckily on the east coast and all of her schools were on the east coast. Except for the Unified weekend in NYC, we spent every weekend traveling to auditions. We doubled up and even tripled up on a few of the trips (went to Syracuse, Ithaca and Carnegie Mellon on the same trip). It took major scheduling to make it happen. Her prescreens were in super early so we could hear back early and get the audition dates that lined up perfectly for us. She auditioned for 17 schools. And, of course, ended up at the one closest to home (NYU Tisch). Best of luck during the process - it’s quite the marathon! But my daughter and I both look back on it fondly - we spent a ton of quality time together.
So …putting together a spreadsheet with audition dates per school (on campus, Unifieds, others). Looks like a lot of overlap which is good if we can do several per trip. Questions for those with experience:
- How many can you realistically do per day? Assuming they are in the same area.
- Several of D's schools are in both NYC and Chicago during Unified dates, but not listed on the Unifieds list (recent pulled off the net- think they're are only 26 schools listed). Is the list just not complete or are they typically close by?
- If close by, how much time is needed to plan for Uber / subway?
If fortunate enough to get through prescreens, we might be able to just do NYC / CHicago Unifieds (and close by auditions) and just a few on campus auditions. DOes that sound right?
@rickle1 - the list of “official” Unifieds schools is nowhere near complete - there are many more programs that audition at those sites (or close by) on those days. Here is a list from last year (from this thread: http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/musical-theater-major/2115144-master-list-of-unified-audition-schools.html):
Key:
School , Unified Location(s) , Unified or Non-Unified , Walk-ins may be available?
American Academy of Dramatic Arts, CH,LA, Yes
Ball State University, NY / CH / LA , Unified , Yes
Baylor University, CH, Non-unified, Yes
Boston Conservatory at Berklee, NY / CH / LA , Unified , No
Boston University (Acting), NY / CH / LA , Non-Unified , No
Butler University, CH , Non-Unified , Yes
California Institute for the Arts (CalArts), NY / CH / LA , Non-Unified , No
Coastal Carolina, CH/ LA Non-Unified , Yes
Cornish College of the Arts, NY / CH / LA , Unified , Yes
Dean College, CH, Yes
DeSales University CH, Yes
Drake University, CH , Non-Unified , Yes
Emerson College, NY / CH / LA , Unified , No
Five Towns College CH, Yes
Florida State University (Acting Only), NY / CH / LA , Unified , No
Fordham University, CH , Non-Unified , Yes
Institute of the Arts Barcelona, NY, ?, Yes
Ithaca College, NY / CH / LA , Unified , No
James Madison University (MT & TH), NY, Non-Unified, No
Liverpool Institute for the Performing Arts (LIPA), CH, LA Non-Unified , Yes
Long Island U. (LIU-Post), CH , Non-Unified , Yes
Long Island U.(Brooklyn) CH, Yes
Lynn University CH, Yes
Millikin
Missouri State, CH, Non-Unified, Yes
Molloy College/CAP21, CH/ LA, Non-Unified , Yes
Montclair State University, NY / CH / LA , Unified , Yes
Nazareth College, CH, Yes
Nebraska Wesleyan, CH, Non-Unified, ?
New York Conservatory for the Dramatic Arts (NYCDA), CH , Non-Unified , Yes
New York Film Academy CH, Yes
Northern Illinois University, NY / CH / LA , Unified , Yes (Acting only I believe in NY)
NYU-Tisch , NY / CH / LA , Non-Unified , No
Oklahoma City University (OCU), CH , Non-Unified , Acting Only, Yes
Ohio Northern, CH , Non-Unified , Yes
Ohio University, NY / CH / LA, Non-Unified, Yes
Otterbein University, NY / CH / LA , Unified , Yes (CH)
Pace University, NY / CH / LA , Non-Unified , No
Pennsylvania State University, NY / CH / LA , Unified , No
Point Park University, NY / CH / LA , Unified , No
Rider University, NY / CH / LA , Unified , Yes
Roosevelt University, NY / CH / LA , Unified , Yes
Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, NY, ? Yes
Royal Welsh Academy, CH , Non-Unified , Yes
Rutgers (Acting), NY / CH / LA , Non-Unified , No
Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD), NY / CH / LA , Unified , Yes
Southern Illinois University, CH, Yes
Southern Methodist University, NY / CH / LA , Unified , Yes
SUNY Cortland, NY, ?, Yes
SUNY Purchase, NY / CH / LA , Non-Unified , Yes
Syracuse University (Acting), NY / CH / LA , Non-Unified , No
Temple University, NY / CH , Non-Unified , Yes
Texas Christian University, NY / CH / LA , Unified , Yes
Texas Tech, CH, non-unified
Texas State, NY / CH / LA , Non-Unified , Yes
The New School, CH, Yes
The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, CH , Non-Unified , Yes
The University of Evansville, NY / CH / LA , Unified , Yes
The University of the Arts, NY / CH / LA , Unified , Yes
University of Arizona, CH / LA, Yes
University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), CH , Non-Unified , Yes
University of Cincinnati (CCM), NY / CH / LA , Unified , No
University of Evansville, NY / CH / LA , Unified , Yes
University of Hartford - The Hartt School, NY / CH / LA , Unified , Yes
University of Illinois/Lyric theatre, CH, Yes
University of Miami, NY / CH / LA , Unified , Yes
University of Michigan, NY / CH / LA , Unified , No
University of N. Colorado, CH , Non-Unified , Yes
University of Oklahoma - Helmerich School of Drama, NY / CH / LA , Unified , Yes
University of Oklahoma - Weitzenhoffer School of Musical Theatre, NY / CH / LA , Unified , No
University of Utah, NY / CH / LA , Unified , Yes
UW - Steven’s Point, CH , Non-Unified , Yes
Viterbo University, NY / CH / LA , Unified , Yes
Webster University, NY / CH / LA , Unified , No
Western Connecticut, NY, Non-Unified, ?
Western Michigan, CH , Non-Unified , Yes
Awesome list @EmsDad! Based on our experience last year, I would suggest verifying the dates/locations for each school as they can change from year to year. One note to the above list U Mich only goes to Chicago Unifieds, not to NY or LA. Otherwise, you must audition on campus (all the on campus audition dates are Fridays, so that may work with tying into other auditions.)
We also had a calendar with available audition dates for the schools my D was applying to- you could see all the weekends at one glance. It made it easy to see which auditions HAD to be done on a certain day; e.g. Wagner only offers auditions on one day in February, so we saved that date for them. It is a giant jigsaw puzzle, but it always seems to work out for the most part. Best wishes to all of you starting the jigsaw puzzle for 2019/20!!
@MTdreamin Actually @EmsDad is technically correct. The University of Michigan DOES go to all three Unified locations for acting, but only Chicago for musical theatre
Not my list at all. Just copied from the thread referenced.
@notmath1, @EmsDad Yes, I was talking only about MT for UMich, and yes, @EmsDad I know you didn’t make the list, but you did find it- and it’s a list with a lot of helpful information. I’m sure it will be useful to many!
IS there anyway to get this thread over to the 2024 venting… one , i think this would be helpful for many?? i guess i’ll just paste the link??
@rickle1 California here (and two years ago now!) - we had to do almost everything (except UCLA) at Unifieds. It’s just not feasible to fly to the East or Midwest every weekend. We did a full week in Chicago Sunday through Thurs. Then Friday flight to NY for NYU Sat morning audition. Then straight to the airport Sat to make the last day of LA Unifieds on Sunday. It was crazy, but 9 days and done! About 2 auditions per day worked well - including a few walk-ins. Many schools have Sunday or evening dance auditions that are separate from the acting/singing, which helps ease chunky time blocks. If you’re really in a pinch, have your kid contact the school - they try to accommodate. And be very, very nice to the room monitors - they can help you go early or late if crunched for time. If you’ve made the prescreen cut, they really do want to see you! It does work out, but takes some adapting on the fly for weather, and whatever’s happening on site on any given day. Plan the best you can and then be ready to improvise and turn on the charm offensive… Everyone’s in the same boat. Cheering for you all!
We purchased a large six month dry erase calendar and used it to track all of the dates - prescreen deadlines, application deadlines, and potential audition dates. Seeing it laid out that way definitely helped guide our scheduling, i.e. knowing that BW only auditions on xxx dates or Elon only xxx dates made it easier to prioritize prescreens and applications and then make other scheduling decisions. And then we could included important dates from school - such as homecoming, the fall play and musical so that we could plan for all potential conflicts. It was color coded so when an audition date was confirmed, we changed it to red.
As far as getting to auditions of schools that are in the same city at the same time but not officially part of Unifieds, the logistics were easy in both cities. In NYC, it’s a quick subway ride to NYU or an Uber ride to Chelsea. In Chicago, for us all of the auditions not held at the Palmer House were walkable although we did end up taking a cab once just because of tight timing. A number of schools - Boston, Rutgers, Juilliard are the ones I can remember off the top of my head - were in the same hotel right by the lake. Just double check the locations and make sure you leave enough time to travel between auditions if you end up scheduling an off site audition.
You guys/gals are awesome! As of now I have a color coded spreadsheet of audition dates. Lot of shared dates. It will start to shape up after prescreen results as we’ll no who we’re really dealing with.
Wanted to update the thread. SInce I received your great responses, I shared them with D and that seemed to motivate her (more than me lecturing her about all this stuff).
She made a large chart with the schools running down the left and categories up top. This is great as it serves as a real time visual of where she’s at. Categories include:
Common app, specific app, writing supplement required, pre screen, common pre screen, audition date, LOR, transcripts, test scores, etc. She’s just getting started (recording pre screen on Monday), but at least this has some structure now. Was driving me crazy as not all schools require the same thing. Keeping track of it in your head is almost impossible. I’m handling the audition date spreadsheet once she starts hearing back.
I know all most all of it is still in front of us, but it, for the first time, just started feeling manageable.
Thanks for the ideas!
We booked the least flexible (had limited choices for our schedule), most desired auditions first, and filled in the rest. Sometimes a school gives you an audition time that ends up being too close to one you have already scheduled and you have to go back in and change your time for the one previously scheduled. Assuming you start early, the ability to reschedule should not be a problem. We did most reschedules online, but sometimes you have to call the department to do it.
Use whatever tool works best for you. I had a spreadsheet with a master worksheet that then fed into other worksheets (tabs) in the same spreadsheet to track applications, auditions, school curricula, etc. But we also used dates from that spreadsheet to fill in a monthly calendar. So we were tracking it a couple different ways, but the spreadsheet was always the master.
I have shared that spreadsheet with several CC parents over the past couple years, and several more local students that were in the same youth theater group as my son. I did update the spreadsheet in the past few months to get tuition, room, and board costs as current as I could. I can’t vouch it’s entirely accurate (things constantly change especially with regards to audition dates, requirements, etc.), but if you don’t have a spreadsheet and would rather not start from scratch, I am happy to still share it.
I would love to have that. I am pretty tech deficient, so having a template would be a lifesaver! My email is smileyface_26@lycos.com