<p>My experience here was awesome, I love everything about the school and program and it is definatly my number 1 choice.</p>
<p>I'm just going to talk about the audition due to the fact I don't really feel like typing out what else I did at the moment. If anyone wants to know just say so and I will. Anyways, Jan 22, I show up at the Arts Building at 8:30 and signed in. There were 26 people there, Im sure there were supposed to be more but the storm didnt allow them to be there. There were twice as many girls as guys. We all started off with a warm up with the head choreographer of the program. It lasted about 20-30 minutes, it was nice to warm up so much cause it was so cold outside. Afterwards we did both Ballet and Jazz combos. I would say they were at Intermediate level, I'm not a dancer but I was able to get them pretty well. After that we did our songs and monologues, I was number 21 out of 26 so I had to wait about an hour or more to do mine. While I was waiting a lot of the kids in the program were around to talk about the school, at one time there were more of them than the auditioners! All of them seemed to genuinely love the school and had nothing bad to say. Finally I had my songs and monologues; they had everyone do one of their songs all the way through. It went very well, considering they called me back for an interview. Pretty much they said that if you didn't get a callback interview then they weren't considering you for the program. In the interview they asked me a couple of questions, blah blah blah, after that the was a quick ear training exam where they would play some notes and you would have to sing them back, I surprisingly did very well, that was the part of the interview I was most scared about. After that my dad and I rushed out so we could drive the 2 hours back to Harrisburg in the snow to make our 430 flight back to Chicago. Too bad our flight was cancelled so we flew out this morning at 6AM. Im so happy that PSU has rolling admissions so Ill find out in about two weeks. I think I have a good chance, but you can never really tell with things like this!</p>
<p>mtfan,
Glad to hear you enjoyed your Penn State audition and that you felt it went well. My D is a happy MT sophmore there, very likely one of the students you met on Saturday. If things go your way and you receive an acceptance, feel free to ask any questions you might have. Best wishes as you continue the audition journey!</p>
<p>mtfan,
So glad that you had a positive experience at PSU. My daughter is also a sophomore MT there with Monkey's D. She said there was a good pool of talent there Saturday. Best of luck to you and everyone else continuing on the audition merry go round.
Jacisme,
We live in southern NJ right outside of Phila (where we now have what, 14 inches of snow?) and were lucky enough to go to the BIG game yesterday! Go E-A-G-L-E-S!!! Good luck with the rest of yuur auditions.</p>
<p>MTFAN--are you sure about the rolling admission for PSU? I thought they told me they don't decide until they've seen all the auditions? Anyone know?</p>
<p>Last year, PSU had a rolling admission policy. My D auditioned in late January and was offered admission about two weeks later. It is certainly possible that things have changed.</p>
<p>My understanding is that the policy is the same that dancersmom experienced last year. Penn State will offer admission to those they absolutely want in the program, but also issue letters to others saying they are still being considered though a final decision would not be made until all auditions are complete.</p>
<p>My D auditioned for FSU this weekend. On Saturday there were 25-30 students auditioning. We were told that 150-170 students will audition for MT this year from which they will choose 12 for their BFA or BM in MT programs. 12 total. I was surprised at the 150-170 number....thought it would be higher. Not that the chances of being one of 12 are that great either, but I guess I thought they would have over 200 auditioning. At any rate....the dance audition was first. D didn't think it was too difficult but she has quite a bit of dance training. Two of her friends with less experience thought it a bit difficult. After introductory dancing, they were taught combinations in the large group, then broken into smaller groups of 5 or less to do the combinations. At the end of the dance audition, they pulled 9 dancers out (ostensibly the top 9) and asked them to do the dance again in groups of 3.</p>
<p>Later in the day the song/monologue portion began...each auditioner given approximately 5-10 minutes with I believe 4 faculty watching (Kate Gelabert, Gayle Seaton and two others). Current MT students were allowed to watch this portion of the audition. That was the first time D experienced having an "audience" as part of the process. Many of those auditioning were surprised at this aspect. D wasn't thrown by it, just surprised. Students were allowed to choose the song with which they wanted to begin. After they sang that, the auditioners chose what they wanted next, another song...or monologue. Short chit-chat afterwards and they were dismissed.</p>
<p>FSU indicated they will see all the auditioning students before notifying anyone of acceptance. I believe they finish their auditions in late February so we don't expect any notification until early March.</p>
<p>We were able to see the Senior Recital of a MT student Saturday night. She was quite good and the evening showed how very supportive the student population is of each other. Many students in attendance.....very vocal in their appreciation of the student's performance. Good to see!</p>
<p>Hope that helps any of you who are yet to audition at FSU...it does help to have information going in. We're grateful for all the information Dancersmom has provided over the past year....helped to make our trip much less stressful. Thanks Dancersmom!</p>
<p>I am helping out with the auditions this Friday at Hartt. Is anyone going to be there? I know there is snow expected and I remember a lot of cancellations last year due to a blizzard.</p>
<p>Quick note about my D's weekend of auditions. Friday - U of Miami. The atmosphere was so welcoming. All the MT students were hanging out waiting for class to start and talking to everyone. The senior MT's there to help out were so nice. The Department Head was wonderful, along with the Drama teacher. My D was first to audition. She felt she really nailed the audition using new material that she's much happier with. The woman (drama teacher) who was the auditor told her she would be a good fit for the program BUT her SAT's simply didn't cut it. Of course, my D was totally devastated because she loved the school, but she was happy with the way her audition went and felt more confident to go on to the rest of the auditions. Saturday - University of Central Florida. Big school. I was a little overwhelmed, not my D. She always liked the thoughts of going to school in Central Florida. The program is really only a few years old. They also have a Masters program. Lots of productions each year. They only take, I think, 12? 6 guys/6girls. Also, they are the only program that I know of that requires call backs. My D will receive a letter in about 2 weeks which either will deny admission, accept or call back for another audition in March or April. She really enjoyed the dance portion. Not too challenging, but lots of fun. Had the chance to talk with the dance instructor afterwards. Very nice gentleman. Then, they had 3 minute auditions scheduled. 1 minute monologue and 2 minutes for 2 songs. She was really pleased with her audition, here, as well. They were asking her about flying all the way from NJ, etc. She felt she was able to really let them see who/what she was all about. Keeping our fingers crossed to hear positive things back from them. Sunday - Florida State - She just didn't really get a good feeling about anything. Didn't love Tallahassee, the program, some of the auditioners. For her, the dance portion was difficult. She said she kept up with much of it, but was clearly not a magnificent dancer. She heard some auditors laughing at some of those who were not the most graceful of dancers. It turned her off. She doesn't feel she has a chance getting in and is OK with it. Then, we tried to go home.....no luck thanks to all the snow. Also couldn't get a flight out on Monday, so we had to fly back today (Tuesday) at 6:00 a.m. I'm pretty exhausted after this past weekend, especially thinking ahead to driving to Ithaca this coming weekend. I can't wait for February to be over!</p>
<p>Hoofermom - It was for Theatre MT, but both the Theatre and Music were together. We did get a very warm, fuzzy feeling from the Music Chair, but not from the Theatre Chair!</p>
<p>FSU--My D also auditioned Sunday at FSU--and also did not like it particularly. She didn't feel her audition went very well but seemed very blase about it, and when I asked her, said she really didn't care because she hadn't liked the school. My husband, who accompanied her there and to Michigan commented that at Michigan, the students on campus were friendly, helpful and had energy but that at FSU, he found it the reverse. Maybe it was a bad weekend?</p>
<p>Also, if anyone is going down there for an audition DO NOT stay at the Ramada University. It is very close to campus, and inexpensive, but it was none too clean and was very noisy because of parties.</p>
<p>For anyone auditioning at the Chicago Unifieds next weekend-The Palmer House Hotel has a special rate. Ask for Auditions 2005, and your rate will be only $139.00 per night. Good luck everyone!</p>
<p>Ann Arbor Question
My D auditions at Michigan this Friday. We're flying to Detroit and don't plan to get a car. What are the transportation alternatives from Detroit to Ann Arbor?</p>
<p>Michigan transportation - I'm no help on mass transportation, but I'd think you would want a car. Seems like from the Detroit airport it was at least 25 minutes to Ann Arbor. Then, it seems you need a car to go from north campus to central campus, unless you can figure out the bus service. As a guest, I'd be concerned about figuring out the timing of the bus, but it may depend on where you want to go. We visited there in Oct. and won't audition until next year. Someone else can probably be of better assistance.</p>