<p>Not sure if this is the best place for this question, but...Who is it that 'runs' the Unified Auditions? I'd like to make the suggestion that they hold a session in the South somewhere....like Houston or Dallas.</p>
<p>If I ran the world I would require all schools to come to one decision about candidates for that school. It is really hard to get big scholarship offers from the school, and have that school calling and sending emails about how great the school is, and why you should go there in the fall, and know that everything depends on the audition. Just my two cents. </p>
<p>I prefer the way that some schools postpone an acceptance offer until both decisions (academic and artistic) have been made. From personal experience it seem much, much easier on the student psyche.</p>
<p>Does the decision to accept a student depend on the audition? If someone has lower stats, but a great audition, does that usually mean the student is accepted? Or does one have nothing to do with the other?</p>
<p>Tribegirl, it varies by school. The archives of this discussion include mention of different schools and their admission policies. From what I"ve heard, for example, at CMU it's mostly audition. And at NYU, it's 50/50 (grades/audition). Then there are schools in between. Good luck. </p>
<p>Chrism</p>
<p>I also thought that the AMA site was wonderful. The endless supply of juice and coffee, etc was great, the building was spacious and comfortable, the waiting areas were lovely (and fostered lots of pleasant conversation among students and parents) and the location was convenient and easy to find. I even got to chat with representatives of some schools while they were waiting for "no shows" (not schools my D was auditioning with). Doctorjohn, it was nice to see you and your student, but you seemed so busy I didn't want to interrupt the process to speak to you personally. The fact your signup sheet was nearly full speaks volumes!</p>
<p>tribegirl: Hi -- it depends. My daughter is a BFA dance major at UMich. There, you first have to "clear" the academic admissions office IN THE MUSIC SCHOOL to be invited to audition for the dance department. In this case, the admissions criteria ARE lower (SAT's, GPA) for the Music school (where the dance dept. is located) than they are for the LS&A school (liberal arts at UMich) My daughter was only applying to the Music school for dance; IF she wanted to double major in a subject through LS&A, she would have to have had higher SAT's and GPA, probably.
In some schools, if the dance dept is very strong, and they really want a student, they will "put in a word" with the admissions office, i.e. - Please accept this student - But, the student may still have to have certain minimum scores, grades. I believe this has occurred at UMich.</p>
<p>Another instance: my daughter was accepted first at U of Arizona, but did NOT get into the dance program there -- there were separate notifications.</p>
<p>There are people on this board who know the situation at NYU, where the academic criteria are high. I don't know how they factor that in for the performing arts majors.</p>
<p>Hope this helps. listen to Doctor John -- tell them to call admissions and ask!
Judy</p>
<p>Thank you WNYdancemom. that was very helpful.</p>
<p>Wnydancemom</p>
<p>After seeing the dance program at UMich on Saturday night, my D would like to see if it's too late to apply/audition for dance. She did the MT audition last Friday and felt that she danced very well - - but not sure it was in front of dance department folks. We'll call them, of course, but do you have any information on this?</p>
<p>Chicago Auditions</p>
<p>My D and I just got back to Texas from Michigan and Chicago. It was a wonderful experience. She really appreciated the opportunity to audition for so many schools. Although she knows that not auditioning on campus was an unfortunate necessity, she regrets not seeing the schools yet and also not getting the chance to do a full dance audition for most of the schools. Overall, she felt very appreciated, and it was also a good learning experience. Besides the on-site at Michigan, she did 5 scheduled auditions and one walk-in. She is now "all done" except the waiting and looks forward to finishing her senior year without this hanging over her. If I can add anything to the school-specific information, please ask away.</p>
<p>Hoofermom,</p>
<p>I can pretty much guarantee you that your D auditioned in front of MT dance faculty. But while the folks who teach dance at UM have their appointments based in either the Dance program OR the MT program, there is some crossover of students in the classes, especially in the upper levels. My freshman BFA MT D has been moved into the advanced ballet section this semester after taking both the freshman MT ballet section and the Intermediate ballet section first term. She tells me that there are probably 1/3 MT's (mostly upperclassmen) in this advanced class and 2/3's dance majors. She has also been cast alongside dance majors in an upcoming original ballet to be performed the first weekend in April, so there is some crossover allowed there as well.</p>
<p>However, if your D is able to audition as a dance major and is accepted into the BFA dance program, she should not expect to be able to take any BFA MT classes unless she is accepted to the MT program as well and you are able to negotiate something. They just don't allow it.</p>
<p>BTW, my D has nothing but the highest praise for the dance faculty she has had at UM. The program is very strong.</p>
<p>I sent you a private email as well, hoofermom, but I'm not sure it went! so:</p>
<p>Well, I'm not sure if you can still audition for the dance dept. There are 2 more audition dates for UMich dance, 3/11 and 4/1, but the deadline for the last one was 2/1. However, the department is very nice; perhaps they are also flexible? I would call tomorrow, and ask to speak directly to Bill DeYoung, the chairman. </p>
<p>Is your daughter really considering doing straight dance, rather than musical theater? She should know that the dance department is VERY heavily modern, with ballet technique classes for support. The Fosse piece you saw (jazz) was an anomaly, and was choreographed by the musical theater dance teacher; and the tap number was REALLY an anomaly, choreographed by Jarel, an obviously very talented tapper. There are no tap or jazz classes in the dance dept; dance majors can take dance classes in the MT dept, but there are only a couple, and they need to take them as upperclassmen, as the requirements for freshmen in the dance dept take up ALL their time. I believe the dance audition for musical theater was judged by only the MT dance teacher, not the dance professors. Also, it is MUCH harder to be admitted into the MT program than the dance program, though judging by the talent i saw, I think it will become much more competitive in the next few years! I agree with theatermom -- the dance program is very strong.</p>
<p>Hope this helped!
Judy</p>
<p>U Mich Dance
It's worth checking out. Of course she wants to do everything (and can't). Her first choice is MT but if it doesn't work out, dance is her next top choice (for today?). Thanks everyone. Very, very helpful. Kristine</p>
<p>Re drop-ins at Unifieds. It really depends on the school and the timing. My D had two scheduled auditions on Sunday afternoon. Having been told by Lynnm to check about drop-ins, I did, and discovered that by that time, schools who had slots had filled them, some schools won't audition unless you have previously applied and some were already closing up shop. So if you think you might want to consider drop ins, I suggest you get there early.</p>
<p>Confirming what newmtmom said about drop-ins - - we arrived on Sat. afternoon (NY unifieds) and several schools had signs up in front of their room advertising that they had walk-in slots. My hunch is that if you want to do walk-ins on Sunday, go over on Saturday and sign up for a Sunday (or Sat afternoon) slot. [If you have appts on Sunday you'll probably be in town on Saturday anyway.] The schools that I know had walk-in's were: Otterbein, Penn State, Hartt. The schools that I know did not have walk-in's were: Miami. I'm sure there were others, but these are the ones I learned about.</p>
<p>Two other places which were holding walk ins on Sunday...Oklahoma State and Webster. Oklahoma's was sort of a preliminary audition. Afterwards, they asked my daughter to send a videotape of the songs to the school and she may be invited to audition in the dance portion on campus.</p>
<p>My weekend...</p>
<p>UArts was awful. My CD player didn't work, I found the atmosphere really strange (there's something odd about auditioning for one person), I forgot part of my song, and I wasn't feeling my monologues. </p>
<p>CMU was a completely different experience. I really enjoyed Ripley/Grier studios, and found that the CMU faculty were incredibly warm and welcoming. Their opening speeches and introductions were inspiring and soothing at the same time, and really set a positive, optimistic and overall comfortable mood for the afternoon. I was the first to audition for the acting portion on the 6th. The staff were WONDERFUL and I had a good chat with them. My monologues went well and I had a good chat with them afterwards. They redirected me for both of my monologues, the first time I've been asked to do so. I enjoy trying them in different ways so I was actually quite delighted. One of the acting staff came and told me I did "very well" when he went to get a coffee. I don't know if that's something he says to everyone, but that was a good confidence booster for the rest of the day. I'd be DELIGHTED to get into their acting program (auditioning for MT was kind of a whim..), so that was great. </p>
<p>Overall, I was so impressed with CMU that it wiped out any worries from UArts. And hey, you never know, maybe they'll love me despite the screw-ups. Weirder things can happen.</p>
<p>*--R</p>
<p>ericsmom- Thank you for the Indiana information. A local director who is very involved in musical theater actually graduated from IU and loved it. Based on your review and some of the other positives I've heard about the program, it has been added to the list of schools to research.</p>
<p>freelance-You talked about USC- now that's a school I haven't heard frequently mentioned on this board. I'd love to go to California. But, I don't think the 'rents are ready to let me go that far. Actually, funny enough, I had to sit down with my dad for about an hour and a half convincing him to let me take an amtrak train (a plane, he said, was not an option) with another friend to go see my best friend in North Carolina who's in "Blood Brothers" there. I finally got him to say yes, but it was clear that he needs to take baby steps in this whole "letting go" process.</p>
<p>Lynnm- Wow. Thank you. That means so much. I'm finding that my path isn't as clear to me as I'd like it to be. In fact, the whole process is sort of "dizzy"ing, haha. And ignorance, in this case, is definately not bliss. I figure the more I know, the more informed a decision I'll be making when applying to programs. Hopefully learning as much as I can will help me to end up in the right place. Thank you again for your kindness.</p>
<p>oyy- wrong thread, i'll repost.</p>
<p>I have been lurking on this forum for a few weeks now, as my D prepared for her MT auditions. Although I have worked in film and television for 25 years (and was myself a theatre major back when dinosaurs ruled the earth), MT is new to me, and the application process (and the astronomical odds) are pretty daunting. I appreciate all the help and encouragement the other parents, teachers, and students on this forum have given me as I try to help my daughter through this trying time. Her counselor at our small public HS has little (if any) experience with MT, and neither she nor D's teachers have been much help in the audition process.</p>
<p>D.'s second audition was for my husband's alma mater, a school which has been mentioned many times on this forum, but is not in the pantheon of MT BFA programs. Now, as I said, D hasn't had a lot of guidance in choosing her songs or monologues (has even refused to perform the monologues either for me or for her father, who's a television director - she took the "no coaching" suggestions on the schools' websites to heart), but I've heard her songs, and I know she sings them well. As requested, she came to the audition with two songs and one monologue. After the dance audition (a piece of cake, even for my non-dancing daughter), each auditioner did his/her songs and monologue for the director of the MT program. Sitting in the hall of the hotel, D could hear that some singers were noticeably off-key, but even they came out of the room feeling good, like their audition had gone well. D was the last to audition, and she said she felt that the MT director was hostile to her from the moment she walked in the door. Since another girl had already sung one of her songs, she chose to open with the other one, from a well-known Broadway show of the sixties, which had gone over well at an audition for another school. A few bars into it, the director testily stopped her. "I can't evaluate you based on that song" he barked. "That's too pop. This isn't 'American Idol'". D was pretty surprised - she felt like suddenly Simon from AI was sitting at the table. She gave the title of her second song, from a more contemporary show, and said, "I thought since someone else had already done this, you'd rather hear the other one". "Don't you have anything else?" the director said. "Well, I don't have the music to anything else with me", she replied. "Oh, just go ahead and do that one then" he sighed, and again, just a few bars in, he stopped her and said "Oh, just do your monologue". Needless to say, she was pretty shaken. She said he made her feel like she was just wasting his time.</p>
<p>Now the director may very well be right that her choices were not the best, but I know she performed them well, and there are ways of criticizing which are constructive, and ways which are not. I am wondering if any of you have had a similar experience in your (or your children's) MT auditions. I have held many, many auditions in my career, and have sat in on many more, for everything from no-budget productions, to Oscar-nominated movies, to little theatre shows, and neither I nor anyone with whom I have worked has ever treated any auditioner that way. Even if they stink, even if they're obviously wrong for the part, auditioners for the shows I have done were treated with courtesy as their name was quietly crossed off the list. </p>
<p>It goes without saying that she won't be going to that school even if she's (miraculously) accepted.</p>