Audition season: If you had to do it over again...

College Majors Musical Theater Major
1

<p>Now that audition season is over and we're past the May 1st acceptance date, what would you do differently? What did you do right? What words of advice would you give to those for next year?</p>

<p>I know there have been bits and pieces of this in other threads, particularly under "advice to HS juniors just starting" and in the "college decision background thread"....BUT that first one is so long and old, and it seems to me that while some things are constant, the MT audition process has gotten way more competitive in the past few years. </p>

<p>My D is a junior and we are discussing her list. I've compiled spreadsheets listing schools from fairly selective to non-audition safeties. And another with potential audition dates (based on last year's) and Unified dates and her school commitments. My D only wants to consider audition BFAs....I'm trying to convince her to make sure she has a non-audition safeties. She said if she doesn't get into any BFA, then she might has well change her major because what luck would she have getting roles/jobs/work after college. Sigh...</p>

<p>So, if you could go back in time to May of junior year KNOWING WHAT YOU KNOW NOW... what would you do differently? Thanks!!</p>

2

<p>If we were to do it over again:

  1. Good SAT scores (and grades) are important and some of the more selective schools will do an initial screen of applicants based on academics alone.
  2. A good voice and acting coach can be a great help.
  3. When constructing your list of schools, be sure to factor in the cost, and location. Getting into a school that you can’t afford to attend makes for an unpleasant situation. Have your D make a list of pro’s and cons that she wants out of a college. Big university or small conservatory?
  4. Don’t let your child try to convince you that he or she doesn’t need your help.
  5. You will need to help you child through this process.
  6. Select more than 1 reasonable safety school that would be acceptable to your child.
  7. Don’t get hung up on “the best” school.
  8. Start the process early, identify the schools, put together the songs, cuts, monologues and everything else.
  9. Look at the total cost of attendance. A $20,000 scholarship sounds great (and is great!) but if the total cost of attendance is $59,000 you will still need to come up with the rest.
  10. Don’t apply to schools “just because my friend said its the best”.
    Finally, be prepared for a lot of excitement, drama, laughing, crying and fun! Its a big relief when its over, but surprisingly, you will find yourself missing it!</p>
3

<p>This thread is old, 2005-2009, but it is full of interesting comments:</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/musical-theater-major/59074-reflection-i-wish-i-would-have-known-when-i-started-process.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/musical-theater-major/59074-reflection-i-wish-i-would-have-known-when-i-started-process.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

4

<p>Kaisdad’s top 10 list is perfect. Ditto.</p>

<p>I’d also add a #11:</p>

<ol>
<li>Spend the time to visit and fall in love with your safety schools not just the dream schools. You might need them and it will be a lot easier if you don’t go into it thinking of the safety as the enemy.</li>
</ol>

5

<p>8b (if you will). Start applications EARLY and during the summer. In the summer, write essays, complete and update performance resume, repertoire/performance list, school specific apps, ask/identify those for recommendation letters, and work on common App as soon as it becomes available (to the extent that you are applying to schools that accept it (Michigan, CMU, etc.). Once school starts, in the fall, everything is a blur. Virtually every school is different regarding on campus audition scheduling. Make sure that you know their rules. FSU for example limits the number of auditioners. If possible schedule a few auditions for the fall too. The early ones help get the jitters out and you may get a yes or two early, which takes lots of pressure off.</p>

6

<p>Ditto to everything nccpdad said…this was one thing we did right…we got those applications started the day they were available in the summer and scheduled two fall auditions. Forced him to start early before senior year craziness even started. Got a great (dream school) acceptance right away and that made the rest a lot more fun. Didn’t take away all the drama, but helped with what we could control.</p>

<p>Here is my best piece of advice (in two parts):</p>

<ol>
<li><p>ignore all of the friends, family, etc. who have never been through this process and who will roll their eyes at how involved you are with you kid’s application/audition ordeal. This is HARD…(as evidenced by the sheer number of threads on this ‘sent from heaven’ website!) I can’t tell you how many of my girlfriends called me a “helicopter mom” or whatever because I had to be so involved in it all. Kaisdad is absolutely right, your student will NEED you to help them. I am sure glad you all were here to help me…I barely survived and I am a grown woman. Just put on your bullet-proof vest …</p></li>
<li><p>Ignore all the well-meaning people who ask about a back-up plan/major. Don’t get me wrong, that was my first thought when he decided MT, but now you know, (and have been assured by all of us), that this is as legitimate and has as just much potential as almost any major does these days. And I am always comforted by the fact that I am almost postitive MY student will be done in four years…most people these days can’t say that. Just take comfort in the fact that your son/daughter KNOWS where they want their life to go…that is a major step!</p></li>
</ol>

<p>p.s. my son said the same thing about only choosing audition BFAs and, actually, he did not have a safety school. He was lucky, but also, he was serious about walking away if audition season did not go well…ALWAYS, ALWAYS somekind of something theatre-related, but he felt that he would be happy behind the scenes directing, or teaching. And, truly, while he loves performing and works hard at it, that feeling gets stronger for him all the time. Don’t necessarily know that it would’ve been the end of the world if he had not made a program he loved.</p>

7

<p>A very specific thing, but I’ll share it… In hindsight, I would not have scheduled my S#1 at the first Texas State callback on-campus. I was nervous about waiting until March for him to do his callback, so I put him in the early December callback. It ended up being his very first audition and he was VERY nervous. It was a shame because it was a program he fell in love with. Perhaps it would not have changed the result, but since it was one of his top picks initially, it might have been better for him to have some more audition experience under his belt. (Still, see my “Final Decision / Background” post, because I do advocate getting a few auditions done early.) Ultimately no regrets, though. He and his brother ended up in great programs. :)</p>

8

<p>I wish we could go back in time! My daughter would definitely apply to more schools. We started the process early, she researched schools, we went on alot of visits and she narrowed it down to five that she really loved. She sent in applications and pre-auditions early. We thought we had it down, but the competition is tough out there and we now sit trying to decide what she is going to do. She is not interested in her safety schools anymore and feels if she wasn’t good enough to get in, maybe she should change her major. I hate to see her give up on her dream. I wish we would have known about this sight a year ago and all the great advice that is on here. We may also have used an audition coach.</p>

9

<p>audition coach definitely, other then that, we applied to enough to make it safe- at least in my mind. We didn’t apply to those that “everyone” is applying to- the odds are bad enough anyway and there are more schools then just the top ones</p>

10

<p>Ah hindsight. Looking back, I wish I had really understood the “love they safety” concept better. My D did have a safety school that I think she could have loved. But we did less research on that school than on the ones where she had to audition. I would have encouraged her to look at safeties her junior year and would have tried to have her go on a visit to see the school and get to know the program to make sure it really would be a school she would love to attend.</p>

<p>Once her acceptances were in and she had her choices narrowed down to a few schools, she really did in-depth comparisons of the curricula. It’s not that she ignored that until the end. She just didn’t do as much research. Had she done that as she was putting together her list of schools, she could have taken a few off of her audition list. </p>

<p>One thing I think we did right was having her apply to a 2-year conservatory program. She had that acceptance in hand, and knew that she had the option to go to NYC right after high school if that was what she wanted to do. That was never really her plan, but there was a point in the process where I think having that option was really beneficial to her.</p>

<p>I ditto those who said get those applications and essays done over the summer after junior year. Once audition season starts it is crazy out there!! </p>

<p>Best of luck to those getting ready to jump into the 2012-2013 process!</p>

11

<p>We did everything mentioned above except use an audition coach and I wouldn’t change that. I would suggest reading Mary Anna Dennard’s book, I Got In, which just kind of puts the process into perspective. I read it first and highlighted some things and then I made my D read it summer before senior year. I also bought and read Creative Colleges, which is AWESOME, and then had my D read that one too.</p>

<p>Next we began the IN DEPTH college research. I printed out a list with practically every BFA and BA MT and BM MT program and D and I spent the summer going on their websites familiarizing ourselves with their programs, faculty, location, other majors/minors offered, costs, merit scholarships available, GPA/SAT/ACT requirements for admissions and actual curricula. Factoring all of that, the list was minimized to about 40 and upon further research, about 24. (Mary Anna’s book suggested my D should apply to 12-14 schools based on her castable type.)</p>

<p>We got a GIGANTIC three-ring binder and made a pocketed section for each of those 24 schools. Through the continued investigation process, D printed out each school’s audition dates, vocal and monologue requirements, LOR requirements, essay requirements, and 4 year curricula plan and also hand wrote a sheet with SPECIFIC information about what she liked most about that school (we later provided this information to her LOR writers so they could address each school specifically when writing letters on my D’s behalf.)</p>

<p>D began writing essays junior year with Common Application prompts used previously. I personally think this is way too early because her writing improved even more throughout this process when she was really having to formulate in words why she wanted to pursue this craft and talk about her future. As I mentioned previously, we didn’t spend money on an audition coach because D is comfortable with auditions and has a wonderful vocal teacher who pushes contemporary genre, but I hired a professional proof-reader who worked with her over email so that I wasn’t burdened with reading essays all day long. Plus, I find, most teens do not want criticism of their writing coming from a parent. The essay reader allowed D to keep her voice but helped her arrange content so it was clear and concise, but still her. Before any essays were submitted I read them. Reading these essays was so wonderful and my first clear insight into what my D actually wanted for her life. I wouldn’t have traded this piece of the puzzle.</p>

<p>When fall hit and applications, essays, LORs, vocal and monologue cuts, prescreens, scholarship essays, and performances et.al. were in full swing, while D was with two jobs and a full academic load at school including APs, D decided the list needed to be cut down from 24, so we reviewed WHAT SHE REALLY WANTED from her college experience and narrowed the list to 16. We date prioritized every facet of the application/audition process for those 16 schools and realized 1 had to go because there were conflicts with every possible audition date and DVD was not an option. We had the prescreens taped and realized for one school she needed TWO monologues and we had only taped one, so she decided rather than retape, that 14 schools was enough.</p>

<p>All 14 of her schools were audition schools. </p>

<p>All along this process, D’s school was telling students that THEY needed to do everything in the application process by themselves; that their parents weren’t applying to college, etc. There is no way even the brightest most organized senior can get through this process successfully without a parent helping! Writing the checks, sending the overnight mail packages, planning the auditions around the family calendar, to name only a few things. My D is only 17, a minor, which meant an adult had to travel to EVERY audition with her. Hubby did one, my S did one and I did the other 12 around my fulltime job. I coordinated all the hotels, found the cheapest flights, arranged airport drop offs/pick ups, and car rentals. I took my friend’s D with us when the girls had overlapping auditions. *You will only know how HUGE this job is when you have done it.</p>

<p>8 of her schools were in 7 different states over 2000 miles away. We could have saved application, essay, and financial travel hassles with one of those schools had we lived closer and been able to visit before applying, because she just didn’t like it at all in person, but out of the others, she really loved some she thought she would hate and really didn’t like others she thought she’d love.</p>

<p>A key part in this process is to not pigeonhole your student into a particular school size or setting. My D’s opinion of both changed drastically from what she thought she wanted in the summer to what she actually found she wanted after audtions were over. I actually MADE HER apply to schools in the SW, SE, and MW because she was going to limit herself to the East Coast. </p>

<p>The key is to allow for many options and I agree with others above who have said, don’t allow students to apply to schools which they can’t afford to attend because it hurts to have to say no. When my D got all of her acceptances and scholarship offers, we calculated total actual costs and knowing all the facts, she made her final decision. One school she really loved just wasn’t going to be affordable despite the scholarships received, so she had to move on, but was OK with that and told me, “It makes me feel good just to know they wanted me.”</p>

<p>This was a grueling and sometimes thankless process, but was an investment in my D’s future and I love knowing that I was there with her every step of the way. Nothing will take away the memories we made during this time.</p>

<p>Good Luck to the future MT-ers!</p>

12

<p>["One school she really loved just wasn’t going to be affordable despite the scholarships received, so she had to move on, but was OK with that and told me, “It makes me feel good just to know they wanted me.”]</p>

<p>We didn’t really look at cost so much when building the list (figured scholarships might make things affordable even tho the price tag was steep. My son’s first acceptance was to a school that in the end he had to pass on because of cost. As you did, we laid it all out, explained about loans he would have to take to make it happen, and he made the decision. We didn’t have to say no…he saw the realities of it.</p>

<p>But I agree with your daughter, so much of this is a “confidence” thing…it really helped him to know that a good school WANTED him…I would’ve hated for him to miss out on that experience because we ruled it out up front.</p>

13

<p>See college MT shows. Attend MT classes. A school that was high up on her list came way down after seeing shows and attending classes. Another school that I had to encourage her to apply to zoomed up after attending classes and seeing shows. You can’t figure it all out based on reputation and the internet.</p>

14

<p>Very well written messages above. We’re one year ahead, just finished freshman year at BFA MT program, but the audition process is fresh in my mind! What I would definitely do again:</p>

<ol>
<li><p>Hire an MT coach: we would never have been prepared without them! Same cost as private voice lessons but worth so much more! We’re on the West Coast, so skyped with one from NYC and it worked beautifully! Took all the pain out since they found songs, monologues, provided the music tracks via computer, provided mock auditions and coached incessantly. We used MTCA and I couldn’t have been more delighted. They became family, and I still visit with them when I go to NYC. They even came to see daughter in show this year when I couldn’t make it! PM me if you want contact info.</p></li>
<li><p>Start visiting colleges as soon as possible. We started spring of sophomore year, even though my d thought it was too early. It wasn’t! Arrange meetings with departments, view classes and find kids to meet with here or through Facebook. Took a few out to dinner and got major insights!</p></li>
<li><p>Have safety schools! And if they ask for auditions for scholarship only, do it! So many kids are using safeties that a few schools have only been accepting those who auditioned for scholarships!</p></li>
</ol>

<p>What we didn’t do I wished I had:</p>

<ol>
<li>Schedule a couple of auditions in the fall at schools not at the top of your list. Daughter started with one in February we had flown a long way for and she really liked, and since it was her first one, a small detail threw her and the audition wasn’t terrific. I wished we had scheduled one or two close ones in the fall that she didn’t mind if she didn’t get into.</li>
</ol>

<p>KNOWING GOING INTO FRESHMAN YEAR:</p>

<p>Every school and program will have it’s glitches. Every school and program will be strong in some areas and not what you wanted in others. The grass is not greener … Stick with what you chose and look for ways to supplement and make the best of what you have! Look into summer programs that will make up for what you think you’re missing. Many schools, like NYU Tisch, open up fabulous summer classes for any U.S. student, not just those attending all year.</p>

15

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<p>I’ve mentioned this many times but will add it here for completeness. I know of several kids who decided they really wanted a top BA rather than a BFA after the application season was well under way. In fact, the top 3 schools on Ds list completely switched (from UMich, CMU and CCM to Northwestern, Yale and Brown) in the late fall, even before regular auditions had started. In the end she didn’t even bother auditioning for what had been her top 3 schools. THANK GOODNESS she’d put those BA schools on her list, even though everyone had assumed she wanted a BFA!!</p>

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<p>I’d caution you to be VERY careful with this, as with judging schools by YouTube videos! Unless you REALLY know a program, you honestly have no idea what you are seeing. Are these the 10 most talented kids in the program who are cast in EVERY show, or they 4th-string kids that are getting their first chance to perform in a student-produced work on campus? Is this a class you might be in, or an odd section of a class you would never take (D sat in on what she thought was an MT class at Northwestern which she found unimpressive, but once she was there realized that neither the teacher or students she saw were in any way involved with the MT program). We also realized that some schools allow only their best work on YouTube, while others allow NONE of their mainstage work to be posted. Be VERY careful judging programs by a single show, class visit or YouTube videos.</p>

16

<p>Well, thankfully, we had our programs with lovely bios in our hands, so we could see that, in most cases, the leads were Juniors and Seniors, and we could also see what parts they had in previous college shows, so we knew if they were regular favorites of the director or if this was their first time at bat, or if the directors try to “mix it up.” Usually one knows if one is attending a student directed black box show or not. Actually, both shows that impressed us the most were student directed!! We were gob-smacked. Those two shows were so professional, I never had to “cut them slack because they are students.” I felt like I was at Lincoln Center.<br>
Visiting classes (making sure to be in useful ones) gave my D the chance to speak with students and chat with profs; I think that time worked both ways for her as a prospective student and for the profs who make the decisions to decide they liked each other as people.<br>
All that visiting gave her the ability to make her final choice without any trouble.</p>

17

<p>It’s taken me a while to write this because of the busy-ness of the end of school, but finally, here it is: </p>

<p>YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU DON’T KNOW! I can’t emphasize this enough. Even though we live in an area with a vibrant theatre community, there was so much we didn’t know . . . especially regarding singing. You may think that you have “experts” in your area, but in our case, the MT experts were quite dated in their thinking even though they had really great credentials. </p>

<p>What we did right:</p>

<ol>
<li><p>Exposed my D to a national talent pool by attending OCU’s Performing Arts Academy - The summer of my D’s sophomore year she went to OCU PAA (She went last summer too). It was such a good wake-up call. She realized how talented other kids were that she’d be competing with at college auditions and it motivated her to want to be better. From that point on, we got really serious about the college journey. That led us to #2.</p></li>
<li><p>Coaching with MTCA - This was the best first decision we made. (This has been discussed a lot, with a variety of viewpoints, this is just what worked for us.) It helped us clarify my D’s type and strengths and they helped us choose material that showcased those strengths (Among many, many other things!). We were pretty green when we started this process in earnest the summer of her sophomore year . . . with MTCA’s years of experience and perspective they helped us to understand the extremely competitive nature of the auditions as well as the fact that my D really had to work on her belt/mix. And she did. Luckily we consulted with MTCA early so my D had time to get really solid in her singing. I am thoroughly convinced that if we wouldn’t have sought out their expertise, my D would have had a hard time getting into a program. </p></li>
<li><p>Started early </p></li>
</ol>

<p>a. We started early researching programs and narrowed “The List” that she would apply to by the summer before her senior year. She ended up applying for more than she auditioned for for a variety of reasons, but we wanted to keep her options open. My D pre-wrote essays and filled in last year’s applications and then filed them in a binder. In most cases the applications and essay prompts were exactly or essentially the same and when the apps went live it was relatively painless to plug everything in. (But still time-consuming. Very, very time consuming.)</p>

<p>b. She started early working through monologues and songs and therefore had a great variety of material to choose from when it came down to it. This helped tremendously tailor her “book” to each program’s requirements. </p>

<p>c. Went to a Thespians Auditions in October. This was such a gift to be able to do this. There were several schools at the auditions and it was relatively stress-free . . . the kids auditioned one-by-one for all of the program reps at one time. She sang 32 bars of a song with an accompanist, did a one-minute monologue and was done. There were callbacks to visit with the program representatives and one school asked her to do her monologue again with adjustments. There were many benefits to this early audition experience . . . first, we learned what to pack! haha!; she got practice using an unfamiliar accompanist and performing her material, AND she got several early acceptances and positive interactions in the interview/callbacks. This really boosted her confidence. It was also a validation that she would “make the cut” - there’s always that niggling, “Well, I think my kid is great, but what will the experts think?” and it helped relieve some of that stress. With those early acceptances, we were able to take her safety school off of her list and cancel their scholarship audition. It also enabled us to take a few schools off her list as she liked her accepted programs better. I know this option is not available for all folks, but choosing a couple schools with rolling auditions/admissions might serve as an equivalent. </p>

<ol>
<li>Unifieds - We scheduled 12 auditions at Unifieds. It was risky if she got sick, but she didn’t and it worked out fine. (We seriously could have bought stock in Whole Foods with all of the supplements we bought to help her stay healthy.) She actually was able to do a walk-in for one program there too. (Even with two schools asking us to block our four hours) Additionally, she did two on-campus auditions . . . for MT at University of Northern Colorado and OCU on our way to Chicago Unifieds. We live in the West and the expense of traveling was tremendous . . . we have a small regional airport near us and 3.5 hours away from a larger one, so it really added to the cost to fly from here. </li>
</ol>

<p>What we would have done differently: </p>

<ol>
<li><p>It’s hard to look back with regret because she’s so happy with her current program, but I wish that my daughter would have been able to audition for a few other programs (while dropping others) . . . Juilliard and U of M/ Guthrie to name a couple, but it was just too cost prohibitive to think of paying for callback weekends. We are extremely thrilled that she had choices and ended up right where she did at Otterbein. </p></li>
<li><p>The main thing that we would have done differently is cancelled her SAT test the day after an all night trip to a choir concert. Her SAT results from that test were not great and we knew that many schools on her list required ALL SCORES be submitted. Because of the SAT results, she focused her energies on the ACT, which, I’ve since come to learn, has a harder math section. This was not good news as math is my girl’s nemesis. I wish that we would have used an ACT tutor for math more than the couple times we did . . . her other scores on the ACT were great (science was okay), but math scores were abysmal. Abysmal. She took it three times and got the same exact math score every time. Her grades in school were great, but her overall ACT scores hurt her chances somewhat for academic money from programs. Folks talk a lot on these boards about the importance of rigorous coursework and good grades, but some schools seem to look at GPA and ACT/SAT scores alone when it comes to academic merit. Many post the scores/GPAs listed with equivalent awards . . . . (I have to say that Otterbein was generous and flexible with their academic and talent merit money . . . .)</p></li>
</ol>

<p>That’s all (!) I can think of now . . . haha.</p>

18

<p>Thanks kksmom5 for such a thorough post. I had been thinking that D would not take the SAT at all, but since she is very math-challenged, maybe she should.</p>

19

<p>Merlehay . . . recently, a friend’s son took practice ACT & SAT tests at a local Sylvan Learning Center and they helped them determine which test would be the better for him to take. This may be something all Sylvan Learning Centers do, I’m not sure. :0)</p>

20

<p>^I’m not sure either but there is such a thing as one test being better for some kids than the next. You can’t base that purely on which math test is harder though. The ACT for example I do not believe test Vocab the same way the SAT does. Perhaps performance in that section (good or bad) could outweigh any variation in math difficulty. Bottom line, it’s hard to know but don’t make the decision soley based on math.</p>