<p>MyPenny – you rock! This is great, pragmatic advice. I have a Junior D and am anticipating next year with a great deal of excitement and trepidation – excited and scared – and your post really included some great advice. Best of luck to your S. And, now I better get off from CC! A bit like crack.</p>
<p>As we’re seeing throughout the MT forum - your child may not be admitted anywhere he/she auditions, I cannot emphasize enough, apply to a good a non-audition safety school. Daydreaming is fine, just be sure to back it up with reality and that reality is a non-audition school you can afford and one where your child will be happy. Get the chip off your shoulder, stop mopping, it’s not a reflection of your kids talent today or in the future, it is what it is. Have a non-audition safety school and if that’s what he/she has left, go for it. My favorite quote from a show is from Two for the Seesaw: “It’s not where you start, it’s where you finish, and I’m gonna finish on top!” Prove all those schools wrong!</p>
<p>@mypennyx2 excellent list. I especially agree with the idea of setting up a separate email address specifically for communicating with the schools, especially since audition season lasts about 6 months. We used D’s personal address and it got really messy because of all of the other garbage that she gets, from videos of funny cats to retail store offers. About 70% of what she gets is spam or near spam, and it really added to the stress level when we were trying to keep an eye on the school stuff.</p>
<p>Also - and I cannot emphasize this enough - go to either Chicago or NY unifieds. During the 4 days of Chicago auditions D had 8 schools scheduled and found time for 4 walk-ins from schools that were never on our list to begin with. She wound up getting 2 offers from the 4 walk-ins. In Chicago I counted at least 40 schools in attendance, most of which don’t show up on the CC big list. Many of these schools have great programs and don’t see the same number of kids auditioning as the big list schools, which only helps your kid’s chances of getting a spot.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I realize this is one approach that some people utilize, but it is not one I would be into for my kid. By the way, my daughter did not attend any Unified auditions and only did campus auditions. I am not against Unifieds by any means. I recommend them to others. But the reason you gave of being able to do walk-ins is not why I would advocate attending Unifieds. As you say, yes, some schools that are not well known attend these auditions and don’t have as large a number of applicants and so the chances are greater. And I do believe one should apply to a balanced list of “odds” schools. But I would not do a “walk-in” or apply to a school just because it exists and may be easier to “get a spot.” First, I’d want my kid to have researched each school on their list thoroughly to know if it is even one they would want to apply to and to attend (and preferably visit if possible). Sure, there are lots of schools in the country my kid could be admitted to but it doesn’t mean she should go there just because she can. Four of her most formative years are going to be spent at the school, as well as a slew of money to attend. A lot of thought should go into picking schools that are very good fits and not simply schools with greater odds. The goal is not so much to “get a spot,” in my opinion,but to find an educational environment that my kid is excited to attend and where the four years are going to be a good fit for her (not every school is a good fit even if it offers her intended major). Again, I advocate for a well balanced list of schools with various levels of “odds” in relation to a particular applicant. But the “safety (sure bet)” schools on one’s list or even the “easier odds” schools on one’s list should require a lot of research and thought to find because a kid could end up attending these schools. I wouldn’t want to pick it at the last minute just because they have an audition slot available and my kid has a good shot of getting a spot. It sorta reminds me of going to a store with a big sale and buying something because it is a really good deal but it is something I would not have considered buying otherwise. This is just my point of view and realize that others approach it differently.</p>
<p>My D found great value in walkins. To keep her list to a realistic number she cut out a few schools that were further away out but happen to do walkins and fell in love with one of the programs after getting a chance to talk with the program head and faculty. It came down to that being in her final choices. She also got some valuable insight from one of them who the department head really worked with the kids. You never know if you will find a hidden gem and many walkins don’t charge a fee. After my D did the walkin she researched the school then decided if she would apply. By February she had developed a greater sense of what she was looking for in a program and walkins provided the ability to add schools she either didn’t know about or hadn’t considered.</p>
<p>My daughter did 3 walk-ins at Chicago Unifieds, but they were 3 schools that we were familiar with. We decided before going to Chicago that if the school was on our list of preferred walk-ins and they had room and she had room in her schedule, she would audition. She did not do walk-ins at a couple of schools because we knew she wasn’t interested. So I think walk-ins are great, but should be thought out before hand if possible.</p>
<p>We did only Unifieds because we live out west and could not afford to travel long distances to do on campus auditions. We had a wonderful experience in Chicago and S got good feedback. We did try a couple of walk-ins and had poor results. One school asked my S what he liked about their school and my son - a straight shooter - replied, “I can’t say, I’ve actually never heard of your school”. Needless to say, they weren’t interested in him. With eight scheduled auditions that he was well prepared for, we just didn’t have the energy to cram for that school.</p>
<p>HA! That’s hilarious!!</p>
<p>@ikemom boy, that would be a tough question. Thank goodness they didn’t ask D what she knew about their schools! One other thing that she got out of unifieds, including the walk-ins, was a steady increase in her confidence. While it’s true that most auditors don’t give instant feedback, the kids know instinctively what is working at that moment and what they might have to tweak before their next audition.</p>
<p>My daughter also got a tremendous boost of confidence from the Unifieds. She was on a roll and loved every minute of it. For a few of her on campus auditions, the dance call was at noon and her songs and monologues were at 5:00. She didn 't care for that. She felt better and was very excited to go from room to room and loved her walk-ins. It kept her pumped up and was a lot of fun for her.</p>
<p>@maMTma we also would have done more prep work for the prescreen videos. We rushed to get them done and D had a cold at the time, so the sound quality and level of performance were not what they should have been. </p>
<p>I was very intimidated by the pre-screen process, but it was one of the best parts of my son’s journey. Of the three schools son sent in a pre-screen for, he was accepted to two of them. His “call back” auditions were at least 20 mins. long, and he loved both of them and was bubbling with enthusiasm from the interaction and the tweaking the auditors did with his pieces. If he were to do it again, I think he would definitely have applied to more schools with pre-screens, which I think will be required at more schools next year. </p>
<p>As far as I’m concerned, I think all schools should go to prescreen. When the student passes, they already know that the department is interested in them and believes in their gift and talent. Then it’s more about fit.</p>
<p>My son’s pre-screens were not good. He fully prepped for them, and we shot them at home. Quality wasn’t great. They seemed fine at the time…but I know if I were to look at them now, I’d be embarrassed that we sent them. He sent out 6 and was rejected from 4. 1 came back asking him to audition but then he got an academic No many months later (before the audition, thank goodness!), and the 6th one he was accepted into their MT program (after an on campus audition.) So-- make sure your pre-screens are good! Show them to someone to critique before sending. (we didn’t). </p>
<p>This bums the heck out of me. Are we really at the point where the quality of the pre-screen vs. the content of the prescreens is that important? Yuck if that is the case. Schools all over the world will lose out on prospects that have the potential but not the means or inclination to make them fancy. </p>
<p>The day that the home shot prescreen isn’t good enough is the day that we need to start a revolt. Otherwise this form of the arts becomes only a rich man’s (woman’s) game. I for one will just hate that. My daughter’s were surely home shot but her content was fine and I wasn’t embarrassed at all that I shot them myself. I’m not a pro by any stretch of the imagination but I wasn’t a dope either. They were not perfect but they were fine.</p>
<p>That was 2012… perhaps a year before they became the “thing”. Hello schools. Please keep it real if you want people who are real. Rant over but it bugs me if the expectation now is that that prescreens must be professionally shot images of kids that are also professionally coached and otherwise you won’t consider them as contenders? Enough already. I don’t believe it. Not yet. Somebody prove otherwise. I think it still isn’t necessary but maybe I’m naïve. </p>
<p>My issue with prescreens was not the professional vs. amateur quality of the shoot but rather that both of us felt afterwards that we could have spent more time making sure that he did the best possible job on each song, mono, and (the dreaded) dance video! Needing to film both a 16-bar and 32-bar version of each of his songs, a 1-minute and 2-minute version of his monos, and both a ballet barre and dance combo to meet the requirements of the 6 different schools on his list that required a prescreen – and to make sure each take was a good representation of his singing/acting/dance ability – was daunting to say the least. And the songs and monos were still relatively new to him in those early days last fall; by the time he had to perform them at live auditions in the last few months, it was like night and day compared to the prescreen versions!</p>
<p>@maMtma, I bet though as far as that goes, you were in good company. Most of the prescreens and early auditions are not at all representative of what a kid can do much later into the hunt so in that respect, the playing field is level. Nobody’s are good yet. A big note to self though from our experience and from that of many of my friends… as tempting as it is to get an EA acceptance from your top schools, chances are you will not be the same person auditioning for them in November than you would be after a few under your belt and doing it in late January. Hit the schools you care the most about in mid to late January. That would be my advice.</p>
<p>@halflokum… I don’t think schools are looking for professionally produced prescreens. We did ours ourselves with our personal video camera and D passed all of her prescreens. I do think it is important to be comfortable with your pieces. The only thing I would have done differently was have the piano tracks done and use those instead of live accompaniment because you have better control of the volume balance with the voice. (Although ours worked out fine in the end) And I still think the earlier you can be ready and submit, the better because you get better choices for your audition schedule. </p>
<p>My son’s pre-screens were far from professional. He planned to film on his laptop, but discovered that the camera didn’t work on his new Mac. Luckily the accompanist happened to bring his ancient Mac and they used that. For the monologues, we pushed furniture out of the way and he stood in front of a bare wall in the living room. I never saw the final product he sent in, but I did see an out take of him goofing around and doing “The Robot” dance. 
</p>
<p>My D hated doing prescreens even though there’s not an “audience” persay there are still the faculty you are performing for at auditions. She just relates to that better. I also think many people come across different in person versus camera. She was very glad she only had a couple schools with prescreens last year.</p>