<p>All this advice is good. There is no formula, however, that you can depend upon. My kid did 2 on-site auditions that seemed to go wonderfully and 7 during the unified audition period that felt like the mill described above. The end result, though, was rejection from the on-site auditions and acceptance or at least wait-listing from all but one school from auditions during the unifieds...Go figure...I didn't want there to be a fixation on any one place so didn't want to go everywhere, but in the end he wanted to go to a place he'd visited...he didn't want to visit the places he hadn't been once he had some acceptances in hand (a little senior burn out). I don't know if there's a right way to approach this for everyone. Every kid and every family is different. I would focus most of all on preparing for the audition. What you bring is more important than where you bring it!</p>
<p>I would definitely recommend auditioning for a school or two early action or before the holidays if there is rolling admission. My daughter auditioned at 3 schools before the holidays and was admitted to 2 of them and deferred at the third. These were not her top choice schools but she felt that she could have gone to any of them and been perfectly happy if nothing else worked out for her. This also gave her some peace of mind going into her other auditions. </p>
<p>My daughter also did a mixture of on campus, regional and unified auditions totaling 10 in all. She was accepted to all of her on campus schools, had acceptances and a rejection from her regional auditions and had both acceptances and rejections from the unifieds as well. We had a great time at all the auditions although I do have to agree that the unifieds are a little crazy! But what was nice about the NYC unifieds was that my daughter got to meet up with friends she had met from pre-college and they got to see some great shows in the evening! </p>
<p>In terms of how much time was spent, I would have to say in my daughter's case that there were two schools that we did on campus that spent very little time with my daughter and on the other hand she did have a few schools at regional/unified auditions that spent quite a long time with her. They didn't seem rushed at all. It may be the school...not really sure. </p>
<p>What I have found though throughout this whole thing is that there is no rhyme or reason to any of this! You just have no idea what each school is looking for. It leaves you wondering why this person got into this school and not that one. There is just no predictor to any of it. I agree to find programs that fit what you are personally looking for. Have a good mix. My daughter did not have any BA schools on her list because that is not what she was looking for. She decided if she didn't get in to anything on her list she would possibly reaudition. Yes have safeties but if you really have no intention to go there...why bother. Make sure they are programs you can actually see yourself at. Good luck to all of you! I definitely agree with Nolamom...March is just an awful month! The entire process was fun for my daughter except for the horrible waiting period!</p>
<p>There is often advice to try for 1 or 2 non audition programs. Are you referring to non audition MT? And, what schools offer these? Everything we have looked at, from BFA to BA, even BM, are all selective audition schools, from the 8 at Otterbein to the 40 (?) at Point Park. Even the state schools...PSU, FSU, IU, are all small audition programs. Please let me know more about these non audition programs. Though my D is very confident, I think I need a safety or 2 for myself!</p>
<p>Sarahlsmom
if you go to the frequently asked questions thread at the top of the list and then click on the FAQ link provided this opens to a page with a list of questions. One of these is "the big list" which has a state by state list of programs and indicates which do not require auditions. This is a great starting point to look at some of the variety of programs and their locations.</p>
<p>I know nothing about your D's academic qualifications, nor her artistic ones, and there is a lot to suggesting schools that FIT a candidate and not simply that they offer MT. That said, I will throw out some schools to explore but it is important to assess your child's academic chances at each school and so on. These lists are NOT ALL INCLUSIVE....just SOME....</p>
<p>(by the way, while all BFA/BM schools for MT should be considered reaches as they have very low admit rates....SOME programs are less competitive than others and their applicant pools are not as strong and so it is wise to include some less artistically selective BFA/BM programs to the list of BFA programs, even if their admit rates are also low)</p>
<p>BA in MT by Audition:
(by the way, these are not truly safeties as there is an audition involved but GENERALLY speaking, the BA by audition schools tend to be not as hard to get into than most BFA programs)</p>
<p>Wagner
Manhattanville
SUNY Geneseo
University of Southern Maine
Nazareth College
Wilkes University
Plymouth State
University of Northern Colorado
Seton Hill University
American
James Madison</p>
<p>BA in MT - Optional Audition:</p>
<p>Rhode Island College</p>
<p>BA in MT - No Audition:</p>
<p>Indiana
Univ. of New Hampshire
Susquehanna Univ.
McDaniel
West Chester Univ. of PA
Cal State - Chico
Santa Clara Univ.</p>
<p>BA in Theater - Optional Audition (but with MT opportunities):</p>
<p>Muhlenberg
Connecticut College</p>
<p>REMEMBER that one person's academic safety is not another person's safety. For example, for students with very good academic stats and profiles, Muhlenberg may be a safety and for others, it is a reach. </p>
<p>I hope that helps.</p>
<p>Summer has kept me off the web too often, but it's good to return as we begin to look at audition dates, requirements, etc. Thanks for the feedback on schools. Academically, she should get in anywhere she wants....4.1 cume, 1380 SAT's, #7 in class, Governor's school, etc. (Yes, I'm proud of her!) I's more frustrating to know she may not get into programs with her grades, but I think frustrating is good practice for these MT kids. I do have a BA/BFA question, though. We have heard that down the road, if she decides to get an MFA and teach, many colleges look for the BFA/MFA combo. Any truth to that? Of copurse, she expects to make a big splash in live theater, but it's good to have a back up plan!</p>
<p>Your D may wish to look at Muhlenberg, Indiana, James Madison, or American, among other BA options. </p>
<p>I think a BA/MFA combo, for someone in straight theater is a great option. Drama applicants have that option of either doing a BFA or a BA/MFA combo. It is not crucial to have a BFA/MFA combo. If your D wishes to teach, I think the BA/MFA will suit her goals. If she wants to go into MT, she can do so via a BA or a BFA path, though the training and balance of the coursework will be quite different in each of those paths. I know kids who are very talented in MT who could have attended BFA programs but who opted as a first choice to go to BA programs like Northwestern, Brown, Yale, and Muhlenberg.</p>
<p>I'm in the class of 2008, and so while I'm clearly not through the entire process of auditioning yet, I have a "pearl of wisdom" that I wanted to share.</p>
<p>If you child's school is a part of the International Thespian Society, go to the conference in Nebraska in June of their junior year. Talk to the head of the department at your school and let them know that you're interested - we weren't planning to go this year but a bunch of juniors (myself included) and our families talked our department head into going by doing the vast majority of the "grunt" work ourselves.</p>
<p>The festival is a great experience for several reasons. Most of all, there is a round of college auditions there (in June of your junior year) from which you can be accepted to some of the most prestigious programs in the country. So far, my school has had students get offers from CCM, Otterbein, Webster, Oklahoma, the acting program at University of Northern Colorado, and the theater performance program at University of Evansville (both of the last two are great acting programs). There will possibly be more coming in the next weeks and months - they aren't allowed to notify you at the festival and some wait until the fall.</p>
<p>How the process works is you're in a room with about 40ish schools from around the country (other "big" schools that I haven't mentioned that were there: NYU, UArts, Miami, DePaul, Roosevelt U, the Guthrie program at U of Minnesota, SMU, Penn State, USC. After your one audition for all schools, they each post a list of callbacks which you do later in the week - some schools just talk with you, others will work with you on your pieces. Once you get home, the schools are allowed to make you offers for admission and scholarships.</p>
<p>At the festival, I received an offer from the University of Evansville, which instantaneously narrowed down my list from around 20 prospective schools to 7 - now I'm only looking at schools I would take over Evansville (or MT programs on the same level). It was also an incredibly needed boost of self-confidence - after a rough junior year, I was really questioning myself as an actor and it was extremely gratifying to have something postive going into my college auditions. It also served as a good gauge and predictor as to how I could expect to do in the fall/winter, and which types of schools I should be looking into more. Also, great practice audition!</p>
<p>The festival is great for a lot of other reasons - great shows, really phenomenal classes, and fantastic people. I'd recommend the experience to anyone in high school who wants to go on to do theater as a profession, but particularly to juniors for the college audition experience. </p>
<p>Feel free to PM me if you have any questions!</p>