<p>So Im auditioning for NYU UCLA BU and Michigan... In that order. Does anyone have any insight into these school's specific audition process? anything I should look out for? Should I start with my strongest monologue?</p>
<p>are you auditioning to UCLA on JAN 28th?? I am :D</p>
<p>Yes I am! Super excited</p>
<p>Yes; start with your strongest monologue! Definitely! It will catch their attention!
And I did NYU ED; their audition is super relaxed and everyone is really friendly. Make sure to either come or bring warm up clothes. Everyone starts by warming up with little theater games, and then they give you an opportunity to change and split up among auditors. </p>
<p>Good luck!:)</p>
<p>My son’s theater teacher/director advised him to present his classical monologue first, because she thought his contemporary was stronger. He had his first audition today, and was upset, initially, when they stopped him after just one piece. He was later informed that they sometimes decide to only see one. He was called back, so apparently they felt that, if he was comfortable enough with Shakespeare, he was worth calling back immediately. He got to present his contemporary piece during the call-back.</p>
<p>We’re in the middle of a five-day audition trip and here’s one thing I am wondering: what does it mean, or is it just chatter to fill the time, when an auditor asks what other schools you are applying to? My daughter has been asked a couple of times and, of course, she answered truthfully-- 7 BFA programs and a lot (7) of liberal arts programs with theater majors. The truth is that I’m the one who talked her into doing most of the LACs, just to ensure that she would have a few choices to make in April.</p>
<p>I hope that her answer did not indicate that she wasn’t serious about the programs she was being interviewed for. At one program, and it’s her most-dearly-desired school, the auditor said something like, “Good, well you will have a lot of choices in April.” Which could be something you would say to someone to soften the let-down…</p>
<p>I know that if I were reading this post I’d say, “Don’t read too much into anything an auditor says to you.” But i wonder what the best answer to that question is. Do you mention an number that includes a lot of LAC safety-schools when the auditioned BFA program is by far your top choice?</p>
<p>Hi Glassharmonica- I don’t know what the “right” answer is here… but I advised my daughter to give half truths. When the BFA schools ask, tell them only BFA programs in the same caliber. When the small liberal art schools ask, tell them only other LAS. </p>
<p>It may have been over thinking on my part, but I didn’t want the big BFA schools to think she didn’t have a focus. And I didn’t want the LAS schools to think that they were only her safety (which they were). </p>
<p>And I don’t think it is really any of their business anyway and it is your child’s prerogative to answer. So to give half the list seems fair to me. </p>
<p>Good luck and let us know how it goes.</p>
<p>I have seen advice on here not to list all of them, but to mention several of the top programs you are applying to.</p>
<p>Either way, I can’t imagine there is any harm done.</p>
<p>I don’t think my son was ever asked this. Conceivably, at some schools they might be wondering if a more selective program is likely to steal you away from them?</p>
<p>Oops, I cross posted with MOMMY5. Her answer is good…I agree with what she says.</p>
<p>Hmmm, I wonder if she should email the first-choice school to clarify that it is definitely her first choice. She did not tell them which BFAs she was auditioning for and it would be a shame if they got a mistaken impression that she was unsure of BFA vs BA.</p>
<p>Hmm, my D hasn’t been asked this so far, but I guess I’d see it differently, for what that’s worth, as long as the LACs your D applied to have top theatre programs.</p>
<p>Like your D., my D is also applying to both BA & BFA programs, but she doesn’t see this as being not serious about her acting. For instance, my older daughter is majoring in visual art (painting) at Williams and is every bit as serious about her painting than she would have been had she gone to RISD. More, in her case, because she is thrilled with the chance to deepen her knowledge & experience at a LAC–this informs her art. She plans on getting her MFA post graduation. Many artists (acting and otherwise) go this route, and many others get their BAs at places like Northwestern and go on to theatre. </p>
<p>I could be wrong, of course, but I guess I’d advise my own D to just tell the truth, but perhaps add that she has selected top theatre BA programs and to reiterate that her goal is to be rounded actor committed to her craft. I’d be tempted to tell her to email too, in your place, but I wonder if that will call more attention to her answer and make them wonder if she has been coached in her answer post-interview (which she has!). </p>
<p>This whole process is agonizing It’s hard to know what means what, which questions are important, whether they are important, and so on. I guess for me, I believe that if a school wants you, they should want you–so if ‘you’ are the person who chose both BA and BFA programs, then you shouldn’t hide that.</p>
<p>Just wanted to add that my D also applied to Temple, which has a great acting program. By ‘top’ BA programs, I didn’t mean only colleges like Northwestern (because academically that’s difficult). I mean colleges that have strong BA programs in acting. Couldn’t you make a case for applying to such programs as well as BFA programs? Even BFA programs are extremely different one from another; in some ways some BFA programs are more similar to certain BA programs than to each other.</p>
<p>You could absolutely make that case. My daughter applied to only the top “dream school” BFA’s and had a safety BA. Right or wrong, she had zero interest in a whole lot of sought after programs and believed the both the MT and drama training and the academics at the BA are better. She really did not want a school that no-one in the real world had ever heard of. Her list ended up being quite unusual.</p>
<p>hoveringmom, yes, my daughter also applied to Temple (back in the fall and has the acceptance already, so that is a comfort going into the auditions.) It is a good acting program–and every Temple acting student and acting alum she has talked to has nothing but praise for the program. It’s also a state school, which is a financial bonus for us. Of course, she would prefer to leave town for college, if possible. She also applied to Barnard, Bard, and some other LACs that were recommended for their theater arts programs. But Temple will be much more affordable.</p>
<p>My D has also been asked this question at her auditions. In fact, in the parent info session at one of her auditions, the faculty asked the group of parents this question as well. The first time she was asked, she was kind of thrown by the question and felt like she sort of stumbled through her answer. By the second time, she had thought through her answer and was able to give some explanation for her choice to apply to a broad range of programs which include both BFA and BA theater programs, as well as some non-auditioned programs at more academically competitive universities. Ultimately, her truthful answer is representative of who she is as an aspiring actor and curious student, but it did seem like a strange question to me and we wondered about it. </p>
<p>I’d be interested to hear from the auditors how they use the info that they gather from that question.</p>
<p>I think the question is asked mostly for the purpose of research. My daughters coach actually told her not even to answer it, which of course would take a lot of nerve… so we decided on giving half the answer. It is not lying and it is actually none of their business as the Coach has pointed out. </p>
<p>Also I never meant to suggest that a BA was worse or lower than a BFA, it was just in the case of my daughter not what she wanted, so the BA was her safety.</p>
<p>Glassharmonica, I would not worry at all about that BFA first choice audition. They are going to judge her on her audition, not how she answered that question… and I think it would be a negative to call now and explain. I would not do that.</p>
<p>I think it can backfire more in the opposite direction. For example… if you are auditioning at let’s say Muhlenberg and they hear your list includes NYU, Michigan, BU, CMU, USC… don’t you think they realize that Muhlenberg is the safety? (one of these things does not belong…) </p>
<p>Again, this is not science… it is just my opinion.</p>
<p>There was a lengthy discussion on the “where else are you applying” question in the MT forum:
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/musical-theater-major/1133478-still-wondering.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/musical-theater-major/1133478-still-wondering.html</a></p>
<p>Thank you, austinmtmom. Wish my daughter and I had read this last week!</p>
<p>Now that I’m remembering, my older son was asked this question. I’d forgotten because at the time he was so focused on ONLY BFA programs and ONLY in New York that the question didn’t really hit any alarm bells for him.</p>
<p>HOWEVER, when he rattled off his colleges, one of them was definitely an obvious safety. He said it anyway. The result? That school offered him a huge scholarship and a specialized program.</p>
<p>So at least for him, the moral of the story was that it didn’t hurt him at all to tell the truth. I do think that if a school wants you, they want you. IF they know they’re a ‘safety’ and still want you, it would make sense that they would do just what this school did–sweeten the offer.</p>
<p>I still think it’s best to tell the truth. Of course, that’s just my opinion and I have no way of knowing if it’s right.</p>