I also am in the “visit after” camp. Makes more sense
@theaterwork - last year Wright State, Shenandoah - and I think Rider, Texas and Alabama (???) - held their own walk-in unified auditions (audition for all five schools in one shot, no preregistration required) in NYC at the same time as traditional unifieds, but at a different venue. Shenandoah’s VoiceTeacher posted on CC about it. I think from WSU’s perspective at least, it was a success and though I haven’t heard any noise about it, I wouldn’t be surprised if they did it again this year. Auditions like those will NOT be posted on the “unifieds” website. You said you did not want to do unifieds, but this is a slightly different experience and might be one way to “hit a few birds with one stone”.
@theaterwork there is, but we did not participate, so I do not have any personal information about it. I will PM you the link.
Actually, I see you must be from Ohio to participate and website is not updated with 2017 information yet. They were held January 9th in 2016. BW does not appear to participate and CCM looks to be for drama not MT.
Our D auditioned at Moonifieds in November, Chicago Unifieds and on-campus at just one school. We would recommend this approach. It kept her in school as much as possible, keeping her grades up, she competed in 6 dance competitions, and danced more than 20 hours per week, she took voice 2x/week. She had a great senior year and felt really good about her audition results. It didn’t cost a ton of money either. She visited schools after her acceptances and wait lists came in. It was so much less of a production than it could have been. It was hard nonetheless. She had a heavy course load and graduated with 30+ AP course credits. Honestly, this was a good move for her. She has fewer required general ed credits to complete in college, opening up opportunities to study either more theatre or double major. She could not have done all of this academic work if she had done on-campus auditions at 12 or more schools. It just shows how every student is different. Do what’s right for your kid. Gather information on possible strategies for reaching the desired goal and then go with your gut. Do your homework. Check things off your list early to make sure you have options when you can finally start scheduling auditions.
@theaterwork and @IfYouOnlyKnew - yes, the Ohio unifieds are “open to all Ohio residents” and is geared to be an inexpensive way for Ohio seniors to get exposure to several Ohio theater schools, but being who I am, if I were the parent of an out-of-state auditionee, I would want to make SURE my kid was closed out before I assumed it “can’t be done”. If 2 - 4 of the programs my kid was interested in were auditioning MT prospects, it might be worth the trip. I do not personally know anyone who has participated in those auditions, but when my S was a HS senior I had a question about them - can’t remember what - and I emailed the coordinator Matt Wolfe (Otterbein). He was very kind, taking the time to personally and promptly answer my email. It never hurts to ask. If they say “no”, then you can cross that possibility off the list and move on to the next improbable way you’ve thought of to make this all work out over the next 9 months. What else could you possibly have to do with your time in July before your kid’s senior year?. . .
@theaterwork – you are on the ball getting things done so early. You should be able to have your pick of audition dates at most schools. Schedule your auditions in the order of importance to you. Make sure you get the date and time you want for your #1 school first. Then your next favorite. and so on. That way you know you have the best of circumstances for the schools which are most important to you.
We ended up doing a combination of Moonifieds, Unifieds and on-campus auditions in order to fit everything in. I will say our D preferred the Unifieds experience. She loved the hustle, bustle and energy around it. She found on campus auditions very draining and did not like being distracted with classes, campus tours and other activities on the same day/weekend as her audition. For us Moonifieds and Unifieds were very efficient in terms of both time and money. But whether you choose on campus or Unified dates, scheduling is a challenge. That is why you should get applications in early if at all possible so you have your choice of audition dates. If you wait too late, you may not be able to audition on the date you wish.
If for some reason you are unable to schedule an audition because no slots are available on your desired date but they still have other dates available, and you have already sent in your $, I would not count on getting your $ back.
However, on the flip side, I can tell you we had to reschedule 2 auditions well into the process (Feb), and both schools involved were very accommodating and made it work.
If you only have time/budget to visit a campus once, I think visiting once you have an acceptance in hand is best. You are much more focused, have different questions and look at the school in a different way than if you are just hoping to be accepted.
Theaterwork, if you’re focusing on some schools in Ohio come west a few miles and check out Ball State. great program, great campus, great everything!
@jeffandann Ball State was a consideration but my D is saying it’s too far away. Who knows if it’ll come into play again though! Lol