<p>I am set on using a college audition coach to assist me in getting into the best school possible. However, I have consulted with a few different coaches and they all seem so great, I can't decide which one to go to! I would love some reviews on coaches that others have used and liked or disliked.</p>
<p>acting22, I think youâll get some good general information here about how to get a coach. Probably people arenât going to say anything personal about individual coaches on a public forum. They might want to send you a Private Message, but you need 15 posts here to get PMs. You should try to make some more posts so you can get all of the information you are looking for.</p>
<p>My daughter worked with Mary Anna Dennard and was very happy. She was well prepared and Mary Anna knew so much about all the programs and good fits for her. The workshops she holds in Dallas and LA with the program heads are fabulous. Check out her website for more information. I am sure there are a number of good options!</p>
<p>Actually there has been a lot of discussion on this topic over on the Musical Theatre forum. I do not know how to cut and paste links into this message, but if you search for coach in that forum, you should get a great amount of information to start with. This includes several peoples opionon of their audition coach.</p>
<p>Ask the coaches youâve spoken with for some references. Iâm sure theyâll be happy to give you some names of people theyâve worked with to talk to. This board being international, you may get some pretty far-flung possibilities and you really need someone you can see regularly wherever you are. (Some people use Skype but itâs hard to imagine for me anyway.) Most important is-- how do you relate to this person, how much do you trust him or her to bring out the best in you?</p>
<p>MTCA is absolutely wonderful!!! I love having a team invested in my future instead of only one person. You get a acting coach who is picked for you based on your personality and your goals. Plus it feels like an audition family, seriously I donât know what Iâd do without them and the other students I met through them. I canât think of one school that doesnât have a MTCA student and they are all very open and supportive if you need help. Check out the website, youâll fall in love like I did!</p>
<p>Iâm sure these distance coaches are wonderful, but you might want to check out local coaches, if you have any in your area. My daughter worked one-on-one with two coaches during her high school years. In the final year, she coached for auditions with one of them and worked on other monologues and learning IPA with the other. The face to face mentorship was really wonderful.</p>
<p>My daughter traveled to LA and Dallas for the monologue coaching. We live in Houston so Dallas was easy. She took a summer seminar at USc and stayed a couple days longer to work on monologues. I agree that monologues need to be worked on in person. You could do mary annaâs online prep course and then monologue with a local coach. Mary Anna will have more audition tips then a local coach - IMHO.</p>
<p>I agree with dreambelle13. MTCA have a truly terrific coaching staff and support system. Definitely look into them.</p>
<p>Isnât MTCA geared more towards musical theatre? How are they for straight acting and monologue prep?</p>
<p>Thank you all so much for your feedback! This is incredibly helpful. I was just about to ask the same question mom2gals! I have heard that MTCA is much more for musical theater. I am looking more for straight acting help so I am hesitant to work with them. Also, does anyone know anything about ArtsBridge? I have heard this is a very helpful company as well!</p>
<p>My daughter applied mostly for straight acting programs. Her acting coach was fabulous. He found perfect pieces for her. His support has been and still is second to none!</p>
<p>^ in addition to finding great pieces her MTCA coaches really gave great advice as to what schools to apply to and what each school was looking for.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I can see that there is a great sense of loyalty among the satisfied customers of national coaches, which is great, particularly if you live in a location where it is difficult to have face-to-face access with coaches. Personally, itâs not my style to use a company when I could establish a genuine relationship with an individual. But we do live in an area where we have access to theater professionals-- location could certainly be an issue. </p>
<p>My daughterâs coach is a working actor with several graduate degrees in theater and many years of experience guiding students into top programs (she also coaches professional actors for auditions.) And she did have plenty of practical âtipsâ for the actual auditions. </p>
<p>She did not pick out monologues for my daughter, but rather made available her library of thousands of plays and worked with her on deepening her understanding of the text. My daughter never considered the idea of trying to package herself as âwhat the school was looking for.â She wanted to find a school that would offer what she, herself, was looking for. </p>
<p>My daughter picked her own school list (not that she didnât listen to advice from her coach.) The school she chose, ultimately, is one that was not on her radar when she began looking into college. I donât know if any of her coachâs other students applied to this program-- that was never discussed. My daughter learned about here school here on CC. Her interest in the program piqued after she visited (and met with the son of the CC parent who had originally written about the school.) During her audition year, she learned a lot about herself, and what she was looking for to study. Her weekly lessons with her coach/teacher were a tremendous help in terms of her figuring this all out. Sometimes itâs just great to have a mentor, someone not your parent, who can give you perspective on the larger picture. Also, although my daughter is now in college, she knows she can continue to count on her coach as mentor and presence in her life.</p>
<p>I guess my point is that there are many roads. If I were reading this forum for the first time as the parent of a young high school student, I would probably investigate the national companies and coaches whose are frequently endorsed here on CC, but as a do-it-yourselfer Iâd also check to see if I could find a local acting coach/acting teacher who my student would be able to connect with, to form a lasting relationship.</p>
<p>I agree wholeheartedly with glassharmonica. There are benefits to having the student involved in the research and exploration of audition materials, itâs a learning process that will guide them throughout their career. Having a coach âfinding perfect piecesâ for them isnât helpful in the long run. This is one of the disadvantages of the explosion in âcoachingâ services, and itâs a shame, in my opinion.</p>
<p>Donât assume that because kids used national coaches they didnât read through a lot of their own pieces and participate in the selection process. It was helpful in staying away from " overdone" pieces- that a 17 year old wouldnâtât know. I think we all agree that there are many paths you can take through the process. Find the path that fits you best!</p>
<p>There are many paths to take through the process. The path we chose was for our son to do it on his own (with the excpeption of travel arrangements, audition fees, etc). He is finishing his second year of college, and my wife and I still have never seen him do the monologues he used at auditions. As for an audition coach, we didnât have the means for it and to be quite honest, we wouldnât have gone that route if we did have the means. Part of me thinks it is like making a huge deal about the wedding day without thinking much about the marriage. The flip side of that is, ya gotta get to the altar before you can live happily ever after, and that is a legit point. He was seventeen and did a great deal of research on monologues and had the benefit of having friends who were in college programs that he could hit up for advice and information. He was the poster boy for âlots of potential but no training outside of his high school shows.â He knew that and was confident that auditors would see that. It worked out for him. In the end, it comes down to real talent, real work ethic, and real passionâŠand a dose of âright place at the right time.â And that goes for auditioning for college, summer stock, or Broadway.</p>
<p>Hereâs the thread from the MT page: <a href=âhttp://talk.collegeconfidential.com/musical-theater-major/1348886-coaching-services.html[/url]â>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/musical-theater-major/1348886-coaching-services.html</a> </p>
<p>D is at a great school, getting wonderful training, and has never been happier. Iâm thrilled with the education sheâs getting and I really donât think she could have done better. But if I had it to do over again Iâd have gotten her a professional coach. You have 3 minutes to show who you are, to stand out among hundreds of others. For the sense of confidence alone, having a good coach is worth it. </p>
<p>Thereâs a funny thread somewhere called âDonât bring a gun to a knife fightâ, about a fatherâs second thoughts after going through the process.</p>
<p>Gwen, it is Donât bring a Knife to a GUN fight! But we all knew what you meant. 
haha
Yes, I remember that thread, great title!</p>