<p>I was the beneficiary of a walk-in appointment with Pace this year. Although this was the case I have been interested in Pace for two years (gap year and re-audition). Due to financial last year it was not possible and I assumed this year would be the same (not at any of the regional auditions). But I learned that they would be at LA. By the time I learned this it was a little late and I had missed deadlines.</p>
<p>Although I did a walk-in Pace moved to the front of my list and remains highly ranked against my other choices (which include some great programs). I am thankful they let me do a walk-in. Thought it would be interesting to post from the stand-point of me. And the process of getting everything in (doing the Acceptd videos in the week I got back from LA), was less than easy. I followed the same steps as everyone else who got in, just had to do them in a short time and backwards. </p>
<p>Pace is a great program and that is echoed by the 2200 applicants this year, which is a ridiculously large number. Itâs their first you to do pre-screen and they are an 8 year old program. So I think to expect anything more than a few setbacks and problems with the system is a bit too much. I think in the next couple of years their auditions will have a great system that will run smoothly. </p>
<p>As for the callback system, this is no different than Penn Stateâs. Itâs the best way for them to see the candidates they are most interested in and feel would fit their program.</p>
<p>Thanks, everyone for the great forum happening here! Using Acceptd this year and enforcing a completely new landscape in the audition process is never easy or without bumps in the road. Your comments only help us get better! Fairness is always of our utmost concern during this incredibly anxiety-ridden, nerve-wracking, and exciting time for you. We believe that all of our candidates are, indeed, treated fairly and we are constantly analyzing this new territory and asking ourselves many of these same questions. The walk-in/pre-screen process debate aside, all of our candidates have been seen by the head of their respective program at least once (Acceptd) - and as much as three times (adding in the in-person audition) - throughout the process.</p>
<p>Will our audition process be the same next year? Maybe not. We may decide to completely redo everything. At the heart of the matter, however, is the attention our faculty give to your son or daughter (or both!). I know that submitting a video may not feel as though an actual chance, but in reality, the Acceptd videos contain more content and materials than three minutes in an audition room.</p>
<p>I hope this helps answer some of questions here on CC! Again, we truly do appreciate the suggestions and concerns you took the time to convey.</p>
<p>I think it is fair. I say this because many students such as Jagminor may have missed the opportunity to submit their prescreen audition or may have just found out about the program too late and wanted to audition. Why should Pace shut these prospective students out of the mix? It would not make any sense and I think since it is their first year in using the prescreen requirement, they should be given some slack. My daughter does not understand the fuss over it because she feels a college has the arbitrary right to do what they want/need to do to attract students they feel is right for their program. </p>
<p>I certainly like the prescreen and walk in situation. Many other schools, such as Elon may possibly shut out some fantastic talent only allowing students to audition on campus. Not everyone can afford to travel. </p>
<p>We have to understand that in this business, there is never just black and white.</p>
<p>By the way, Pace is not the only college that will see walk ins and then require a student to upload a video after that process.</p>
<p>I agree that can and will do whatever the heck they want and thatâs fine but itâs not a pre-screen if you do it after a live audition. If people thought they had earned the opportunity to be there by being selected I really can see why they might get annoyed to learn that it didnât really mean anything at all.</p>
<p>We did not apply to Pace so we donât have a horse in this race. But, I think the people who are upset think that it may have been easier, or even beneficial, to ignore the prescreen requirements and do a walk-in. As much as I like the whole prescreen concept, I do think something is lost on video. If you are seen in person, you have a chance to make a connection. And, the prescreens are not easy to do. </p>
<p>So for the people who took the time and energy to make a prescreen tape, and send it in, they are wondering why the walk-in people got to just walk in and audition! </p>
<p>In addition, if I understand it correctly, the people who auditioned at Moonifieds (gads, I hate to open up this can of worms, but Iâm gonna) got to audition for Pace as their audition and callback all in one. </p>
<p>Pace is not the only school requiring prescreens who allow walk-ins. Penn State did it. I think Otterbein, did too. And there are probably others. </p>
<p>The bottom line is that this is a really stressful, expensive, and angst-ridden process. The schools want to see as many candidates as they can, and the students want to cast their nets far and wide in the hopes of getting into a good program thatâs a good fit. I think a âsolutionâ for schools like Pace is to be very upfront about the prescreen/walk-in process. Maybe they should say on their website next year, âWe require prescreens. We may take some walk-ins at Unfiieds. We cannot guarantee a slot at Unifieds. But if you want to take the chance and not do the prescreen, go for it.â I have a feeling that VERY few people who are interested in Pace would forego the prescreen in the hopes of getting a walk-in slot. But at least it would be extremely transparent.</p>
<p>I LOVE the pre-screen concept from the point of view of an auditioner because it allows you to eliminate (or be eliminated from) schools that are not going to be realistic choices in the end, and save tons of travel and wasted energy on extreme long shots. But I can certainly see how passing a pre-screen thus getting your hopes up and traveling to a live audition only to be cut quickly and sent packing would be extremely disheartening. Especially, when the kid next to you who just wandered in is passed on. Do other schools do this? Well, not quite in the way itâs been described here. Maybe, theyâre not as discriminating about who passes as they could be. I donât know. I know students really want the chance to show their stuff in person but sometimes an early NO is better. The numbers also sound kinda crazy. Are 2,000+ really auditioning for Pace? Thatâs about double what we were hearing for top programs.</p>
<p>Putting up a pre-screen after the fact doesnât serve make if fair so much as it makes me wonder whatâs the point. Itâs certainly not pre-screening the way it understand it if you do it post audition.</p>
<p>Youâve read my mind. Iâve been following this discussion, and it seems this is the argument: for some schools is it worth the risk to just try to do a walkin if the school allows it, and skip the prescreen? Perhaps weâll see a difference next year if we see more students early in the process really try to pin down which schools accept walkins at Unifieds. Since prescreen deadlines are usually early in the year (usually in the fall), some kids might feel itâs worth the risk to have 3 or 4 more months under their belt and go for it as a walkin at Unifieds. It will also be interesting to see if more of the prescreen schools eventually go to a no walkin policy at Unifieds. I think that it is rather unlikely, especially for the lesser known programs (not necessarily lesser quality programs) or developing programs to forego the walkins.</p>
<p>I will say, in the world of CC and Facebook, etc. word travels fast and the reaction of the students and schools will be heard, discussed, argued and passed along and each new year we will most likely see auditioning trends change a bit in reaction to previous experiences. I do think itâs grueling on both sides of the audition table actually - for the students and the schools. I always wonder how the auditioning schools manage to do their department jobs at the same time as run oncampus or off site auditions. However, the most vulnerable folks putting out the time, effort and money on an unknown longshot result are the students and their families. Hopefully, weâll eventually see a process that truly creates less angst instead of more for these types of programs. If that can be accomplished, everybody wins at least in some type of peace of mind.</p>
<p>It would also be interesting to see the statistics (I wonder if any of the schools keep them?) on what percentage of walk-ins get accepted and actually attend the school, versus percentage of kids who apply beforehand, get accepted and actually attend. I know we are in the minority, but my D didnât do ANY walk-ins. She agonized over her list of schools, and came up with a list that she would be happy to attend. I have heard some people say that kids who do walk-ins tend to do better, b/c they have nothing to lose and they are just giving it a try. They didnât have time to over-think things, and they just go in with a good, relaxed attitude. On the other hand, I did see kids at Unifieds trying to do as many walk-ins as possible, with seemingly little regard to whether these were actually schools they would want to attend. </p>
<p>So I wonderâŠhow many kids end up attending schools that they did a walk-in for, a school that wasnât on their original list? And will this live-prescreen-walk-in thing at Unifieds result in fewer prescreens being submitted and more kids trying to do walk-ins? Seems like a risky approach to me. </p>
<p>Yes, it must be INCREDIBLY hard for the schools to do all this. But finding talented kids with potential that fit their school is what they live for, so to speak. If I were the head of a MT department, I would do prescreens, and only audition a maximum of 200 or so kids that were admitted through the prescreen. I would then give these kids as much time as possible, including an interview to figure out what their personalities are like. And no, I would not admit walk-ins. There is so much talent out there, these schools could probably fill their classes several times over. So, I would stick to my process and try to be as fair and transparent as possible. (And if I were President of the World, I would cure cancer and stop all hatred and discrimination, and all cruelty to animals. :))</p>
<p>What I donât quite understand, and maybe someone can enlighten me, if schools who require prescreening then accept walk ins, how do they decide on who walks in? I mean, with the prescreening they make some sort of determination about what they like (or donât) about the student. How do they know the walk in student is worth their time?</p>
<p>Yes, thatâs why Iâm curious about how discriminating the pre-screen is and is likely why some are so upset. They arrive assuming they have cleared a hurdle only to learn that is perhaps not the case. Like, has anyone been rejected by the pre-screen?</p>
<p>I donât begrudge any student using any opportunity to be seen. More power to them, and good luck!</p>
<p>Monkey13-love the president of the world comment! My D did do walk-ins but they were for schools that were the last to not make her list. They were in contention for a long time but when she had to cut the last 5 or so they went and typically it was because of distance from home and weather(she wants a change of seasons and not heat all the time). She did look at a few others but did not walk in because she knew she would never consider them.
One that has become a front runner is a walk-in and I know she will be sad if she is not offered a spot.</p>
<p>Now unlike some of you I donât like pre-screens-I think some people donât come across as well on video. I think one way to avoid that is the schools that make you come to campus. I think they feel if you are interested enough in them you will make the trip. We have a couple of them and the one that is far away we thought long and hard about before applying.</p>
<p>I dunno how I feel about the whole walk-in situation. I guess it depends on the true and honest situation; for some it might be procrastination and others it might have just been that they didnât know what they were gonna do with their life or heard about a school really late. you gotta know that not everyone is completely educated on the whole process of schools and auditions and everything, and also that not everyone has been planning for this moment for months or year(s). There are so many moms and parents on here in general that learn everything they can in advance for their child, and thatâs great, but not every child has that luxury. I personally auditioned and passed the prescreen, and did not get a callback. and I canât lie it is disappointing but I wouldnât deny someone else the chance to audition even if they were a walk-in, because I wouldnât know anything about their situation. I donât know how much sense iâm making but itâs just my thoughts.</p>
<p>I didnât do any walk-ins because I had the flu and barely survived the scheduled ones but planned to and think itâs fine for a school to offer walk-ins. It makes a lot of sense to try to see everyone, if possible.</p>
<p>Especially for a program that takes so few they probably can tell pretty quickly who even has a chance. </p>
<p>The whole pre-screen/post-screen process is a little weird though. Seems more like they just want a video as part of the application rather than actually doing any screening. That okay, but calling it a pre-screen is perhaps not very clear.</p>
<p>I agree with broadway95 and monkey13. Some people would prefer to be seen in person, rather than by video, and would choose this if they were informed upfront that it was an option. A pre-screen by definition is a screening BEFORE you can be seen. so how can a person have a pre-screen POST-audition? I think things were a bit disorganized at PACE this year since there are many changes going on there. Hopefully, things will get ironed out by next year and provide more consistency.</p>
<p>I believe that whatever school my daughter is admitted to, the program will be a match that is meant to be, based not only on her ability, but the type of student/performer that the faculty at that school likes to work with. Every student and every faculty member/program is unique, and not all are going to be a match. </p>
<p>Perhaps Pace asked for the post screens so that they could compare with prescreen videos when deciding between a few similar applicants. We did walk-ins at other schools and appreciated their willingness to do walk-ins. Those that tried walk-ins at Pace were not guaranteed to be seen at all, those that did prescreens were guaranteed to be seen. Walk-ins are not always available, so for Pace and other schools to open up their open times to students that did not preschedule is gracious.</p>
<p>As far as fairness, does it really matter in the long run? Pace is going to pick the students that they feel are the best match for their program, period! Programs go thru growing pains and things may not feel fair to some, but just as I teach my four children, life is not fair and equal for all, thatâs life. These students are headed for a career full of unfairs, they just need to accept it now. </p>
<p>I feel that Pace has tried hard to look at all who wanted to apply in the best way they could.</p>
<p>What ticked me off about Pace was the cost to do the pre screen - $75 is one thing if you actually go to an audition. Itâs another if its that to upload a video for them to come back with a No within days :(</p>
<p>Sadly it seems that fairness has indeed become a relative concept. Oh well, look at the world around us. Same deal. Still, all schools, not only Pace, should strive for an open and transparent process. If any given school wants the option to audition, interview, or screen any individual at any time during that process, let it do so. Simply, let all concerned know that is part of their policy, at the outset. I believe that is not too much to ask. The walk in process, in my view, is a separate issue. I wholeheartedly support a schoolâs right to allow walk in auditions, unless, of course, they have publicly stated that they will not allow them. Thereâs that fairness issue again! I appreciate everyoneâs commentsâŠlots of wisdom and common sense on this thread.</p>
<p>Sheesh, why is everyone picking on Pace? Lots of schools have prescreens but still do walk ins at Unifieds. If you are Pace, and you are in Chicago or wherever and you have scheduled appointments until say, 3pm, and you have a couple extra hours to open up to walk-ins, that is very generous! I mean, they could go out for pizza or wrap it early, but instead they allowed a few more people to be seen. But as the saying goes, no good deed goes unpunished. If your kid is really interested in Pace, youâd be CRAZY to gamble on a live walk-in at Unifieds. What if they fill up with people who passed the prescreen and donât have time? And all schools charge for auditions whether itâs a prescreen or not. The fact that the head of MT at Pace saw every one of those prescreens is more than a lot of other schools can say. I just donât get why the anger here is being directed at Pace who is trying to accommodate a humongous number if applicants.</p>