@MTMHopeful who can count that high. 
My D is applying to 11 schools - most of which require pre-screens. 
I’m wrestling with the free version of the getacceptd.com app vs. upgrading to the Premiere version. Has anyone upgraded? Is it worth it? If so, why?
@Mardeen I would be super interested to know that too. Premiere version looks valuable, possibly.
On another note,I am curious how these students manage to do 15-24 auditions?? It does not seem possible, but maybe I am missing something.
I’ve searched CC and on the web but haven’t come across much info on the Accptd upgrade and its value. I’ve been a stalker (lurker?) here for several months. My D has been in drama for years but didn’t decide until this summer (before her senior year!) that she wanted to pursue MT in college so I’m playing a huge game of figure-it-out and catch-up. I owe everyone on CC a huge debt of gratitude for the massive brain dump that I’ve gotten from reading this forum. I’d be lost w/o all of you!
@Notmath1 - its actually pretty easy to schedule 15+ auditions, if: (a) you can afford the travel and application fee budget, (b) the student can afford the days off from school, © your student has very limited weekend commitments, and (d) you pick schools with audition dates that all line up. Note that it is possible to avoid missing any school for an on-campus Saturday audition if you can get a flight out late on Friday or the drive is reasonable on Friday evening.
3-5 on-campus in the fall: 1 in October, 1-2 in November, 1-2 in December
2-3 on-campus in January
6-8 at Unifieds, 10-12+ if you attend two different Unifieds sessions (if you avoid most schools that demand large blocks of time be reserved for auditions, you could probably easily schedule more than 8 auditions at Chicago Unifieds, especially if you do some walk-ins)
1-2 on campus in February
1-2 on campus in March
You can also do auditions in April at a few schools.
It is possible in some cases to schedule back-to-back on-campus auditions if the schools are within a reasonable driving distance and offer two days of auditions over a weekend.
If you attend the private Moonifieds auditions, you can rack up a whole bunch of auditions and live prescreens in one long weekend (like over 20 if you want to push it, and that number would include something like 10+ final auditions).
If you attend the International Thespian Conference in June, or one of many regional Thespian auditions, you may get one or more offers of acceptance if you apply and are accepted to the university. My d did both the Thespian conference in June and a Regional audition and had several offers from those events that required only an application to the college. This can easily run your application count up over 20 without necessarily doing 20+ auditions.
I totally get that each college has something unique and valuable. And I also get the idea of having a mix of schools from different tiers, though everyone’s version of who’s on what tier is different. But can I ask those who are applying to over 20 schools, are they really equally interested in all of them? Are they judging solely on the availability of BFA, or taking other campus elements into consideration? Full disclosure- we have 10 auditions and a safety, and I feel overwhelmed from THAT.
@Sammy8028 – I don’t know anyone who has equal interest in all of the schools to which they apply. There are always those schools that are the dream, and that one that is the safety. The odds are in nobody’s favor in this process and you must be prepared to get some rejections along the way. So I think some people have larger lists in the hopes that in the end they will have multiple acceptances and choices to make when all is said and done.
Also, be aware that over the course of auditioning, your student’s interest in schools can and most likely will change. So for many students, casting as wide a net as possible makes the most sense. and gives them the most options from which to choose at the end. What if you only applied only to conservatories and you all of a sudden realize you want a more traditional college campus? Having a list that already has a variety of programs on it can help with these changes in course. Your opinions of schools can change throughout the year for many reasons. This can be because of your interaction with school officials at the audition. Because of your visit to a campus. Because of others you know who had good or bad experiences with that school as they audition. Because as time gets closer to leaving home you all of a sudden change your mind as to how far away you want to go. Because of scholarship monies received. Because of the new fabulous program you just discovered that you had never heard of, etc… There are some that think they want a conservatory and realize half way through they really like a more traditional college campus. There are some that think they want a voice based program and realize they want more acting. So many, many things can change which means for some families a wide range of schools, and a large list, makes sense. Having a smaller list works too. It’s just a very individual decision. And nobody should feel pressured to add or delete schools to their list based on what others are doing. Only you need to be comfortable with the number and types of schools to which you are applying.
Like @EmsDad mentioned, some people are able to knock out 15-20 schools just by going to Moonifieds and Unifieds, or by going to NYC and Chicago Unifieds. So they are not necessarily traveling to 20 or 25 different schools. And some of those may not require an application until after an audition – especially walk ins. In the end, you can only attend one program. So you need to approach the process in a way you feel comfortable that you will find that perfect school for you at the end of it all. For some that will be applying to 5 schools. For others it will be 25. There is no right or wrong answer. Just what works best for you.
@Sammy8028 - my d attended a PAHS that held a Fine Arts College Fair each year that was very well attended by MT programs, annually hosted a large regional college audition where the underclassmen served as hosts and assistants to attending theatre faculty, and had at least 3-4 different MT program faculty hold a Master Class every year (Kaitlin Hopkins from Texas State, Lara Teeter from Webster, etc.). Plus, at the International Thespian conference she met reps from a couple dozen programs. Also, since she attended a PAHS, she had many older theatre classmates that graduated ahead of her, attended various BFA programs, and their favorable reports back to her also generated interest in several schools. As a result of all this contact with college programs, there were easily 20-30 that held a fairly high degree of interest for her.
She also knew that as a petite, blonde ingenue, her odds were really long at most highly-competitive programs - Kaitlin Hopkins actually told her class, “If you are a blonde ingenue, please understand that I have about 200 of you to pick from every year, and I usually only pick one or two.” Her theatre department head from high school repeatedly warned the students that even for the most talented, getting rejections from 9 out of 10 programs was very possible (or even rejections from 10 out of 10) and students interested in highly-competitive programs should do “lots of auditions” and include several schools that are at least a little less competitive.
D was only interested in audition-based BFA programs and she wanted a program that would challenge her in the same way as her high school, which had an excellent theatre program modeled on college BFA programs. Hence, she was pretty driven throughout the process to “cast as wide a net as possible” (a favorite quote from her department head). She also hoped to have several choices to pick from at the end of the process, so, she applied to and auditioned for lots of programs, although, thanks to Moonifieds and Thespians, she “only” did 13 auditions other than at Moonifieds.
She reused material and cut-and-pasted for many/most of her essays, started early in August, and she loves to write, so the application process was not too overwhelming (but she did struggle at times to get it all done). At least 20-30 percent of the schools that she applied to had fairly basic applications with very limited essay requirements.
Well that’s very discouraging @EmsDad as my daughter is a petite blond ingenue type! I had never heard that before. On another note, any opinions on University of Alabama (Tuscaloosa) as a non-audition safety for acting? My D was already accepted. It has quite a reputation as a party school but on the flip side I know kids love it there. My neighbor’s daughter just graduated and still goes back for the games. I never saw a kid love their school as much as she did!
@marg928 Check out Drew University for your acting safety My daughter is a junior there and I would be happy to answer any questions.
Haha we live in NJ and she wants OUT! I’m forcing her to apply to Rutgers though. I have heard good things though…my good friend’s daughter is a senior there.
Hello all! I’m a senior applying for BFA’s, looking for a university setting, and I’d just like to throw in that I’m only applying to 7 schools overall, and only auditioning for 5 of those. I understand this is not the norm, but just a reminder that it’s possible! An in state, non audition school that I’ve already been accepted to has an excellent program, so my “safety” is a school that is at the top of my list, and therefore my list could cut by a ton. I started with 17 schools on my list, but after the in state acceptance, I was able to cut nearly all my “match” and “safety” schools from the list, since I’ve already been accepted somewhere I would be perfectly happy to attend. So I’m only now auditioning/applying for my “dream” schools.
Don’t forget that once those acceptances start coming in (it’s about time for early action/early decision applications) that lists can be cut considerably
I started with the free version of Getacceptd.com because the prescreens need to be uploaded there. I totally got sucked into getting premiere and so far, NOT worth it. Not one college has looked at the profile, although you get spam emails from colleges saying that the’ve looked at the profile and encourage you to apply, it’s not true. You can tell when someone has looked at your profile and no one has. I called Point Park after getting an email stating that they looked at the profile and please apply. The recruiter from point park told me that they have a policy that they don’t look at anyone’s profile. A musical theatre specialist, Chelsea Diel, did look at the videos we put in, but the feedback was basic. Fit, reach schools, blah, blah, blah. Of course you can pay her more and she’ll do more coaching sessions. We get about one semi-useless blog per week, nothing you can’t get anywhere else. My girlfriend also paid for premiere for her kid and we laugh how we get the same spam emails from MT schools.
No one needs anything more than free access to getacceptd for college applications- no reason to give away more money than you already will be during this process.
@stagedoormama and @Barrie08 - thank you for the info on getacceptd. I was worried I was missing out on something amazing. Glad to know I’m just missing out on more spam than I usually get. 
Does anyone know if Elon’s prescreens are rolling results or if they all go out at once? We missed the early date so ours says “by January 18th” so we are just wondering if that means we will find out on Jan 18 or if that’s just the latest possible. Thanks!
@ourturn2 we know a boy who passed prescreen, but he requested the first audition date. My D and one other that we know have not heard back. My d requested 2/17 as her first choice for prescreen-so my assumption is that they are sorting prescreens based on audition date?
Thanks @owensfolks! I was just curious because it says not to apply until after you pass the Prescreen but if we don’t find out until mid- January, that seems pretty late so I didn’t know if we should go ahead now in case. I don’t know when the academic scholarship dates are and all that so I guess I should get going and look it up.
@ourturn2 My D is doing everything without my help (I’m a control freak-and this is outside my comfort zone)-so I double checked: But your student should apply. This is copied from Accepted:
Please note that in addition to completing the department audition process, acceptance to our department also requires admission to Elon University. You can complete these in either order, so long as you meet all relevant deadlines for both. The deadline for Elon’s general admission is January 10, 2017.
Oof: Also just saw-
Spring audition date invitations released January 18th
RSVP to accept audition invitation January 25th