Thank you so much for all of your kindness. I like the idea of combined college visit/vacation. Good idea. MTCA did have a ton of good advice (from this newbie’s perspective). So I guess it is now or never for the visits - except for some of the on campus auditions. And I am so embarrassed about BAL - you’d think I would figure that one out! @Jkellynh17 Hi! Come on down to the Berkshires! We have lots of great shows this season - and Aaron Tveit in Company! And thank you @toowonderful - you are so right. She actually did a production of The Tempest and the director somehow included my D singing A Thousand Years. She will sing - it’s in her blood.
Do you all have children that have gone through the college audition process already? You all seem so knowledgable.
@ginaf1102 I am on my third going through the process!
@artskids I have found the learning curve quite difficult. I find I cannot really draw from my personal experience from '83, and not being a Theater Person just really intensifies the difficult learning curve. I am so grateful for this community, I have learned so much.
@DoinResearch it’s a tough process on the entire family. There are many, many gracious people on the boards who return to give advice - you will be well guided 
@ginaf1102 - my D is heading into her senior year at NYU
@Twoboysandadog LMU has an early deadline for their theater application. It was due November 1st so they really don’t have Early Action per se.
@marg928 I guess it changed for next year because the theatre website indicates there is early action and regular decision. http://admission.lmu.edu/apply/auditionsportfolios/theatreaudition/
http://www.journalnow.com/relishnow/the_arts/uncsa-hires-new-drama-dean-from-harvard/article_be1070c0-51e3-5a29-9d4d-9f9c722aac46.html?utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=user-share
If anyone is interested in UNCSA they just announced the new drama dean and he is coming from running the MFA program at Harvard and has a very interesting background and philosophy for young actors. Thought it might be interesting for prospective students.
@bfahopeful Wow, that is quite an impressive background. I keep talking to my D about UNCSA, because I hear only wonderful things about it. What is everyone’s recommendation on visiting Theater schools? I think I will post that question…
What do you recommend in terms of trying to visit Theater programs? We live in NJ, and my D is going to RADA in London for five weeks this summer. She has only seen the Boston schools so far (BoCo, BU, Emerson). But for places like UNCSA, Guthrie, Michigan, Carnegie Mellon, what do you do? It is so far. Do you wait and see if they get in before visiting? I can make a FEW trips happen, meaning time/money wise we can visit a few, or make a point of auditioning on campus.
@FourStars different types of visits work for different kids (meaning before or after applying or accepted).
My daughter visited “types” of schools (university, small school, conservatory, urban) with her high school and had an idea of what she was interested in. Due to admissions for BFA being so selective, we decided to wait and visit after any admission came in. Along the way she saw a couple campuses during unifieds as they were local and another for a call back weekend. UNCSA had become her top choice after unifieds and they did an accepted drama student weekend which solidified it and she didn’t visit others. Had she not liked UNCSA she would have visited her next 1-2 top choices she was admitted to. We couldn’t visit schools all over the country before hand. We also have heard not to visit and fall in love with a program that is audition based as that can mess with you if not admitted/called back. Basically my D went for a type of program and really took advantage of auditions to get a feel for faculty and any students there. She did a lot of research about curriculum and such. She used program “type” to narrow her search and not location or size of school. But those can be search factors for many kids.
By the way, my D almost didn’t apply to UNCSA as she had NO interest in being in the south. She is a liberal city type of girl. But she fell in love with it.
It isn’t where we thought she would go but she couldn’t be happier. If you have specific questions about UNCSA message me. Happy to answer. Good luck in your search.
I agree with @bfahopeful. I think you should wait and see where she gets in. Are you using an audition coach? I think the money would be better spent there.
Interesting article about UNCSA…the program they speak about in Moscow is the same one that LMU students attend. In fact they study right alongside those students from MFA programs like Harvard as they are the only undergraduate program that attends.
http://cfanews.lmu.edu/conservatory-style-theatre-study-abroad-program-broadens-worldviews/
Good morning from the east coast. I was wondering if anyone can shed light on Unifieds. When do they post the dates and locations? I am already thinking about hotels and flight to Chicago. Is there strategy anyone can share? Or link me to a thread? Thanks!
@ginaf1102 Here are the dates:
I have not seen the unified audition site; I found the information in the registration portal for schools. Per the portal, locations are as follows:
Chicago - The Palmer House
NY - Pearl Studios
LA - The Westin, LA Airport
You will notice as you begin to research schools that some schools will hold auditions in the unified cities at or around the same time as unified auditions but they are not officially “unified” schools. The list of participants is not finalized but you can refer to the 2017 site for schools that participated last year. http://www.unifiedauditions.com/.
As your student finalizes his/her list, you can start to strategize Unifieds.
Thank you so much!
Likewise, thank you so much! I think the calendar will rule our life this year right?
@FourStars absolutely! Add in shows, rehearsals and on-campus auditions and it makes for a very packed year!
Do you recommend making a provisional hotel booking? Palmer House? I assume I could cancel if we just do NYC. We are an hours drive from NYC.
That couldn’t hurt I hear it books up quickly. Last year the unifieds website wasn’t updated for quite some time so I don’t think anyone really knew for sure what weekend unifieds would be until much later in the year.