@heliobike - Mary Anna is southern 
Do what feels right to you - but if you write, do it because you mean it, not because you were told you are supposed to. I read kid’s writing a LOT (college essays etc) and it is easy to tell when they are trying to suck up
Safe Travels. I never thought I would enjoy road trips until now in my 40’s… I love them. I love fall road trips and this has to be Super Exciting to be driving to an Audition that may change your child’s life forever! 
good luck to you and enjoy your journey, you guys will look back at these moments and your story will be a great one to share
Ok I have to chime in. We are ethnic and my daughter is at Michigan. It is definitely not 50% ethnic. Not even close. Perhaps @Mach4 the advantage was being male and not being ethnic. We could go on and on about that. Or perhaps being male and ethnic was a double whammy. All I can say is that it is a mighty white field and extremely competitive for everyone. But it is worthwhile looking at the individual schools’ classes. There are some that accept a lot of ethnic students and some that are almost completely white. It’s worth knowing what a particular school skews toward.
On thank you notes - UMich has the esteemed Brent Wagner teaching all their students the importance of how to write thank you notes in this field. I am not going to argue with him! I believe very strongly in writing them. They opened up great dialogues for my daughter at the schools she was waitlisted at. I think you can’t go wrong being polite and appreciative.
Thank You Notes… not necessary, but nice… we certainly accept many students who do not send them, most students do not send them, but we attach them to the files of the students who do send them. We teach our current students to send them, they can only help, can not hurt, and at worst… have no impact. When I was a performer I know that I probably booked at least one job because I sent one… apparently it was between me and another when they got my thank you note. That being said, do what feel authentic to you.
I attended the North Texas Auditions yesterday and today, and met some terrific students. I am on my way to the Moonifieds dance call tonight, and look forward to that and the students I will meet tomorrow at individual auditions. First time at both NTAs and Moonifieds. Maybe I met some of you today or will tonight/ tomorrow. Also had a great first on-campus audition for Theatre on 11/6 and Musical Theatre on 11/11!
Break legs and safe travels as audition season is off to a start!
Following
@toowonderful - Kidding aside, I would bet that Mary Anna’s recommendation to always send Thank You notes is probably based on her experience as a Hollywood Casting Director, not to mention many years as a college audition coach who routinely interacts with many college theatre faculty members.
In the theatre world, you never know when a simple courtesy recalled months or years later may result in a break.
Thank you notes and ethnicity aside: I hope that everyone’s audition season is going well! Get those flu shots, kids (and parents)!
@Emsdad - if only the whole process of being a professional performer was as simple as writing a nice thank you note… my grandmother would be thrilled. Perhaps I should get should get her some lovely monogrammed stationary for Christmas
To be clear, I am not anti thank you note- if you have somethig to say - say it. My D sent a thank you message (I think via email) last week to an agent who came to do a masterclass at her school, and spent a good deal of time talking to her and giving her feedback. She had a specific, unique interaction, and he went out of his way to be helpful. That deserves a thank you. She did not send one to the person who was there the week before who heard her piece, but didn’t really have a lot of commentary for her. I can see if you feel there was a strong connection, or something special happens, go for it.
@sopranomtmom @EmsDad my S just started his audition process, and it is very tough for him to accept that there are no “signs.” His first school had him do two more songs. His second school had him do the basic two. And there was little chitchat. I tried to tell him. They have five minutes with you. There can’t be much chitchat, and he shouldn’t read into it. But it’s hard.
Break Legs to all with auditions this weekend. My D has a break until 12/2; UArts.
A question, for Emerson do you have to submit both a FAFSA and CSS application? It is a lot of info and requires fees. Thanks!
I tend to agree with your @EmsDad observation.But it has to be sincere as @toowonderful says. Hopefully it would be
Hi there,
My one piece of advice about Strawhat is to get in application materials ASAP! It’s not a guarantee of securing an audition, but it MAY improve your chances( from what I’ve heard)… We are patiently waiting for the 2018 info to be uploaded to Facebook and their website… They said it was going to be updated mid-November but we haven’t seen anything yet… My daughter is interested in spending the next couple of summers doing musical theater so that she can score some equity points, so when she graduates college she’ll be able to start auditioning right away! There’s no guarantee that you’ll even be placed in a theater that has equity… But any experience on your resume is a good thing. Best of luck!!!
@KatMT curious what you thought of the talent at NTAs and Moonifieds compared to what you usually see on campus. And were those run differently? Did you make offers, if I can ask? Parents seem to love both. I am sure your on campus are well done! I have heard great things from friends over that last few years
How do walk ins at Unifieds happen? Can you sign up at any time, or do you sign up first thing in the morning?
Walk-in opportunities will vary by school so you will need to actually walk the halls of the audition floors and check to see what is available. Some schools will have flyers in the central lobby areas noting they are taking walk-ins but you will still need to go sign up. Some schools put their sign up list out for all the days they are there so you can pick a time that works for you. Others go day by day so you might need to check each morning. Some schools with full schedules don’t put lists out but invite students to standby in the case of no shows. So just go in prepared to be flexible and jump on opportunities when they are available.
If it’s a school that has a prescreen required to pass, they probably are not taking walkins
@Notmath1 Actually I was shocked to discover last year that Penn State, Temple and Otterbein were taking walkins at Los Angeles Unifieds so it does happen.
I do remember someone asking if they should do a walk in even though they hadn’t passed a prescreen at that school.
Wow that seems unfair to those who went through all that prescreen stuff.
And I think those are exceptions, not the rule