@collegemom2000 Excellent question - my daughter had the exact same experience and drew the same conclusions! Would love to know what others think about this.
I’ve seen this over and over - kids just have a gut feeling when they visit a college, talk to its students, etc. I felt that way when I was considering colleges back in the Days of the Dinosaurs. When I laid eyes on what eventually became my college, that was it; I just KNEW. I believe this gut feeling is multiplied for BFAs; since the major is so intense, it just has to be the right fit. When my D auditioned at Tisch, the student helpers were very negative about the program and actively discouraged D – they told her the instructors were mean, that they were exhausted all the time, had no time for a social life, etc. She came out of the audition and said she wouldn’t attend even if accepted. So yes, I believe that one negative experience can be the basis for turning down a program. But I also believe that if you audition off-campus and have a negative experience, and wind up getting accepted anyway (which can happen - the stories are legion; you often cannot tell anything by the attitude of the auditioners, although usually it’s the opposite - they act like your D or S is amazing, then the rejection or re-direction comes), go to the campus and feel the vibe there before you turn them down. There is no substitute for an on-campus visit when the chips are down and decisions have to be made.
I don’t think anything should be read into the “vibe” of the room nor should it influence the decision. The reasons are many:
- You cannot mind read.
- Your S or D is bringing their own notions. (i.e., if they hated their own performance, that may cloud their interactions if any)
- Some people are naturally shy, quiet or aloof. That applies to the adjudicators as well.
My S fortunately has had no “nasty” interactions (though certainly some cool ones). But I can tell you he was accepted by a school where he thought his audition was, in his own words, “pure garbage” and another where he thought the auditor was a statue.
I think the main thing you want to ask after each audition is: Was your S or D happy with his or her performance?
She seemed to have a good grasp on which performances were good an which she was not happy with. She had one particularly good performance where she felt it was wasted because the auditor was nasty (not cold but mean.) She also did one on-campus audition that gave her the creeps so won’t go there regardless.
@EastchesterMom that’s very interesting about TISCH…my D spent an hour talking to students who all said they loved it. Was her experience with the auditors negative as well?
My daughter has had 3 auditions so far and they have been very uneventful. The auditors were not very interactive at all. They were simply polite. She has had great interactions with students and accompanists, but very little from auditors. Not sure what to think.
@myboy2000 Congrats on Juilliard! I think my daughter and I may have met your son at UNCSA the next day. Is he studying PA at a school in Mass? This young man was extremely articulate btw!
@collegemom2000 - if I remember correctly, she said one of the Tisch auditors (there were different ones for voice, monologue and dance, and after all this time, I don’t remember which one) was fiddling on his cell phone the whole time and barely looked up. The others were attentive and polite but not effusive. You really can’t tell what the auditors are thinking by what they say/don’t say. As @DramaMan said, there is no correlation. Every year, there are tons of stories about kids who are sure they were in because the auditor gushed all over them, only to get rejected (this also happened to my D); and kids who thought they didn’t have a shot because the auditor was asleep/distracted/mean/rude, only to get accepted. Ya never know. Hang in there, folks - the roller-coaster ride is in full swing!
Thanks @EastchesterMom ! The odds of her getting into the “nice” schools are slim to none, so I don’t see the positive reaction as anything more than a reflection on how they conduct their auditions. Same goes for the “mean” schools…and hence my concern that if they treat auditionees that way, is this how they treat their actual students?
I agree 100%, @collegemom2000 - that’s why D didn’t want to go to Tisch; she figured that it didn’t matter if the students were telling the truth or lying, it didn’t reflect well on the program either way. As I’ve said many times, the kindness and encouragement of the Molloy/CAP 21 auditors back in 2014 was exceptional and went a long way toward D’s successful audition - she was relaxed, unlike most of the other auditions. The campus visit 3 weeks later sealed the deal.
I am personally of the mindset that how a student feels in the room IS telling about how the school would fit for that student. Gut feeling is an important part of fit, and if a student feels the room is off/mean/rude/etc. then they need to listen to that. After helping many students through this process, in my experience, if it feels off in the room, then it has turned out to be not a good fit for the student at the school. Just my two cents.
Agreed 100%, @stagedoormama!
Heading home from Unifieds. What a crazy experience. My daughter feels good about her auditions but knows that the odds are not in her favor. She was scared witless before her first but the auditioners from TCU were wonderful. Put her at ease and actually had a nice sit down conversation. She didn’t get a good vibe from the next and loved the third. She had met the auditioner this past summer so she mentioned that and he remembered her. CCM went very well for her but again she knows that it’s a long shot. She said she will be happy to get “hold” from them before the no. She has one more on campus but not until March and that seems so far away right now.
@collegemom2000 - my D is a Tisch senior (and helping with auditions) who has loved every second of her time there and would not have traded it for the world. Glad to hear your D had a positive experience with the kids there (esp if one happened to be my D), back in my D’s audition year (2014) I wondered if various schools knew how important the student helpers were as ambassadors of the program. Kids are going to take feedback from people their own age VERY seriously - it obviously stuck with @EastchesterMom long afterwards as well!!
Though - to be fair - Tisch is also not about the warm fuzzies that I have seen described at other schools. They treat kids like professionals from day one, and while my kid has experienced NOTHING but support, could come off cold for people looking for more of a “family” atmosphere.
@toowonderful that’s interesting and very glad to hear your daughter loves it there!
@FourStars that was not my S. We don’t audition UNCSA until Chicago Unifieds. Tell me about the audition! How was it???
@collegemom2000 my d auditioned for Tisch last week and had a very positive experience with everyone. Up until then (that was her third at that point), she couldn’t get a read on any of the acting teachers, but she said this one seem to be the most engaged with her.
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@DramaMan I love your post about not reading into the adjudicators. These kids of ours are very stressed they’re in there for a couple minutes they’re focusing on their piece and I don’t think the interaction necessarily indicates the overall vibe of the program.
The other thing that our kids need to consider ( and my D brought this to my attention) is that these people are tired. They are in there for hours watching monologue after monologue, song after song. And let’s face it some of them are not good. My D assisted her drama teacher this year for auditions for incoming freshmen for next year. She was in the room during auditions. He was absolutely kind and cordial to everyone that went in whether they were good or not, but by the end of the Day he was burnt out. This is why my daughter decided if at all possible to try for early morning auditions, despite not being a morning person .
I think I wrote a post in last year’s final decision thread about not reading into the audition room (as well as disregarding all the local people who assume your very talented kid will get tons of acceptances because local people know nothing of this process). With regard to the audition room, I will reiterate my opinion that while it is an interesting exercise to evaluate everything that went on in the audition room (I quizzed my son ad nauseam and took notes to look back on later), it is not very telling of whether it will result in an acceptance (although it can be an interesting exercise). My son has a friend who multiple times came out of the audition room and said that the auditors were very nice and supportive to her in the room, only to receive rejections from those same schools. For my son, the biggest surprise was Point Park where they were overly effusive in their compliments for my son in the audition room (ended up with a rejection). Hartt was another surprise for the opposite reason, The auditor was very blank faced during my son’s monologue (going so far as to comment how many times he had seen my son’s monologue before and how much he hated the character), also at Hartt, the auditor seemed only moderately interested in my son’s songs and although he showed himself to be a mover, my son was definitely the worst male dancer in the Hartt audition room. Even during the interview, the Hartt auditor made it apparent that he thought my son was better suited for a director program (in the end he was accepted). Ithaca was stone faced (rejection). NYU’s vocal auditor was very rude (rejection). Rider and Temple were very positive (acceptances). CMU, BW, BoCo, JMU, Wagner audition rooms were difficult to read (mix of waitlists, rejections and acceptances). CCM was very nice (rejection). So, for what it is worth, dissect what happens in the audition room for its historical value, but do not under any circumstances view a warm or even effusive room as a definite acceptance, and do not necessarily view a stone faced room as a definite rejection. I even remember reading in someone’s post that an auditor said, “I think we can definitely see you at our program” only to receive a rejection. Reading the audition room is quite honestly a fool’s game. The only real answer of how your kid did in the audition room is whether he was accepted or rejected or waitlisted. If you want to get an idea of how stressful the waiting to hear back period is, look at the class of 2021’s posts in February and March. We were big buckets of stress. Be your kids’ cheerleader to keep them positive and engaged in the process, be their safety net in case things don’t go their way, and be their voice of reason to make sure that they know how few kids get into their top choice, how few kids get into their top 4 choices even. These next 2.5 months are brutal.
@EastchesterMom I am shocked that Tisch/NYU would ask student volunteers who are so unhappy to help out. Or they should not be saying those negative things to prospective students. What a disappointment that must have been for you both