I think it is important to clarify what Unifieds are as each year there are misconceptions about how those auditions work. These are not auditions where you audition once for all of the schools in attendance. The only thing “unified” about it is that these schools have decided to be available for people who want to audition for them in the same city on the same day. But you still audition for each school individually. And you have to apply to each school and for each audition individually. And each school will have its own requirements and way of running its auditions. So don’t mistake these auditions for the kind you see at some performing arts college fairs where you do you audition once for a mass audience which is what I think of when someone says an audition is a cattle call. Unifieds are still individual auditions for individual schools. They are just trying to make it more convenient and less expensive for kids to audition for as many places as they can by all being in one city around the same time.
I think another plus about unified auditions is that you have a chance to do walk-in auditions. It might be for a school that you didn’t know about before or just didn’t make your list originally.
My D auditioned for Tisch in L.A. She was accepted, but not by the studio she wanted. Would results have been different if she had auditioned earlier in Chicago? Dunno.
Student and family needs can vary a lot. My D decided she preferred to focus just on auditions for a few days and going to Chicago Unifieds (from the SF Bay Area) was also a good economic choice in terms of consolidating travel costs from California and minimizing parent time off from work. We had visited several East Coast campuses over the previous couple of years as part of family trips/events and she skyped into classes after program admissions.
@speezagmom - regarding the number of students in the audition pool nationwide, I did two estimates using different methodologies in past years:
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/19228858#Comment_19228858
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/17289152#Comment_17289152
The number that I derived was around 3,000 using some simple logic and number-crunching (“Freakonomics 101”).
I also derived estimated overall odds of acceptance at the top 60 or so MT programs at around 28 percent - of course some programs have much, much lower odds. If you are interested in reading what turned out to be a fairly long thread ruminating about how many programs you should audition for based on mathematical analysis of the available data there is this post:
Thanks @EmsDad! Knew you’d have the stats in your pocket. 
Not sure if this is where to post this but if you are auditioning as a transfer student, do you go to Unifieds as well? Or do you have to audition on campus?
@bisouu At both Chicago and LA Unifieds my daughter met a few students who were auditioning as transfers so it seems like you can audition as a transfer student at Unifieds.
Me to D when friends remind me many college apps are open today but she isn’t back from pre-college for 2 more weeks :)]
HI everyone, I need to introduce myself and this looks like an appropriate spot. My D is a rising senior and applying to MT BFA programs. She’s working on whittling down her very large list of audition schools, and then we have to come up with her BA schools. Lots of lessons of all types going on around here lately.
She is my first MT kid, but my S just went through the audition process for music this past year. He’ll be attending Northwestern as a double bass performance major in the fall. I don’t know if going through that with him was a help because we’ve done the audition thing, or a hindarnce because MT really does seem to be a very different animal than instrumental performance.
I look forward to walking this road with you all!
I haven’t read this whole thread so I apologize if I am off topic or repeating someone else. But as my girl gets ready to head off to school for her freshman year I think about what I wish someone had told us last year. I had never been on CC before winter and wish that I had known about all the advice on here. We ended up doing NY and Chicago Unifieds (just 1 day) because we couldn’t get the audition spots any other way! So my advice is schedule early!!! For example - she really wanted to audition at BW. There was a mixup where she thought she had scheduled an audition online - then they told her all spots were filled and to choose another day - so she did and then that day was also full. She ended up on a wait list to audition and in the end just had to cross it off her list. If we had known what we were doing - we would have scheduled that one super early… like November! Especially as BW, unlike a lot of schools, lets you know early which would be great in terms of possibly relieving stress. We also had to fly out to Michigan because by the time they notified us that she had passed the prescreen there were very few spots left (we think this happened because her school held up her transcript - they did not understand the MT process and only sent out transcripts early for kids applying to schools early decision). So anyway try to schedule as early as possible so you don’t end up having to race around or iced out. Even though it was extra money and we were wondering what we were thinking, in the end flying out for the U Mich audition was the thing to do - she has been dreaming of going there since she was 10 and she leaves for Ann Arbor in three weeks!
Welcome! I went thru the process last year with my D! It was fun, exhausting, heartbreaking and in the end rewarding! Feel free to ask questions! My suggestion is have a realistic list, set up some auditions before the holidays, don’t wait until last minute on applications. Many popular programs fill up and then you go on a waitlist Judy for an audition . Have a good solid list of at least 15 schools. We didn’t do Unifieds but in hindsight it would have been smart. Many parents on this board can attest to successes at Unifieds especially with walk in auditions. So don’t over look this! Good luck to all, it will all be over by May 1!
One concern that I had with Unifieds was the possibility of my D getting sick. I didn’t want to put all, or most of her eggs in one basket. Just something to consider.
@exitstageleft I hear you…my D ended up with a stomach bug the weekend after Unifieds which was the weekend where the Rutgers, Purchase, CMU and UNCSA hold their audiitons. Luckily Purchase was able to move her from Saturday to Sunday for us and she felt better by then.
Heads up for this year’s students and parents: Rider has started a prescreen process for MT
There are so many schools this year (I said - once Carnegie went - the rest would drop LOL). Good to prescreen the slate and find a good editor!
@BassTheatreMom Just a note ti say Good luck with the auditions - and to let you know that my son will also be attending Northwestern this fall as a Theatre major!
@efr9598 Thanks so much! Is your son doing a pre-orientation program? Mine is doing P-Wild. He’s so excited about everything. We’re just waiting on dorm and roommate assignments.
Thanks for the good luck wishes. She’s done a really good job researching her schools and has a nice list to take to a session with her coach this week. She’ll narrow down from there. I would love it if she could go to NU as well - however, she’s a good student but not that good.
Hi! I’ve mostly been lurking here and I think this is my first post. D will be a senior this year so we are preparing to enter this storm of auditions. Is anyone going to the audition prep workshop in Dallas this weekend through Dallas Summer Musicals?
Oops-just put this under 2021 thread. Words of encouragement.