De-briefing, NYC Unified and Consortium Auditions 2013

College Majors Theater/Drama Majors
1

<p>Now that we are (hooray) all done with the New York magnet auditions, shall we share our experiences?</p>

<p>First, I'd like to say we had a fantastic time in New York. We saw two shows - "Wicked" and "Nice Work If You Can Get It" -- and were knocked off the curb by Justin Bieber's security entourage near TKTS in Times Square. Yup, I actually saw the pop star, whose fan I am not. My children were thankfully not injured by the police officers and fangirls who flanked him.</p>

<p>Audition-wise, my son auditioned for five schools and ended up not doing any walk-ins. He says he felt very well-prepared and that he represented himself well, and maybe they'll admit him and maybe they won't. So he's being very mature about it all, which is easier for him because he does have one BFA acceptance already (Shenandoah).</p>

<p>We went off to be tourists while our son did his auditions, which was his preference. So this synopsis is second-hand.</p>

<p>Rutgers and Purchase were well-organized and efficient. He thinks Purchase was using a webcam because they had the room set up for that, but they didn't say anything about it. Both of those schools wanted acting applicants to be prepared to sing, but neither asked him to.</p>

<p>USC, he says, was a five-hour nightmare of poor organization and bureaucratic cruelty that have completely turned him off the school, though he admits that the faculty members who were in the audition room were fine.</p>

<p>The two he liked best were Emerson and Carnegie Mellon. The people at Emerson were so nice, he says, and the program sounds really good. Everyone he talked to who had auditioned for Emerson were impressed by their audition staff and overall niceness. By contrast, he says most people found Carnegie Mellon quite intimidating, but he did not. He got the impression that the faculty member was thinking, "This young man reminds me of my grandson." That kind of vibe. She was interested in his resume, especially that he played the role of Columbine shooter Eric Harris for a TV re-enactment -- I guess that will help her remember him. She also had him sing, though that wasn't listed as a requirement for acting.</p>

<p>All the audition faculty seemed pleased with his classical monologue, which was a bit of a relief, because he did "The Jailer's Daughter" from Shakespeare's "Two Noble Kinsmen." This is a role that is usually played by a guy, and I'm sure the faculty knew that, but I'm guessing the monologue choice will help them remember him, one way or the other. His other monologues were from "Twilight of the Golds" -- the play isn't a comedy but his monologue was comedic -- and "A Bright New Boise."</p>

<p>Overall he is incredibly glad it's all over, but feels good about it. </p>

<p>Now we just have to wait.</p>

2

<p>Congratulations! You have survived. And it sounds like your S was proud of his auditions, and that is all he can ask for. Like you said, you guys can now relax (great to have the Shen. BFA acceptance!) and wait to see what happens. </p>

<p>Jealous that you got to see two great shows!</p>

3

<p>My son auditioned for 8 or 9, he did do walk ins because he just felt like it. I did wait with him, mostly watching his stuff. I did not go to the audition rooms but he indicated that all were very friendly. His favorite, I think, was UNCSA. Everyone ran on time and I am just glad this is over. We also have 1 acceptance (Hartt) so that does help our stress level as well. Now we wait!!! We saw The Mystery of Edwin Drood (wonderful) and the movie Mama (very scary in a non gory way!!).</p>

4

<p>Prodesse - that’s hilarious! I thought about doing Jailer’s Daughter monologue for a while before I found out that Central asked for specific monologues. Although I’m not auditioning for any of the colleges listed, I enjoyed reading about it. It’s just a shame that you guys missed Steppenwolf’s “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?”. I think this is the best play on Broadway right now (“Peter and the Starcatcher” is a close second, although I think it closed a few days ago or so).</p>

5

<p>Milkshakespeare, we might have gone to “Virginia Woolf” except that my 12-year-old would not have enjoyed it! “Starcatcher” is in hiatus, moving from off-Broadway to Broadway, so we weren’t able to see that one – too bad, because we loved the book. Maybe another time.</p>

<p>Photomom5, wasn’t it your son who had been sick? If he did a bunch of walk-ins he must have made a good recovery!</p>

6

<p>Prodesse…my son was pretty sick, thank goodness for prednisone, z-pac and other assorted decongestants. I think he got on an adrenaline high and just kept going. He loves the whole process so to him, this is “fun,” to me, this would be torture. I was able to spend the day with my college daughter who came in for moral support, so I was happy to be waiting with no other responsibilities other than guard his stuff! NYC was very cold…I was warm and toasty in the waiting room.</p>

<p>He actually changed his audition material after his first audition, he just did not feel it and completely changed direction. After the first one, he felt much better about the whole process.</p>

7

<p>We are done with NYC auditioned and glad to be (driven back and forth last three weekends from DC). Liked- Calarts and Cornish. Anyone else audition for CalArts and know anything about the business card and breathing exercise thing?</p>

8

<p>I have heard that if you get the business card and are asked to do breathing exercises you are most likely accepted. I was asked to sing and given a tour but no breathing or card. Sigh…</p>

9

<p>My son had a good time at his auditions in NYC. He had Marymount Manhattan on Sat. It lasted about 4 hours. They had an info session and then put the kids in groups and each group did movement, breathing and each one did their monologue with feedback from the instructor and other kids auditioning. My S enjoyed it and felt good after the audition. We had Purchase on Sun morning and it was just OK, kind of quick and not much feedback. We then went over to Unifieds and checked in to see if he could get any walk-ins. He was able to audition for 3 - University of Miami, The New School, and Point Park. They all went very well my son was very impressed with UM and was called back by them. All in all a good experience! </p>

<p>Sent from my iPhone using CC</p>

10

<p>Is this funny or creepy?</p>

<p>SUNY Purchase is known to use videos of auditions as a sort of callback, and my son said there was a webcam set up in his audition room. His acting coach told me yesterday that the videos have an additional use. One of his former students had attended Purchase and took a class in Directing. As a class exercise, the students were shown some of those audition videos and asked to “deconstruct” them! Presumably a few good and bad examples were chosen.</p>

11

<p>Not at all impressed with SUNY Purchase audition, disorganized, the buildings are soooo depressing and the setting has very bad feeling. Seemed purposefully pretentious and odd, not at all a fan.</p>

12

<p>My son is a couple of years away from this, but I would have a hard time encouraging him to look into Purchase after reading all the comments about it.</p>

13

<p>Purchase definitely has its minuses, but a huge number of students are ready and willing to overlook those because of the quality of the training. </p>

<p>The school gets such a vast number of applicants because of its rather unique combination of top-ranked training, low cost, and proximity to NY. I assume that they don’t feel the need to make auditions pleasant or to “court” the students attending.</p>

<p>If the students helping at Purchase auditions aren’t that friendly, it may be because they are overwhelmed by being required to do that in addition to their other work. At some schools, assisting with on-campus auditions is a volunteer task. I’d suspect that at Purchase it isn’t, considering the huge number of auditioners.</p>

<p>The best way for a student to figure out whether they might want to attend Purchase is to talk with more than one student there. If you visit, it isn’t that hard to do.</p>

14

<p>I am so glad so many of you are reporting such great experiences! Your kids should be very proud that they handled it so well. It will serve them excellently in the future. And for those of you who are just glad it’s over … I know the feeling!</p>

15

<p>I agree with njtheatremom. I would not let a few anecdotal stories on the internet influence a student’s decision as to whether or not to apply to a particular school. Purchase has a very good program that enjoys a good reputation. It is also probably the best financial bargain of all. Speaking to more than one or two students, spending time on campus, attending a class or two, seeing a show, talking to faculty, are all important in the research process, in addition to probably one of the most important factors, studying what the curriculum will be through all four years.</p>

<p>Too often students, and sometimes parents, allow little things to put them off about a particular school. How many times have we heard here about how a student giving a tour has been unhelpful/negative/rude? Same with admissions department personnel. It would be beyond foolish to allow that experience to color your impression of a school to the extent that you wouldn’t even apply.</p>

<p>I’m not saying that Purchase is the right school for everyone. No school is. But it’s training is very good, and it may, in fact, turn out to be the right school for your student, given a closer look.</p>

16

<p>I agree - if there’s a good reason to apply, apply. You never have to decide to go.</p>

<p>I’ll disagree about the financial bargain aspect. It’s nice to have a public school with low cost, but many of the other schools have some great scholarships. My D pays only for R&B due to a very generous merit/talent-based aid, which made it cheaper than any of the public schools on her list. </p>

<p>Purchase might have the least expensive “tippy-top” school sticker price, but many students here get terrific scholarships at the other top schools, too.</p>

17

<p>We did the tour last Fall. The theater facilities are nicer than anything I’ve seen at any school. I’m not refering to the exterior buildings but the actual theaters, studios, prop room (the size of a football field), etc.</p>

18

<p>This has turned into a Purchase thread – but I’ll add, the theatre scenes in the movie “Black Swan” with Natalie Portman were filmed at Purchase.</p>

19

<p>Ok…back to the topic! :slight_smile: Anyone else want to tell us about your Unified/Consortium experience? I do have a friend with a daughter who is in performance and will be going through this next year. I would like to be able to share what others have to say about the weekend. :)</p>

<p>And, for what it’s worth, the moms AND dads have been a wealth of knowledge for me, and I am extremely appreciative!!</p>

20

<p>Sorry to drag it off topic a bit again, but I’m interested in all the negative impressions of Purchase. It is definitely near the top of MY list due to price, proximity to home, and reputation. My son and husband visited in the fall and my son felt the facilities were great (he’s tech) but he wasn’t sure he could see himself there socially. I am hoping a re-visit in the spring or fall will yield different feelings. Many go there from his hs, so I guess I had assumed it would feel like his high school socially. Maybe not. Or maybe it’s something else.</p>