<p>I know years ago when my son auditioned for MT they had a Friday audition day - in fact there first for that year. It did involve a motel/inn for two nights, but only 1 missed day of school. This was in fall '05. His day involved sitting in on classes and such and well worth the time. I don’t think his day went for 12 hours, but it was at least 6. We found it less expensive to fly through Southwest rather than drive, but I know every penny still counts. Perhaps you can weigh the expenses for this trip against other schools where you might audition at Unifieds? Just a thought, as I think the audition day there is worth it and we even did do a spring visit beforehand. We’re at the beginning ourselves for the process with child #3. Good luck to you!</p>
<p>Before the Elon audition, my daughter was given a specific time slot for her singing/monologue portions, and I don’t think anybody had to stay very late that day. We were done by mid afternoon. </p>
<p>I would think if you have travel issues they (and any other school) might try to accomodate you if you get your application in early, early. Most schools we’ve been to, I think the audition order was the order that the aps came in, as far as I know. So if you want to audition first and then hit the road to avoid another night in a hotel, perhaps you can manage it with some fast application processing.</p>
<p>I think if I had super powers and was able to schedule all the auditions for one set of Unifieds, I still wouldn’t suggest doing that. I think auditioning earlier in the year at a Rolling admissions school such as Elon will give you a boost up - you see if your material works, if your shoes work, if your leotard works, etc. Depending on the results of the Rolling Admissions decision you have some time before Unifieds to shake up your act. Or prune or add to your list.
And as you will see mentioned often here on CC, if you put all of your eggs in one Unified basket, it would be very unpleasant if your student happens to get sick that weekend.</p>
<p>As you research you will find there are a number of very well-regarded schools that don’t participate in the Unifieds. Use those schools to spread out the auditions and spread out the pressure. I remember one very stunning young lady at the Unifieds asking anyone within hearing in a tiny voice, “Is anyone else here exhausted?” We figured it was the incredible high rate of concentration needed to go from one audition to the other, not so much because of the dancing although there were some tired puppies after certain dance calls, but just because it was very taxing having to be “on” time after time, often with different material due to the various requirements. You only have a few minutes to shine and no 2nd act to make up for a flub. These are kids are used to rehearsing all day and performing night after night. But they found Unifieds to be Very intense. </p>
<p>Best wishes! (I’m almost on the other side!!!)</p>
<p>I auditioned at Elon last weekend and let me just say that the head of the department is possibly the cutest woman I have ever seen! she was SO excited, I thought she might burst, and she is very supportive and encouraging and really funny.
It was a long day but definitely worth the trip. getting to sit in on a class was very helpful and interesting, and two students even performed a song for all the people auditioning. It was really cool. Good luck to everyone with upcoming auditions :)</p>
<p>mthopeful15 - I’m glad you had a great time at the audition. Did they happen to say how many students auditioned this year?</p>
<p>My D auditioned last weekend and no they did not say how many kids they had seen this year but that they were looking to take about 20.</p>
<p>i think they said there were 70 auditioning for MT on my audition day, and i’m guessing that’s around the number that they have for each day, so however many days of auditions they had times 70, give or take a few, would be my guess. but i could be totally wrong.</p>
<p>I know Elon saw over 500 auditions at their on-campus MT auditions.</p>
<p>abparent you said you are at the start of the process with child #3…what grade is your child in? I am new to all this and my D is a sophomore and we are starting to get things in the mail from universities and I was thinking of taking an east coast road trip this summer to start looking at campuses. Do you think that is too early? She’s been thinking of starting her monologue search this summer to get a jump on it. Since you have been through this a couple times do you think we are on track or starting a little too early?</p>
<p>Has anyone heard any numbers around how many males/females have been accepted ED?</p>
<p>Next Chapter: I think 3 girls from the Fall auditions have been accepted through the Early Action process. I am not sure if any boys were accepted EA. Hope this helps!</p>
<p>Broadway95 - I pm’d you.</p>
<p>Broadway95, my son has now graduated from Elon and is out on the national tour of A Chorus Line. Elon offered him excellent training all the way around! We started visiting colleges the summer after 9th grade, so no, it is not too early to get started!</p>
<p>Broadway95, I agree with Ericsmom - I don’t think it’s too early. It does sometimes seem like schools visited in sophomore year or the following summer might fade from memory. But there are so many ways to stay connected with a certain school program here, on college websites, college student emails, youtube, etc. there are certainly ways to keep things fresh. Our son is a junior in high school and he has the benefit of what his brother and sister already learned in their searches. Still, he has such a hectic schedule especially with performances and training that we feel the earlier the better. With our oldest, we started college visits in the spring of 10th grade. It was worth it - his senior year was tense with all of the scheduling and then waiting, but not nearly as pressured as some of his friends’ situations. He started auditions the end of October and completed 3 before the new year with some leeway to reschedule a December audition into January because of illness. I believe the early start helped and even afforded him the option to add a final audition in the spring. Good luck to you in your search!</p>