So what does everyone think? Best to audition early and hope to be remembered? Audition in the middle of the pack, with repertoire firmly under your belt, and hope to stand out? Or audition at the tail end, and hope the panel wants to be wowed and will forget earlier auditioners?
Yes.
My advice is really improving with age. 
Eeny meeny miny mo…the answer is the same.
Do what works best for you and your family. Which will be the total opposite of someone else’s circumstance and preference.
Applicants are accepted from every audition date for a program. So, I don’t think which audition date you attend affects the results in terms of on the school’s end of things. Obviously, some applicants get more comfortable as audition season wears on and may improve, whatever. Honestly, we did not have some grand scheme in picking audition dates around this issue. It was enough just to piece together all the audition dates on the calendar (my kid just did campus auditions). The only thing we did do on purpose in the regard was to not make a top choice the very first audition, and also to do one audition before the holidays. But there was no rhyme or reason for the order of the auditions otherwise, but merely how to fit them on a calendar. I know there have been posts here in the past where people believed auditioning on the final audition day for a school was a negative, as if the slots were all taken (they aren’t), and my kid got into several well regarded programs having auditioned on their final audition day, as but one example.
We didn’t have a “plan” other than what worked and fit into my D’s contracted show schedule. We did a mix of campus visits and NY Unifieds. Would have loved to do Chicago or LA as well, but couldn’t get out of rehearsals to make it work. Personally, would have loved to have done a bunch at the very beginning and gotten them over with early!! At least D would have had less stress for the rest of the school year that way.
There were definitely good days and less good days on the trail. But you can’t necessarily predict when those will show up! Know your kid- I knew mine was likely to be nervous on the 1st couple rounds- so we scheduled schools that were farther down her list. (Both were in driving distance for us- which was handy)
Our friend auditioned last year at a school mentioned here and it was totally last minute totally not planned. Totally last audition that the school was having. She got accepted. She thought perhaps she got in because some other wait listed people dropped off making room for another offer. Lol she didn’t have much confidence in herself!
If I had to do it all over again, I would recommend someone consider auditioning earlier in the season for programs that have rolling admissions simply to potentially have some early “yes’s”. Early on my son had a “yes” from The New School and some others schools he loves and it was a confidence boost and made it easier to approach Unifieds.
When it came to Unifieds, my son did NYC and Chicago. There were a few strategies I thought were helpful. The Pace audition is shorter if you do it in Chicago (half day) than on campus (a whole day of you are pursuing multiple programs), DePaul makes sense to do while in Chicago, Fordham and NYU while in New York, etc. (my son is straight acting, not MT).
Two other words of wisdom. Apply in August or early September. Many schools with mass auditions (e.g. Ithaca) determine the order of auditions that day by when the application was submitted. My son got the first slot which reduced the time he had to wait around by 2 and a half hours. That is incredibly helpful when running from school to school at Unifieds. Early applications also means pick of the litter when choosing dates and times so if your kid does better in the afternoon, you are not stuck with an 8am audition time.
And finally, this is personal opinion, I thought the school reps were more relaxed in Chicago versus NYC. That may have been the storm, may have been the space, may be the result of being near the end of the process but everyone felt a little more casual and relaxed. Relaxed auditioners are more fun - so I merely mention that. I also stayed away from late day auditions because my son was tired by then.
As to impacting admission chances, I cannot imagine it makes a difference.
I second the early audition at a rolling admission school. We already discussed this. My D said she’d love to have at least one early yes for a boost later on…so I think she’ll audition early at one of her rolling schools that is more of a safety / not as hard admit.
While early auditioning at a rolling school seems like a great idea it does have the potential to backfire. Say that you do your on campus audition at an easier school and hope to get a yes by Christmas/new year time. If you were to get rejected from the school (bound to happen), then that could potentially put a damper on the forethcoming auditions.
It can be disheartening to some kids to hear a no so early especially if it’s from an audition school that was deemed to be one of the easier ones on the list. Some kids get more energized from the no. It’s a risk. Keep in mind that even the significantly less competitive schools often still accept less than half of their applicants. More power to you if can get a juicy yes by the new year and not be scared to death at Unifieds. Another option is to get a safety you love acceptance early on to have that safety net into the meat of auditions.
As far as the original question posed, I wouldn’t try to plan auditions around an over analysis of how the auditions will react time wise. Just do what works best and give it your all. There’s already enough variables in this process, don’t toss in more.
@ParachuteBoy - This process has made you wise.
To speak to the OP…@claire74 My D got yeses from both her first (in November) and last (in February) audition. Her no’s were mixed in the middle… Some she got a yes and a no from schools with auditions only a day apart… Or in the case of unifieds… The same day. So, for us, the audition timing did not appear to have any impact.
I agree that there is little rhyme or reason to this process, at least not any those going through it can figure out. I do think many kids benefit from practice and experience. If there is a school that is exceptionally important to you, it might be better to schedule that audition after you already have a couple under your belt.
I’ll say that after Unifieds, everything seemed more relaxed. D had 3 auditions after and they were eerily slow paced and calm compared to NYC. She had a great time at Unifieds and going through it definitely took the pressure off after the first morning auditions. Too fast paced to be nervous and too much going on around you to overthink.
At this point she is not even stressed at the outcome. The first no or two or three took care of that.
If anyone from the Class of 2021 is reading this, I would give the following advice: Get the worst of the nerves out in in the fall. Spend small money to apply to a nearby school that you, your S or D might consider a safety, and go audition in November or December. The first one is the hardest because of the anticipation and the foreignness of the exercise. My D’s first auditions were at NY Unifieds, and after that initial foray into the process, she changed her song package and felt much more comfortable and confident going forward. She also scheduled the schools at the top of her list for late in the “season” so that her package was honed as finely as possible for those schools.
My D recently auditioned for a summer college MT intensive and it was a great practice run for next year
You have to do what works for you – my biggest advice is to not do a big important school early - my d got so much more comfortable as the auditions rolled by.
Which Summer College MT did your D audition for?
There are also great mock auditions put on by some of the coaches (MTCA has fabulous ones), and Goodspeed puts one on with Brent Wagner every year. Those can really help your kid get ready for the real thing, too.
Brent wasn’t there this year, but they always have someone great. This year CCM and NYU Steinhart were represented.