<p>Junior D over here and have started the school spreadhsheet and highlighted the prescreen dates since those are driving the first requirements. Here are the rows in the spreadsheet. I arranged it this way so I can keep moving the schools around based on additional information. My D wants programs in Big Cities that allow you to audition for both MT and Acting and have crossover between the two programs. She also wants more of a conservatory stype program with academics less important to her. These desires dictated some of my rows. And as @cheeseheadmike alwaya says, it doesn’t matter what my D wants, it matters who wants her. </p>
<p>Degree Granted
Common App
App Available
App Deadline
Audition Scheduling Begins
Audition Dates
Can you audition for both MT & Acting at same time?
At Unifieds?
GPA Minimum Preferred or REQUIRED
Freshmen Class ACT Range
Freshmen Class Median SAT Score
Application Supplements Needed (resume, etc.)
Essays in addition to common app
Recommendations needed
Prescreen requirements (Video, CD, etc)
Prescreen Due Date
Application Web Link(s)
Location
Projects Cost based on FA letters 2014, CC
Academic Percent</p>
<p>Oh and I should mention that I will do a completely separate spreadhseet for Audtions once she has all of the academic requirements submitted and can start scheduling auditions.</p>
<p>Aaaah the spreadsheets. Memories, memories. </p>
<p>We had multiple sheets going, including one that was essentially an hour by hour day planner covering the 5 days of Chicago Unifieds. That one was super valuable because D used it to fill holes in her schedule with walk-ins. She was determined not to sit still that week and it paid off.</p>
<p>I remember one hectic week when I accidentally made an error when saving a file and overwrote a large spreadsheet. Luckily we had kept printouts on the fridge.</p>
<p>I still have all of my spreadsheets if anyone would like them. They are in Microsoft Works format, which converts easily to Excel. I would be happy to send them - PM me.</p>
<p>Another thing that we should have done is create a new email address that was to be used only for college search and college correspondence. Our D used her personal email, which is really cluttered with Facebook, Pinterest, store ads, etc. I was paranoid that we were going to miss an important email during the application process because of the daily clutter in her inbox. </p>
<p>If anyone wants to private message me with your e-mail address, I will send you my spreadsheet. It’s not as detailed as mom4bwayboy’s is, but it does spell out the 4 year curriculum of many schools. For those of you who already sent me your e-mail addresses (because I made the same offer in a different thread), I haven’t forgotten about you. I’m a CPA, and swamped this time of year. I want to clean up the spreadsheet for general viewing before I send it out and haven’t found the time yet, but I have all your e-mail addresses and will send you the spreadsheet as soon as I’m able.</p>
<p>Creating a new email for your child to use only for college correspondence is essential!! Then D would forward them to me and I kept them in a college email folder. Not the email address she used to register for SAT/ACT or on Naviance, or it will end up cluttered with 20 emails a day from Wetakeanyone U. </p>
<p>@cheeseheadmike’s idea for separate email is a good one. We used my address, since we knew S would not be able to keep up with all that came in. I kept track of everything on the spreadsheets and forwarded to him anything he had to directly take care of. He used iPod to give himself reminders for the things he needed to do - with"some" success. I ultimately had to stay on top of him to make sure everything happened when it was supposed to. I am excited to be close to doing my “happy dance”, once all the loose ends are cleared up.</p>
<p>Son set up his college e-mail on Yahoo, and there have been some glitches, so gmail or another service may be a better choice.
Since we knew son would do most of his auditions at Unifieds, I also noted if it was NYC or Chicago on the spreadsheet. Take advantage of the offers here to be e-mailed a spreadsheet if you are not spreadsheet savvy. The spreadsheet was a foreign animal to me, and a bit frustrating. I would have jumped at the opportunity to have used another’s design.</p>
<p>The dedicated email is a must. We made the mistake of not doing this with my daughter this year and will be correcting the mistake with my son this upcoming year. Also…check distances between schools where you are auditioning before you preference audition dates. We did all on-campus auditions and were able to do some auditions on Friday and then one in proximity on a Saturday more than once!</p>
<p>In addition to the basic Schools and Auditions spreadsheets (containing all the kinds of data already mentioned by others on their spreadsheets), we had a separate spreadsheet for Prescreens, of which my S had 6. Uber-helpful when we were filming his prescreens to keep track of each school’s different requirements for length of songs/monos, slating, framing, unscripted statements of interest, etc. We had a master “matrix” worksheet that gave an overview of all the schools’ requirements, so we could quickly see deadlines, dance vs. no dance, DecisionDesk vs. Acceptd, etc., and a separate tab/sheet for each school into which I copy-and-pasted everything from the school’s website/documentation that dealt with the prescreen for easy reference. </p>
<p>I will chime in with the thought on the dedicated email. We created one (in gmail- super easy) that was “open” meaning D, and I BOTH had access, phone updates etc. All agreed on upfront.That way I could see when things came in without “Invading” her space and there was a central place to look</p>
<p>Do NOT rely on YouTube videos to compare schools. Some schools allow only the very best stuff to be posted, while others allow virtually NONE of the mainstage work on YouTube so all you will find is independent student projects (true of D’s school). Not a good way to get apples-to-apples comparisons. Also - you know nothing about the performer’s incoming talent levels, so the videos say little about the actual quality of training at the school.</p>
<p>In addition to being wary of comparing YouTube videos, also be sure to understand what you are watching if you see live shows at schools. Is it a mainstage? Is it student-directed? Is the cast all upper-classmen? At my D’s school, when I visited her this year I saw one of the shows. She said one of the leads was cast because they wanted her to work on her head voice. She was very good, but I thought it was interesting that audience members would not have had the insight I did. It is hard to compare one program’s shows to another unless you have the back story.</p>
<p>Also with regard to YouTube videos - you may not see clips of certain shows or from certain schools because there are a lot of cases where production rights contracts don’t allow for recording or public release of recordings from those shows or schools.</p>
<p>I am not sure it is a tizzy as much as a lot of information to manage and spreadsheets being a useful tool to do that… And yes things have changed for ALL college students since our days, applications and admissions are unlike anything we had to deal with. The standards are considerably harder, just the way it is now.</p>
Bumping this thread up as we are working hard to narrow a reasonable list of schools for my daughter. A question I would love some help with is around how to understand fit in terms of type, voice, and dance proficiency? Some of these things are a little difficult to narrow from just looking at the web site or reading over the curriculum. Is a conservatory style program always better for a classical singer? Or is there a way of discerning which BFA or BA programs veer more toward preferring belt or pop voice as opposed to more legit? This forum has been very useful in helping answer some of those questions, but are there clues to look for in reviewing a program that help in assessing fit.
I’ll use Pace as an example. We visited when we were in NYC, and D loved the school, but my gut is it is not a fit because my sense has been that they may be less interested in a classical soprano than say a NYU Steinhardt might be. However, the gentleman who runs the program seemed to counter when I asked the question about their vocal focus and actually took quite an interest in my daughter, even stopping to speak with her one on one for a moment before we continued the tour. Perhaps just selling the program, but it worked as D was all about Pace after that visit. I’m still not too convinced it is the right fit. So that really has me thinking hard about how we make these evaluations.
How have some of you made these calls when judging your kids’ strengths and type and matching them with potential programs?
I will say that it seems that those students with classical/legit songs in their prescreen generally don’t pass Pace’s prescreen. However, there are exceptions to every rule as we find out all the time on this forum. I say go with your gut. Chances are you’re right.