<p>Since my senior year is coming this fall and I'll be auditioning at Unifieds, I was wondering how many schools I should be auditioning for (not including safety schools that do not require an audition). Advice on a number of auditions I should have without going mad would be great.</p>
<p>well, it just depends on how well you compartmentalize. i did the chicago unifieds this year, and i only had 5 auditions…one monday, one tuesday, and three wednesday. i thought one a day would be enough but i realized that i really could have done a couple more each day. but, it was kind of nice to be done early in the day and have time to sight see and whatnot. but if you just want to be auditioning the whole time, then my opinion would be that three a day is perfectly managable.</p>
<p>I auditioned for 6 of the most competitive and only got accepted to one. So I only auditioned for 6, after withdrawing from NYU and not finishing my app for UArts. I’d say vary your schools and have back ups. Maybe go for 8-10? It seems like a lot, but some of the kids I talked to at auditions said they are auditioning for 12-18, so it all is really up to you and how confident you are in your schools.</p>
<p>My son auditioned for 9 programs (3 at unifieds) and was accepted to 6 & waitlisted at 1. He was accademically accepted to all! He ended up doing MUCH better than we anticipated. We are so thankful that he has choices. I think we have it narrowed down to 3 programs which we will be visiting over Spring break. It has certainly been a LONG, but exciting journey!</p>
<p>The key is to have a well crafted diverse list of schools all of which are a good fit for your profile and are schools you would be pleased to attend. The pegged thread “Class of 2009 and 2010 - Preparing to Apply” has a lot of discussion about how to go about putting together such a list. Careful selection of the schools on your list is much more important than quantity and the only thing a large number of schools guarantees is exponentially more stress - not necessarily a greater likelihood of a successful outcome. </p>
<p>In addition, I would be very reticent about scheduling all of the auditions for 1 set of Unifieds. An ill-timed bout of flu or a serious cold during the winter months could result in catastrophe and this forum is replete with reports of this occurring. It is always a prudent idea, if at all possible, to schedule some of your auditions on other dates - whether on campus or at regional auditions.</p>
<p>In my daughter’s case, she applied to 5 BFA programs and one non-audition BA program. She ended up with 4 acceptances. If doing it again, I would up the number to 8, adding one additional BFA and an additional BA. Any more than that, in my view, is overkill and will only cause unnecessary stress.</p>
<p>My D is currently a freshman BFA-MT at a very competitive school. She was not sure of the direction in which she wanted to go when looking at college, so she applied and auditioned at numerous schools for straight acting, musical theatre, and voice performance. She was accepted into all the schools academically and got into 7 BFA-MT programs, 1 straight acting program, and 6 BM-Voice Perf. programs. I know this seems like overkill to some people, but she wanted to have lots of options and find just the right fit for her. Yes, she got into 7 BFA programs, but she also got waitlisted at 2 and rejected from 4 others. If she had only done those 6 programs, she may not have gotten into a program at all. She was able to do 9 of her BFA auditions at the Chicago Unifieds. She quickly narrowed her choices down to 1 BM-Voice program, and 3-BFA-MT programs. Her final decision was based on overall performing opportunities, a well-rounded program-solid vocal, acting, and dance training, and location. Good luck to you! It’s a wild ride!</p>
<p>On my list, I have eight schools that I’ll be doing at Unifieds (two other auditions are on campus). Am I even going to be able to schedule all of the acting, singing, and dancing auditions for two days?</p>
<p>I had 8 auditions, and I went to LA unifieds, and Chicago unifieds. I honestlyu believe i could have fit them all into one unified. I had a LOT of downtime to chill, so that was nice too! I had a really wide range of schools, and ended up getting into 4 BFA MT programs out of my 8. I was rejected to schools such as CCM, so keep in your mind that you want to add some schools on ur list that aren’t as competitive as this (THough they will still be a VERY good accomplishment). I would look for 8-10 schools thats u would LOVE to go to any of them.</p>
<p>Also remember that even if you were to get a lot of acceptances, they will come with varying financial aid packages ranging from possibly 0 to full tuition. You want to give yourself as many choices as possible when it comes time to decide, so make sure to allow for that when planning the number of auditions to do.</p>
<p>Due to the low acceptance numbers, my D did 10 MT auditions to increase her chances. We did a lot of research on the schools and the programs, making sure we auditioned only for schools that were an academic fit for her, that had MT programs in which she was interested and that were in locations that worked for her. She did her auditions over two weekends at NY and LA Unifieds. This provided a cost effective way to get in that many auditions and not miss much school. Coming from Colorado, it would’ve been impossible to do campus auditions for that many programs. Unifieds was a very successful route for my D, and auditioning for 10 programs left her with a lot of choices which was nice.</p>
<p>I ended up auditioning for like, 20 schools which is RIDICULOUS. Don’t do it! You need a good amount of “matches”, a few safeties and a few reaches. Most of the schools talked about on the site are reaches, in all honestly, because they have so low acceptance numbers. I’d start with a list of 10- 5 matches, 2 safeties, 3 reaches (or something like that) and then audition for others at unifieds if you have time/find new schools you are interested in.</p>
<p>Tubesock, be careful…my D was sick for Unifieds and was declined by every school that saw her that weekend. MichaelNKat gives very good advice!</p>
<p>My S was one of the kids who got sick, too, but thankfully it was early in the audition season and we were able to reschedule! So keep that in mind when you schedule your auditions because no matter how “perfectly” you schedule them, things do happen and your plans may have to change. It may even mean flying to another city to audition. I am grateful to all the CCers who had experience with this and told me to RESCHEDULE!</p>
<p>It also helps to audition for your top choices AFTER some of the programs that are not as high on your list just to give yourself some practice! </p>
<p>Finally, don’t count on an acceptance to any audition program because it happens all the time (and it happened to my S) where kids are accepted to the supposedly more competitive programs and rejected from what they thought was the sure thing. My S was accepted to 2 out of 3 programs, his friend got into 1 out of 8…auditioning for so many programs doesn’t necessarily translate into more acceptances so I would say don’t bother auditioning for schools that you wouldn’t truly be happy to attend. IMO, it’s less about the number and more about audition and non audition programs you truly like. But I expect that given the low acceptance rate for most of these programs many would disagree. JMHO. </p>
<p>You know what though? I truly believe that for all the fussing and worrying over the best way to go through this audition/application process, the vast majority end up where they are meant to be in the end. Try to have fun with it and let it happen as it should! Good luck! :)</p>
<p>I think it may be easier to determine a number if you have some ideas about the kind of school you are interested in attending. My D ended up with sort of a scattershot approach of everything from small liberal arts to large big ten publics and really had no idea what would be the kind of place for her. She used regional factors to exclude schools - no Northeast or southwest, or west. She also selected schools that based on her academics and the schools stats posted that she was “almost certain” to be accepted to.
In the end she applied at 8 and auditioned at 6 (canceled 1, 2 was non-audition).
We also knew that she would not be able to do any auditions until January, so that in itself limited some places.</p>
<p>I think one of the biggest things is to really pick schools that you think will fit you! Not just schools that you think are the biggest names- My D auditioned at 5 schools for BFA or BM- Musical Theatre- Accepted to 2 wait listed at 1 and rejected by 2. We went to each school. This really helped because programs she thought she would love she didn’t even like and some we didn’t think would be great she loved! The more you can go to the actual school I’d say go. But really think about your skill set and if it matches the schools you are applying to. She is thrilled with her choice and got a scholarship. Just remember if you get into several schools it is sooooo hard to decide and most are pretty expensive.</p>