@MTMom98 My S is in the Class of 2018 and not hiring a coach is also one of my regrets. It was my (and obviously his) first time through the process. He was student at a PA HS and had spent many summers at Stagedoor so a number of his friends and acquaintances were going through the process at the same time so we were not completely in the dark. For me, I think the coach would have helped analyze and critique the total package (song and monologue selection in particular). I believe the coaches have the most up-to-date information as to what the schools are looking for and how to package it. He had success in the process but I do think a good coach would have given him additional confidence in the process.
Another thing coaches (most of the bigger agencies) offer is mock auditions. I think that was probably one of the most helpful things my D had. She could try out her material in front of strangers and get feedback. You don’t get that without an agency (unless you somehow arrange it yourself.)
college audition coach has master classes and mock auditions with college reps that are open to anyone and available on the website store page. Some are actually on the college campuses. Michigan, Carnegie Mellon, Texas State, Pace and I think one or two more. There may be other places to take mock auditions that are open to anyone. Just google or check here on CC.
MTMom98, I PM’d you.
ArtsBridge offers mock auditions open to all. Last year they offered Syracuse and another NY school. Can’t remember. We scheduled but then didn’t attend because because we signed up with Mary Anna Dennard --College Audition Coach.
Broadway Artists Alliance also offers a college audition 3-day intensive in NYC for high school juniors and seniors in August that covers monologue/song selection, dance call, prescreen videoing, workshops )to teach about the various college programs, the process, financial aid (for parents), essay, resume), and a mock audition. It’s between $900-1000 for the 3 days.
In a public high school with no theater classes, the guidance counselors knew nothing about this process. So we had to do lots of homework on everything ourselves. While we are in NY, we are in Upstate NY and it doesn’t really seem like people here know, talk or participate in things like Moonifieds, ArtsBridge, Broadway Artists Alliance, Young Arts, Thespian Festivals so we only learned about those missed opportunities while talking to other kids/parents at auditions. I wish we had known about them earlier so we could have taken advantage of them. Hopefully this type of info will help the Juniors and younger who are reading everything on these boards!
@MTMom98 we’re in the same boat! Isn’t it frustrating to not have access to that info through your district (also outside of NY, but on LI, where we actually have a local 1/2 day performing arts high school through BOCES, but our district chooses not to participate…)? I love when I see parents of younger children reading these boards to prepare themselves! 
@lovestoact, aaahhh you said BOCES and I was immediately transported back home to my high school years. Sigh…
Carry on!
Our D’s experience with BAA was that it cost a lot of money but it wasn’t very personal. We wouldn’t do it again. It wasn’t worth what we spent.
$900 - 1000 would most likely garner you 5 - 10 private sessions with some of the top college audition coaches that might give you more targeted assistance. You may not need more than that.
Thank you for all of the responses! I have contacted several coaches thus far, and now just need to pick one. I cannot believe how crazy this MT stuff is. I had no idea until a few weeks ago when I started researching colleges for MT programs. In fact, I had no idea that CC even existed. I am completely overwhelmed!! My daughter loves MT and I am honestly scared that she may not get in. She is extremely talented, but I am learning that even the talented ones don’t make the cut!! Also, I am on a very tight budget, so I have to be very selective as to where to spend my money on this adventure… I do like the thought of Mary Anna’s moonifieds… because to be completely honest, that may be the only way she can audition for some of the schools that are very far from our hometown. We have 6 kiddo’s and I am wondering how I am going to get all this done! But, I WILL get it done:) I want each one of my kids to chase their dreams and passions and I know it will all workout somehow…
@momma2a If you have to limit auditions due to travel, I highly recommend traveling to Chicago for Unified Auditions if you can. I believe someone posted the dates for next year and it’s 4 days next year. In that 4 days, your D can get many auditions done.
@momma2a We hired Mary Anna Dennard in April of last year. She required you to join and read her online coaching site for I think $500. Then will work with you for I think 4 sessions picking monologues and another two session with a song person. This was another charge. My D learned so much from the online site. She filled out a questionnaire that let Moo know about what kind of person she is. Moo gave her at least 6-8 monologues in different styles and then D picked her dramatic, comedic, etc. ones and they worked on them. All of this was done via Skype. The song guy was absolutely great in coming up with songs that were matches for D. She used these monologues and songs for her auditions. We chose to do moonifieds and not unifieds for the big multi audition week. First, it was less expensive to fly and stay in Dallas, Second, the weather was nice. This may sound trivial but, last years unifieds in NYC and the previous year unified in Chicago each had a huge blizzard, which can really throw a wrench. Moonifeds has master classes, group warm ups in the mornings for everyone, and 1 dance call where all the schools watch. It was so stress free and organized. We were so happy with it. I think total moo costs were $1500. Also, the audition fees for schools at moonifieds were waived. D got 2 offers and 3 call backs to on campus auditions out of it. Which also helped us avoid some prescreens. Money was a huge issue for us since we are momma2four. lol The only other schools we did were in driving distance, except for OCU and UO
Just curious what schools were represented at moofieds?
Here is a partial list of Moonifieds schools from November 2014:
Final Auditions
Point Park
Baldwin Wallace
Viterbo
Central Oklahoma
OCU
Wright State
Rider
TCU
UArts
CAP21
Pace (may have been a live prescreen, I can’t remember exactly)
Hartt (kind of fuzzy about whether Hartt was there or not)
Live Prescreens
Oklahoma
Penn State
Coastal Carolina
Otterbein
Texas State
I think that there were 20 or more schools in attendance total.
Some advantages of Moonifieds vs Unifieds:
- Only one dance call for all schools. This saves large blocks of time vs. Unifieds.
- No problems with scheduling auditions, you just submit your list and all auditions will be organized for you.
- The auditions are held in November with some schools giving early acceptances and immediate feedback on live prescreens. Positive results, or lack thereof, can help students optimize the remainder of their audition season by adding or subtracting schools from their audition plans.
- The optimized scheduling over 3 days allows students to easily do 12-15 auditions (or even more). You don't have to set aside 3-4 hour blocks of time for some schools, which does occur at Unifieds.
By combining Moonifieds with Unifieds, a student can greatly expand their audition list without missing a lot of school or making lots of trips.
@EmsDad Thank you for the info!!!
The list varies from year to year. This past year there were fewer final auditions and many more live prescreens @momma2a. It was a very good experience. Very worthwhile.
It is my understanding that FINAL AUDITIONS last year at Moonifieds were:
Point Park
Viterbo
Central Oklahoma
OCU
Wright State
Rider
TCU
UArts
CAP21
Pace
U of Texas
Coastal Carolina
Ohio Northern
Montclair State
LIVE PRESCREENS
Texas State
U of Oklahoma
Otterbein
Penn State
There is information about these Moonified auditions at collegeauditioncoach. I found the details and dates by scrolling to the bottom of the home page.
The mock auditions and master classes are “available to anyone” and found on the Store page. They take place in different cities.
Broadway Dreams Foundation has mock college auditions in Phillidelphia in August with heads of musical theatre programs from Pace, Rider, Michigan and Carnegie Mellon. I think this happens each summer.
Making It On Broadway has a weekend of mock auditions in Cleveland with the audition reps of CCM (Aubrey Berg, head of program), Michigan and Baldwin Wallace.
Additionally, collegeauditionpro had a summer mock audition weekend in San Francisco with Texas State, Pace, USC, UCLA and CMU last year. Don’t know if it will happen again this summer but you could contact and find out details.
These are all available to anyone who signs up and not specific to any college audition coaching service.
@EmsDad you bring up some excellent points about the advantage of Moonified auditions, but I think most students will have colleges on their lists that will require they also participate in one of the Unified dates and do the combination you refer to. Don’t you? And on another note, this is an example of how these kids are doing so many auditions. In some cases 12 or more. These lists seem to grow each year.
We were at Moonifieds in Fall 2015 and there was some tweaking of the list and the requirements of each school. This may not be reflected in the above list. I can’t speak to many of the schools because D auditioned for just 8(two were walk-in) there. But, for instance, D was asked to audition for Coastal Carolina after the auditors saw her in the dance call. After her audition, she was invited to come to the campus for a callback, or to submit a video audition. That procedure is not outlined above. Regardless, D found Moonifieds to be a great way to get her head in the game early in the season.