If we had to do it all over again....

College Majors Theater/Drama Majors
1

<p>I know that my D will end up where she belongs, but this journey (which is still not over) has been a very tough one for my whole family. To date she has not been accepted anywhere (she is still waiting on 4 more colleges). I thought everyone could list something they would do differently about this whole audition process. My list is</p>

<p>tell your D or S to try very hard to keep up their grades while in HS and perfoming all of their shows.
Apply and audition for BFA and BA programs
If you want only BFA - I would say apply to about 20 to 25 colleges. (The talent level is just crazy and your child who possibly had the lead in all of their plays are now going up against the creme de la creme)</p>

<p>If your child can sing, he or she should possibly apply for the musical theatre dept and show the college everything you have (the college will make the decision to place you in their acting program).</p>

2

<p>I’m a parent - but if knew then what I know know I would have my D skip Unifieds. She was so stressed and so off her game that it just was a nightmare. I would do all auditions either on campus or at regional offerings.</p>

<p>Also, I would insist that her list include in-state schools even if it wasn’t for theater. She has actually been accepted to a number of schools but now we are trying to figure out how in the heck to pay for any of them. We were led to believe scholarship money would rain down on us. I don’t think we were being realistic.</p>

3

<p>My daughter loved Unifieds and even got to do some walk-ins. Personally, I believe students shouldn’t just focus on what they think are the top programs. Almost everyone we spoke to at Unifieds were auditioning for the same schools, CCU, BoCo, NYU, CMU, Purchase, UofArts, Emerson, Ithaca, Penn State… Most of those programs only take a handful of kids each year. Also, what was good a few years ago, may not be as good now. Many kids get so caught up in that that they may not look into some of the “lesser” known schools that also have great theatrical training. Sierra Boggess went to Milliken, Jennifer Garner went to Denison, Marin Mazie- Western Michigan. That’s just a few. Also, kids really need to find a good fit- not the most prestige. One of my daughter’s friends got waitlisted at one (state) school and rejected from the other 7 MT programs where she auditioned. She was going for the name and I really don’t believe she did that much research. She also felt like she HAD to train in NY- but she has never even been to the city. JMHO!</p>

4

<p>I would have retained an acting coach, if only to keep my D focused on audition preparation. They have so much going on in their lives at this point, and it can be difficult for them to make the time. Plus, I think it would be helpful for them to have someone to interact with and nag them, who isn’t Mom.</p>

<p>We did have a good result, but I think D might have had more choices had she done more prep.</p>

5

<p>I guess each and everyone of us have had a unique experience. </p>

<p>I feel my son did it the right way. He knew what he wanted to be in NYC. He only applied to 4 audition schools (NYU, Pace, Fordham and Marymount). He stayed busy at school and didn’t over focus or stress over the process. He did his auditions (thought he did horrible at NYU) but, over all felt the rest went good. He moved on after the auditions and it was going to be what it was…</p>

<p>He’s been excepted in 3 out of the 4 and haven’t heard from Marymount yet but his audition was only on the 17th (not sure how quickly acceptance go out)…now I’m sure if the outcome had been different; we both might be looking at the process but for him he was true to himself and it worked.</p>

6

<p>Very thankful as well. D got into:NYU/Tisch- acting, SMU-BFA, U of Miami - BFA Acting, Chapman- audition BA, Waitlisted: BU- BFA acting, Emerson- BFA acting, Rejected:USC BFA, UCLA, Carnegie. ATTENDING- USC BA</p>

<p>She always wanted USC and would take BA over BFA any where ( except maybe Carnegie). She also wanted the college audition experience.</p>

<p>Important takeaways/advice- make sure you have 1-3 academic safety/ match schools you will be happy to attend. To broaden that set - keep your grades up!! That also expands merit money. D got 50% tuition to USC and several others.</p>

<p>I think working with a coach ( in our case- Mary Anna Dennard) was critical to her success. She had great material, was well prepared and had a realistic expectation of results.</p>

<p>I would have all material selected (and essays written) in the summer before senior year. D did and it made for a much less stressful senior year.</p>

<p>Try to get an audition in before Unifieds so you may have a “win” before you go into the season. D found out she was in to SMU at Unifieds and it really eased the nerves. ( she also had 2 early academic acceptances - so she knew she was going to college).</p>

<p>Know that the whole college process is a crap shoot and the audition process adds another layer of that. Only a very few people ( especially girls) will get into all or most of schools they audition for. Celebrate your successes instead of focusing on rejections.</p>

<p>Good Luck to all in the future. CC is a wonderful place to build your knowledge. Try not to obsess over it!</p>

7

<p>lorilynne, one of my biggest mistakes was not making my D apply to academic safeties. We are now in a situation of hoping/praying that her top choice DePaul will accept her off of their waistlist. I would stress that the most to any up and coming Seniors. It is so aggravating to be sitting here at this point with not one acceptance letter. Just a bunch of waitlist and rejections. And although we are very thankful for the waitlist - I would have felt more comfortable had she already had at least 2 acceptances academically. My D insisted on mostly BFA’s.</p>

8

<p>^ And what makes me mad is that the boys have it so much easier. A boy at my daughter’s school got into CMU. This is a kid who skips school, does drugs and smokes, and doesn’t make good grades at all. I actually lost a little respect for CMU for admitting him! He doesn’t get respect from the kids at school either but he’s a boy and was cast in just about everything. The only consolation is that kids like this can’t handle the hard work that goes into the craft!</p>

9

<p>Lorilynne, For the sake of all those on waitlists, I hope your daughter will let the schools she will not attend know right away since she has already decided. If you have already done this, thank you. Congratulations on all her acceptances!</p>

10

<p>We spent money to travel to my son’s top three schools to audition thinking the audition would be more comprehensive–this was a waste of money. He could have done them at Unifieds (we had already visited those schools and that’s why he wanted to go there). </p>

<p>He definitely should have put more effort into his audition material. The money we spent on travel should have been put into a coach.</p>

<p>What we did right–he took online classes during the summer before senior year to lighten his academic load during the year. This was a blessing since he had rehearsals for the school production every day after school and was in a community theater production for 6 weeks at night.</p>

<p>Safeties are essential–and apply very early so that you have acceptances in hand before the audition season starts. This built my s’s confidence going in. (And he felt he would be happy at the safeties)</p>

<p>Remember that everyone’s audition experience is different. I have been shocked by some of the unprofessional behavior of the adults evaluating the students’ work. And then pleasantly surprised bysome who worked with my s. And it doesn’t matter what the prestige of the school is–there is no correlation to the prestige of the school either way. Have no expectations either way going in.</p>

<p>Contrary to other postings, we did not see that it was any easier for boys. In fact, for straight acting, it seemed there were often far more boys than girls. I would have had my s audition for MT where there seemed to be fewer boys since he can dance and sing. (I think we mistakenly believed he had to be as good a dancer as some of the girls who have been dancing since they were 3)</p>

<p>We auditioned at too many schools (and too many of the same type of schools). By the end, he was almost too exhausted to get excited about them.</p>

11

<p>she has let several know and will finish up this weekend as she is out of town with school. I agree with the importance of doing that. However, the reality is many never get to their waitlist because they over accept knowing they will not get everyone.</p>

12

<p>This is a very interesting thread. Thanks for starting it!</p>

<p>What would I wish we had done differently? I could say I wish my D had started preparing for her auditions earlier, but on the other hand she did what she was ready to do, when she was ready to do it. We can always look back and imagine how much more prepared she could have been or how much better her material would have been, but she could only do what she could do. Life goes on.</p>

<p>She had some nice coaching, but I suppose we could imagine that could have been better, too. I’m not sure there is anyone around here who would/could have given her admissions-focused coaching (we tried to find someone, believe me). Should she have gone to fancy camps (she went to music camps for years, but never for theatre)? Really I think everything she did made her who she was, and I don’t regret the choices she made.</p>

<p>She had a good, balanced list. She did have lots of non-auditioned programs, including a non-auditioned BFA. There is a thread listing those for anyone who wants a list. We all were very glad she had several rolling and EA admissions in the fall. I would recommend to everyone that they at least consider doing that.</p>

<p>I probably would say that she made a mistake going to Unifieds, but we didn’t know that until she got there. She started getting incredibly nervous about a week before, and was very flat and unsuccessful at all of her auditions (and was rejected by all of them). She did great at the two auditions she did on campuses. But we couldn’t have known that in advance, and the above posts show that it’s different for everyone.</p>

<p>I wish she hadn’t been as dead set on a couple of her reach schools, because the rejections were devastating. But I never would have dissuaded her from setting her sights high - no one can predict where someone might or might not get in.</p>

<p>I would tell anyone starting this process to make a good, balanced list, not to assume anything, and never to take the rejections personally - but I suppose that’s about as easy as telling a snowball not to melt in July. Always remember anyone can have a life in theatre no matter what happens during this crazy college admissions process. Just go in with your eyes wide open. Thank you to CC for all of the wonderful support and information. I do know she’d never be where she is without what we learned here.</p>

13

<p>Few get off the waitlist but for the few who do, it means a lot to know sooner rather than later.</p>

14

<p>There’s so much I would have done differently but I kind of don’t like to dwell on it much - and much of it doesn’t especially apply to everyone across the board but was more specific to my D and our situation.</p>

<p>One thing we did do right and I will tell EVERYONE if they only make sure of one thing, it’s this: love thy safety. Get at least one safety all across the board - academically, financially, and artistically - that you would be happy enough to attend. Even if it’s not the dream school. It’s very important that you would be satisfied with the school - if you hate the idea of going there, you aren’t going to have that comforting knowledge that no matter what happens at auditions you will end up somewhere decent anyway.</p>

<p>It takes a lot more research to find those good safeties. But it is really worth it. </p>

<p>We had a couple and ended up not going there because we scraped up the money for a school that was a fit in the other two areas and almost a fit or a reach financially. But I think she would have been fine at either of her safeties.</p>

<p>~and big hugs to everyone with rejections (which is everyone, isn’t it?) Some days they sting more than others. It’s part of this career, though…it won’t get any easier, so it’s good to learn to deal with them now.</p>

15

<p>I would do a lot less traveling around for auditions. My daughter had researched her schools very well and there wasn’t much in the way of surprises on any campus. I didn’t see any advantage to it and at some schools the on-campus audition day seemed more out-of-control and unorganized than Unifieds. That money would have been better spent on additional training or coaching, although she did learn to handle herself in an airport. I would urge her to do less schools but choose them more carefully. By the end she was just very over the whole thing. And I would NOT encourage her to apply to more programs hoping it would increase the odds of an acceptance. Rejections from schools you don’t think are all that hot to begin with are particularly annoying.</p>

16

<p>What a great thread! Thanks, Ready4March, for starting it. It could also be called “Lessons Learned”, and it should be mandatory reading for families starting their search for theater-related programs.</p>

<p>We were naive coming into the process, our previous college admissions experience having been with a non-arts child. My D is finishing at an arts high school, and was adamant that she wanted to apply only to BFA programs in acting. The first thing I would do differently as a parent – and several have already highlighted this – would be to insist on a safety school. Even though my D had a good outcome in the long run, anxiety levels (hers, and thus ours) went through the roof as she auditioned and realized for the first time how competitive BFA admissions are. Once she applied to a safety school that had rolling admissions, the edge came off and she was able to relax.</p>

<p>The second thing I would do differently is cut back drastically on pre-audition visits to schools. We visited about a dozen colleges and universities, but most of what we learned was during the first couple of visits (e.g., what BFA programs are like, typical facilities, etc.). Otherwise, BFA programs are so competitive that there is no predicting which programs will admit your child. I think it might be better to reserve most of the travel budget for April, after the acceptances come out, when a more focused comparison of programs becomes possible.</p>

<p>The last thing is not so much something I would do differently, than something I would have liked to know before engaging in the process. I did not appreciate the extent to which program admissions are separate from academic admissions. In our experience the first decision is typically an academic admission, and we found our D admitted to several schools, some with financial aid offers, before we received any program admissions. The BFA program admissions were audition-based and have taken a long time to be processed. In fact, they’re still not complete. This has been very frustrating, and I think if we had known it was the norm, we might have handled it better emotionally.</p>

17

<p>Many of the decisions my daughter and I made were influenced by what we read here. CC is a fantastic resource. My daughter does not have a high school theater program so she was truly on her own. We found a great acting coach on the recommendation of one of the CC moms in our area. That was the most important thing: a mentor with a lot of experience guiding kids through the artistic end of this process. </p>

<p>I think we did a lot of things right: in October she locked down a reasonable academic,economic safety with a good theater department. Thanks to rolling admissions, she was able to go into audition season with a sense of security. Another feature of the safety is that it allowed her to narrow her list. Whenever the question of applying to an another program arose, she compared it to her already-accepted college. If she would rather go to Temple than, say, Marymount Manhattan or UArts, she eliminated that program. So we were able to keep her list down to a more manageable size. My daughter applied to fewer auditioned schools than many people on this list, but she was only able to do that because of her safety.</p>

<p>What I would have done differently:I would not have urged her to apply to as many LACs at the last minute, worrying that she might not get into any auditioned programs and would need a more challenging academic environment than her safety. I urged her to do so because I wanted her to have choices come May, but in retrospect I believe I may have over-done it. On the plus side, she wrote a heck of a lot of essays, and some of the prompts were pretty interesting. It seems that she had the best luck at the schools with great prompts. </p>

<p>I would have had her scheduled her auditions earlier in the season for auditioned schools who have many, many days over a long period. She was rejected at one school, where she thought she was a good match, and where she had a lengthy audition with a very detailed and positive interview. The only factor we could have controlled better was her audition date: she went out there on the 11th of 12 dates, pretty late in their season. It may not have made a difference, but if her type (and she is a definite type, not common in the looks among their freshman class) were already picked for that season, her chances would have been greatly diminished by the late audition. </p>

<p>The last thing I would have done differently was to pressure her to retake her ACTs. She had a migraine on the day of her test last year and ended up with a score that was two/three points lower than all of her practice tests, yet within the range of the schools she applied to. On CC we were advised to have her retake them, although her ACT coach (she had a few lessons) and others in person told us her score would be fine. It was fine for admission-- she even got into an Ivy League school-- but in one, and only one important case-- her first choice school, her score seems to have made a difference in her merit aid. The reasons for not retaking them were always compelling at the moment-- a performance, a rehearsal, painful wisdom teeth… but retaking the test may have made the difference in her being able to attend that school-- financial reasons. We shall see. </p>

<p>Still waiting to hear from two schools, and another callback audition on April 6.</p>

18

<p>glassharmonica, that is another excellent reason to have a good safety. We did the same thing - if a program didn’t compare well to the safety, there was no point, and while there’s justification for auditioning at a dozen schools or more in this major, it’s certainly no walk in the park and if you can save the travel money and cost in energy and time, put those resources elsewhere, that’s a good thing.</p>

19

<p>The one thing I wish we could have done differently is to fully appreciate how ridiculously low the odds are for acceptance into most of the good programs. Regardless of how talented your child is, the numbers game is working against you. So, please, when wise parents from CC implore you to find a non-auditioned safety, take their sage advice. (I predict that about 99 out of every 100 kids won’t do this step properly.)</p>

<p>And don’t make the mistake of rationalizing your future audition success relative to the results of peers or older kids from your HS programs. Well wishing HS drama and choir directors will tell your child they are better than so and so who got into NYU last year, etc. They will tell your child they are better than the last 10 kids from their HS that got into elite BFA programs.</p>

<p>I would even say that visiting prospective programs isn’t as effective as we thought it should be. My daughter did all of her auditions on campus, and in retrospect I wish she could have gone to Unifieds instead. Her HS spring musical and dream role conflicted, so we opted to jump through some expensive and time-consuming hoops to go only to on campus auditions. </p>

<p>It would be nice if more schools would require video pre-screening with a consistently defined format. I think some kids’ lists could be optimized much more efficiently and cost effectively through that process. I realize it’s not perfect and not for everyone, but I still think it would help lots of young people.</p>

<p>The last piece of advice I would give is to tell kids that life isn’t over if you don’t get into your dream programs, or if you don’t get into any of your auditioned programs. There are plenty of other programs out there that will allow you entrance and opportunities, some that might actually have better curricula and be a better fit for you to begin with.</p>

<p>Good luck to all the kids and their families!</p>

20

<p>This is a great post. Even though this was our SECOND time doing this, I think we’d still do things differently. My D is fortunate to have choices, but it’s still been very stressful.</p>

<p>First of all, although hiring a coach may be great, some of us don’t have much money. We would never be able to afford a coach like Dunnard. So for those who aren’t well off, please remember there are wonderful resources in front of you—my older son used his own high school director, and my D was blessed to have worked with a gifted professional director who volunteered her time (!) to help my D (the director is truly a giving person). I think the take away is that you should have <em>some</em> sort of coach, whether it’s a high school teacher you trust or a professional coach who has good results.</p>

<p>Things we’ve learned:</p>

<ol>
<li><p>Apply and audition much earlier. I don’t know the stats but I believe your chances of success are higher if you audition earlier. Even if this is just my own impression, I still think it’s good to apply early as that gives your child a chance to fall in love/weed out schools they thought they’d love, which brings me to</p></li>
<li><p>Audition on campus if at all possible. Flossy’s post is interesting and no doubt right for her D, but my D goes a lot on ‘feel’ and fit. Researching extensively can help you find schools and weed out schools, but nothing replaces actually going. Obviously that’s not possible if you have to travel far and your money is tight–but if it isn’t, or you don’t have to travel that far, I’d really encourage folks to audition on campus. I think it’s super important to get a feel for the actual college and to meet the current students. At some schools, when my D auditioned there, she felt that the current students had absolutely zero in common with her (some very surprisingly), and at others, she felt an immediate bond. Ditto for faculty and philosophy. This is personal and in some ways intangible. </p></li>
<li><p>Do not worry about the reputation–worry about the fit. I can’t stress this enough. Some programs may have this amazing reputation but if you’re unhappy there and/or the learning style is not right for you, then you will seriously lower your chances of success. So, are you a match for the program <em>and</em> are they a match for you? Each program is VERY different and it’s super important to find a program that you can thrive in and be happy in. Again, this is personal. </p></li>
<li><p>Take finances into account. If you are not blessed to be able to write a $55,000 check per year, do not back yourself into a college that is fabulous but that can offer you no money. Look into living expenses as well–sometimes they are extremely high, and you need to budget that in as well. Look into colleges that offer scholarships that match with your child and/or that are able to give great financial aid and/or cost less. This is seriously very important because I don’t think it is ever a good idea to incur large debt.</p></li>
<li><p>Apply for safeties as well as BA programs with reputations that match your own desires. There are many excellent BA programs that aren’t as difficult to get into.</p></li>
<li><p>Know that the odds of getting accepted are extremely slight, particularly - let’s face it - if you’re a girl. Play to your strengths, don’t listen to others–do what fits YOU. Know what YOU want, which is sometimes very difficult considering you’re 17 or 18!</p></li>
<li><p>AUdition first at the school you think you want least. View that audition as a trial audition. Usually your first audition is indeed your weakest one. Also, be prepared for them to ask what other schools you’re applying to and have your answer ready (this was new to us and my D wasn’t ready). Also be prepared to discuss why you want to go to that particular school. I don’t personally like that they ask you these questions, but that’s the reality, so you should be prepared for it every bit as much as the audition.</p></li>
<li><p>I do not believe the auditions are fully based on talent. (And my D got into excellent programs, so this isn’t sour grapes). I don’t believe that judging for ‘talent’ is possible in a 2 minute audition paneled sometimes by a single person. Sure, it’s possible to screen out some, but I believe that many places are screening for other factors, such as type, height/weight, race, and definitely gender. Whatever is important to their own program. Since you can’t control these factors, focus on what you can control, but be aware that a rejection at one place isn’t necessarily a comment on your talent, and be aware that this is not only about talent. </p></li>
</ol>

<p>At the end of the day,I don’t think there is one single right way or wrong way to do this. Probably if I had 10 children and they all applied to theatre programs, I’d still be writing about what I’d do differently!</p>