New to these forums and I really wish I had found them a year ago! My D just submitted her prescreens to 9 schools and despite doing ridiculous amounts of research, I feel like we did everything wrong and I had no idea that MT was so insanely competitive and so hard to get into everywhere.
D is already one year older than her classmates due to us keeping her behind in kindergarten, so she doesn’t want to take a gap year and be 2 years older than her classmates. She also wanted to stay in the Northeast area.
Prescreen deadlines were Dec. 1 and Dec. 15 for the most part, so she just got them in recently and we’ve been waiting to hear if she’ll be called for in-person auditioning. We’ve heard back from 4 schools and they were all no’s. The school she really wants to go to is Hartt, but now I’m feeling like she’s not going to get in anywhere and we’re all freaking out.
She’s been admitted to regional and national honors choruses and she’s won awards for acting, so it’s not that we’re just thinking our kid is talented when she’s not. But I also know that she’s up against thousands of kids that are just like her.
So now I’m hearing about people who have already auditioned in person and I’m like…how did that happen so early? Should we have done that? And people get audition coaches??? She has a voice teacher, but we did the rest on our own. I’m feeling like unless we hired professionals to do all her stuff, we’re not even in the running and that’s disheartening.
Anyway, here’s her list. I know that she has so many top schools, but I didn’t realize that the MT programs were going to be as hard to get into everywhere as they are. I was thinking of general acceptance rates and since her grades and courses are really good, I thought she had good chances. Any input would be great.
Pace (no)
Emerson (no, but asked her to audition for acting instead based on her monologues)
Ithaca (no)
Carnegie Mellon (no)
Nyu Steinhardt
Hartt
Boco
University of New Hampshire (hasn’t submitted prescreen stuff yet)
University of Southern Maine (already in the university and invited to honors program but hasn’t applied to the music program yet)
I cant remember if this was suggested to you in another thread, are you going to unifieds? There will be many schools that have walkins and she can audition for many programs in person there. It isnt too late to meet with an audition prep team now if you have the resources. Some of them have audition boot camps that may help her.
They did mention Unifieds and I mentioned it to my D who would LOVE to go. But I don’t know anything about it and I’m trying to figure out how it works. Would she be able to audition for the schools that rejected her prescreen? Or just for the other schools that are there?
I would LOVE to have her meet with an audition prep team but since her prescreens are all in, I’m not sure if it would be helpful at this point? I feel like we’re just too late for everything and I wish I knew about all this stuff a year ago!!!
If you have the resources message MTCA, they are wonderful and will let you know if they can help you. And I dont know the answer about auditioning for schools that rejected you on prescreens.
Try not to freak out you most certainly didn’t do everything wrong!
Yes a lot of kids submitted prescreens early and have auditioned. But that is by no means necessary and doesn’t even necessarily give you any advantage. My kid has had one audition so far and has exactly zero offers. Hopefully that changes!
Oh, and not everyone hires coaches.Tons of kids are admitted every year without using one. We have a coach but it was mostly for monologue selection and school selection. I think in your case, the school selection conversation would be valuable. They could also evaluate your daughter’s material, if you wanted them to.
Since CMU is in PA, is she willing to go that far south? If so, look into Muhlenberg, which I think does rolling admissions. Slippery Rock is also in PA.
Not sure of their prescreen dates, but Nazareth and Niagara are both in NY. Also in NY is Hofstra, which doesn’t require a prescreen at all. The catch is that it’s a BA and you have to audition for the MT program at the end of your first year. Others mentioned LIU, Molloy/CAP21, Fordham has drama.
Regarding Unifieds. It is just a bunch of schools that convene in one location so kids don’t have to travel all over to audition. Generally, one “gets” an audition at Unifieds by passing a school’s prescreen and then choosing Unifieds as the preferred audition location. Walk-ins are available, sometimes, if a school is not full for that day. You can go to their room and ask if they are accepting walkins and ask for a time slot, if so. The school can then invite you to apply. I am not sure whether they would let you audition if you didn’t pass the prescreen.
Unifieds are held in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles. We didn’t have it last year but I’ve heard that some schools have walk-in auditions. You sign up for a time but need to get there early to sign up. You can not audition for a school that you did not pass a prescreen.
Thank you so much for this!! It really helped calm my nerves and I think reading so much is not helping, LOL!!
Yes, PA was kind of her farthest so I will take a look at Muhlenberg, thank you!
From what I understand from doing a little research here is that Unifieds is basically a good place to get a bunch of auditions in but you have to be invited to audition there, or chance a walk-in. Bummer.
I’m sure she’ll get into the USM program, so worst case scenario is that she stays here in Maine (and she has a great financial aid package there), but obviously she’d love to get into Hartt.
Consider adding some non-audition BA programs to the list. Already, Muhlenberg was mentioned as a good option for this category. I suggest to take a good look at the BA Theater program at University of Vermont as they also have a Musical Theater Minor. No audition to be admitted.
We are in the same exact boat, learning as we go. She’s applied to 26 schools. It has been a crazy ride. Lots of no’s. She is considering a gap year now.
Not a lot of experience but a lot of talent.
She got call backs from CMU and Emerson but redirected to acting also. she is heartbroken.
Have you tried Texas Christian or Belmont those might still be open.
I believe it is not too late to submit a prescreen to Montclair State (very close to NYC, in a suburb). Prescreens are due at least 4 weeks before your desired audition date.
you most certainly didn’t do everything wrong!