I’ve been reading lots on here and enjoying following the journeys of all. My D is a Junior and we are working with MTCA.
My question is this (It’s likely been covered before ) but…
Unifieds sound like a blast for a certain kind of kid. My daughter is an actor/dancer/singer in that order. She will be auditioning for Acting BFA’s and MT’s as well but she is the kind of person who likes space and paces herself and though saving money will be an issue I worry that it sounds a bit chaotic and stressful. If most of your schools are a drivable distance is it better to do on Campus? I know it depends on the kid but do you think the faculty feel more at home on their own turf??
I guess I am asking is there an advantage to either ? Aside from saving money and hitting more schools. Might the auditors feel more relaxed and less bombarded in an on Campus audition?
Here is a past thread on this topic:
IMHO, there is no advantage in terms of likelihood of admission to either Unifieds or on-campus auditions. There are way too many variables in an inherently subjective process for location to end up making an overall difference. You should pick the option for each audition that seems to be the best fit for your student in terms of schedule, finances, least likelihood of stress, etc. I will point out that on-campus auditions are not necessarily less stressful than Unifieds - travel problems may arise, some schools are not that well organized, some schools can be pretty intimidating, at some on-campus auditions there will might be hundreds of students auditioning simultaneously for many different majors (such as Belmont) or the theatre program might be so large that there are 200 or more students at the audition, etc.
As one college faculty member pointed out:
@laylamom - my D is also someone who can get overwhelmed. We went to Chicago unifieds- but chose NOT to stay at the Palmer house. This began b/c 3 of her auditions weren’t at the Palmer, and b/c H could get us a free rooms at the other hotel- but we found it also really nice to be able to get away from the hustle and bustle of the venue. Perfect for adding a layer of calm
So, my daughter transferred from her first BFA program. She did mostly unified auditions the first go 'round. The second year I suggested that since fit was an issue the first time that she do all on campus auditions to get a sense of the environment. I think that really helped her. She ruled out one school because the fit was off.
@laylamom I will have a more educated answer for you once we get thru redirections & acceptances; but your D sounds exactly like mine. We (she) did both. Pros to both; even for a student who likes space & calm. Like @toowonderful said, it sounds like if you do go to Chicago Unifieds, you would want to get a room at a hotel other than Palmer House, as my D had. I would focus first on making a good schools list; and then worry about the logistics of auditions. BAL!
My daughter is a junior, so she’ll be auditioning next year, but she’s already told me she would prefer to avoid Unifieds - she feels it will be to chaotic and overwhelming. She says she would prefer to audition on-campus so she can focus on one audition at a time, and also to see the schools. We’re lucky in that we live in New York and most of her choices are East Coast, so they are drivable. So we’ll be mostly doing on-campus, with just one or two at Unifieds that are too far to drive.
I have said this before - my S (MT - 2018) did all but one of his auditions on campus. He really wanted to get to the schools and get a feel for them. My D (Acting - 2020) did all but two of her auditions at Chicago Unifieds. Her theory - she’d visit the schools where received an offer (or waitlist, as it turned out). Both ended up with offers and very nice choices. It really didn’t matter where the auditions took place. Unifieds is hectic and stressful but very efficient. The on-campus auditions were certainly not stress-free but they do allow your student to focus. The downside of course is falling in love with a campus/program based on the on-campus audition and then being re-directed!
Thank you all for the great feedback. @actorparent perhaps we will meet in our travels next year. We are two hours out of NY but go in quite often and will be doing a lot of driving and East Coast Schools. Yes artskids, that is my fear. The falling in love with only to be redirected. That is part of the process for all kids going forward at this stage but, whoa…these lovely theatre kids really put themselves out there. It is such a formative age to shoulder multiple disappointments. I think my D is very dreamy eyed about it. I explain the odds but so far that has not deterred her. I’ve been marveling at all the gusto on the sharing and venting thread. My heart aches for kids I don’t even know so I can only imagine what next year will be like. My eyeballs are twirling! I feel like any teen who is brave enough to prepare for this process and see it through deserves a place in the theatre. I’ve found lots of the stories here compelling and I am grateful for all the info. Break legs to all your kids…whatever stage they are at and kudos to you all for the loving support you give. Also the schlepping !!! This stuff is hard core!
Every person is different, so know your child when making this decision. Our D found many of the on campus audition days long and draining. She did not like going to class or taking campus tours at the same time as she was auditioning. She would have rather focused on her auditions and then seen the campus on another day once she received an acceptance. At Unifieds, she felt the opportunity to audition multiple times in a short period allowed her material to improve and get stronger throughout the week. And she was energized by the pace and environment. She was accepted to schools from both experiences so I do not feel location had a bearing on acceptances/rejections.
My D also loved Unifieds–Chicago a bit more than NY, though. NY’s were more crowded because of the space, so they seemed more intense. In fact, she liked the Unified experience so much that, for months, she claimed she was going to miss them the following year! Her coach laughed at that and said she’d be so immersed in her program that she wouldn’t care. Her coach was right, of course.
D also liked on-campus auditions, though–probably equally. She just got energized in general by the auditions no matter where they occurred.
I think it’s probably hard for most people to know exactly how the auditioner will respond to any of this before it actually happens, so it might a good idea to mix it up. That’s what we did, and it worked great. And, as already mentioned, acceptances/rejections came from both.
If someone wants to be able to get away from Unifieds in Chicago, staying on the executive level is a great option. It wasn’t crowded at all, and it was quiet. I can see how staying off-site would work well for this, too, however. During our year, I was especially glad to be on-site on the executive floor because of the huge snowstorm that week! We had to go off-site for 2 auditions, and we went out to eat sometimes outside of the hotel, but the latter was under our control.
We are at LA Unifieds now after spending the past week in Chicago at the Palmer House. I have to agree with those who say that the Palmer House experience is quite hectic. While I don’t regret going because D had some very good audition experiences there I will say it was not always a conducive environment for a peaceful state of mind. It didn’t help matters that she ended up with an allergic reaction on our last day which caused us to skip all of her auditions but the last one that day. By the time we left she was flat out overwhelmed and exhausted. But LA has rejuvenated her. First it is just nice to be back close to home in our familiar environment. But more it is just a less hectic more laid back and less frantic pace. For those planning for next year I would highly recommend LA if you can make it work. Although it seems like just one weekend some schools are here both Friday and Monday as well. There is lots of walk-in availability, even with schools that usually require prescreens like Otterbein and Penn State. As for on campus auditions we will be doing those the next three weekends so I guess I’ll be better able to compare the experiences after that. I will say I’m looking forward to actually visiting several schools.
I attended both on campus auditions and NYC unifieds, and I personally loved unifieds. It is chaotic, but I actually found it to be less stressful than the on campus auditions. On campus, I had to wait for hours for my slot, but I loved how at unifieds I was just popping into audition rooms all over the place. I also felt much more confident at unifieds because I was doing my material over and over and I got more and more comfortable with it! I also loved meeting other MT kids at auditions and I made some friends there!
The biggest advantage of unifieds is walk ins, which was a lifesaver for me! It actually turned out that from the 4 schools I’ve already heard back from for unified auditions, I didn’t get into either of my 2 schools that were pre scheduled, but I got into 2 of my walk ins! That was super lucky for me!
It all depends on your personal needs, but I highly recommend scheduling a mix of both on campus and unified auditions.
One other thing I found about Unifieds is that the schools tend to abbreviate the audition requirements in the interest of time and seeing as many applicants as possible. So while the audition requirements on the web site might ask for two songs and two monologues that might be reduced to one song and one monologue or 16 bars instead of 32. While I get the need for expedience it does seem to limit the students from showing their range.
We did a mix of campus and Chicago Unifieds. My daughter is one who really likes some down time, and staying on the executive level was great for that. Our room was pretty good sized and had two bathrooms and didn’t feel crowded on the floor at all. It was awesome because she could run down to auditions and come back up to the room to rest and regroup. The lounge was also a great bonus with breakfast, snacks,fresh fruit and drinks available all day, and in the evening some warm snacks which were all included with the room price. As hectic as it was, having a quiet space to rest and regroup was great! I would definately recommend getting a room on the executive levels. The on campus visits were awesome too, but very long waits. There were times I feel she lost some steam by the time an afternoon audition slot rolled around. I think that the student panels are nice for the parents, but I noticed the kids were more reserved about talking with current students about the programs because they really do know they don’t want to fall in love with a place that they have no idea will want them.
@EmsDad Wow, what that college rep said was the most well put and succinct I have ever read on the topic. Thank you for sharing it! Can you tell us who said it?
My daughter was in this process last year. We did both. In retrospect, doing as many Unifieds as possible , plus any video submissions would have been the best way to go and then go and visit where she got in. She ended up falling in love with programs based on a visit before knowing if it was an option:). For on campus visits it was expensive and time consuming for us as we are on the West Coast and every school she applied to was, Southern, Mid West or East Coast. We were also very very new to the process, so in our case I would have had a National MT Coaching pro help with at least the college list. We were lucky in that academically she was eligible for anywhere but her priority was not the academics but the MT programs. In hindsight we would have been better off focusing more on conservatory style programs but we only know this after seeing what her focus has been once in college. Still great grades but her focus is really the MT classes. One other note, if on paper your kid has a favorite school I would try and do that sooner rather than later, i.e. the earliest Unified you can do for that school, or if they do have a November on campus, maybe do that as an on campus, get videos in early etc.
We agree @sbc Visiting early is a mistake. Wait and visit where your kid gets in
I disagree to a certain extent. I have seen kids throw a whole pile of programs in the hat (looking for acceptances) and then find out after acceptance that those places aren’t really appealing to them. I get not falling in love, and I get the expense of travel, but I strongly recommend seeing as many different types of programs as possible before you apply- so that you have a better idea what you want.
toowonderful, I do not disagree that ideally you could go and visit all the schools you think you have an interest in to even see if after that campus visit it holds up but in our case flying in for an audition with little time to even view the school was not the best way to see many of these places. So if you can go and do a visit that allows time for an audition and a true look at the school then great. We actually saw more than one school where the audition was such that after the audition on a Saturday we still had no real sense of the college, besides the location. One of my friends suggested driving to all the schools close to you of all different sizes and types to give your kid a sense of different “schools”. We did a bit of this. A one day visit of a school is limited, but it does give you a bit of a sense of the environment of the school. Being on the West Coast and in a big city it was an eye opener for my kid when she hit some of those more isolated smaller schools:):). This is where if you can afford a college coach they might be able to help focus the search. Being on the West Coast and having been born and raised on the West Coast I had no reference for any except a few of the schools so I was no help for my kid nor was her college counselor at school. If she had focused on West Coast schools we could have easily visited most of them plus known tons of kids who either were attending or had gone there for people to check in with. No one at her school was looking or had looked at the schools on her list except for maybe two:)
My view really is based on a very specific set of circumstances and background.
@sbc - I totally get it, and think in the circumstances you describe that visiting different types of schools in your part of the country (even if that is not where the kid wants to apply) is an excellent strategy. But if where a kid is looking st schools is way different from where they live- I would try to at least visit 1st. Example- freshman year one of my D’s suite mates had never BEEN to NYC before move in day - and it turned out to be quite a culture shock!