<p>For those who have gone before, I am wondering if you could share some insider tips on Unifieds.</p>
<p>How do you schedule Unified auditions? How many is it reasonable to plan for those days?</p>
<p>Do you suggest that any auditions that are within reasonable driving distance be done on site at the school, even if it requires a hotel stay?</p>
<p>What is the best way to prepare for those stressful days?</p>
<p>What worked for you/your child?</p>
<p>Thank you!</p>
<p>Here’s a response I wrote on the MT thread:
supportive
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I’m assuming that you’re also going to the Chicago Unifieds because then you can also visit the campuses. NY would be closer to you. Anyway, for most schools- at least in my daughter’s experience, you have to apply to get into the school and then apply to get into the program. When you apply for the program, you can also sign up for an audition date, time, and place. In my daughter’s case, she scheduled times at NY Unifieds with the college. You don’t go through Unifieds to schedule auditions. Also, she did 2 walk-ins at Unifieds that did not cost her anything to do. Both schools asked her to apply for the school after her audition and both were very nice- just not the type of school she wanted- even though the programs were solid. Break legs! Oh, and apply for the colleges early. My daughter had all of her applications in by November 1st. Some schools are rolling admissions and some don’t open their applications until September. At Unifieds, she brought sheet music and an ipod with a portable player. All of her songs were recorded and it really came in handy as not all schools had piano’s in the room.
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07-16-2012, 10:19 PM #3
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p.s. It was all so overwhelming for us when we started. Seemed to be so many details! When it was all said and done, it really wasn’t that bad at all. My daughter met a lot of really great people and even ran into people she knew from other schools in our state and a girl who had moved away from her school that she hadn’t seen in quite a while! It was a very positive experience for her. As far as the walk-ins- one school had a sign and the other school had current students recruiting people. I just wish we had gotten more names so we could see where some of the kids ended up!
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<p>In NY, the auditions were at The Pearl Studios and at Ripley Studio (pretty close to each other near Macy’s). At Pearl, there is a check in desk once you enter from the street. You sign in and they will direct you to the elevators. The auditions were held on about 2 floors (12th and 4th). You check in with the people at the front desk on the 12th floor and they will direct you to the proper room for the school that you are scheduled for. It’s basically a bunch of rooms (like classrooms if you will). Each school has their name outside the door. Some rooms are larger than others. You will go in at the time of your scheduled audition unless you are doing a walk-in (there will be signs on the wall or you can walk around and ask if there’s a door open and no auditioner is in there- that’s what I did). Some schools will send 2 or 3 people and some will only send one. Some rooms will have a piano and others will not. So- to answer your question, each school is assigned to a room!</p>
<p>Hi skewl. I was too lazy to re-type all of this, Hopefully you get the picture!</p>
<p>I attended the NY Unifieds in Feb 2012 with my daughter. She did 8 auditions over a 4 day period. Out of those auditions she got 3 offers, 4 rejections and 1 waitlist. She did two other auditions regionally with offers from both. My initial impression of Unifieds is it is too rushed and too crowded for the auditors to get a true picture of the candidate. If I had to do it again, I think I would try and convince my daughter to audition on campus and regionally. Unified schools allot only 15-20 minutes a candidate. The regional auditions we did comprised hours not minutes of time with the auditors.</p>
<p>That said, she accepted an offer from an audition done at Unifieds so take my initial impressions with a grain of salt. A good audition is a good audition.</p>
<p>Unifieds are comprised of a consortium of schools that held auditions at the Pearl Studios. Auditions are scheduled through schools via the admissions process. Unified auditions, as I stated earlier are in 20 minute blocks of time. If you are only doing Unified schools you can easily do 4 a day. Unifieds also consist of schools outside the consortium that piggy back off the event. Many big name schools will be in NY/Chicago offering auditions too. These non-Unified schools auditions can last the entire day. DePaul had a three hour “class” with a call back. BU had a similar set-up. We heard from a friend auditioning at Julliard that she was gone from 8am – 11pm. The better you do the later you stay. It makes scheduling a pain. Again, contact each school to find out how much time you need to schedule. We managed to get Thursday and Friday afternoons for BU and DePaul, leaving the weekend just for Unifieds. There are Unified auditions available on the Th & F before. I would advise all, if at all possible, schedule a school that is not high on your list and treat it as a test audition. The first is always the scariest. Our Th morning, first audition was looked at as practice.</p>
<p>Pearl Studio has two location 519 & 520 8th Ave. No matter what location you are given it usually ends up being the other. Allot yourself plenty of time because there will be running back and forth across the street. It doesn’t sound like a big deal but factor in a nervous, stressed out teenager and it is not fun! </p>
<p>The non-Unified auditions can also be at Pearl or scattered around NYC. DePaul & BU were uptown on 8th Avenue around 55th. Know where you are going and get there well ahead of time. You will need time to let the candidate relax and get in the zone.</p>
<p>A tip for NY Unifieds – We stayed at The New Yorker Hotel. It’s on 34th & 8th Ave, one block from Pearl. It is old and common but you couldn’t beat the convenience of that location. We could go back to the hotel and relax, change or retrieve forgotten items. There were no transportation worries.</p>
<p>Another tip is to get a binder with folder inserts. Each folder holds specific audition information. Also print out a schedule of each audition time and keep it in a handy spot (I put it as the cover of the binder). We consistently looked at that schedule.</p>
<p>Bring plenty of headshots and resumes. Walk-ins are welcome when available. We had scheduled UArts as a regional but walked up on Sunday and they fit us right in.</p>
<p>As a parent, be very prepared for melt-downs and attitude, especially in the beginning when they are not used to the process and are scared to death. I would suggest plenty of wine waiting at the Hotel!</p>
<p>The best way to prepare for stressful days is to be VERY WELL PREPARED! Also, I truly believe that we parents are much more stressed than our kids. They are used to performing and live for that! SouthernDramaMom- I do agree with most of what you wrote. However, I also believe that the auditors are used to Unifieds. Most of these auditors can size up a candidate within 30 seconds. Neither of my kids auditioned on campus. My daughter only auditioned at Unifieds and my son only auditioned at regional auditions. The one audition that took a couple of hours- he was waitlisted. When he auditioned for NYU- his audition was probably about the same amount of time that he would have received at Unifieds. There are some schools that incorporate a class (ie. testing your improv skills or how you work in a group) but not all of them do this. (some schools will post this process so you can find out or you can call-or e-mail the theatre department at the school- they are usually happy to help) In those cases, auditioning at their campus would be an advantage. I brought more headshots then I needed for walk-ins and I’m glad I did. Also, my daughter wore a solid colored royal blue dress that came to her knees. It was sleeveless and very form flattering. She received numerous comments on the dress and how good she looked. She has long brown hair to her middle back and she wore it half up half down. We saw a girl in NY that was wearing this really loud flowerey sun dress. The dress was really cute but it was soooo distracting. All you could see was the dress and not her face. We stayed at the Hotel Pennsylvania- near Macy’s. It was very well priced as the good thing is- it’s not a busy time in NY so we were able to get a VERY good price. I’m an extremely anxious person by nature and the way I helped calm myself was to strike up a conversation with other parents. We’re all in the same boat and I found the other parents and kids to be very enjoyable- plus, I love meeting new people.</p>
<p>I have heard about DePaul having long auditions. But Boston University has never had callbacks at their auditions that I know of. They do have an information session which makes the audition period a little longer than those at schools without information sessions.</p>
<p>LOVE the idea of a binder with the schedule on front!</p>
<p>Thank you for the tips on appropriate dress and being prepared for walk-ins!</p>
<p>(Not to mention, having a bottle of wine the ready!) ;-)</p>
<p>Great ideas. Thank you. Keep 'em coming!</p>
<p>D had cancelled most of her Unified auditions after an early acceptance, so we weren’t rushed, but I too thought that they were no more crowded and crazy than ones we had attended at various schools. There was not a feeling of cutthroat competition; in fact there was a bond between the kids auditioning, and a sense of excitement and companionship. The problem with doing all your auditions at Unifieds is that you don’t have a chance to get comfortable with the process. It definitely took D a while to feel at ease in the process and I was glad we had spread them out over several months. </p>
<p>I am also REALLY glad to be done! Good luck to everyone going through this process this year-- remember how little it is about your merit and how much about the three minutes of your audition, that you only need one acceptance, that life is always a whirlwind… D’s friend who didn’t get in anywhere at first has dropped out after freshman year and moved to LA now after getting a wonderful role.</p>
<p>Immodium is good to have on hand! Do material you absolutely love and feel comfortable with-- never mind whether it’s ‘overused’. I’ll add more as it hits me.</p>
<p>Try to schedule the audition for the school or schools you are most interested in last, or at least not first. Students tend to get better and better at auditioning as they move through the process. </p>
<p>Most BFA programs do not select the members of their class until everyone has auditioned.</p>
<p>NJ - As I think about it - you 100% correct about Boston U not having call backs. It was an hour information session and then the audition. It is all starting to blend into one big audition!</p>
<p>What to wear at Unifieds is a book unto itself!!! My D & I both researched what to wear. We knew the uniform, for lack of a better word, that was expected. We must have spent weeks trying to find the perfect outfit. Talk about stress! Nothing she tried on ever felt right. We finally went with a great pair of dress pants with a cute silk top and wedge heels. She looked wonderful but it wasn’t really her. She even told me she would probably never wear that outfit outside of auditions. My daughter has much more of a bohemian vibe and this oozed preppy. After her first audition, a disaster with Emerson, we regrouped. She told me she was uncomfortable. She changed into her leggings and top and we headed to Macy’s. We tried on scores of outfits but it was when she found a great blazer that she wore over her street clothes we both had the light bulb moment. She was more comfortable just being herself. Her outfit ended up being black leggings, plain top with this wonderful blazer and –wait for it- black fringe boots. She even kept her bold jewelry on. Her whole outfit went against everything we were told. I wouldn’t recommend it for anyone else but it was right for her. She even told me that if a school didn’t accept her because of her clothes then it wouldn’t be a good fit anyway.</p>
<p>She did get a few more rejections in Unifieds and maybe it had something to do with her choice of outfit but more than likely it just wasn’t a good audition. She did get offers from her top three schools wearing those damn fringe boots and leggings. When it come down to it I would recommend each candidate wear what makes them most comfortable. We saw everything from evening dresses to jeans. Whether it is a great dress, a nice pair of pants, jeans or leggings – if this is how you want to present yourself to the auditors, it is respectful of the auditors (no holes or midriffs showing) and you feel good about the choice – go with it.</p>
<p>Very nice post SouthernDrama. How can your child show auditors who she is when dressed like someone their not. Auditors want to see who you are. If your child is more bohemian vibe than preppy – it makes complete sense to show that.</p>
<p>Agree ActingDad! It’s also very important that your head shot looks like you and not some glammed up version of you!</p>
<p>skewl- I sent you an e-mail. :)</p>
<p>SouthernDramaMom, my daughter also has a bohemian vibe. I tried to get her to wear a blander, preppier outfit based on what I had read online here at CC, but she dressed like herself, wearing a pair of stretchy black jeggings and an interesting (but not too interesting) orange top. She bought a pair of flats to wear in the auditions but for most of her auditions she went in wearing boots (forgot to change them.) Her point was that a school that would reject her based on her style was probably not going to be the right school for her. Looking back, I think she was right-- the point was not to bag the most acceptances possible so much as to find the right program(s) for her interests and abilities.</p>
<p>I really enjoyed SouthernDramaMom’s and GlassHarmonica’s posts about how their daughters dressed for auditions.</p>
<p>I think the general guidelines, which both daughters sound like they stuck too, are that you want to look like an actor who is ready to start serious work and be very creative. So on the one hand, you don’t want to look like a complete slob (folks would think you are not ready to work hard), but on the other hand you don’t want to dress up too much–again, that looks like someone who wants to go out to a fancy dinner instead of working hard in a rehearsal room.</p>
<p>You don’t want to wear a “costume”, and also you don’t want to wear anything that will distract the auditors from you audition.</p>
<p>A bit of a “Bohemian vibe” is not a problem, because pretty much everyone in theatre has at least a bit of a “Bohemian vibe”, so this may give an impression that you are a creative, imaginative, and artistic person, which is what most directors want to work with in the rehearsal room (remember that at the audition they are looking at more than just your acting skills, they are also evaluating whether you are the kind of person they would enjoy working with. In that respect an audition is similar to a job interview).</p>
<p>When I hold auditions, I usually meet a whole bunch of people I have never seen before. If everyone dressed the same, I would have real trouble telling these folks apart.</p>
<p>KEVP</p>
<p>Thanks for the kind words TheRealKEVP. I think we put more time and effort into preparing an audition outfit than anything else. It seems so silly as I look back. Everything we read and were told was to dress a certain way. My D just didnt fit that formula. These kids are under so much pressure and they dont want to stand out for the wrong reason. But honestly, as a parent people-watcher during the auditions, I dont remember thinking anyone was dressed inappropriately. After all the time, worry and stress it really was a non-issue.</p>
<p>A few things I wish I had known about Unifieds (or that I did know, that worked out well for me):</p>
<p>-If you get a chance to look around the audition site beforehand, do so. Familiarize yourself with the layout. This applies particularly to Chicago-- the Palmer House Hilton is positively labyrinthine, with suites tucked away in obscure corners on floors that are only accessible by one elevator bank… know where any places of interest will be, and visit them before you need to be there so you can find your way when your timeslot comes.</p>
<p>-Check bulletin boards. A lot of places will advertise to walk-ins there. Similarly, keep up with the word on the street; other people can be a tremendous resource, especially if a school is set up for auditions at another nearby site.</p>
<p>-Relax, relax, relax! Part of this is preparedness, and part of this is unavoidable audition nerves, but if you can focus up enough confidence to present a real portrait of who you are, you’ll be fine. This is actually what got me rejected from CCU, I think-- I went charging into the audition less-than-adequately prepared, and though I gave a good performance, I was stumbling and stuttering during the interview. Not a good first impression.</p>
<p>-Be patient and understanding. Yes, there will be some obnoxious auteurs and pushy stage parents there, but most of the kids are in the same boat as you will be, and most of the auditors have seen thousands of nervous teenagers running from panel to panel, trying to get into that “dream school”. If you’ve got to wait in line until 10:30 at night to audition for a school the evening before you fly home (as I did), take a deep breath and realize that it’s the nature of the business, and that you’re fortunate the auditor is taking that time for you. </p>
<p>-Be outgoing! Don’t hesitate to talk to your fellow auditionees. It’ll take the edge off the anxiety and give you a chance to swap tips or meet someone who might be a part of your freshman class next year. At the very least, you’ll get a chance to trade war stories with another thesp. ;)</p>
<p>Good luck, and try to enjoy yourself. I actually struck out entirely at Unifieds, but it was still a hell of a worthwhile experience. Prepare yourself well and go break a few legs! :)</p>
<p>My s auditioned at 14 schools and applied to 2 non audition schools. 6 auditions were at the schools he applied to or close to Unifieds. We had very large pieces of white butcher paper taped to his bedroom walls–One was a matrix of all the schools, spaces for scores/trasncripts, recommendations sent, audition scheduled, etc. This helped us see at a glance what was left to do at any given time. Then we had smaller sheets posted for each school with the scheduled date/time and audition requirements. When he decided what monologues/songs to do, he could post them under each school. We kind of turned his bedroom into a “war room” which, sometimes it felt like that is what the process was.</p>
<p>We also had notebooks/folders. A friend had suggested that we put a sheet in each to identify key likes/questions about the school and talking points about the school for the interview questions–this was a good idea–although many schools at unifieds are in/out.</p>