<p>hello again! I'm applying to and auditioning for ten schools, all of which have auditions in November. I know that this is the usual time for auditions. however, November is perhaps my busiest month of the year, especially now because I'm Lovett in a production of Sweeney Todd which goes up in the middle of November. I'm starting to think that it would be more prudent to schedule my college auditions for the January through March dates, allowing me a far less busy time slot and more time to prepare my audition materials.</p>
<p>are there any huge disadvantages to NOT auditioning in November that I'm overlooking?</p>
<p>Not at all!!!
Actually, I would not say that November is the typical time to audition. If anything, Jan. and Feb. are the busiest college audition months. </p>
<p>My daughter audition at 8 colleges, all on campus. She did one audition in early December just to get one audition under her belt before the holidays and to hear early from that particular college. She did 6 auditions in Jan. and Feb. total and then one in early March. This worked well. </p>
<p>It can be nice to have one or two auditions before the holidays and in some schools’ cases (not all), they may inform of results on a rolling basis. I like spreading auditions out as many have found that they get better at auditions as the audition season wears on. One disadvantage of November auditions is that it forces one to have all their audition materials ready early, at the same time that the efforts all fall are on applications. By doing many auditions in Jan. and Feb., the application phase is over and the focus can solely be on auditions and more months of prep can go into it. </p>
<p>Also, you have to look at your own schedule with your productions and so on and do auditions at times that work best for you. </p>
<p>If you do your auditions Jan. to March, you will be fine! If you can fit one in during December, it may be nice to just have that under your belt.</p>
<p>Congrats on being cast in the plum role of Mrs. Lovett!</p>
<p>Agreeing with what SoozieVT in almost all areas of comment, I have 2 reasons that might make a few November auditions appealing (based on personal history)…There is LESS of a chance of being snowed out and less of a chance of getting sick with the flu/cold. Of course either of those things could happen in November, there is just statistically less of a chance!</p>
<p>Kiddo’s schedule is shaping up to be 1 in October, 3 in November (then her school play before Thanksgiving…and she’s the lead…), 2 in December, nothing in January, Unifieds and 1 on-campus in February. When she toured schools last year, she asked the question about whether it mattered when you auditioned. Most told her it did NOT matter, as they would be making decisions after seeing everyone. A few suggested earlier for better scholarship consideration (those are some of her fall schools), but otherwise, I think you’ve got to do what works for you. Theatre kids are juggling a LOT their senior year…</p>
<p>She’s doing 2 weekends of back-to-back – travel to school A Thursday, audition there Friday, then travel that evening to school B for their audition on Saturday. The travel times between the schools A and B in both cases is around 2 hours. Is this reasonable?</p>
<p>I would say two hours between schools is fine. We did one trip of 3 campus auditions in one weekend. UMICH on Friday, Otterbein on Saturday and Wright State on Sunday. UMICH and Otterbein are about 4 hours apart. Otterbein & Wright State about 1.5 hours. It really wasn’t that bad… as long as you’re really organized! </p>
<p>D scheduled 12 auditions. One in November, 10 in January (4 of them were at unifieds) and one in February. Definitely get one or two in before January. D ended up changing her audition material after her second audition because it just didn’t “feel” right. Her second audition was very early in January - so she had some time to adjust her material before the bulk of her auditions.</p>
<p>stagedoor, my D, who had just the one audition in December, and got deferred for the BFA (but admitted to the college) all in December, also made a change to one of her audition songs and so it can be nice to do one (or two) earlier auditions prior to the New Year. My D’s results were more positive after that. Just want the OP to know that Nov. auditions are not as typical as she may believe and are not essential and that in fact, the winter auditions are quite the norm for the majority of one’s auditions for most people. If she wants to do an “early” audition and her school show is mid November, perhaps one of her schools has a Dec. audition date.</p>
<p>As I wrote, one benefit of auditions in Jan/Feb. is that the fall is not too loaded up with applications AND auditions. Also, more time to prepare and also focus solely on auditions during that period. </p>
<p>But I have also observed some benefits of earlier auditions. For example, I can think of two students of mine in the past who were admitted in Nov. or Dec. at one of their favorite schools and due to that, they cut down their audition appointments and cancelled some and left some on that they also favored and it made their year a little easier. In the end, both students ended up attending that school they first got into early on (though still did some other auditions). Then, I had one student who did several Nov. and Dec. auditions and these schools also informed the applicant of the decision early on and when the student was not accepted, he had enough time to add a few more applications and auditions to his list before deadlines. And guess where he is at now? One of the schools added late in the game (late Dec.) after he had some early rejections.</p>
<p>The timing and sequence of auditions is both a strategic and tactical decision. There is no one solution that is right for everyone and the decisions made should turn on each individual’s circumstances including the schools on your list, the size and selectivity of the programs, the admissions process at each, the status of your audition prep, shows and other time commitments and a variety of other factors that you conclude are relevant to the process. In the absence of rolling admissions or financial aid timing issues, there’s generally no reason to feel compelled to schedule all your auditions early and probably good reasons not to.</p>
<p>In my daughter’s case, she was not applying anywhere EA or ED so that was not a factor. One of her schools was a BA audition optional (for talent scholarships) school so she scheduled that first in November as a good “warm up” opportunity and a chance to “break the ice”, get her initial nerves out of the way and fine tune her prep. She had a rolling admissions school on her list at which she had the comfort of familiarity as a result of attending a summer program there, so that was scheduled next in early December. Her remaining auditions were scheduled in January and February, sequenced based on which schools she desired to attend more, with the more desired schools scheduled later to maximize her experience and time to make adjustments and the less desired scheduled first. Spreading things out prevented the intensity of time commitments from becoming overwhelming and provided the time to fine tune her auditions. Also, she was accepted at the rolling admissions school 2 weeks after her audition so she knew by December 16 that she had an acceptance which relieved quite a bit of the stress.</p>
<p>All of this advice should help answer the question of reasons to spread out the auditions. One concern really should be to make sure not to have too many all at the same time. While Unifieds are certainly efficient and cost effective, if the flu or cold bug strikes during those days, it is truly terrible. S used early Jan through early March, had a bad cold during NY Unifieds but hadn’t put his top schools in those dates so all worked out great. We favored placing top choice toward the end of his “audition season” because experience helps. He learned a lot during the process that he thinks improved his performances over the auditions he did.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, if you’re traveling from the west coast, you have to be as expedient as possible in grouping together once you get out there. My D’s auditions start Jan. 29 and then are loaded into Unifieds (Chicago since it’s 3 days) and weekends throughout February. We’ll be loading up on vitamins, echinacea and Vitamin D (newly found to shorten colds), may also buy stock in Throat Coat tea and Singer’s Saving Grace :-)</p>
<p>I planned on doing 2 auditions before the holidays, but with applications and the play I’m in at school right now, it would be insane. I’ve scheduled 3 auditions so far…two in January and one in February.</p>
<p>Thanks for all your great tips regarding audition season.</p>
<p>Another suggestion for preventative measures: Take Wellness Formula . . . we get it from Whole Foods or a natural food store. My daughter usually starts taking it in October because that’s when the cold season starts. Great stuff.</p>