<p>Everything was fine until this afternoon when my S told me he woke up with a painful sore throat that still hurt hours later and his voice was off. Has just a slight fever...99.5. Auditions are tomorrow, Friday and Sunday. I got him an emergency appointment with a top ENT for singers/actors (didn't take my insurance either!) and he has an infection and swollen vocal cords. He's on prednisone and zithromax. </p>
<p>So...only one of the auditions is for MT but I'm still concerned about him not performing his best even for the the Acting auditions. I may call the schools tomorrow and find out how they handle rescheduling. Especially the MT audition because it's bad enough to not be at your best when auditioning for Tisch but to possibly damage your voice on top of it? Not a good idea. I can't believe that this has never happened to anyone in the history of college auditions so there must be something that can be done even if it means auditioning in another city. Anyone have any idea?</p>
<p>I just can't believe it and I'm trying very hard to keep him calm. Decisions will have to be made tomorrow. :(</p>
<p>Many schools will allow you to re-schedule in the event of sickness, as long as there are time slots still available at later auditions. Your S is lucky it is not too late in the audition season. You should definitely call the schools first thing in the morning.</p>
<p>We suggest rescheduling. Years ago our son had an audition at Otterbein in Ohio in December and was sick. We spoke w/ the coordinator at the theatre department who was very understanding and really thought it better to reschedule if there was a slot available. We rescheduled and he will graduate from that school this spring. It’s important for health reasons and audition reasons; the competition is tough enough without being sick. I believe most schools will work with you as best they can. I think one of the toughest things is to stay healthy during this entire process that is months long. There might come a time when he must audition for something when he is sick so I would suggest following the tips in the thread here about that, especially complete vocal rest. Your visit with the doctor will be helpful. I also have some other ideas if you care to send me a message. Best wishes to your son.</p>
<p>I am going to call the schools within the next half hour and hope that we can switch things around. Thanks for the advice. I really don’t think that pushing through it is the best thing if they are willing to reschedule.</p>
<p>My D also woke up yesterday with a sore throat and congestion, but no fever. I remained calm outside, but my stomach churned. I re-read the thread here and headed to CVS to stock up, put her back in bed and began looking at the school websites.<br>
She has had great success with the neti pot in the past so we pulled that out. She felt better by evening, and today also.
We decided not cancel, she has one audition Sat and one Sunday. Fingers crossed</p>
<p>Emerson was very accomodating and pushed back his audition to Saturday in NY. If he’s not up to it, then I’ll have to take him to Boston in Feb. Waiting to hear back from NYU but unfortunately tomorrow is the last day of auditions in NYC. I will either have to fly him to another city or submit digitally and do a Skype interview. I think that submitting digitally is a last case scenario but I am hoping that because we are local that they would at least consent to an in person interview as opposed to Skype.</p>
<p>He’s been steaming, he’s been hydrating, he’s been doing everything right but this still happened. I ran to CVS, too, this morning for the Breezers and the Throat Coat tea! </p>
<p>Fingers crossed for your D, bhmomma. Hopefully by Saturday both my S and your D will be well!</p>
<p>Hope everyone gets better! This is my main fear so I’m trying beyond hard not to get sick- even though the cedar here is god awful. Sinus’ are killing me!</p>
<p>I’m sending good vibes y’alls way and hope schools are understanding!</p>
<p>So things are looking up…and down. Thankfully, my S is doing better and will probably be able to make his rescheduled audition tomorrow for Acting and Sunday’s for Acting/Playwriting as well. He will not make his MT audition today which leaves us with two options, submitting digitally or flying out of NYC to Atlanta or Miami which are later in Feb and look to be our cheapest options. And by cheap, I mean airfare alone will be approx $200 pp. He is adamantly against submitting digitally and feels that people don’t really have a chance if they use that option. I am ok flying him out but for such a highly selective school, I feel that the costs may outweigh the benefits. Do I think he has a chance to get in? Yes. But, of course, this is a VERY competitive program so for anyone it’s just a chance…and that was a lot easier to deal with when it was just a $50 audition fee and a quick drive into Manhattan. Any thoughts?</p>
<p>My thoughts are that you are very fortunate to be able to reschedule these auditions. I understand the cost involved in doing NYU audition out of town involving flights. But in the scheme of things, please remember that you are fortunate to live in the NYC area and are able to attend several auditions for the day with no flights or hotels. Many of us have had to travel far to EVERY audition by car and/or by plane and NONE of the auditions were in our home area (whether on campus or Unifieds for that matter). So, while the expense is a drag, it is the norm for most of us who don’t live either near the colleges or near the Unified cities. So, in the end, you have saved much money over many who go through this process. To have to fly to Atlanta for an audition that has chancy odds is no different than every audition we attended (8 campus auditions). Not sure that helps but just giving you perspective. (today my nephew flies to a school for an interview for an arts program…chancy odds but this is required on campus as was one he flew to two weeks ago)</p>
<p>by the way…
I agree with your son that his odds will go down at NYU by submitting a digital audition. If you’re gonna bother to apply to competitive programs, it makes sense to do all that is required to be considered for admission. While it is a chunk of change, it is small compared to four years of tuition, room and board. It simply is part of this admissions process. If you can’t afford to fly to Atlanta or Miami, I would have done the audition today even if he was not fully well.</p>
<p>My heart goes out to you, sandkmom. We were in your position last year when my son came down with a fever and sore throat just before his Michigan audition. There was no way we would have made it to our scheduled appointment. The school was great about moving us, and we ate LOTS of dollars to change the flight. I also lost a prepaid rental car, although the hotel worked with me. At this point, you have already invested SO much – not just in terms of dollars, but emotions, effort, and more, that the additional expense is something that just has to be borne, in my opinion. Give your son his best shot. We believe in and want the best for our kids…it’s our blessing and our curse. ;-)</p>
<p>yes -as a west coast parent it is so true - you just have to go for it - and it definite has a great reward when you see your kiddo in the right school thriving and studying what she love.</p>
<p>My vote is cast with the others - go for that live audition if you can. I will add one thought having gone through four weekends of travel and auditions last year with my D: that time together cemented our relationship like nothing else. You create some incredible memories being together at such an important time. Just last week my D and I texted back and forth about how this was the one year anniversary of our audition trips and how much fun we had. You will not regret it.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone! The good news is that he will make his other auditions this weekend. We have already decided that Atlanta is probably a good idea and that will give us Miami two days later just in case there are problems with the flight. It is ironic though that throughout the school search process my S wanted to stay pretty close to home and none of the schools he applied to are more than a 4 hour drive. We ruled out some excellent programs based on location so it’s pretty funny to have to fly out for an audition for a school less than an hour from home! We’re going to look at it as a working vacation in a city we hadn’t planned on visiting!</p>