Rising Seniors....What are you doing this summer....

College Majors Theater/Drama Majors
1

<p>As a parent two years from this process, I have had a lot of time to be on these boards. I thought I would start a list of things that rising seniors (and parents) should be doing now, right now, to get ready for what will be the most exciting year yet. It is a lot of work. If you can take this summer to get focused, you will be so ahead of the game.</p>

<ol>
<li><p>Finalize your college list. Critical. As you all have had beaten into you on these pages, you must have your long shots, your good possibilities, and your givens. Often your givens are non-audition schools. This list is often in the 9 to 14 school range.</p></li>
<li><p>After you finalize your list, for the audition schools, look to see what the audition requirements are. My D made a chart of all the various types of monologues that would be needed, length, genre, etc. Based upon her analysis, she needed to prep six monologues of varying types and lengths. </p></li>
<li><p>Monologue shop. Read lots of plays. Talk to your coaches, instructors, friends. Rework old monologues. Two of my D's monologues were ones she had done for years, and still does because they fit her to a "T". You really should have all your monologues selected before the beginning of the school year, especially if you are going for the Young Arts Competition and will be using them anyway for the competition.</p></li>
<li><p>Begin to select coaches. You will probably, if you can afford it, want coaches. If you can't, try to enlist the help of teachers, friends, etc. Or, video yourself. See what you do and don't do and decide what you like and don't like. </p></li>
<li><p>Get healthy. The stamina needed for the audition process will blow your mind. Start exercising regularly. Exercise will give you that "glow" and energy, as well as boost your morale. Take your vitamins. Get your flu shot when it is available. You don't want to get the flu in the middle of Unifieds.</p></li>
<li><p>Look at the schedules for auditions as soon as they are posted. You need to get a large wall calendar and post the dates for your applications, supplements, and auditions. Some schools require the application to be in prior to giving you an audition. Others don't. You need to know this. Auditions go fast. Don't be delinquent.</p></li>
<li><p>Common App..... often the essay subject is released early for common app or other schools during the summer. If it is, get it and start messing around with your essay. My D wrote her essay in the summer. </p></li>
<li><p>Save money. The unifieds cost lots of money for travel. Your parents will appreciate your getting a job to help defer the costs. If you can't get a regular job, you would be amazed how much money you can make babysitting, mowing lawns and I hear that back East, you have this thing called snow that people shovel... or something like that (LOL.)</p></li>
<li><p>Find something other than acting, singing, or theatre related that relaxes you. Gardening? Cooking? Painting? Yoga? Meditating? You need an outlet that is healthy (i.e. no drugs or alcohol, please... we want to see you go to college) to help you relax during this stressful time.</p></li>
<li><p>Consider keeping some or all of all this to yourself. Its easy to want to talk it up with everyone. You want to tell your friends that you did this, or that, or picked this monologue, or hired this coach. You want to tell your friends how great you did in this audition. But the best advice I ever got in law school was from one of my professors. He said "Don't discuss the exams with anyone. Walk away when everyone starts discussing the exam and the answers. It will only stress you out because you had a different response. Don't look at your grades. What is done is done. Wait until the end of the year to see how you did." I started to do that and my stress level went way down and I did way better. I think if my D had done that during her college auditions, her (and my) stress level would have gone way down too. Moreover, some hurt feelings between friends may not have occurred. Its hard to do, but it really works. </p></li>
</ol>

<p>If anyone else has some good suggestions, please add.</p>

2

<p>Thank you, crissyblu! You have echoed so much of what I thought we/she should be doing, and given us many gems that I never thought of!</p>

3

<p>Thanks chrissyblu! This is so helpful. Its much better when these reminders come from someone else rather than me, yk?</p>

4

<p>Call this step # 1.5 in Chrissyblu’s list above - Visit Colleges/Universities that interest you.</p>

<p>It’s likely that you have more time now in the summer than during the school year to visit campuses. It may still be difficult to go across the country to see that ONE place that is NUMBER ONE on your list; but it’ll be time well spent. Don’t rely 100% on reputations, things you read on CC, advice and opinions that you may have from others, etc. Talk to people in the programs that interest you; professors, students, administrators, etc. Look at the campus and do your OWN assessment: Am I comfortable in these dorms? Will I be happy with this meal plan? Does this large or small, urban or rural or suburban, BA or BFA, near or far from home environment suit me? Nobody knows your wants/needs/desires better than yourself. Check things out in person, and then go forward with your audition/admission strategy.</p>

<p>My S applied and auditioned at a well regarded BFA school “sight unseen”. At the audition on campus, he had a very bad reaction to the school’s environment and ended up auditioning poorly. At our “post mortem”, we both concluded it was a bad decision for him to even apply to this school, even though he met all the thresholds of their typical student body, and had friends that were already attending there and recommended that he apply. We would have saved both time and money had we visited the summer before the audition season; he would have known then that this school was not for him.</p>

<p>Remember that auditioning and program selection is not necessarily an objective process, but can be very subjective. You can’t control the admissions decisions that schools make, but ultimately you do decide where to apply, and where to attend. Doing the “up front” filtering so you can focus your energy on those schools where you will be happy.</p>

5

<p>Thanks chrissyblu. Number 5 is especially relevant. My son always seems to get sick in February. Next year the Unifieds are in - you guessed it - February.</p>

<p>In your experience, do any schools audition before January 1?</p>

6

<p>niftydesign - my D will be a MT major in the fall so we just went through the process this last year. There are schools that have auditions before January 1st for early decision as well as schools with rolling and regular admissions that have auditions before January.</p>

<p>I would suggest that everyone try to do their first audition at a school they do not have their heart set on. My D found that her first audition, which we had to fly all the way across the country for, was the one she was most nervous at and did not feel she did her best. </p>

<p>I also have to say it is so important for the kids to do everything to stay healthy prior to auditioning. Get plenty of sleep, drink lots of water, etc. We met so many sick kids at Unifieds! Definitely get a flu shot when they are available.</p>

<p>My D also decided not to audition for any shows that would be in rehearsals during the time she was auditioning. She had a friend who auditioned the year before she did and they were both the leads in the hs musical and her friend was extremely stressed auditioning and rehearsing.</p>

<p>My D did not attend a performing arts hs so she was the only one at her school auditioning for programs this past year. She had other friends in town who were also auditioning for schools, but D really did not talk to them about applying or auditioning and really just kept this all to herself until she received her results and decided where to go.</p>

7

<p>niftydesign - There is a thread in the MT forum with 2010 - 2011 audition dates. Many of these dates will apply to Acting auditions as well. So this may help you get your before January 1 list going:
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/musical-theater-major/946419-2010-2011-mt-audition-season-dates.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/musical-theater-major/946419-2010-2011-mt-audition-season-dates.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

8

<p>My D and I are going to make a chart tomorrow - application dates, audition dates, paperwork requirements, etc., for her current list (which is pretty close to done). </p>

<p>The only way to know who auditions when is by looking at their websites … this gets hard, when what you’re doing is looking for an early audition date in order to find a school, as that “practice” school.</p>

<p>By chance, I discovered that IL State has a November audition date. They also have a summer Shakespeare festival, and I think my D and I will go down and see a show (3 hrs away). IL State is in the same town as IL Wesleyan, so she could look at it, too. The BA at IW requires an interview, so I’m thinking, if she likes the schools, that she could try to interview at IW and audition at IS in November … IW says you can still audition for the BFA in the winter if you want both options. </p>

<p>Anyway, I only discovered this because someone mentioned IS casually and I had a minute one day and perused the website - not the most efficient method!</p>

<p>I will start a thread for audition dates Acting schools in this Forum. People could then (please!) add to it; my start will be very short … and self-centered, my D’s current choices.</p>

9

<p>My D did early action for Emerson in November and we flew back to Boston for it. Very cool for us California girls… And she got in, one of only 2 EA for Acting that year… It was a nice Holiday present. So, yes, for early action in particular, auditions do come early. Most of them, though, seem to start in earnest in January and go through March.</p>

<p>I agree with the visit thing. I was thinking about adding that, but I thought with the auditions, a lot of people squeeze the visits into the audition visit. But you should NEVER attend a school until you have visited it, talked to the profs, and talked to the students who are there.</p>

10

<p>I started the other thread - and found I only had 2 schools to list at this point. They aren’t on her priority list (yet) but at least there’s info on them. I checked BU, Syracuse, Adelphi and Montclair State - no updates yet. Last year BU had an ED audition date on 11/30, and apparently Emerson also auditions in the fall (thanks for the story, crissyblu!).</p>

<p>The hard thing about EA/ED is that if that’s your first choice, then you’re doing your most important audition first … it’s chicken or the egg, I guess … My D hasn’t done the summer programs or any of those kinds of training experiences, so I think for her it’s best to start slow and build. An early acceptance will be wonderful, of course. She’ll have some rolling BA options for sure in the fall, and maybe these IL schools will give her some concrete encouragement.</p>

<p>Today is the big list! I will feel so much more put together once that’s done. It’s also helpful for seeing where we have holes.</p>

11

<p>Don’t overthink the order. My D’s first audition was for a top choice and was during midterms. She later said she wished this wasn’t her first one, and felt some others went better, but guess which school she got into! As I mentioned on another thread, one of her monologues for this school she also learned at the last-minute.</p>

<p>I guess my point is, yes, try to organize as best you can, but don’t sweat it too much if you don’t!</p>