I wonder how you all have managed scheduling all your auditions. So many of the schools are holding dance calls and want you to hold 1/2 day. It seems nearly impossible to get everything scheduled, im afraid my daughter will not be able to see all of her schools. We are going to both Chicago and New York Unifieds but for example, Rider, doesn’t let you know till 2 weeks prior when your audition time is. How is it possible to hold an entire day and still have room to make all the appointment times.
Starting to panic a little. Help would be great from those who have managed this better.
This is going to be the biggest non-answer … but I totally remember feeling this way a year ago.
Yes, she missed a whole lot of Fridays in her senior year - to which she really didn’t complain. But in the end, it really did work out.
I think once the ball starts rolling, everything will feel like it’s falling in place. So don’t panic! Everything will be fine … and this time next year you’ll be feeling a little bit wistful (like me!) of everyone heading into audition season.
D prioritized her list for Chicago Unifieds and then scheduled auditions in that order. The ones at the bottom had to fit around the ones at the top, or be dropped from her list. It really made her think about which schools she really wanted to audition for - she had to think hard about the ones that demanded a large block of time and I think that she may have dropped at least one so that she had more room in her schedule. She ended up adding two schools that easily fit within her schedule. One was a walk-in, Western Michigan, and she loved the audition so much that she ultimately chose to attend that program.
In hindsight, the audition trail had many twists and turns for my d and nothing really turned out as expected. Some schools that she thought she would really like turned out to be somewhat less than desirable and some that she didn’t know much about at the start turned out to be real gems.
My daughter is missing school many Fridays in January and one Thursday (the one before Unifieds.) We have one audition to reschedule because they gave us a time that conflicted with another already scheduled and we’re still waiting to hear results of her Michigan prescreen. It is like playing Tetris trying to fill in spots and make sure none overlap. Definitely not easy. And I admire any kid doing this without parental assistance. I don’t know how they do it.
I agree with trying to prioritize your schools and begin by scheduling those schools that are at the top of your list in the slots you find most desirable.
Some people don’t want their top school to be their first or last audition but somewhere comfortably in the middle. Others want to go for Early Decision (before Christmas) at schools who do that. So a lot factors into it. But I would create what would be your “ideal” audition schedule and then try to plug in from there.
At Unifieds, the most time any school asked for was 4 hours. We only scheduled 2-3 auditions per day at Unifieds so the 4 hour block was not an issue. We still had plenty of time left in the day for 2 or more additional auditions. And be aware that most schools that ask for that 4 hour block do not end up keeping you that entire time. So depending on how quickly you finish with the 4 hour block school, you may have time available during that block to do some walk in auditions if any appointments are available. I would not schedule a 2nd audition during that block since you don’t know how much time it will require, but certainly look for walk ins once you’re finished!
I will also say that due to some travel and personal issues, we had to try to rearrange a couple of on campus auditions and the schools involved were more than accommodating and we were able to switch days and times. I can’t guarantee all schools will do this, but we found most schools to be very helpful when they could be if conflicts arose.
I originally planned to do many of my auditions at unifieds, but it turned out to be not so realistic because of the 4 hour blocks. We decided to only do 1-2 per day, leaving time for any walk ins and deciding to travel on campus to some of my other schools(which I relize may not be realistic if you have 20+ schools on your list)
So, we just booked an acting audition at Unifieds for Michigan. Surprised to see that Michigan asks that we hold an ENTIRE DAY open for their audition. This is for a 2-minute ACTING audition, not MT. If every school did that, students would have a max of three schools over the three days at Unifieds. Never my favorite school and dropping further down the list as times goes on. . . .
I heard some schools hold auditions the Sunday before Chicago uni starts. I have to be there on Sunday anyway for Roosevelt Dance call, does anyone know which schools hold their main auditions on Sunday because I’ll have time
@claire74 Cant really speak for the acting audition but my S had an MT audition for Michigan at Chicago Unifieds last year. I think they told him to reserve a half day. He was actually there from about 9:00 to 11:15. Of course he had their dance call on Sunday and that took a couple of hours.
@MTDadandProud, good to know. We already have two MT auditions scheduled for that day, so if Michigan doesn’t work out, we’ll just drop it. This is the last one to schedule, so I’m happy to be almost done!
2 years ago my D auditioned for NYU and Syracuse on the Sunday before unifieds in Chicago. Neither were “official” unifieds schools so they were not at Palmer
This year NYU is actually in Chicago the week before unifieds. My D has an audition on January 31. The scheduling for all these auditions is a project. Some schools want a half a day and others need 10 minutes.
@calliene–they have sent a post-pre-screen invitation to audition but before scheduling a slot, they recommend that we leave the entire day open for them. Maybe they just want to reinforce the message that they are the best of the best and all others must wait until they schedule prime candidates in prime spots. Bit inconsiderate.
We are down to only one more audition that needs to perfectly fit in the perfect little slot we have left.
Some places are so easy and you can choose your own times and others are slow, require multiple steps, multiple waits and want to be able to assign only a couple weeks ahead of time.
I feel you @1998parent15, schools that are easy and you choose your own time gain so many points (Roosevelt, UofMinn). I wish schools they were more consistent. Organizing all of this is like an additional AP class to add on to my busy schedule.
But in the end, it really did work out.