Ok this is a minor thing but we are trying to get all of the little stuff out of the way that we can now so we are ordering thank you notes but how many? Do you send one per school or one per person on the audition panel (and how many is normal there) or who exactly do you thank? We asked some of d’s friends who went this year and several didn’t send any, one just did emails, one only thanked a few people they really liked, etc. Their answers seemed to be all over the board. What is appropriate? Or is it anything goes these days? We would like to follow the proper etiquette here (even though it may not make a difference in the results). Thanks!
My D sent one hand written note per school. The notes were not long, but she did try to include something specific about the program or something memorable about her interaction with the faculty.
Not quite the same thing, but applicants we interview for jobs tend to send a personal note to each person [3] on the committee. It’s a nice touch – especially when the applicant includes something along the lines that @reckless noted, so we know they were paying attention. I don’t think it has ever affected a hiring decision, but it may have encouraged me to keep an applicant’s resume on file even if they weren’t offered the job. Never know when I’ll have vacancy (aka wait list).
I know people have ordered thank you cards with the student’s headshot on it. Then the person receiving the card will know exactly who sent it. I think shutterfly is one of the companies that prints them.
I think it is best to err on the side of too many thanks versus too few. When in doubt, send one.
Thanks! When your d sent one per school @Reckless, did she just address it to the department or how does that work?
My daughter sent a note to everyone on the panel. As @deborahb said, best to send too many versus too few.
Get in the practice of jotting down the names of everyone who was in the room as soon as you walk out of your audition so you don’t forget anyone. If you don’t remember exact names but they’ve told you they are the dance instructor or the voice instructor or whatever, write those notes down as well. Then as soon as possible, go online, look up that school’s faculty bios and see if you can match photos to the person in the room. Going to a school’s website/faculty bios is also a great place to check spellings of names for anyone writing a thank you note! If all else fails and you don’t remember who was in the room, try some of the student groups that are on Facebook (or if you are working with a coach, check with the students in your coaching group). Often times you will find someone who auditioned at the same time who may be ale to help you remember who was in the room so you can thank them all properly. If worse comes to worse and you don’t have names, still send a general thank you to the department. Do not ever not send a thank you.
Ok that makes sense - better safe than sorry so we’ll send personal notes to those we can. Thanks @vvnstar - those are good tips for coming up with all the names. I’ll pass this on so my D can stay on top of it right from the start so thanks again!
@vvnstar You tend to give excellent advice. I just don’t happen to agree with this strong statement. I think thank you notes for auditions can be a nice gesture, but I don’t think they are imperative.
Speaking of my own children, they always wrote personal thank you notes for one on one college admissions interviews. They always wrote personal thank you notes to individual faculty who they had arranged to meet with on campus visits or allowed them to sit in on a class. However, my BFA candidate daughter never wrote thank you notes for the auditions themselves and I know many others who haven’t. All have gotten into BFA programs. I think when someone has an individual interview or meeting, it should be done. An audition is similar to an application and I don’t think it is essential to write a thank you but it surely can’t hurt to do so and is something positive. But it is not as if it is a requirement to write thanks for reviewing an application or auditing an audition. I’m not suggesting to NOT write one! I’m just saying I don’t agree that you should not ever NOT send a thank you for an audition. I do think one for a one on one interview or meeting that is not the audition itself is good to do. A thank you for an audition experience is nice, but not required. I just don’t want people to come away thinking it is a must in order to be accepted. My kid and many others have been accepted into audition based programs without thank you notes to the auditors for the audition.
My kid never wrote a thank you note after any BFA audition- and she did just fine. I agree with the idea that it can’t hurt, but I don’t think it’s necessary.
My advice to write thank you notes is not because i think it will get you an admission to a program. It is just the way I was brought up. We write thank you notes for everything. It only takes a second. It is usually much appreciated by the recipient. And it is just a nice thing to do. I see no reason why not to do it.
In the case of the MT process however, it is another positive way to remind auditors of who you are and when they saw you, especially if you can find something relatable from your time with them in your audition to share with them. In an increasingly large pool of applicants, the more you can remind them of who you are the better.
I am sure many students have gotten in great programs without writing thank you notes. But in a process where there the odds are so slim to begin with, I am all for giving each student every opportunity to put their best foot forward. I do think it is much better to err on the side of writing a note than not.
It’s a simple thing to do. But of course, to each his own.
I grew up and my kids grew up writing thank you notes as well. I just wrote one today in fact! And there is nothing wrong with writing them if you wish after a college audition. I don’t think it is necessary to thank someone for an opportunity to audition to admission to a program when you paid for the audition opportunity and it is the regular part of the admission process. It is not the same as, for example, my kids writing thank you notes to any faculty members who went out of their way to meet with them one on one on a visit (lined up in advance) or an alumni who conducted an interview as a volunteer. I’m just saying that there is no down side to writing a thank you for an audition, but I don’t think it is a must and surely many get in who don’t. I don’t think you have to remind the auditors of who you are. I DO think thank you notes are the right thing to do for a one on one interview, or meeting, or when someone goes out of their way for you, or gives you something, etc. The audition for college is part of the process of being admitted. They really are not offering anything to you. You pay to apply and audition. Put your best foot forward on your application and in the audition room. No need to really promote yourself or keep reminding them of yourself unless you have new information to share with an update since you applied or auditioned.
I don’t think it hurts at all to write a thank you note, and it is certainly courteous, but I agree with Soozievt, that they are not necessary. They aren’t necessary for several reasons: It’s their own requirement for getting into the college. You have paid a considerable amount to be there, and they are also doing their job in admissions. Anyway, typically, for stage auditions (in college and beyond) you don’t write thank you notes for auditioning.
My own kids mostly did not write thank you notes - although they were certainly grateful for the opportunity. Again it’s a nice idea, it can’t possibly hurt,but it’s not necessary. I don’t think it’s expected either, just as it’s not expected to write thank you notes to regular admissions committees for the “opportunity” to submit college applications to them.
@connections " Anyway, typically, for stage auditions (in college and beyond) you don’t write thank you notes for auditioning". Really? I thought that it was professional protocol to write a follow up thank you to casting directors, etc
Well, there is this about Brent Wagner “He once spent an entire hour and a half lecture on the importance of thank you cards” http://www.detroitnews.com/story/entertainment/2016/05/09/michigan-musical-theater-head-retires/84159764/
And then there’s this article on Rachel Hoffman and thank you notes.
http://www.music.umich.edu/muse/2010/fall/spotlight-hoffman.html
I completely agree with @vvnstar, and every audition masterclass (CCM, CMU, OCU, NYU, TSU, Michigan, Pace, and Syracuse are just a few that come to mind) my kid attended mentioned the importance of thank you notes for college auditions and beyond. Michigan felt so strongly about thank you notes that the Mpulse kids were sent an email upon returning home that had names and emails of everyone they had been in contact with throughout their time there (including admissions personnel) so that they could send each person a personal note. And, those kids also paid for the opportunity to attend that program. Thank you notes are just nice.
By the way, we bought nice quality card stock, had it cut in half at Kinko’s/FedEx/Office Depot, and printed them ourselves as needed. My kid found a nice quote that was on the outside in a nice font and color, and the inside had a small thumbnail of the headshot (a recommendation of a couple of MT chairs at a masterclass). We still use them and print as needed. They could also be used for thank you notes for graduation gifts.
Stage auditions in college and beyond are a job seeking effort which often involves a couple of minutes in the room which you spend more than a couple of minutes preparing for and sometimes hanging out all day to hopefully get seen and then you do or you don’t.
No. These folks at auditions are not expecting a personal thank you note for every open call or mass audition and won’t hire you or not hire you whether you send one or not. That is not how the world works. It’s very quick until it isn’t. And when it isn’t you’ll know when it’s time to crank out some form of personal contact and you should when that happens.
College program auditions? Daughter didn’t send them. She sent a fully complete application packet that already explained her interest in program A or B in detail and prepared her audition material specifically to the requirements and her answers to interviews that were thoughtful and specific to the program. Enough already. Not asking to be hired. Asking to spend 4 years in a program that we were prepared to pay dearly for. Sorry but this process feels a bit upside down to me and it should to you too. Go in prepared to be wanted because you are. You don’t need to beg.
My daughter has been working professionally in musical theater for seven years since graduating her BFA program. I do not believe she writes thank you notes for her auditions. She doesn’t attend open calls. She auditions via agent submission. This has included casting and offers for Broadway and Off Broadway and the like. And sometimes she gets offers without even auditioning. She also has been in the position of casting people in high level professional shows, often where offers go out without auditions. I don’t think she receives thank you notes for the opportunity to audition. I’m not against these, but just saying that they are not necessarily the norm for auditions for college or in the professional world of theater. I don’t think my kid was taught to do these in her college program.
Believe me, I think thank you notes, generally speaking, are nice. Again, for interviews or individual meetings with faculty my kids have had, they wrote them, because people went out of their way. But for the opportunity to audition, they did not.
PS…what Rachel Hoffman did in the linked article is spot on. She thanked Dave Clemmons with a thank you note after he chatted with her at the stage door. This is great networking and follow up for someone who talk time out to talk with her, given her interest in his field (casting) in terms of her career interest.
My son acted professionally for many years. Yes you do write thank you notes to casting directors. I mean, you don’t have to, but it’s a good idea.
You don’t write thank you notes for actual auditions, either at the theatre or during open call or during callbacks. I agree with Soozievt that they are definitely not the norm.
Regardless, this is a college audition. My kids have gone through four now–three of my kids have gone to top colleges, and one is going to a top Masters. In only two individual cases did they write thank you notes–both were all day auditions in which they spent significant time with the director of the program. Again I’m not saying it’s a bad idea. It cannot possibly hurt. I’m only saying it’s not necessary. This is an admissions requirement; you are paying; this is their requirement to get admitted to their university. If you send your admissions packet to a regular college, you don’t write thank you notes to the committee for reading it.