@sitzprobe re cold care: my S did his NYU audition with a lousy head cold. We did neti pot, vocal steamer, mucinex, lots of elderberry syrup and vitamins, but in the end the thing that saved him was Afrin right before the audition. He tried it once in a voice lesson to be sure it worked. And lots of hydration and sleep! Safe travels and BAL!
@toystorymom CONGRATS! as one of the few dads on here ill add a little crude humor ( directed at the parents not the kids) " we never forget our first"!! awesome feeling . keep it rolling
Congratulations @toystorymom ! My son is accepted at Hartt too! We are very happy and feeling a lot of stress is off before starting the big chunk of auditions.
@iowamtmom Hi and welcome.
Everyone’s situation is different. You can get a lot out of a minor investment in books by Mary Anna Dennard (Moo), Chelsea Diehl, and a very recent addition from Amy Rogers Schwartzreich.
It also depends on how familiar you and your ‘team’ are with the present incarnation of the MT admissions process, how well your kid accepts and applies feedback, and about a bazillion intangibles that others have mentioned that make this process stressful, maddening, and unpredictable.
For us the decision to participate was in part a financial tradeoff. When you can audition for 10-20 schools in one place in an extended weekend early in the audition season, you just can’t beat that for pure efficiency. It also forces your kid to get their act together early, and in many cases the early bird is going to have some advantages (maybe).
There are also tips and tricks for prescreen videos as well as support up to and including shooting the video. And there are minor corrections that will make a big difference in how your prescreen material looks to colleges.
Even my daughter’s voice teacher really had little idea of how ‘professional’ these candid little snippets can be. His attitude was “it’s clear you have talent so it should be fine.” That was before we went 0-for-6 on video prescreens. And the kid has won state vocal competitions—apparently not so evident. (We signed up for coaching late so we didn’t get full benefit of this experience). Prescreens are a mixed bag for many people.
Now you can do this yourself, and we had guidance from a MT family a couple of years ahead of us. Their MT D is awesome, not going to take anything away from her. When we sat down with them, they talked about not needing a coach and they did it ‘completely on their own.’ Their D is now at Tisch. Except they didn’t. They got monologue help from their community theater director, private dance with multiple instructors, headshots by an LA professional who flies in, and others that I forget…
Bottom line is that this is an insanely overpopulated area of interest with kids with absolutely incredible experience, talent, and resumes. Hence my screen name. One of the reasons we are all here is because we all know this and yet our kids want to pursue their dreams, and who are we to stop them?
So…do you need a coach? No. Will having one be an advantage? Probably. Here’s why
I would say that there were just over 100 kids at Moonifieds. I’m guessing CAP isn’t that big yet, but will be soon. There are other regional auditions before Christmas where the talent is more varied and so are the recruiters & schools. Are these the creme de la creme or just rich fools humoring their kids and being taken for a ride? Probably a mixture, but no matter if the kid carries a tune on their own or in a bucket, those 200+ are getting audition slots with a variety of desirable schools.
You’re going to spend the money anyway either traveling to individual schools or at one or more unified auditions. Oh and there’s one more big semi-secret perk which is that some schools waive prescreens for these private auditions figuring the coaches have curated the attendees—largely but not completely a valid assumption.
I won’t really be able to tell you whether any of this process was truly ‘worth it’ in our case until May 1 or possibly after. Would I hire a coach again? In a New York minute.
Consider
my kid audtioned for about a dozen schools
she’s still being considered by most of them
we don’t have any trips until Chicago unifieds in January when the weather is bad everywhere
we don’t have a bonkers schedule in Chicago and have room for ‘weather related emergencies’
Two on-campus auditions in February will conclude the ‘season’ and then we wait like everyone else.
Front loading like this makes the fall fly past and that means you gotta start yesterday. Boy Scout Motto applies: BE PREPARED.
Break a Leg. Your mileage may vary.
Statistical aside:
Someone posted that CCM got over 2000 prescreens, approximately 1400 of which (by my rough estimate based on my own personal observations at on-campus auditions) were female and 85-90% of those white. That’s my D’s demo. With an enhanced emphasis on diversity that exists, you have available maybe 2-3 leading ladies, 2-3 best friends, 2-3 character actors, and a couple of ensemble/swing dancers in a class of 24-28. And that’s pretty big for MT. So apply to 25 schools and pray to the deity of your choice. One of the downsides of Acceptd and the Common App is that you can pretty much shotgun 20 schools easily.
Between app fees and prescreen fees, you’re already in for AT LEAST $2K. Is the incremental investment in a coach (give or take, including the private audition ‘fee’ about the same amount) worth it? “Whaddya say punk, are ya feelin’ lucky?”
Opinions expressed are solely those of the author and probably would get his D excluded from future opportunities for being so, um, forthright. But hey, it’s called ‘sharing, venting, and discussing,’ right?
1 Like
@MTisNutz - amazingly thorough and accurate, well done…
as I stated in prior posts we did not use Moonifieds nor CAP but considered both very seriously, went w MTCA and have a “private audition” through them w Baldwin wallace this weekend, I dont think it gives us an acceptance advantage but we live a 45 minute train ride from NYC so that saved us some airfare and hotel on campus- BW doesnt do unifieds…as . MTisnutz said- this process is out of control expensive, but you must start early or it becomes overwhelming( its overwhelming regardless)
I cant say whether its fair in terms of “haves vs have nots”…people get SAT tutors, essay coaches etc so??? this process is hard for everyone, and even harder when trying to budget…the expenses run away…I mean really should we have paid for applications when we didnt pass pre screens?? did I care about an academic admission to your " dumb school" I just wanted a chance to sing and act for 3 minutes ( which will 90% of the time result in a rejection which will make me doubt why I did this in the first place) heres my $100 & your 12 supplemental essays on how i will change the world now please can I have an audition slot" laughable or cryable- its reality.
I agree with both @MTisNutz and @NYYFanNowMTdad.
You can definitively find ways to save money, but it is expensive if you take the “avg” route which is I think 12-20 applications, at least one or two on campus and one unified or two. We’ve saved a lot using points for flights - pick your best airline for where you live and get the credit card for points and charge everything on it, and pay it off monthly of course, I’m not advocating debt, but it is a minor relief some of these stupid fees are helping with points! Southwest is fantastic with points and no fees for changing and canceling etc. start earning points now.
What I thought I would do 12 months ago, vs 6 months vs now has changed. I have lost a bit of my mind ! You have to go in ok knowing you can get nothing out of the whole process. It’s an expensive lottery ticket. It’s not just about talent, more than enough are talented for the available spots. But finding the fit for your kid, school, and budget is a hard one to match up. I hope it works out for us and will have to be ok if it doesn’t after this heroic effort.
@iowamtmom - One thing you guys could do is buy the books mentioned in this thread and then read those along with online blogs and CC to familiarize yourself with audition material, schools, the price of schools, and the possibility of driving/flying to a unified audition and maybe some schools. Then, check out the My College Audition website and see if you guys can do a consultation. It’s $150 but it will be so worth it. You can read about it on their website, but basically the owner of the company listens to your kid perform over Skype, and then lets them know what they need to work on and suggests schools that would be appropriate to audition for. Your list of schools is key. If you have a good list, you don’t have to audition for 20 schools and it is much less expensive. You may be able to get a consultation with other services, but Chelsea at MCA is really great.
Coach, no coach, etc…it takes TIME and RESEARCH. You can learn a lot from reosurces like CC. What I have found is the least reliable resource, oddly enough, has been D’s Performing Arts HS staff (GC, Program Director, etc.) We’ve had to push them for everything, especially the timing (need that LOR by X Date for the 10th time, are you going to help shoot prescreens or not, etc.)
So be your own best advocate. FInd out what you need to know (CC is a good resource for that).
Resources we’ve used:
Singing coach
Summer MT audition camp with ongoing access to coach
CC
LOTS of reading (internet, college websites)
It’s doable. Start early.
One of the advantages to working with a coach may include opportunities to take masterclasses with key faculty members from schools on your list.
Another is the opportunity to do mock auditions…
Does anyone know where Syracuse holds their off site auditions in Chicago? I can’t find it on my confirmation info. anywhere
Coaches can help but if you don’t have the money to spend on one you CAN do this without one. I have gone through it before without any extra help. The only resource being voice and dance lessons. We didn’t have any teachers or instructors who knew the first thing about this process. Do your research early! This site is invaluable for sure and I was on it constantly. I had also done a lot of “googling” as well on both schools and the process. I made sure to have a healthy range of reach to safety schools and cast a WIDE net. We did a couple required on campus auditions and the rest at unifieds (12). For travel, I hoarded and borrowed airline miles and hotel points. For the prescreens I had filmed it all on my phone. It can be done. I have listened to and read about equal pros and cons to doing some of these early “unified” auditions through coaches. If you can swing it, great. If not, it’s not a detriment. Your going to be paying enough for the next 4 yrs ?. Believe me, even if your lucky and their school ends up being mostly paid for, there are soooo many extra expenses that pop up.
Sorry, I feel like I rambled lol. The main point of this is, coaches are great. If you have the funds, it would be helpful to use one. However if you do not, it is highly doable without one. We had plenty of desirable options in the end and continued success after. ?.
A great source of free information from a college audition coach are the many Vlogs on Mary Anna Dennard’s website. To view the videos, just Google: “College Audition Coach” and then select the “VLOG” menu choice.
Here are just a few of the titles available:
What Happens in the Room
When to Add More Schools
7 Easy Ways to Find Monologues
Understanding Unifieds Part 5: Walk Ins
Can You Afford Your Dream School?
College Audition Prep on a Budget
Talking to Accompanists
Waitlists and Deferrals
@DramaLove2020 My son is auditioning for Syracuse in LA but here is maybe how you can find out where they are in Chicago. Go to the confirmation email, click on view information about the audition, and then click on directions. Seems convoluted but it does show the Hyatt at LAX for the LA auditions so I assume it would show you where the Chicago auditions will be. Good luck finding it!
@MTMom24 I found it thanks… it was buried!
College Audition Pros on Facebook also has a big bank of free videos with advice and interviews with several BFA MT directors which are helpful.
I found almost everything I needed to build our list here and if you read thru prior year vent threads you get a good sense of the process. Coaches are helpful for monologues/song choice in particular, and have to say the emotional support for kid and parent has been really appreciated.
The post title includes venting so… normally don’t do this but…
D suffered a deep ankle sprain at dance last night. Can’t put any weight on her foot. Couldn’t feel her toes last night. All of this after hours. Very swollen.
We iced it (30 minutes on, 15 minutes off for 4 rounds). Swelling came down but couldn’t walk. Better with an ankle brace.
This AM was a tiny bit better but couldn’t go to school. Elevating, ice, ankle brace. Nice timing with Unifieds next week!
It’s always something…there I’m done 
oh no, rickle1! My fingers are crossed that your D’s ankle heals amazingly fast and she’s good as new by Unifieds!
@rickle1 if you haven’t already, I would tell her doctor about Unifieds and ask for whatever treatment might be possible to get her moving next weekend. My daughter and I have both done steroid shots when we had to perform with laringitis.
What awful timing for sure! Hope your daughter heals quickly. Sending positive thoughts for unifieds.