Just putting this out here, on both the 2024 and new 2025 thread, in light of the awareness of the inequities in our society. I know lots of new families read these threads every year. New families entering the audition process who are finding it an economic struggle should know about The Fund for College Auditions. It was started by Ellen Lettrich of MTCA and I am so proud that that organization cares enough to actually do something. Here is a link: https://thefundforcollegeauditions.org/
I saw on the 2024 thread that Molloy Cap/21 and Boco have announced that they will be online or mostly online and are allowing deferments next year. Such a bummer for those kids and I am guessing more schools will follow along that path in light of the close contact required for many MT classes. That canāt be good news for the 2025 kids either - Iām guessing that means even fewer MT spots will be available as students decide to defer a year rather than go onlineā¦
@cgn626 - Funny I was thinking about all of the potential scenarios for 2025 today.
I wonder if it would make sense for 2024 to assist 2025 by starting a separate thread over the summer with information about what schools plans were this year? Might help the new class gauge the new odds if things like whether they ended up on campus, allowed deferments, etc. were easy to look up? Just an idea. This process seriously didnāt need another āsticky wicketā to navigate, but CC always seems to rise to the challenge there.
Thank you for mentioning The Fund for College Auditions (TFCA), @singoutlouise! Important to clarify that I sold MTCA to my trusted colleagues Leo Ash Evens & Charlie Murphy before founding TFCA in May 2019, & I retain no financial interest in MTCA, so there is no conflict of interest. I do still work as an independent contractor for MTCA doing vocal assessments and vocal health work as befits my voice pathologist training and experience, but I also do that work independently for schools, universities, and theatre groups.
TFCA supports students through their entire junior-into-senior year audition process with any coach or teaching organization that shares our educational values (listed on our website). Thus far, we have partnered with MTCA, We Are Theatre Major (a wonderful Black-owned, woman-led college coaching & college counseling organization), and several private voice and dance instructors. We are always open to adding more teaching partners! Please spread the word to anyone student you know who is very low-income (they can check the income guidelines through a link on the Apply page of our website), especially if they are young BIPOC, trans, nonbinary, disabled, neurally diverse, or weight diverse theatre artists. Applicants and awardees do not have to be from those historically underrepresented groups in film, theatre, and TV, but our mission is centered on amplifying those voices. IMPORTANT: All of my work with TFCA is volunteer, so I have no financial interest in posting here. This is my way to be an active advocate for fighting white supremacy and systemic racism by drawing on my 30 years as a theatre educator. We will not have paid managerial positions in place for at least another audition year. As we build our donor base, our money goes first to supporting our Scholars.
ANY donation is gratefully accepted. You can donate through our website. It costs approximately $20,000 per Scholar to give them all of training, travel, and supplies advantages that their well-resourced peers have. In 2019-20, our first year, we were able to support 7 Scholars. Their final decisions: 2 young Black men will attend CCM MT, 1 young Black woman will attend UAB MT, 1 young Black man will attend UNCSA Drama, one young white trans man will attend Point Park for their BFA in Theatre Arts, 1 young Black woman will attend Winthrop MT, and 1 young Black woman will announce her MT decision as soon as her financial aid package is finalized! Follow our Instagram to see some incredible work our Scholars have done with Broadway mentors this summer as they wait to begin their college careers.
This is has been a large concern of mine since they started pushing out decision dates, however now I donāt believe many schools are taking the same stance on deferments. I have watched several videos of MT heads encouraging the students to move forward for next year and that itās important to overcome these challenges and obstacles. I was talking with a Molloy/CAP parent the other day, and they stated the only thing they had heard was that Freshman would be off campus for the fall semester. They had been mainly a commuter school and have only a handful of dorms in comparison. They stated that Juniors and Seniors traditional live off-campus and they are keeping the living situation to just sophomores so they avoid triples and have space for potential quarantine situations. They are also starting in mid-August and having class on labor day and not having the October break. They will go into the week of Thanksgiving and have finals, with the hopes of returning in January for all students. From what I have watched for videos from many schools, they truly want the students to embrace what is happening and use it to build on their craft. I also understand that many schools can not really afford for students to not come back next year. I have not heard anything in particular about BOCO. They may be saying deferment, as Boston College is not starting in the fall, but I have not heard what other Boston schools are doing. We are going to continue to move forward in the process, after all, they just released the UNIFIED dates for next season.
I just saw on the getacceptd website that Elon has already decided to go video only auditions with no on campus auditions. Hereās from the website:
Audition Process
Due to COVID-19 and the health and safety of all, we will not be conducting any in-person auditions or interviews this audition season.
Auditions will be conducted through video submission only. There is no prescreen audition. The video audition submitted through Acceptd is adjudicated and considered as your final audition.
After faculty review, applicants who pass the video audition will be asked to participate in an interview with the music theatre faculty over video conferencing.
Acceptance decisions will be made based on the combination of the video audition and personal interview.
This is the first one Iāve seen that has made this change. Does anyone know of any others who have already decided this? I certainly understand the decision. Part of me hopes other schools will go this way as it is safer and will be a huge money saver not to travel everywhere, but my daughter shows up better in a live environment - thrives on the adrenaline of the moment. And I would miss out on all the time spent traveling with her before she moves away!
I am kind of shocked that they are still going ahead with Unifieds. Everything is so unknown. I am really hesitant to make reservations right now! New York hasnt fully opened up yet to see if doing so will cause a rise in cases. I wish they would post something as to what Unifieds might look like this year to help alleviate my anxiety. I cant imagine it will be the same set upā¦
I went ahead and made hotel reservations for unifieds in Chicago because the hotel said that they could be cancelled with no penalty up to 24 hours in advance. I have no idea if we will actually go, but I just wanted to have the reservation to be on the safe side.
Where did you see any information about Unifieds happening in 2021?
I see the new dates on the Unified website but has anyone actually seen the dates on a college website?
Based on my experience last summer preparing for the class of 2024ās audition process, the deadlines and audition dates for class of 2025 probably wonāt be available until later in the summer or even in the early fall for some schools. We found that the dates and deadlines are all within a day or two of the past audition year, so looking at the 2024 info should give you a decent guideline to use while waiting for the new info to be posted.
They are posted on the National Unified Audition FB page and website. Last June we booked the entire week for Chicago then adjusted the dates after finalzing our schedule. We booked the best rate available, then called Palmer directly in December to get the group rate.
So you booked through the Palmer House in June and then got a group rate discount on your reservation when you called in December? How much was the group rate?
$177/night for 2 double beds. It was actually January 2 when I had the group discount applied and I had just made the cutoff. I think the original rate I had was $195. But if I could do it again I would skip Unifieds and be more strategic with in campus auditions.
Iāve already booked my reservation at the Palmer House for 2021 at the group rate. I called the hotel directly and asked for āTheatre Auditionsā rate. It was $179/night for 2 double beds.
In addition to Elon, Rider and Texas State also announced no in-person auditions this coming audition cycle.
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Whatever reservations youāre making for winter, make sure you can cancel without penalty! With three top programs backing out of any live auditions, you know more are going to follow. This will be an extremely interesting audition year!
Since it seems that more of the colleges are opting for not having in-person auditions/interviews, has anyone researched external cameras/microphones to bump up the poor quality of most laptops?
I recently purchased a Blue Yeti microphone for my S to be used for his upcoming online summer program and for prescreens. Looks like it will now be used for online auditions. It can be connected to both a computer and a phone (with an adapter which is fairly inexpensive). So far I am very happy with the microphone. At around $130, it is not cheap but I believe worth the cost. Be sure the microphone has a gain knob which adjusts how much sound the microphone will pick up. If singing from several feet away from the laptop or phone, the gain can be increased so that the microphone will pick the singing up much better. The gain can be lowered when closer to the laptop and microphone so that background noises are reduced.
I would also strongly recommend a ring light. Good lighting is a must and it will also improve the image of the weak cameras on most laptops. I would spend money on lighting before investing in an external camera.
We used the most current smartphone and a $150 external microphone kit from Amazon. S and I have some background in video/photography, so we were happy with the lighting and acoustic results. Seems like virtual auditions combined with the common app will only increase number of applicants to programs, making it even harder to stand out. If there were ever a year to consider an audition coach, this would be it.