That’s a big issue. Lots of uninformed people (including us at the time until we got into the mix). D attended a PA HS and even there, the program director who was formerly a Broadway casting director after a national tour career was less than helpful / forthcoming. He had a workshop one night (in four yrs) explaining some of the terms (I didn’t know what a prescreen was or what unifieds were). He mentioned he would help shoot prescreens but never did. Was always too busy. Told some kids he would do it in November after their fall show (which he directed) and that would be plenty of time. We didn’t go that route fortunately as many schools were completely booked for auditions. Imagine passing a prescreen at a strong school only to find out you couldn’t schedule an audition and have to hope for a walk in. Fortunately D had an older friend who told her about a coach in a different city who offered audition camps and workshops so she learned a lot from him and he ultimately shot her prescreens. His camp was quite helpful for her to gauge her talent level for 10 leading programs, learn about better song choices, meet the competition - stunning but she learned she belonged in the room which was great!
You would think there would be more support from HS GCs, Theater Directors, whatever, but it’s few and far between. The coaches would be well served to reach out to more schools and offer programming, information but they are probably full to their capacity so the system keeps chugging along.
@OutOfMyMind21 ok you are truly brilliant! We had read about the curriculum at the schools where my D has been accepted so far. But when I put them on a spreadsheet
side by side it was a game changer for my D! We are now having intelligent conversations about the number sance electives possible and whether there is a foreign language proficiency requirement. It is truly helpful to compare a typical semester in each program side by side (and all her schools have sample plans on their websites - takes a little digging). I’m a visual person and so is my D - not sure why we didn’t think to do this sooner. Thank you!
We were completely clueless with the Tech Theatre journey. Thankfully, I had found CC when my son started looking at (non-theater) colleges 5-6 years earlier, so I spotted the MT and Acting boards pretty quickly when I came back, along with the small number of Tech threads. We stumbled onto SSTI and its Tech component when we were looking for summer theater programs her sophomore year - what a gift that turned out to be! (The program and the college admission guidance it offered, I mean.)
My daughter was very fortunate to have the opportunities and guidance she had, both within and outside of her HS — no clue how someone in an area with less theater exposure would navigate the path, though.
@rickle1 The process has amped up from the days when most HS, GC’s and Theatre Directors went through the process themselves. MT admission coaches, competition with career kids who have polished “books” and “audition packages” at the age of 17/18 are a relatively new phenomenon. No judgements on whether that is bad or good, it’s just different than it was, even 5 or 10 years ago. Each year seems to snowball from the year before. Coaching has popped up to fill the void because it’s so hard for kids to navigate all the factors of applying - twice - once academically and once artistically - to multiple schools. And many wonderful MT schools are not on Guidance Counselors’ radar. At all.
Most of us come in so naive, thinking/hoping it will be different for us. We’re used to seeing our kids as precocious stars (And they are! Many academic as well as performance stars.) It’s quite shocking, isn’t it? Even when you think you’re prepared. When it’s over we’re too exhausted to even think about reform. Love to hear from those of you who are paying it forward and helping GC’s and theatre departments in your home town.
@moosegirlemy2 It’s crazy isn’t it?!? I read in last year’s thread about people doing this and honestly had my doubts over how useful it would be, as I’d already looked at the curriculum at each school’s website. But when I put them on the spreadsheet it finally started visually clicking where the differences on the schools were.
So glad to hear it helped you move a step forward in the decision making process!!
Agree with all of it. I do know D (former troupe pres at her PA HS) was asked by the HS director to lead a zoom discussion for his rising seniors this past summer. She did it and it was helpful and that’s a good start but they need to be doing things like that way earlier in the process. May be sophomore yr. If they’re not doing it as a PA HS, imagine what little knowledge is out there at the regular HSs.
this year MTCA did have some private auditions for some schools. may just have been because there were no real unifieds this year. but they had several schools that held auditions for mtca kids.
I have read the recent threads with great interest. Not the Michigan hullabaloo, but the comments about audition coaching. Way back in those pre-covid days of late 2019, we decided to sign up with Moo. The reason for this decision was not the hope of Moo’s influence (never occurred to me), but was it made economic sense. The ability to drive to Dallas and knock out so many auditions in a single weekend would actually save a great deal of money. If you live within driving distance of Dallas, you should consider Moo for that reason alone. It beats going to Chicago in February.
Of course, covid changed everything. Nobody was going to travel anywhere for auditions. Some of that economic benefit evaporated. Do I think it was still worth it? Yes I do. My S did not really need help with song selection or preparation. He is strongest in voice and he is a MT junkie, as all of our kids are. The invaluable help was in monologue selection. He knows his MT but is not familiar at all with plays. I doubt we could have found such good and appropriate material without the help of Moo and her crew.
Since doing a virtual Moonifieds was unprecedented, I was hoping for the best but prepared for it to be a disaster. Fortunately it went very smoothly. Aside from it being virtual and not live, I think the only real downside was that I believe more schools used Moonifieds as a prescreen rather than a final audition or required a prescreen prior to Moonifieds. My S auditioned for 14 schools during virtual Moonifieds. For 6 of these schools it was a final audition with no prescreen, for 4 it was a final audition after a prescreen and the remaining 4 used it as simply a prescreen.
My S had great success with Moonifieds. Of the 14 schools, he has received offers from 8 and has been waitlisted by 2. Do I think that this success had anything to do with Moo’s influence? No I do not. In fact the only program that I came to believe she might have some sway was the only prescreen my S did not pass. He didn’t even audition with this school at Moonifieds because he didn’t pass the prescreen.
Was Moonifieds an advantage for my S and all the Moo kids? Yes, but only because of preparation and timing. Being in November, these kids are some of the first ones these programs see. Because these auditions or prescreens are so early, Moo and her crew makes sure the kids are prepared and, maybe more importantly, confident. This was the experience with my S so I hope it was shared by the others. The other benefit for us was peace of mind. We weren’t in this crazy process alone. Can’t really put a price tag on that.
Finally, for those who do not live near New York, Chicago or LA, Unifieds is a much greater financial burden for families in the rest of the country. I think Moonifieds in Dallas and CAP in Atlanta level the playing field by being in parts of the country that Unifieds has chosen not to be.
We visited UNCO with my son in 2017 after he was accepted. It had a few advantages for us parents: lower tuition plus scholarship money and 20 minutes from my brother’s home were big points. But not as big for my S.
The MT program at UNCO is solid. When i compared their BA MT curriculum with the two BFA programs where my S was also accepted there was not much difference. I kept telling my son it looked as close to a BFA curriculum without being a BFA. He did opt for another school and the BFA, but he really had to weigh all three schools pretty heavily before making that final decision.
We used MTCA, that can mean anything from intensive weekly coaching and a few meetings with any of their many services. They had 300 kids that used some service last year, these numbers are not surprising at all.
I hate to change the subject… has anyone heard anymore from Hartt? I know there have been a few acceptances and many rejections. Any news on if they are still handing out offers?
Please reach out if Utah stays on the radar and your D has any questions at all. My student would love to chat with her, and I’m happy to give you the Mom side of things. Wrapping up the first year and my daughter is thrilled with her choice – it’s truly where she needs to be right now.
Muhlenberg was my daughter’s very close 2nd choice. We did visit and we were completely blown away with what is offered there, especially in dance and acting. The study abroad programs were unbelievable! My daughter wanted a larger university setting, but that was the deciding factor – not the program at Muhlenberg. She would have been very happy there if she wanted a smaller setting.
for you!