<p>Another mom has asked that I post this question because she was having difficulty getting it to post! :) I seem to remember a similar 'poll' done by last year's acceptees and it's interesting, even if it's not scientific. </p>
<p>So, did you/your child audition for their chosen college (where they will actually matriculate in September) at the Unifieds or on campus?</p>
<p>We only did on-campus auditions. I have to admit I was dubious about the fairness of the Unifieds despite Doctorjohn's insistance that most schools are pretty consistent about who they take from all forms of auditions. THe advantage of the on-campus auditions, is that you can get a bird's eye view of the department and its players, and tour the college. With all of the money you spend on auditions, it gives you a bit of a cost savings if you use that as your campus visit as well. Also, it seems to me that the on-campus auditions are a bit more thorough in that the acting, voice, dance faculty are all involved. At Unifieds, the dance portion is either eliminated, abbreviated or you have to go on campus for it. THere are usually only one or two auditioners there and you are not likely to get live accompaniment. Those factors could be an advantage or a disadvantage, though, depending on the kid.</p>
<p>The Unifieds are efficient and more cost effective. My friend got cheap tickets to LA, stayed at the hotel where they were holding the Unifieds which is right near LAX served by airport shuttle. They got there the night before, the boy auditioned all day, and then they took the red eye back to the east coast, netting a bunch of auditions, some scheduled, some walk in. Many of the schools did not ask for audition fees, you could audition without having applied at some of the schools, and you can see some schools represented there that may not have been on your list. </p>
<p>The reason we did not go the Unified route was because my son was booked to the hilt in January and February which is when they are held. I was not too concerned because I felt that the chances for him were better on campus and earlier, but now I don't think either assumption is correct from what I could see. The other problem with the Unifieds is that you can be putting all of your eggs in one basket by scheduling everything at one of them. Transportation glitches, illness can be a problem, especially because there are not many audition dates left if you just can't get there or your voice is gone. You are taking a chance leaving things to the very end like that. </p>
<p>For most kids, I would recommend a combination of both. Perhaps start out with some schools that are not your first choice so you can "warm up" and then space them through the season, perhaps pairing some trips to be more efficient. Then schedule a few at the Unifieds, and check out some walk ins if necessary at the point. If you get an early acceptance or two, you could eliminate some of the auditions and breathe a little more lightly so it is nice to have some rolling and early schools in the lot. But it's nice to finish off the season with a bunch of auditions at Unifieds, checking out some schools that may not have been on your original list.</p>
<p>My daughter auditioned for the college at which she will matriculate (NYU/Tisch) on campus. She actually did all her auditions on campus and did not do any Unifieds. In terms of admissions, I do not know if there is a statistical difference depending on where you audition (unifieds vs. on campus) or not. However, I think Jamimom pointed out the pros and cons of each option quite well.<br>
Susan</p>
<p>So just how does one go about signing up to audition at the Unifieds? Is each school to be contacted before the audition dates? If so, how and when is the contact to be made? Already booked the hotel for the Chicago Unifieds but talk about putting the cart before the horse...</p>
<p>scogor--</p>
<p>When I did Unifieds I simply chose from a list of possible audition times that the school offered on their application for either the school or the department. You sign up to audition at Unifieds the same way you would schedule an audition at the school.</p>
<p>Some parents and kids have noted on this forum how even without an appointment one can show up at Unified and SOMETIMES FOR SOME SCHOOLS get an audition. But that should be a back up plan, not the preferred route, since it is not guaranteed.</p>
<p>Here's the breakdown of unified vs. campus auditions for Otterbein for this year:</p>
<p>WOMEN
on-campus 92 initial offers 2 percentage 2.2%
unifieds 59 initial offers 2 percentage 3.4%</p>
<p>MEN
on-campus 44 initial offers 5 percentage 11.4%
unifieds 28 initial offers 4 percentage 14.3%</p>
<p>Several things can be deduced from this data. One, of course, is that it's much harder for women than for men. This should not come as news to anyone. But another is that, at least for us, at least for this year, students had a slighter better chance of being accepted from the unified auditions than from on-campus ones, as surprising as that may seem.</p>
<p>However, before anyone rushes to make unified appointments, I want to suggest why the data look this way. At the unifieds, we see students who (1) have done the research to even know about the unifieds, (2) are determined to get into a BFA program, and (3) have the finances to come to NY, Chicago or LA. On-campus, we see a significant number of students from Ohio who (1) haven't done the research, (2) think they might like to do musical theatre, but aren't sure, and/or (3) don't have the finances to go to the unifieds. We see a wider range of talent on-campus than at the unifieds, so it makes sense that the percentage of admits would be lower.</p>
<p>I agree with jamimom, that an on-campus audition is preferable, for all the reasons she's outlined. But if one has to choose between auditioning for a school on-campus or not auditioning for that school at all, the unifieds offer a way to audition for that school, plus several others, without tripling the costs in time and money. And since the data also show that the odds of getting into any program are daunting, it makes sense to increase your chances by auditioning for more than two or three schools. That's why the unifieds were invented in the first place, and why we continue to participate in it. </p>
<p>Our class is now complete, and I'm very pleased with it. I hope to be able to post more statistics about our auditions on the Otterbein thread later this week.</p>
<p>It's a beautiful morning in Ohio. Hope it's nice where you are too. Have a good weekend.</p>
<p>doctorjohn,</p>
<p>Excellent breakdown on unifieds vs on-campus. I imagine the main point is for the students to remind themselves that the choices that the faculty make from auditions will be critical to their program, hopefully, for the next four years and beyond. Every audition goes into the same pool. The faculty are well-versed to the point that, even if a student perceives they're NOT getting the same attention, they probably ARE getting the same attention. I believe another parent mentioned a very similar scenario where her daughter worried about her unified audition performance and the attention of the faculty present, but was surprised to find she was accepted. It's somewhere in this forum. Hopefully, your point about the faculty realizing the homework/research the unified kid's have done doesn't go unnoticed. Getting in front of the right people is what matters, someway, somehow, not the four walls around them.</p>
<p>Thanks to Dr. John and Susan for their input. I think a lot of us are curious as to the rest of you out there whose kids will be freshmen in September (and you kids who read here, too!). This is a piece of information which may be useful to next years' applicants. Are you going to a school where you auditioned on campus or at Unifieds? </p>
<p>There are a lot of variables involved in admissions and I think Dr. John makes a good point on his thoughts as to why his school's results are what they are. If I'm not mistaken and my ancient memory isn't failing me, the results at schools away from the east coast were similar the year my D auditioned but the east coast schools had a much larger percentage of acceptees who had auditioned on campus. It would be interesting if all schools would release the information that Dr. John has, on their incoming classes. :)</p>
<p>Alwaysamom,</p>
<p>My daughter auditioned for 6 schools, 2 on-campus and 4 at Regional (not Unified) auditions. The four Regional auditions were all her top choice schools and arguably some of the most competitive programs. She was accepted to both schools that she auditioned for on campus and at 3 of the Regional. At the time we scheduled auditions, she would have much preferred to do them all on campus, but finances simply did not allow for that. However, in retrospect, she says that she much preferred the Regional audition process. She felt like she could concentrate more fully on the actual audition without the campus tour, classroom visit and the distraction of the school's current students. In fact, she will go happily to her first choice school in September seeing it for the first time at orientation this summer. This clearly isn't the ideal for everyone, but we are comfortable with the situation because we all have done considerable homework on the school, the faculty, alumni, the city and she has made contact with other students. And as I said, sometimes finances just won't permit campus visits to schools that are all across the country. Thank goodness for alternatives like the Unifieds and Regionals. I think if you have done your research, your chances of admission are not considerably diminished by auditioning at the Unifieds or Regionals.</p>
<p>Congrats to your D, caromom! What a wonderful result she had. :) What school did she finally decide on? I get the impression, and maybe Dr. John can confirm this, that the numbers auditioning at Unifieds are increasing each year. I know that even five years ago when we were in the rounds of visits and in the process of narrowing my D's list, it was the advice of her arts h/s that kids audition on campus, if at all possible, and certainly for their top choices. Perhaps it's just the part of the country where the students live. I can imagine how expensive it would be to travel to seven or eight schools if they were scattered from east to west and everywhere in between. Jamimom's son did this and she's commented on the cost involved.</p>
<p>We were fortunate that all of the schools that my D was interested in were within approximately a 8-10 hour drive, and we had visited all of the schools on her list prior to her applying. This would have made it simpler for auditions, had she not gotten into her first choice E.D., since we wouldn't have had to worry about campus tours, information sessions, visiting students, etc. She had done all that before deciding where she wanted to apply. We were fortunate in that we were able to cancel her remaining auditions without having already incurred expenses for the trips (other than the CMU audition fee which they said they'd refund and never did! ;)). </p>
<p>caromom, did the Regionals work similarly to the Unifieds? My D was scheduled to audition for BU in NYC prior to getting into Tisch the year she applied. I always wondered what the set up was for those and she didn't have any other friends applying there that year so we never heard.</p>
<p>You're right, Alwaysamom, about the cost for some of us. We live in southern California and all the schools are east of here, spread out over great distances (whereas in the northeast no one state is that far from another). None of the audition dates match up, although plenty of schools use the exact same date :(, unfortunately. I don't think we'll be able to drive from one school to another even once. Every audition is going to require a separate round trip flight, 3 days minimum for the trip--unless she does LA unifieds.</p>
<p>As I've posted before, I did ALL of my auditions off campus (all at the unifieds, except for NYU, which I did when they came to Houston), and I was admitted to all of the schools I auditioned for. Just goes to prove, in my mind, that you have just as great a chance being admittede wherever you audition. Schools don't have a reason of taking people who audition on campus vs. off. If you're good and they want you, you're in.</p>
<p>"If you're good and they want you, you're in."</p>
<p>My, my. Congratulations to you for performing so well at your auditions. I do think, though, that there are other factors beyond what you are accounting for. For example, boys, as Doctorjohn pointed out, certainly have it many times easier than girls in this process. Hmm. Then there's the school choices (schools like Tisch and BoCo take a lot, whereas Otterbein takes a tiny number), if someone didn't happen to get sick at audition time, etc. Also, some people have something to showcase at an on-campus audition that they can't in a hotel room--advanced dance skills, for example. You might want to think about these variables before you assume you are more talented than people who didn't get into any or many programs.</p>
<p>"You might want to think about these variables before you assume you are more talented than people who didn't get into any or many programs."</p>
<p>Good job, mtmommy, what an absolutely RIDICULOUS comment! All I was saying was that I got into programs without going to on campus auditions, just as an example for those who may be thinking that schools look higher on those who come to campus for auditions as opposed to seeing them on tour. Thanks for twisting my comment. It seems to be a recurring theme here that people just try to help by providing insights, but others hate that these people might be more successful than their own children, so they jump.</p>
<p>My D auditioned for her first choice BOCO at the L.A. unifieds and will be attending there. Our results were dead even.</p>
<p>2 - On campus auditions (Emerson & Point Park) admitted to Point Park (50%)</p>
<p>8 - at Unifieds (Hartt, Roosevelt, CCM, CMU, UArts, BoCo, Syracuse (in January), and a walk-in for Otterbein - admitted to Hartt, Roosevelt, UArts, Boco (50%)</p>
<p>We really enjoyed the unfieds, however, she is a dancer and didn't have much opportunity to dance. I do believe this would be an advantage for non-dancers. Once she did a couple of auditions, she was on a roll and I noticed she was not nearly as stressed and actually was looking forward to the next audition. It was great to walk down the hallways listening to the singing come out of the rooms. Quite a few kids borrowed her CD player so don't forget to bring one. As I mentioned before, the hardest part for her was having to run over to her CD player tp push play and run back to her audition spot, so I suggest that you have plenty of lead time.</p>
<p>P.S. I also don't think that you could possibly audition for that many schools in one day if they all had dance auditions, as this would be quite exhausting.</p>
<p>Briarbrad--I didn't twist anything that you said. I am not a person who "hate(s) seeing people who might be more successful than their children." My child hasn't even auditioned yet. But I do know that there are students and parents of students on this forum who have not been as successful as you have--and there might be other reasons beyond assuming that you got in because you are more talented. I'm sorry if you don't want to take responsibility for what you said, but you did make this statement.</p>
<p>Hmm...so where did I say I got in because I am more talented than others (even though that is probably why I got in to these schools...). In no way was I bashing anyone who wasn't as successful as I have been. Of course there are many factors to admissions. But as anyone can see, I was posting on this forum about on campus vs. unified auditions that I was very successful at the unified auditions. Because some people question whether schools like to accept students from unified auditions, I simply stated that in my case, they did, and that I do not believe that there is any difference in acceptances between unified auditions and on campus auditions.</p>
<p>I would hate to think that any student would be at a disadvantage if they could not audition on site. There is so much talent out there, and many can not afford a trip onsite for an audition. I honestly believe it doesn't matter WHERE you are seen, it just matters what goes on in the audition WHEN you are seen.</p>