<p>Thanks your guys, and thanks auntie harriet...i loved that hug :-)...</p>
<p>Broadwaybelter, im really glad your auditions went well!!..i hope you get into the school of your choice...and now we just wait...lol..</p>
<p>wait, are there any other unified auditions after San fran.? of was that the last one?</p>
<p>After San Fan (yesterda) there's LA , February 11th (Today), and then thats it. So today is the last official day of unifieds.</p>
<p>Who was there at the Unifieds in San Francisco?! In San Fran I did Point Park University, College of Santa Fe and Ithaca College. In LA I did University of Oklahoma and Webster University. In LA on the 12th I did Emerson College. Who else was there? I kept thinking, "I wonder if that person posts on CC..."</p>
<p>haha... same here. i looked at everyone like they were a CC'er. : )</p>
<p>Notes from SF Unified’s</p>
<p>Positive experience, met some great people, virtually every school representative was warm, genuine, and helpful, never felt like a number. It’s unfortunate that so many schools do not participate in the Unifieds. It made the exercise much more complex than it needed to be had they all been in the same hotel. If you are driving yourself in a city your not very familiar with I can’t recommend enough a GPS navigation system. We use Nroute by Garmin with a laptop. </p>
<p>While there where many polished and talented kids we also observed a large number of poorly dressed and under prepared students. Generally speaking the guys were the worse dressers but we saw more than a few gals in shabby jeans and sneakers. Every school she auditioned for wanted something different. Many students were confused about what the schools wanted. If you are going to make a good impression you have to get the audition requirements for each school and read them (I am probably preaching to the CC choir).</p>
<p>We are not big city people so I choose to stay at a hotel that sits on 40 acres half an hour from downtown. That was a good move for us as it was a very relaxing environment. Even though I really did not want to we took our Yamaha keyboard along and set it up in the hotel room. That was a good move as it gave her some normalcy to the warm-up routine as it’s the tool she has used for years to do so. Warming up at 7:30 for a half an hour and not having an audition for two hours did not prove to be a problem. </p>
<p>Find something to put on your resume that is remarkable. I know one actor who has “can belch on queue” on his resume. D put “accents” and “chicken sounds”. 60% of the schools asked her to “do the chicken sounds”. It showed uniqueness and personality and they all got a good laugh. </p>
<p>Show up early to the auditions. One school we arrived 40 minutes early, waited 10 minutes and they took her in. They then did not have another appointment for 50 minutes so she had a half hour audition. </p>
<p>NCSA has a very well done orientation prior to the auditions. Rutgers and SMU did the best job of “brining things out” of D with their use of Q&A and improve exercises.</p>
<p>She was more nervous for her first audition than she/we expected then calmed down. She nailed the monologues, passed on the song, struggled with the Q&A and did well with improve. One of her pieces is very emotionally charged and the woman from Rutgers began to tear up mid way through it. She was offered acceptance on the spot by one of the schools.</p>
<p>Wally, congratulations to your daughter on her acceptance. That is just great and nice to have one in her pocket already. I wasn't aware that some schools offer acceptances right at auditions. Which schools do that?</p>
<p>Thanks, Wally, for the comprehensive info (and kaylagurl, too!). I am wondering about the acceptance on the spot - This is not the first I have heard of it, but I just can't imagine it based on the experiences I witnessed as I made the rounds with my kid last year. Is admittance offered at the conclusion of an audition based on the impression made there? Does this happen when there is prior knowledge of the student because of summer program experience? Is there paperwork involved, i.e. a letter that is official? Is this practice particular to one or a few schools? Is this something many schools do but rarely? I am just curious because I keep trying to understand the process and it's one piece that I have heard of twice now but find confusing based on my thoughts that even 80% of admission being audition, there are always those other factors that the auditors probably don't know (grades, scores, etc.) Any information from anyone who's experienced this would be great.</p>
<p>Wally, congrats for your daughter, thats amazing! :-)....I've heard about on the spot acceptances..a friend of mine from CMU, a guy, was offered an on the spot acceptance from BOCO..at NYC unifieds...he is very talented :-)</p>
<p>I also know of someone who was offered on-the-spot acceptance, and it wasn't to any of the schools that I believe Wally's D had on her list. Nor is it a school that others have said has done that. The girl had not previously been at a summer program, or had previous contact with the school</p>
<p>My guess is that it would be possible that the auditors already have a list of people who have been academically qualified, so that their decision is the only part of the process not already cleared before the audition.</p>
<p>I am not going to publicly name the school as I don’t think they would want me to. I would describe them as not being one of the recognized top top “ivies” but a very strong program who participates in the Unified’s.</p>
<p>Remember that we are straight theater not MT. I would think it to be much less likely to occur with MT. </p>
<p>
[quote]
Is admittance offered at the conclusion of an audition based on the impression made there?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Yes. This school had no knowledge of her prior. There was not any paperwork on the spot nor a request for commitment. They have asked that she visit the school ASAP. The resume answers some of those questions such as grades, test scores, etc. </p>
<p>
[quote]
Is this practice particular to one or a few schools? Is this something many schools do but rarely?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I don’t know. Her monologues are very powerful and unusual. She does a sonnet that is well beyond the abilities of the average beginning of Junior year conservatory acting student. Yet, only one offered admission on the spot. And, she absolutely was remembered by the auditioners from the school she went to last summer yet there was no feedback. </p>
<p>Also I know of a straight acting student who also was very talented and unusual who got accepted to every program she applied to including the best of the best and she was not offered acceptance early. I do not know if she applied to this school though.</p>
<p>Congrats to your D, Wally. As my friend Susan noted, it must feel good to have one in the bag, so to speak. Tell your D we are all proud of her and hope that many more acceptances come her way very soon in the mail! :)
Is the school which accepted your D one that she would consider attending? You said that she had not filled out any paperwork: was this audition sort of a matter of "well, I am here, might as well audition" or did she know she was going to audition for them?</p>
<p>
[quote]
Tell your D we are all proud of her and hope that many more acceptances come her way very soon in the mail!
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Thanks. Very nice of you to say so.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Is the school which accepted your D one that she would consider attending?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Absolutely!</p>
<p>
[quote]
was this audition sort of a matter of "well, I am here, might as well audition" or did she know she was going to audition for them?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Neither actually. Since the straight acting auditions are so short and we only had one scheduled at the unifieds there was numerous opportunities for walkons. She had her targeted schools and was not interested in auditioning for auditioning sake. I made it a point to speak with school representatives whenever I could particularly of schools she was not applying to. </p>
<p>While D was in an audition I struck up a conversation with a woman representing this school. I was very impressed with her and what she had to say about her program so D did a walkon. After the audition/acceptance we were told that in spite of the fact that the application deadline was passed for this school that this person had the authority to “green light” an application after the deadline. </p>
<p>So, no this school was not on the original list. I would feel comfortable naming it after the dust settles. Our subsequent research about them has been very positive. Also, D was not feeling well on Sunday so we passed on Julliard as that was just for bragging rights not attendance. </p>
<p>A word to the non regulars and people to come in the future to this forum. Some people have found this forum to be intimidating and “scary”. They get the impression that this is an impossible endeavor to accomplish. Yes it is a long term project with some complexity and it is competitive but it is doable. Don’t let the perception of impossibility dampen your dreams.</p>
<p>As to what Wally said about this process being scary or too complicated, yes it is a little tough, but if you just keep reading the post, get yourself a list and check it off, you can accomplish this, my S did, (with me acting as secretary) and if we can do it ANYBODY can do it!</p>
<p>Can anyone let me know how many auditions you realistically can (or should) expect to be able to schedule at the Unifieds if you get your timeslots squared away as soon as the schedule becomes available with each individual school?</p>
<p>Based on your forum name I presume you mean MT so I will let someone else answer that. For the benefit of someone reading this who is pursuing straight theater this is how I would answer the question. </p>
<p>In the three days we went through auditions 10am seemed to be the earliest slot. At the Unifieds the schools seemed to be pretty organized and timely and the various programs had rooms very close to each other. I think our shortest audition was about 15 minutes and the longest was half an hour. So for straight acting programs you could conceivably do quite a few in a day like every hour if you wanted. The problem would lie in the actual scheduling not pulling off 6 auditions in a day. We found delays and some disorganization in the scheduling part of the process. In fact I would use the word frustrating at times and kind of a hassle to keep track that all the auditions were scheduled and confirmed so stay on top of that part. Even if you get all your paperwork in and audition request in early dont expect prompt confirmations of auditions times. Atleast thats how it was for us. For example schools would let you indicate if you would prefer morning or afternoon on the given day. For one day we were scheduled to be at two auditions at the same time and I would say the auditions were not confirmed for nearly a month after the request was submitted. And at one of those schools we were told that D was the first one on thier list for SF. Given that and the fact that they tell you when the audition is going to be not the other way round lining up a bunch in a day would I think be a challenge. However the schools we contacted to change times were very accommodating.</p>
<p>I think the answer is going to differ for a MT applicant than a straight theater one. For instance, most BFA in MT auditions involve singing, acting and dancing so there is more to do. Further, a few programs require a half day slot for auditions. I'm not sure how many per day would be feasible and I haven't attended Unifieds but depending on the particular schools involved and what their auditions entail you reserve a time block for, I think 2-3 per day might be advisable. Over a two day period, that may mean up to six auditions.</p>
<p>My D did 7 auditions in Chicago last week. She had 4 scheduled and then did 3 walk-ins. How many one can fit in depends alot on the schools that you are auditioning for, and how long their respective audition lasts. For instance CMU took 4 and 1/2 hours, and they had told us to allow 4 hours. There was quite a bit of waiting in between the dance, monologue and singing, but it would not have allowed for leaving to do another audition, b/c you went to 3 different rooms for each, and you waited in between to be called for the next part.</p>
<p>Monday morning she had BoCo, which took about 45 minutes as they were running behind. When she arrived for her apptmt, she signed up for their dance call, which you had 2 choices of either 7 or 9 pm on Mon. or Tues. night. Right after she finished BoCo, she went to find Hartt to try and get a walk-in, and she got a mid-afternoon apptmt. She was scheduled for a 1 pm dance call for CCM, which took about an hour, had time to go back up to her room and get changed for the Hartt walk-in (which took about 20 min. and no dance), and then had her song and monologue for CCM after 4 pm. CCM said to arrive 30 minutes early for your apptmt., which she did, and they were running ahead of schedule and took her straight in. She had the BoCo dance call at 7 pm, and finished about 8:45 pm. At that point she was starving, and we headed straight for the restaurant!</p>
<p>Tuesday morning she started with Webster, which had no dance audition, and apptmts every 20 minutes for song and monologue. After that she did a walk-in with PSU around noon, and was scheduled for CMU at 1 pm. Earlier that morning she had gone to Univ. of Miami to get a walk-in, and she finished her day with them at 6 pm. We flew home on a 6 am flight Wed. morning.</p>
<p>It helps to schedule early with the schools, b/c my D did not want to have to sing before 10 am, so the earlier you can schedule the better times you can get.</p>
<p>Hope this helps you plan for next year!</p>
<p>Even so, whether MT or straight theater, some schools have informational sessions which can last almost an hour. Some include interviews. My s. scheduled one in the morning and one in the afternoon to allow for this, for waiting one's turn, and for travel time between studios and hotels. There were instances when it all was quick and there would have been time for another in that time span, but I can think of 3 or 4 cases where the whole half day was needed.</p>
<p>WallyWorld - thanks for taking the time to reply, I am sorry I should have been more specific I did mean MT :-)
Song4U - I am really impressed with how your daughter was able to coordinate the walk ins with her scheduled appointments. What it reiderates is the importance of bringing extra headshots/resumes, water bottles and gear. I wonder too if the schools always run their auditions at Unifieds the same way (i.e. certain schools may always have info sessions and others tend to take up 4 hrs etc. like CMU, and on the other hand there is CCM who apparently allows you separately schedule each audition component). Most of this type of information is not available on the respective web sites though (other than to bring accompaniment where there is no accompaniment provided) contrary to the run down of an on site audition, so all your information is very, very welcome!</p>