<p>Does anyone have input on whether an applicant should do the unified audition or go to the school and audition personally? We are looking at applying to 12 schools and want to reduce costs if it does not reduce her chances of getting accepted. </p>
<p>I have heard when at all possible, go to the school. You get a much better feel for them, and they get more time with your child. Unfortunately, most folks do not have the $$ to pay to visit all schools they are auditioning for so you have to pick and choose. I will let the experts chime in as I know they will have much better advice</p>
<p>Our D actually preferred auditioning at Unifieds. She liked the energy, pace, camaraderie… She did 3 on campus auditions and found them to be draining. She really would have preferred to focus on her audition, but the on campus days often included sitting in on a class, campus tours and other things to make it worthwhile for your trip. She would have preferred to go back and visit campuses once she knew whether or not she was accepted rather than do all of that on audition day. But that’s just her.<br>
I do not think you have a better chance of getting in whether at Unifieds or on campus. I can tell you we personally know kids that got into some great schools from Unifieds including CMU, Michigan, CCM, Rider, Coastal Carolina, Ball State, The New School, Syracuse and many others. Those schools would not go to all of that effort to be there if they did not expect to find prospective students at Unifieds. I think what any prospective auditioner needs to figure out is which scenario would best suit them. I have a friend whose D was horrified at the thought of unified auditions and would have hated the crowds, the noise, the business of it all. She did all of her auditions on campus. Conversely, my D loved her Unifieds experience and felt getting to do so many auditions in a concentrated period of time just helped her get better with each audition. There is no right or wrong. It just depends on your child and where they would do best. Ironically, Our D ended up choosing a school that only has on-campus auditions (OCU).</p>
<p>It truly doesn’t make a difference in terms of audition results. D had both acceptances and rejections from on campus and unifieds. We had done some college visits during her sophomore and junior year - so our strategy was to do on campus auditions at schools we had not yet seen, and audition at unifieds for schools we had visited - and at ones that were cost prohibitive to travel to. We didn’t hold to that 100% - but for the most part. </p>
<p>In talking to our local friends who had great results they said it did not matter and they all recommended unifieds as a cost saver since we are so far away. </p>
<p>As so many have said it really doesn’t matter. My D also preferred Unifieds and thrived on the energy! Her issue with going to campus was if she fell in love with the campus it would make it harder if she did not end up there. Plus we would want to visit again if accepted because it really is a different trip once you are excepted. Also I would think if you got there and didn’t like the campus and had to stay all day if would make for a long day.</p>
<p>I, too, recommend doing a combination of both. The on-campus auditions were the ones that were drive-able for us. We opted to bring our son to Chicago because there are a few more days there and it’s very convenient to have almost all auditions only an elevator ride away. I also recommend Unifieds because of the opportunity to do walk-in auditions. When we arrived in Chicago, my son asked me to find where the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland was having their auditions (in another hotel, a cab ride away). RCS was able squeeze him in on our last day there, only a few hours before our plane ride home. It was his very last audition of the season, he totally nailed it, and that’s where he’s going to school in the fall. So-- all the planning we did throughout the year-- pre-screen videos, campus visits…and he ends up attending a school he walked into at Unifieds. Go figure. (He had other acceptances to choose from.)</p>
<p>Make sure you leave yourself time at the end of March and early April to do any campus visits that might be needed. Any acceptances from Unifieds will come in around then and the decision deadline is only a few weeks after that.</p>
<p>Son did three on-campus auditions and the rest were at Unifieds. At Pace and Hartt he didn’t spend more time with the faculty than he would at Unifieds as far as I could tell. Read the audition day reports to get a feel of a specific school’s on-campus audition. Some schools have a full day of activities, some schools don’t.</p>
<p>We did all on campus We decided this before the process started and it was a way to narrow down schools…they had to be in driving distance. Unifieds made me nervous, I mean one illness or whatever and your audition season could be shot so I like the mix it up idea. One caution with on campus is its very easy to fall in love with the school once you’ve spent a day there. I’m still not over the only rejection my son received (Baldwin Wallace)…I really loved it there :)) </p>
<p>We tried to schedule on-campus auditions whenever possible, especially for the two schools he hadn’t visited previously. Some people really do report that their kids thrive at Unifieds, while others find it too chaotic, so you have to go with your gut, I guess. Also, do check with each school to see if they have different routines for on-campus and Unified auditions (Otterbein didn’t do dance calls at Unifieds last year, for example). In general, you’ll get more of a sense of the current students and school culture at on-campus auditions, but obviously it isn’t logistically possible to travel to every single school separately. In terms of acceptance, I agree with everyone else–if you are a good fit, the school will sense that no matter what venue you choose for auditions. </p>
<p>I think that it depends on the school. We did a mixture and it turned out great. Knowing what I do now I would have changed a few of them like Texas State did the same thing at Unifieds that it did at the school whereas Otterbein did a full dance call on campus and did nothing at Unifieds. That would have been better for my child…I would also have gone to Coastal Carolina’s on campus auditions. I have heard wonderful things from the kids who auditioned there vs Unifieds. Do the research and when you get your list talk to the members here and they can give you great directions on the schools. :)</p>