<p>My D is planning on doing Chicago Unifieds next February. Is it doable to audition for 8 schools between Sunday and Wednesday? We will need to fly back to California for her choir concert on Thursday.</p>
<p>Definitely do-able! For Musical Theatre, that would be 2 auditions a day. Many schools schedule in 3-4 hour blocks so that would be a morning and an afternoon audition each day. My daughter had 7 auditions starting on Sunday.</p>
<p>Awesome. Just starting to get my arms around this craziness. Thanks for the input GSOMT!</p>
<p>as GSOMTMom said that is definately doable plus you will have time for walkins if they are available and you want to do them</p>
<p>We were there from Sunday to Wednesday. Here was the schedule: Flew into Chicago Saturday afternoon. Audition #1 was Sunday afternoon. (didn’t want to schedule anything in the morning, in case there were travel/weather-related delays.) Monday was 3 auditions-- 9am, 11:50am and 3pm. Tuesday was 9:15am walk-in, 11:30 audition and 1pm audition. Wednesday was 9am audition and 11:15 walk-in. Plane left at 4:30pm.</p>
<p>We left lots of down-time, and my son really needed it. We didn’t do any sight-seeing. We were strictly there for auditions. We did, however, treat ourselves to nice dinners. There are many places within walking distance of the PHH. </p>
<p>I very highly recommend making your schedule early in the fall!!! I scheduled the first audition on Sept. 12. Spaces fill up fast! Also-- DO WALK-INS!!! I cannot stress that enough!! My son did 2 and was accepted–on the spot!!-- at both schools. It leaves them with a great feeling for the scheduled auditions.</p>
<p>I don’t want to stray from the topic, but why do the MT students seem to go to Unifieds in Chicago instead of New York? </p>
<p>@dcsparent - More schools host auditions in Chicago than either NY or LA. It also is a very convenient set up with most of the auditions taking place in the same hotel or very nearby. They tend to last a day or two longer also which enables you to schedule more auditions.</p>
<p>Many families go to NY and Chicago. We could have driven to NY, but felt Chicago was the better choice. Staying in the PHH and just having to take the elevator downstairs to an audition is worth every penny you spend on travel and hotel.</p>
<p>For us, coming from the southwest, we needed one place that would have the most schools. LA was much closer, but Chicago had all the schools we needed. So we went to Chicago. </p>
<p>We flew in very late Thurs night, had Friday as a buffer and to acclimate (the snowstorms were treacherous this past year so we were worried about flight issues). Daughter did 2 auditions Sat, 2 Sun, 1 Mon, 2 Tues, 2 Wed. She could have done walkins, but in the end chose not to risk her voice. We did a bit of sightseeing during the down times. I have to tell you that one unanticipated highlight was re-visiting the American Doll store in Water Tower Place. Hadn’t been there in many years, and daughter had so much fun looking at the dolls that had been such a great part of her childhood. Plus there are so many fun and inspirational quotes on the walls there. What an unexpected treat.</p>
<p>We flew in to Chicago from California. Like others have said, staying at PHH and not having to go to far was worth every penny. We flew in on Saturday with the first dance call on Sunday evening, Monday - 3 scheduled auditions plus 2 walk-ins, Tuesday - 1 scheduled audition, 3 dance calls plus 1 walk-in, Wednesday - 3 scheduled auditions plus 1 dance call, Thursday - 1 scheduled audition for a total of 13 auditions with 5 dance calls. Some auditions are 4 hour blocks and some are 5 minutes, it just depends on the schools.</p>
<p>Also the Super Bowl being in NY this year messed up the audition schedule early on. We travel to New York City all the time from our home in PA, but as the audition season started it looked like we would need to be in New York City over 2 different weekends in order to get in the auditions we wanted. That coupled with the descriptions of how we could stay inside at Palmer House is why we went to Chicago. About 6 weeks after I had everything scheduled I realized the NY auditions had condensed into one weekend but by then I didn’t want to change.
I would say that in a normal year, Chicago offers more audition times for an MT student. More days. NY is probably fine for an acting student, because the auditions don’t take as much time. </p>
<p>Also in past years Chicago backed right up to New York. This year because of the Super Bowl there was more time in between New York and Chicago. Just something to think about in planning before the Unfied schedule for next audition cycle is confirmed.</p>