<p>Yes, I am starting this thread. Crazy mother of a junior D. Will they do Chicago the Monday after the Super Bowl or wait a week??</p>
<p>It starts the first weekend of February in NYC. The only reason NYC was moved this year is because the Super Bowl was in NYC territory (technically NJ, but a stone’s throw away from Manhattan). The other locations stayed on schedule.</p>
<p>So, usually NYC is the Saturday, Sunday right before Chicago? Or, a week before? I am hoping Chicago is February 2, 3, 4 next year and not the 9, 10, 11.</p>
<p>@Divamamacita, when you plan for Chicago unifieds, it might be helpful to know there are a number of schools that arrive in Chicago a day or two before the official start. My D did two auditions on Saturday (Roosevelt CCPA on their campus, which is just a few blocks away, and Emerson) and two on Sunday (Syracuse and NYU-Tisch) at hotels within walking distance of the Palmer House before the official Monday start. Also, some schools at Unifieds held their dance calls on that Sunday and their acting/singing auditions Mon-Wed. A few schools stay until Thursday as well, I believe (quite sure Carnegie Mellon did). These little things are nice to know when you’re planning things out, so make sure you check each school’s Chicago dates carefully. Have fun planning!</p>
<p>Oh, and a note about the Palmer House. I originally booked a 2-bed, 2-bath room for something like $159 in early October. A few weeks later I went online to request a refrigerator for our room and decided to check rates. I found that I could get a King/2-bath room for $85 or a double bed 1-bath room for the same price…so since my hubby and I were both attending with the D, we decided to cancel our original reservation and get two rooms instead – and give one of them to the D. Best decision ever! She loved having the privacy and a place to vocalize and retreat to and spread all her junk around without mom and dad there being all anxious in her space.</p>
<p>Thanks for the advice! Just trying to figure out the framework of a schedule for next year – D has her large show choir show in early February and I am hoping Chicago doesn’t conflict! How many auditions are doable if we include Sunday ? I am hoping she can squeeze in 8 or 9. </p>
<p>You know, I don’t know what happens when February 1 is on a Sunday. I guess you’ll have to stay tuned to the website or maybe the hotel already knows now. And Asst is right, some of the non-member schools started auditions a day or two before the official start. It seems like we kept missing each other Asst, heading to the same schools, but on different days!</p>
<p>We are like two ships, @GSOMTMom! </p>
<p>Ooh! I am so glad this thread has been started! My D is a jr also. We too are worried that her HS musical will conflict with Unifieds! @AsstToTheMT thanks for the advice on the hotel rooms! Great idea!</p>
<p>@Divamamcita - 8 or 9 is definately doable and that really does give you room for any walk-ins you might want to do</p>
<p>It looks like Unifieds 2015 will be around Feb. 3-5. as Ithaca has already published their Chicago Unifieds dates and those are them…</p>
<p>Feb 3 - 5 was this year 2014. Aren’t Chicago Unifieds typically Mon - Wed? Which would be Feb 2 - 4 for 2015.</p>
<p>Oops! You are correct. Sorry! The page at the top says “For Fall 2015 admissions, please read this page…” and I didn’t pay attention to the year (2014). I guess the dates are not updated yet. I have a spreadsheet for my daughter made with all of her schools, audition requirements, contact info.,etc… Of course there’s a column for audition date & location which is still mostly blank. Eager to start filling in dates. Will have to wait for the new cycle of information to be uploaded late this summer. She is writing her essays over the summer so she can start sending in applications as soon as they are accepted. We want to get a jump on things so they don’t run out of auditon spaces at Unifieds because we procrastinated!</p>
<p>You are smart to start early. We had all apps and prescreens in by Halloween this year - and got all our first choice audition dates/times.</p>
<p>Same here, like @kategrizz. Totally recommend getting everything in by the end of October for easiest audition booking. And asking for those rec letters on the first day of school senior year, if not before. The rec letters were the things that nearly did us in, because they need to be uploaded by the person writing the letter. It is so frustrating to have to beg a teacher not just to write a letter, but also make them go through a possibly unfamiliar process by uploading it. Talk about asking a lot. Allow for plenty of time for this.</p>
<p>Just a note on recommendations–we require our juniors to ask teachers for recommendations before they leave for the summer. Many of my colleagues work on these over the summer. If your school uses Naviance, the request has to be put through on Naviance, so our college counseling office shows the kids how to do this. It’s definitely worth it to make sure your kid follows up on this and “officially” requests those recs by the end of junior year!</p>
<p>^^That’s exactly how it worked at my son’s school as well.</p>
<p>^^^ That would have helped us along a lot if it had been the case at my D’s school!</p>
<p>Thanks for the tip on recommendations! Yikes! Another thing I had not thought of… will add to the list right now! :)</p>
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<p>A word of advice to be sure to check audition requirements once the schools’ dates are posted to make sure they’re the same as they were for this year. Things sometimes change year to year.</p>
<p>Do Letters of Rec HAVE to come from HS teachers? S has an excellent relationship with his choir director, but lately, the drama teacher has been weird. She made a snide remark to my S this week about his Interlochen acceptance… can’t figure it out. Maybe she’s threatened somehow? Anyway, not sure how a LOR would read from her at this point. Would it be odd to NOT get a LOR from the drama teacher? </p>