<p>My son is a junior and in planning mode for college applications. We have found this forum to be extremely helpful. Question for you guys - Is it better to attend Unifieds or setup individual auditions at each university that he is specifically interested in?</p>
<p>If you do a search of the Musical Theater forum on this site, there are threads that discuss the pros/cons of Unified auditions vs. campus auditions. </p>
<p>Just so you know, Unified auditions are ALSO individual auditions for specific universities. They simply are off site and not on campus. There is no admissions advantage one way or the other. There are other pros/cons of where to audition which are discussed on various threads if you search.</p>
<p>Thanks for the info. I will do the search.</p>
<p>We did a combination of on campus and Unified auditions this year -- I think 4 on campus and 8 unified. The audition experience was very similar -- same structure, about the same amount of time spent on each audition, etc. The big differences were that unifieds was much busier -- people everywhere. For kids who are prone to nerves it could be a bit overwhelming. For kids who get energized by that type of atmosphere it could be great. We found it a lot of fun and exciting to be there. The on-campus auditions seemed more low key and relaxing. Also, there were often more staff, faculty, students around. At one, we were situated in a nice large waiting room and students from the program came in and hung out, talked informally to the kids, mooched food, etc. Also, the on-campus auditions gave my daughter a chance to see the schools, which was nice. It is, however, very time consuming and can be expensive. Luckily, most of the on-campus auditions for us where relatively close and I could use frequent flyer miles.</p>
<p>The ONLY advantage to auditioning on campus is that your kid has the chance to see the campus/setting of the school. Otherwise, it's the same. </p>
<p>My daughter (who had her audition season last year at this time) did a combination of on-site auditions and auditions at NYC Unifieds. I, personally, highly recommend the Unifieds because of the convenience involved. My feeling is that once decisions come in, <em>then</em> you can visit the top contenders for your kid.</p>
<p>Notmamarose is right on.
We did a combination of on-campus and stumbled into the Unifieds in Chicago. Our son is attending a school he did a "drop-in" audition that week..........so you never know. Depending on where you live in the country, the on-campus can get a little pricey, each weekend flying somewhere new. (To be honest, we had as much fun as he did)
It's really a time and money committment during this exciting and equally frustrating season. It will all be over in 60 days (we miss it) and the next leg of the journey will be for all to enjoy!</p>
<p>Do you sign up for audition times at Unifieds (meaning at the event) or is it beforehand via the school's website. I was under the impression you had to already have already applied to the university and signed up for unifieds audition before you go. But when you say your son did a "drop-in" at unifieds it sounds like he was able to do a walk in audition to some of the participating schools. Did he then leave unifieds and go apply to the university?</p>
<p>You do sign up for unified auditions with the school in advance. The earlier the better once they start accepting appointments. Each school is different, but I found that many started taking appointments after about October 1st. Some schools will schedule via their website, others you can call or email. Check the school's website for instructions. That said, many schools will have openings at Unifieds and you can sign up for slots that day. My daughter had five auditions scheduled and then went around to other schools to see if they had openings. She ended up only doing one "walk-in", but could have done 1-2 more if she had wanted to. Most of the schools she scheduled wanted her to apply for the college in advance, which she did, and had a couple of academic acceptances before her audition date. At least one wouldn't schedule the audition time until her application was in and complete. She obviously hadn't applied to the "walk-in" school but that was fine. They just told her to get her application in as soon as she possibly could.</p>
<p>Be careful, though, about scheduling all your auditions at Unifieds on one weekend. If your kid gets sick, it could be devastating. We did one audition in November on a campus, one in January on a campus, five at two cities during one weekend at "unifieds" in February and one the following week at a campus also in February. Spreading it around was good because she did get a cold during the weekend of unifieds, but it wasn't so bad. But if it had been bad, that would have been devastating.</p>
<p>One he did the "drop in" he went on their website and applied. Most will allow it, some won't.</p>
<p>Thanks for the all the good advice.</p>
<p>chrissyblu's advice is spot on - my D feels very lucky that she got into her first choice school Early Decision from a November audition as she came down with mono two weeks before she would have done all of her Unified auditions in Chicago in February! So do try to space them out if at all possible--some in the fall and some in the winter--- to avoid this. It would have been an absolute nightmare, and I really don't know what we would have done!</p>