Looking for opinions on whether it is better/not better/no difference in auditioning at a school or going to audition at unifieds?
S is going into Senior year and we are trying to start planning a bit. Any advice?
From our experience, and everything I’ve read from others’ experiences, it does not seem to matter.
@MTDad2024 Hi there! As with pretty much most things MT related it seems…it depends. Some schools do not go to Unifieds, so it would either have to be in person or video submission.
But, in general, it really depends on your S. My S will be starting at Coastal in the fall, which he auditioned for at unifieds…he also received other acceptances from Unifieds, both scheduled and walk-Ins, and also from campus auditions. From an auditioning perspective, it really depends on your S. My S really seemed to do well auditioning at both NY and Chicago, bc he seemed to just go with the energy of it all, and really enjoyed himself. I know of others that didn’t do as well as they had hoped. It really is a mixed bag.
If we had to do it again, I think my S would want to go to Unifieds. But as a first time around, I’d also do at least one on campus, just to get a feel…
One thing that I do know that I think was a big positive of Unifieds is that my S met soooo many others along the way…following the same dream…so they all communicated helped to provide insight on various different schools, topics, etc. And he now has friends that are all over at different schools, as well as already knowing some of the students that are starting at Coastal, bc he met them along the way.
We are finishing junior year and gearing up for the MT college search. I’d like information on registering for auditions at Unifieds, and any fees for auditions.
My understanding is that registration is done by first applying to the university and then contacting the theater admissions officer at each school–prior to arriving at Unifieds. Is that correct? I have read that there are also limited walk-ins. Are there fees for each, separate from the college application fee? Is there ever a concern about requesting an audition in advance, but not being able to schedule one because of too many applicants? Are there wait lists for auditions?
I am curious about schools that attend Unified ‘unofficially’–ones that are not listed on the Unified website. In particular, we are interested in Pace and Temple. Assuming we attend Chicago Unifieds, would these unofficial schools have their auditions in the Palmer House hotel, or somewhere else?
How many days do most applicants attend Unifieds, and how many auditions can realistically be scheduled in one day?
Also, is there anyone who has attended SETC auditions as well as Unifieds? How are they alike/different? Some schools on our prospective list attend SETC but not National Unifieds.
I welcome any other helpful advice. Thank you!
@nolamtmom - From New Orleans?
Here are some past threads on Unifieds, with answers to many questions. There are many more threads on Unifieds that can be found using the Advanced Forum Search feature at the top of the page: (a) click on the little arrow next to the magnifying glass and select “Advanced Forum Search”; (b) then type in “Unifieds” in the Title box on the query form; and (c) then select the “Musical Theatre Major” forum in the forum list (you have to scroll a ways to find it - approximately 80% of the way down the list).
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/musical-theater-major/1956267-unifieds-chicago-2017-p1.html
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/musical-theater-major/1987149-la-unifieds-schools-2017.html
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/musical-theater-major/1962725-on-campus-vs-unifieds-p1.html
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/musical-theater-major/1614676-unifieds-2015-p1.html
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/musical-theater-major/1738964-chicago-unifieds-debrief.html
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/musical-theater-major/1730989-chicago-unified-walk-ins-p1.html
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/musical-theater-major/1728032-nyc-unifieds-2015.html
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/musical-theater-major/1681043-details-for-unifieds.html
@nolamtmom - Here are some answers to your questions:
*My understanding is that registration is done by first applying to the university and then contacting the theater admissions officer at each school–prior to arriving at Unifieds. Is that correct? *
Yes.
I have read that there are also limited walk-ins. Are there fees for each, separate from the college application fee?
For the most part, yes. A few schools may not charge an audition fee for a walk-in.
*Is there ever a concern about requesting an audition in advance, but not being able to schedule one because of too many applicants? *
Yes. Audition slots for the most popular and competitive programs do fill up. Some, like Baldwin-Wallace, fill up very quickly in the fall.
Are there wait lists for auditions?
Yes.
I am curious about schools that attend Unified ‘unofficially’–ones that are not listed on the Unified website. In particular, we are interested in Pace and Temple. Assuming we attend Chicago Unifieds, would these unofficial schools have their auditions in the Palmer House hotel, or somewhere else?
Pace did all the Unifieds cities last year, Temple did NY and Chicago. Many “unofficial” schools do hold auditions at the Palmer House, but some schools hold auditions at other hotels and studios in the area. Audition locations and attendance at Unifieds for “unofficial” schools can vary from year-to-year. For a complete list of which schools attended which Unified locations last year, see this thread: http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/musical-theater-major/2115144-master-list-of-unified-audition-schools-p4.html.
How many days do most applicants attend Unifieds, and how many auditions can realistically be scheduled in one day?
I think its kind of hard to generalize about the number of days and the number of auditions per day. It depends on each student’s objectives and approach to auditions. Note that some schools hold auditions one day (Sunday), or even two days (Saturday), before the official start of Unifieds in Chicago (not sure about NYC). Some students stay for every day, some only for a couple of days. If you are doing auditions for programs that require large time blocks, then you may struggle to do more than 2 or 3 per day. Students auditioning at programs with short time blocks that mix in walk-ins can do 6 or more per day, depending on their stamina and interest. Dance calls usually take fairly large blocks of time.
@MTDad2024: Yes, from New Orleans.
@EmsDad Wow–thanks for all this information. How much should we estimate for audition fees? We are looking at budgeting for this whole process … I may need to get an extra part time job to pay for all of this!!
@nolamtmom We spent somewhere around $1k (maybe a bit more) just for application and audition fees. A ton more for auditions themselves (around $12k for the whole process.)
Although I have been scared to see a final total on how much we spent, my guess would be 12k-15k for all of the app fees plus audition expenses (including flights, gas, food, hotels, ubers, headshots, audition outfits). My D did both NY and Chicago Unifieds plus 8 on-campus auditions.
My daughter applied for ~17 and did about 15 live auditions. I think we spent in the ~$7k range if I really looked at it. We are from the West Coast: this included app fees, audition fees, score fees, travel and coaching.
@nolamtmom Our costs were similar to @loribelle . My daughter did Chicago Unifieds and on campus auditions at 5-6 schools. Very few on her list had actual audition fees. BW did but their application was free. At Chicago Unifieds we had a $20 fee at one walkin which turned out went straight to the accompanist. A few schools that she didn’t do a walk in with had posted $25 fees. And think beyond audition because campus visits especially after coming off a waitlist at the last minute can add to the expense.
Thanks to everyone who has shared information. Sobering news!
@nolamtmom - for those of us who didn’t go “full on” the audition costs are a little cheaper but you can’t cast as wide a net either. My D applied to 16 colleges of which 10 were BFA programs, auditioned at 6 programs at LA Unifieds which is local for us. We did no travel except an initial trip to see colleges when she was a junior and a follow-up trip to accepted programs when she was a senior. Application and audition fees were “only” about $1.5K but adding on two trips to the east coast and the 5 months of coaching / help with prescreens and the total gets back to more like 8K. Ugh.
I know we spent a fortune on travel to all on campus auditions & all the associated costs of auditioning at 10 schools. No flights involved . But with all the fees & so forth. we didn’t do Unifieds but that is most certainly an expense unto itself being several days in NYC Chicago etc.
Just a sobering thought and a reminder that a lot of kids sure don’t have this opportunity to audition at many schools because of the enormous costs . It’s really ridiculous once you think about it tbh . I literally have tried to block out the thought of the money spent.
And it’s not over afterward either unfortunately.
@theaterwork - so true!
Ellen from MTCA is leaving her position there this year to work on a project that supports talented kids whose families don’t have the resources to pursue the BFA audition/admission process. I think that’s admirable. We are financially comfortable and it was a huge stretch for us - for low income families the expenses of this process would eliminate the student’s candidacy before they even got a chance to audition.
For a class of 2022 boy who applied to 11 schools initially and added 3 through walk-ins, we paid about $7k total. That included application fees, audition fees, and travel. (No coach. Did regular voice lessons which are not included in my total.)
We “kept costs down” (lol) by not visiting schools before acceptances, doing all but two auditions at Chicago unifieds, and driving 16ish hours to get to the BW audition, 4 to an in state, and about 10 for unifieds. The only trip we flew for was the trip to visit accepted schools in NYC. It’s definitely expensive no matter how frugal you are.
Oops…wrong thread. Sorry! ?
No - right thread @speezagmom ! I went a little OT there replying… 