Does anyone have experience with/knowledge of walk-in auditions at Unifieds (I’m in NYC, but other sites too)? Do schools promote that they will be available for walk-ins? Or do you just know if you happen to be at the studio where the school is auditioning? What is the process of a walk-in if you haven’t applied to the school? Do schools do walk-ins for musical theater AND acting?
Thanks!
These answers are based on Chicago Unifieds:
Do schools promote that they will be available for walk-ins?
Yes, they put up displays in the lobbies of each floor where auditions are held, put notices on the bulletin boards in the lobbies, put flyers out on the lobby tables, etc. They will also sometimes put the notice on the wall or table outside their audition room. If you “walk the floors” you will find lots of walk-in notices.
What is the process of a walk-in if you haven’t applied to the school?
Schools that do walk-ins generally don’t expect you to have applied to the school. They usually will recommend during your audition that you apply to the school as soon as possible to be considered.
Do schools do walk-ins for musical theater AND acting?
Some do both, some do only one type of audition.
Walk-in slots can fill up quite fast, so it pays to “walk the floors” first thing each morning and sometime after lunch (notices seemed to go up at fairly random intervals between Sunday morning and Tuesday afternoon) and sign up quickly if you are interested.
Building on this topic, is there a list anywhere of schools that have historically offered walk-ins at Chicago Unifieds & may be expected to be there again (knowing that anything at this point would be pure speculation as to who might be there this year…)? I’m talking about official Unifieds schools as well as those who will just happen to be there, whether at the Palmer House or nearby.
Thank you @EmsDad !
Just a comment on my son’s experience with walk-ins at Chicago Unifieds (Acting, not MT). He was walking the halls on the first morning just looking around at options before his scheduled auditions - he was invited to do a walk-in by a random school that was not on his radar (Univ of Utah). Apparently they had open slots. He went for it, had a good audition, got some nice feedback. More importantly, it got his juices flowing, completely settled his nerves and put him in a great frame of mind for the rest of the day. Call it a no-pressure practice round. It wasn’t his plan, but its not a bad idea in retrospect.
Here is a list of schools that did walk-ins in Chicago last year at the Palmer House. This list is not necessarily comprehensive (there may have been more) and there is absolutely no guarantee that the list will be the same this year (some schools offered walk-ins last year due to the snow forcing some students to cancel auditions):
UAB
Viterbo
Utah
Western Michigan - I believe that WMU MT plans to be there this year offering walk-in auditions
Ball State
Cornish
Drake
LIPA
Royal Welsh Academy
Ohio Northern
Oklahoma (Acting)
SCAD
CAP21/Molloy
NYCDA
Long Island U.
Northern Colorado
Here is a list of some of the past threads on Unifieds if you want to read more about what goes on.
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
Definitely read thru some of the above threads-- they’ll contain good information. Also note that some schools NOT at the PHH have walk-ins-- as stated above, read the notices hanging around PHH. I highly recommend doing 1-2 walk-ins-- No pressure and they loosen you up. My son did a walk-in in Chicago in 2014, got incredible feed-back, and that’s now the school he’s studying at. He had not applied to the school prior, but did as soon as we got home. He’s in his 2nd year and has no regrets about his decision. (He did get into other schools-- the other walk-in he did while in Chicago, and a few others that were scheduled.) Good luck-- you have nothing to lose!
My D did 3 walk-ins last year at Chicago unifieds. They were all schools she had researched and liked, but were taken off her list because her list was simply too long. 3 good, non pressure audition experiences, which resulted in 2 acceptances. You just never know.
Add Texas State Acting to the walk-in list. The Acting program is not as celebrated as MT, but my D loved her audition there. A former cast member of “The Nanny” was the auditioner!
The Texas State acting program is AH-MAZING and that cast member is on faculty. I know someone in the program who is ridiculously happy there and as an MT gal is able to dance and sing too (she auditioned for both acting and MT).