My daughter and I will be traveling to both New York and Chicago for Unifieds. We’ve been thinking about walk ins and wonder which programs may have walk ins (maybe judging from past years). I know its impossible to guarantee walk ins at all but if they were available, which programs would be on your list to audition for? Looking for schools that will not be holding dance auditions at Unifieds as we dont have enough time in the schedule for those 1/2 day blocks of time. The lists of programs are very overwhelming and I would love to look up some programs of schools that are highly thought of. Any insight would be great!
Someone shared a link to a list somewhere that mentioned schools that have historically held walk-ins in another thread, including the caveat that you just never know (I think a lot of the schools that held walk-ins last year did so b/c of the blizzard & the fact that many of their scheduled auditioners couldn’t get to town). Sorry I’m not able to search for it at this moment but I bet someone will link it here. I do know Northern Colorado will be at Chicago Unifieds, and he says he will be seeing people every 5 minutes on Monday & Tuesday morning, with possible callbacks by appointment on Tuesday afterrnoon. Since he is accepting requests to schedule appointments, I don’t know if he will be filling any of those time slots with scheduled appointments in advance or as walk-ins, but you might email Matthew Herrick (his email is on the UNC website) to find out more.
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
Ball State
Cornish
Drake
LIPA
Royal Welsh Academy
Ohio Northern
Oklahoma (Acting)
SCAD
CAP21/Molloy
NYCDA
Long Island U.
Northern Colorado
In addition to those shown above, some programs offered walk-ins at other hotels. We didn’t venture outside the cozy confines of the Palmer House (due to the arctic blizzard conditions) except to get Do-Rite donuts, so I didn’t get a list of walk-ins at the Hyatt, etc.
Thank you both so much!
Coastal Carolina also offered walk-ins at Palmer last year.
Regarding walk-ins at Palmer, how does that work - if you haven’t applied for the school yet, wouldn’t audtioning in Feb be too late in the process? My DD will be there with a few appointments, but I have started worrying that she should have a few more schools on her list (not MT, but theatre)… I guess homework in advance to see if a particular school’s admission is still open or not would be required? Any advice would be appreciated.
@Guppie - Schools that do walk-ins generally don’t expect you to have applied to the school. They will recommend during your audition that you apply to the school as soon as possible. Many colleges that are not highly competitive for academic entry accept applications well into the summer months.
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/1842626-walk-in-schools-at-unifieds.html
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/musical-theater-major/1836126-walk-in-auditions-at-unifieds.html
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/musical-theater-major/1828114-unified-question-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
Thanks for your help! Apparently there has been much info sharing on this topic.
Does anyone know if they will still interview you during a walk in? I’m assuming some questions will be asked but will they ask the infamous “why did you apply to this school”, even if you haven’t applied yet?
@Abbaroo98 - my d was interviewed at a walk-in last year in Chicago, so, yes, be ready for an interview at any audition, even a walk-in. And, yes, be ready for the infamous, “why are you interested in our program?” question at walk-in auditions (I think that my d was asked this question at every single audition last year that included an interview, which was most of them). They know that you may not have applied, but they may very well expect you to be at least somewhat familiar with their theatre program. This is why Al Gore invented the internet.
My D was also asked that at all of her walk-ins. Be prepared! And, yes; Internet is your friend in case you don’t know much about a program! (D knew a lot about 2 walk-ins but had to quickly research a third before going in to audition.)
My D did a walk in for Ohio Northern at the 2014 Chicago Unfieds. She ended up going there and loves it. Being a Texan she is not a fan of the winters.
Edgewood College (Madison, WI) will also be there for walk-ins. They are a small liberal arts school but they only offer a BA in theatre.