<p>Hi all and congrats on getting through the audition process. My son will be in your boat next year and I was wondering when the dates are released and what schools will be attending. Any insight, info appreciated! Total Newbie here!</p>
<p>Schools start posting audition dates in late July- early August and some won’t post until the end of September. I believe that the Unifieds dates are officially released on the early end of that timeline. The website to watch/check for those dates is www(dot)unifiedauditions(dot)com. The list of schools on that site does NOT include schools who are not members of the Unified Auditions - but still hold regional auditions in some of the same cities over the same dates. So, your best resource for audition dates is the individual school websites.</p>
<p>Thanks!! Looking forward to 9-5! 
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<p>A useful thing to do is to look at this year’s schedule for each school you are interested in. I made a list during junior year and it gave me some idea of what the schedule might be and if it was even possible.</p>
<p>Thanks so much dramamom0804!! Great idea!</p>
<p>@tmygirl, one thing to bear in mind is that, if a school is going to be requiring a prescreen for the first time next year – as more and more of them are – their audition schedule might change from last year’s.</p>
<p>^^Baldwin Wallace and Elon</p>
<p>Thank u GSOMTMom and maMTma!!</p>
<p>I called the Palmer House Hotel yesterday to see if they had the dates booked yet and they didn’t have anything to tell me.</p>
<p>Just a thought- and others may disagree- but I would recommend staying at a hotel OTHER than the Palmer House. Not that the Palmer isn’t lovely— but it is also CRAZY during those days. We stayed further north (about a 10 min walk or $6 cab ride) and found it much calmer. My D is someone who likes time to get herself together (we call it “headspace”) and commented several times that she would not have been able to do that at the Palmer House. The lobby is always full, the hallways are crowded, the restaurants in and immediately around have long lines- it would have frazzled her. Also, of her 5 auditions scheduled for unifeds- 3 (NYU, Boston, and Syracuse) were NOT at the Palmer, so if we had stayed there- we still would have been going other places. We stayed just south of the river, and when the day was done it was 5 min walk to the shops and restaurants of Michigan Ave, which was a nice way for her to “decompress”. We spent one evening “fantasy prom dress shopping” in the high end Dept stores- she and a friend had TONS of fun trying on crazily expensive dresses. If all your auditions ARE at the Palmer, you plan on doing a ton of walk-ins (obviously easier on the spot) and/or you love the frenetic energy of all that is going on (which some people do- and more power to them) then go for it. Just offering a suggestion :)</p>
<p>I agree that the Palmer House was very busy; however, all we had to do was go upstairs to our room to get out of the craziness. My daughter’s auditions were all at the Palmer House with 2 offsite. The auditions at the Palmer House were spread throughout the day and evening. By staying there, she was able to go up to the room between auditions and decompress. If we had been staying somewhere else, we would have been back and forth several times a day.</p>
<p>^^Agreed. Inititally, I had booked a hotel in the next block, but I had to work while I was there. I wouldn’t have felt comfortable with her walking between hotels because I would be too busy to accompany her. I cancelled that reservation and booked a room at the Palmer and that worked out very well. She only had to go downstairs for auditions, was able to hang out with her coach and friends and I had peace of mind.</p>
<p>Thanks!!</p>
<p>I agree with staying at the Palmer House. All our auditions were there. We bookedin August a room on the Executive level and got a rate cheaper than a standard room. And by staying there we had breakfast, drinks and snacks available all day. I also would retreat to the lounge while D was getting ready so she had the room to herself to get dressed and warmed up as she wished. We found it very relaxing and convenient to stay there. But the lobby areas were very crowded.</p>
<p>We preferred staying at the Palmer House as well - but @toowonderful obviously knows her D and what works for her - so I say - Know your kid - and do what you think will work best for you! For us - the ease of just heading downstairs was key. My D also really thrived on the energy at the PHH… and we ended up knowing SO MANY MORE people than we thought we would. We had already done several on campus auditions where she made friends… and we ran into kids she had done community theater with - and kids she knew from her summer program - and she and I both enjoyed being in the thick of it all.</p>
<p>I agree that staying at the PHH worked out best for us, but staying elsewhere could work for some folks. The elevator situation was crazy. We were on a floor served by 3 elevators and I’m convinced that for the first day and a half one of those wasn’t in service. We learned to go to alternate floors served by a different bank of elevators then walk a flight of stairs and that often got us there quicker than waiting for ‘our’ elevator. </p>
<p>We are planning to get two rooms to allow my D to have her own space when needed. I saw a post about someone doing that last year and it made good sense to me. She will want to be where the action is but will also want a place that she can decompress, without me :)</p>
<p>@evilqueen - check to see if they have special rates for perepaying - especially on the executive level. We found one room was sufficient because I could always go to the executive lounge and work, read, socialize, get a cup of coffee or a glass of wine if you’d rather - grab breakfast or snacks - all at no extra cost. It was very easy and a great way to give our D her own space when she needed it.</p>
<p>I loved the Palmer House and thought it was all really interesting. I didn’t think the common areas were that crowded. The Starbucks in the hotel was ridiculous though. Avoid that. And I second the comment about the Hyatt. It was confusing so give yourself 15 extra minutes. </p>
<p>Hi all! I can’t believe I am looking at colleges for my D. She is my eldest so I have no experience with the process. She is a junior, brunette, and short. She took piano for years, plays viola (played with youth symphony for years) and eukelele and is trying to teach herself guitar. Voice is definitely her strength. She would be very active in my belly while I was pregnant if I attended a concert or she heard her daddy playing the guitar and singing. She hummed nursery rhymes before she could talk and sang with her church choir from K-4th grade. She joined choir again in middle school and discovered, and fell in love with MT soon after. She can sing legit or belt with equal facility & can sing in any style (from opera to country, pop, belt, rock, soul, etc…) Starting her freshman year of HS she has taken private voice, acting, and beginning dance classes. We were pleasantly surprised with her growth in acting in a few short years, and in dance, wish she were more flexible as she is very coordinated. She picks up choreography fairly quickly & can handle dancing with ensembles but will never be a featured dancer. She has been in numerous children’s musicals, one professional opera and one professional musical and several community theatre productions. Music is her life. It is like oxygen to her, without it she would perish. Artists of every walk are her family. She has attended three summer intensives since 8th grade and will attend another this summer. She has been working with a college audition coach since January and I can’t say enough good things about that. It has really helped us get organized and going early on in the game. My stress level has gone down significantly since then. We wish all of u a a fruitful journey in this crazy process. BAL everyone- “we’re all in this together…” 
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<p>Btw- per my D’s coach: UNIFIED AUDITIONS 2015:
Jan 24, 25 New York
Feb 2, 3, 4 Chicago Palmer House Hilton
Feb 7, 8 Los Angeles Westin Los Angeles Airport</p>