Regardless of what major you plan to pursue, how many schools you are applying to or any other extraneous factors, the college application season is without a doubt the most stressful time in high school for the majority of any senior class.
However, for some there is an added pressure. For performing arts students such as myself, college applications consist of not only the academic portion but also an audition portion, which can include up to five preliminary videos (called pre-screens) and (if these prescreens are passed) a live audition for each school.
Because of these added stressors, my college application season seemed almost impossible. At the time it seemed to me that every day there was a new video to film, a new deadline to meet or some other material that needed to be submitted.
However, it is good to know that you are not alone during this time. Many students go through the college audition process and share similar sentiments. “I think [the audition process] just made it so that I felt I wasn’t reaching any deadlines,” said Zaria Larnell, current senior and college applicant for musical theater.
Even though musical theater requires a much more involved application than for straight acting, I can certainly relate to this experience. It can be frustrating to see so many around you already receiving their college decisions while I am still auditioning well into February.
But amidst the stress, there is plenty of relief. For those who are considering pursuing theater in college, know that it can be incredibly rewarding. “[Auditioning] allowed me to work on material that I felt represented my strengths as a per- former. I got to show the best of myself, and because of the auditions I became a stronger performer,” said senior and musical theater applicant Alejandro Medina.
In my own experience, auditioning gave me the same gratification. The in-person auditions that I was fortunate to be invited to (which for me consisted of Fordham University, Boston University, New York University, Chapman University andDePaul University) allowed me to fine-tune my skills through feedback from my auditors and my own coaching.
But aside from these in-person auditions, the pre-screen process can be daunting as well. These video submissions can prove stressful as this is the first impression that most colleges get of you. On top of that, each school has different requirements for each pre-screen, whether it is the number of monologues required, the type of monologues required (comedic, dramatic, classic or modern) or the framing of the shot.
What I found most helpful for each of these submissions was creating a calendar for myself with each date and requirement for each school that I applied to, setting reminders for myself along the way so that I could stay on top of my deadlines. Additionally, I was fortunate enough to work with a monologue coach at the Actor’s Training Center who helped me to both film my prescreens and prepare for my live auditions.
“I practiced in front of anybody I could. I started picking my material in October for my auditions that started towards the end of January,” said Medina. “It was super stressful but so worth it.”
So don’t let the stress or the competition derail your plans. “As hard as it will be, do not compare your skill level with those around you. You are all talented in so many different ways, and admissions is looking for why you are different to the people they’ve already let in, not if you are an exact copy of someone else. You can’t move forward if you’re always looking to the side,” said Larnell.
