If I’m counting correctly, Katie has applied to 12 colleges already, and has got acceptances from four of them. She’s also working furiously to finish her audition videos and wrap a school play. Did you know there’s basically a Common Application for theater auditions? I didn’t. Read about that and more as Katie reports on her October.

Meet the Class gets updated each month from September to May. Each installment features an interview about both the facts and the feelings of where the student is in the process.
Interviews may be edited lightly for clarity and grammar. Names may be changed to protect privacy.
Katie ATTENDS A Private Christian HIGH SCHOOL IN Ohio

You were planning on sending one application in by October 15th and four by November 1st. Did you make those deadlines? Have you heard back from anyone yet? How does it feel to have some applications out the door?

The school I had an October 15th deadline with I actually decided to not apply to because their auditions dates wouldn't have worked for me, and I wasn't able to send in a digital audition. I made all the November 1 deadlines except for Indiana University Bloomington. My test scores didn't get there in time, but it seems like that is not the end of the world. Thus far, I have applied to Minnesota State Mankato, Rider, University of Minnesota Twin Cities, University of Minnesota Duluth, North Dakota State, Columbia College, Temple, University of Utah, Roosevelt, Indiana University, University of Hartford, and Western Michigan. I have heard back from four of those: Minnesota State Mankato (accepted into university), North Dakota State (accepted into university), University of Minnesota Twin Cities (accepted into College of Liberal Arts), and Columbia College (accepted into musical theatre BA, honors program, and received their largest scholarship). This has been an extremely stressful month, but I have gotten so many applications done and that has been amazing.

What other deadlines do you have for November? What are you working on right now in terms of college applications?

I have a University of South Dakota application due November 15, a Ball State Application and Honors Application due November 16, and a Penn State application due November 30. Then, I have 3 prescreens due on December 1.

You also mentioned prescreens, which are audition tapes. I've got no experience with those, so can you tell me a bit about them? How long is the final edit of a prescreen, and how much time goes into preparation and production? Do you have one main recording you can send to all the programs, or does each have its own requirements that means recording a lot of tapes? Are you able to share with me what monologues/scenes you've done for auditions?

So pretty much a prescreen is a video you send to a college. They review these videos, then they pick out the people that they would like to see in person for an audition. Most of the schools I am applying to are one monologue (normally contemporary), two songs (an uptempo and a ballad), and a dance video. Each of those components is about 90 seconds. Everything has to be memorized, so I have to learn them all first, which I have already done. Then, I have to send sheet music to my accompanist, so I can have a recording of my music. Then, I have to get all dolled up like I am going to an audition and shoot quite a few takes of each thing. This year they created a thing called the common musical theatre prescreen, so quite a few schools are a part of that which has two different configurations of songs and two for monologues. So, in theory, if you only applied to common prescreen schools you would only have to make about 5 videos and then a dance video for each school. A few of my schools are not common prescreen schools, so they have totally different requirements. I will share my monologue that I am using for every school I am auditioning for. It is from a popular play that was on Broadway a few years ago called Indecent, which is based upon the creation of Gods of Vengence, which is a play from the 1920s featuring lesbian lovers. I actually had one super clean cut of this monologue, but it didn't fit the requirements because I didn't pay enough attention. I currently have no prescreen videos done, so that is a bit stressful.

How did the school play go for you? Is it finished? Do you have any more school productions this semester?

The show opens in less than two weeks. It has been a really stressful experience. I am not planning on being another show until the audition season is over because it has been a bit overwhelming lately.

What else is going on in school right now? I know you're preparing for Model UN in December. Any other big projects? How are your classes going?

I am taking all semester based classes this year, and my semester ends in December. I have quite a few finals to prepare for since most of my classes are having two separate finals. I haven't started really preparing for these, but I know they are coming up soon. I have a choice concert in a few weeks, and then, another a few weeks after that. Model UN has been great thus far. I have barely been able to make it to any practices because of my schedule, but I am excited to have our first conference in a month. I also think I will be at an extra crisis league conference this month, which should be a nice to get back in the swing. My classes have been great. All of my college professors this semester have been amazing. I hope I get this lucky next semester.

I know last month you were very, very, very busy. How are you holding up?

I am very busy. I have been getting home late and have quite the course load this semester, so that's been fun. I am probably sleeping about half the amount I used to. I am hoping after applications are finally all in things will let up a bit on the nightly grind. I also have prescreens that are looming over me, but I simply don't have the time to do them right now because I don't really have large chunks of time.

Let's go over the list. As of last month, it was:

Penn State (top choice)

University of Hartford (top choice)

Ball State University

Central Washington University

Columbia College Chicago

Indiana University Bloomington (applied?)

Minnesota State Mankato

Montclaire State

North Dakota State

Roosevelt University

Temple University (applied?)

University of Central Missouri

University of Minnesota Duluth

University of Minnesota Twin Cities (applied?)

University of Oklahoma

University of Rhode Island

University of South Dakota

University of the Arts

Western Michigan (applied?)

Wichita State (applied?)

Are there any changes to that?

I am applying to Rider University. It was a school I really liked, but eliminated before this whole process started. I got a fee waiver, so I sent in an application. I'm so glad I did too because it is becoming one of my top schools. I am no longer applying to Rhode Island or Wichita State.

Thanks for reading! If you have college admissions questions for Katie, leave a comment or email me. You can find other Meet the Class responses here. Please send this to someone who would like to read it, or share it on your social networks.

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Photo by Angela Elisabeth.