Demystifying College Auditions: A Beginner’s Guide

College auditions can be a terrifying process, especially if you don’t have anyone to guide you. There are so many different moving parts and no real centralized base of information to learn about the whole process. You have to know about prescreens, the common application, classical and contemporary monologues and songs, application supplements, and more, all while applying and auditioning for programs with lower acceptance rates than law school.

Whether you’re auditioning for acting or musical theatre; BAs, BFAs, or BMs; super well-known programs or hidden gems; this guide/term list will help you to start to understand the complicated world of college auditions.

This process looks scary, but it doesn’t have to be! 

Let’s start with the basics. 

BFA: A BFA is a bachelor of fine arts. These are specialized degrees (typically offered as BFAs in Acting or Musical Theatre, though some schools have BFAs in Theatre or Theatre Performance) where all or most of your training is in your chosen field. If you go to a liberal arts college or larger university, there are still general education classes you will have to take, but you will spend most of your time on your arts training. Although this is not true for all BFA programs, a lot of BFAs run on a cohort-system, where you take all or most of your classes with your cohort: the group of students in your specific year. 

BA: A BA is a bachelor of arts. BAs are less prescribed than BFAs, meaning that there is more room for you to choose which courses you want to take and design your degree to fit you. Some BA programs require auditions, and some don’t, and performance BAs are offered in Acting, Musical Theatre, Theatre, Theatre Studies, Theatre Performance, and more. With a BA, students typically have more freedom to explore interests outside of theatre, but they can model their chosen courses to just focus on theatre as well. 

BM: A BM is a bachelor of music. In terms of theatre degrees, BM’s are typically only offered in Musical Theatre, like the programs at Oklahoma City University or New York University’s Steinhardt School. While typically very similar to BFAs, BMs will usually focus a bit more on the vocal aspects of Musical Theatre. But don’t worry, students in BM programs will still get comprehensive acting and dance training as well. 

Conservatory Programs: It’s important to distinguish between true conservatories and conservatory-style programs. While many BFAs are conservatory-style and very akin to conservatory training, true conservatories typically exist as independent entities outside of larger universities (there are a few exceptions to this rule, such as the Acting program at SUNY Purchase). Students who attend true conservatory programs spend all of their time on their art. These programs are incredibly intense and range from two-year programs to full four-year programs. 

Conservatory-Style Training: As mentioned above, many BFAs are “conservatory-style.” These programs take elements from true conservatory programs and incorporate them into a Musical Theatre or Acting major typically housed within a larger university. The training is typically just as intense and focused, but students also have the opportunity to experience other aspects of college life, such as the greek system, student organizations, or even a minor or double major. 

ACTOR AESTHETIC ONLINE COURSE

PREP for musical theatre college auditions (in 5 steps!)

Get Started Now

Now, let’s get to some need-to-know application terms. 

Common Application: The Common Application is a streamlined system where students can apply to up to 20 colleges from one portal. Over 800 colleges and universities are members of the Common Application. The application has two parts: the general application itself and each university’s questions. The general application requires information from you, such as personal info, education history, high school activities, etc., as well as a personal statement essay. There are seven prompts for the personal statement, one of which is “Share an essay on any topic of your choice.” The second part of the Common App is each university’s questions. Some schools just ask you easy questions about yourself, and some schools have supplemental information, questions, or essays. The Common App portal also helps you keep track of deadlines and application costs for each school. 

Recommendation Letters: Recommendation letters are letters typically written by teachers or school faculty who know you well. These letters are essentially the writer explaining to a college why you should be accepted. Most theatre programs require some combination of the following: one or more recommendations from an academic teacher, a recommendation from a college counselor, and one or more recommendations from an artistic teacher. The teacher recommendations should be from teachers who have taught you in high school, preferably in your junior year (though many students have recommendation letters from teachers who taught them in their sophomore or freshman year and then again in their senior year). Many schools also will accept optional recommendation laters beyond the required ones. For these, students often ask alumni of a specific school to write them a letter, or another teacher who they think will discuss a different side of their personality. If you choose to submit more recommendations than required, make sure the recommendations are from people who genuinely know you and will add to your application as a whole. 

Academic Supplements: Academic supplements, as mentioned above, are the extra parts of the application that each school requires you to submit along with your common app. Supplements typically include additional essays or short-answer questions to let the school get to know you better. Common essay questions include “Why (insert university here)?” and “Why do you want to pursue your chosen major?” 

Artistic Supplements: Also often known as portfolios, artistic supplements are additional information or submissions required by the specific major to which you are applying. Typically, when people refer to artistic supplements, they are referencing Prescreens/audition videos, but artistic supplements can also include additional essay questions asked by the department you are applying to. These essay questions most often have to do with your interest in the arts. 

Prescreens: Prescreens are audition videos you submit to each program. These videos serve as your first round of auditions. Different schools have different requirements for prescreen videos, but in general, acting prescreens typically include 1-3 monologues, and musical theatre prescreens typically include 1-2 song cuts and 1-2 monologues. Some musical theatre prescreens have a dance element - you will either be asked to perform a short combo of your choosing, or you will be given a combo to learn and perform. Programs will review these prescreens, and those applicants who “pass” will move on to the next round of auditions. In a typical year, this next round would be in-person auditions.

Common Prescreen: The Musical Theatre Common Prescreen was established in 2019 by the Paper Mill Playhouse to give MT applicants a streamlined prescreen process with common guidelines and requirements. Over 50 schools participate in the Common Prescreen, and guidelines can be found here.

GetAcceptd: GetAcceptd is a portal that a lot of MT and Acting programs use for students submitting artistic supplements. It is an independent platform where students can submit prescreen or audition videos for college programs. Acceptd also has applications for different scholarship competitions and summer programs. 

SlideRoom: Slideroom is another platform that college programs use for students submitting artistic supplements. Some schools prefer SlideRoom because it is connected directly to the Common Application. 

Classical vs. Contemporary Monologues: Many programs have audition requirements that include one classical and one contemporary monologue. While different schools list different date ranges, the generally agreed-upon definition of a classical monologue is a monologue from a play written before 1900, and a contemporary monologue is from a play written after 1900. Most people think of Shakespeare when they think of classical playwrights, but students have a much wider variety of playwrights to choose from, from Ancient Greek playwrights like Aeschylus and Sophocles to Anton Chekhov. 

Classical vs. Contemporary Songs: Musical theatre programs often require applicants to sing a cut of a classical or “golden age” musical theatre song and a modern or contemporary musical theatre song. Generally, classical/golden age musical theatre is considered to be anything written from 1940-1960, and contemporary musical theatre is considered to be post-1970. People tend to agree that the 1964 production of Fiddler on the Roof marked the end of the “Golden Age” of Broadway, but to be safe, most people define classical MT as 1940-60. 

Early Decision vs. Early Action: Early decision and early action are two choices you can make for applications that put you in a smaller applicant pool than applying regular decision. They typically have similar deadlines (earlier than regular decision), but there is an important distinction. You can only apply early decision to one school, and applying ED is binding: if you get into a school early decision, you must attend that school. You can apply to as many schools as you want early action, and it is non-binding - you don’t have to go to a school if you are accepted from an early action application. The advantage of applying early is twofold: 1. Applying early puts you in a smaller applicant pool, so you are compared with a smaller group of students, and 2. Some schools will accept a significant portion of their incoming class from the early applicant pool because students applying early are showing a greater interest in that university, and thus are more likely to attend the school if accepted. 

College Audition Coaches: College audition coaches are acting, song, or dance coaches, working to help students with the college audition process. Some of these coaches are independent, and some work with coaching companies. 

College Audition Coaching Companies: College audition coaching companies are companies with teams of coaches and counselors designed to make your application process more manageable. These teams typically include a song coach, a monologue coach, and one or more college counselors. Coaching companies typically also offer other services beyond one-on-one coaching such as acting/song/dance classes, masterclasses, mock auditions, general resources, and more. Some companies even have private auditions for their students. 

Now that we’ve gotten acquainted with basic application and audition terms, here are some financial aid terms you should know. 

Need-Based Financial Aid: Need-based aid is aid that is given to low-income students to help fund their education. Need-based aid is offered based on your family income (along with other financial factors) and can include scholarships, grants, and student loans.

Need-Blind vs. Need-Aware: Need-aware schools take the fact that you’ve applied for need-based financial aid into account as a factor of your admission, while need-blind schools do not. 

Need-Met: 100% need-met colleges are colleges that promise to meet 100% of financial need for all accepted students. 

FAFSA and CSS: The FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) and CSS (College Scholarship Service) Profile are two forms students applying for need-based aid MUST fill out before the deadlines to receive aid from schools they are accepted to. Each institution and state has its own deadlines for these forms, so make sure to keep track of those if you plan to apply for need-based aid. The FAFSA is a government form, while the CSS Profile is run by the College Board. Neither is easy to fill out, so it’s recommended that students begin filling them out as early as possible. Both typically open in October. 

Merit-Based Financial Aid: Merit-based financial aid is aid (typically in the form of scholarships or grants) offered to students based on academic, leadership, or artistic merit. A lot of colleges have many different forms of merit aid based on anything from grades to community service to demonstrated leadership. It’s important to note that some merit scholarships require separate applications or supplements.

Fee Waivers: Applications almost always have fees attached to them, ranging from $20 to over $100. Often, auditions and prescreens have their own fees. The cost of applying to college can pile up rapidly, so some schools or departments will offer application or audition fee waivers. There are different kinds of fee waivers given to different students, but it never hurts to email a school explaining your situation and ask for a fee waiver. 

---

Hannah Bogen

Hannah Bogen is a high school senior in the midst of applying to college acting programs. She has been involved in theatre since the age of 5, and hopes to use her art to make a difference, and hopefully make the world a better place.