Aug 1, 20225 min read

My College Audition Horror Story

Sit down kids, it's STORY TIME!

Ah, applying to college. Unarguably one of the most stressful benchmark moments of my adolescence. I went to an extremely competitive high school, one of the top public schools in the state of California. The kind of school where kids would brag about how many AP classes they were taking, share their SAT scores unsolicited, and gloat about whatever special extracurricular they were doing that would get them into Yale. I actually grew up thinking I wasn't smart because I didn't have a 5.0 and I never took Chem AP. It wasn't until I went to college that I thought, "Oh shit. I am smart when I study things I actually care about!" Obviously O-chem has it's (very important) place, but to be frank, I didn't give a shit.

When it came to applying to college, I really had no idea what I wanted to do. I mean how could I, I was 17 years old for crying out loud! I did fine in school, but there were no academic subjects that really spoke to me. For me, I'd rather get teeth pulled than take a math test, I got away with Sparknoting some required reading, and I bargained for my A in Calculus by painting formulas and Disney characters on the ceiling tiles.

The only thing I loved was theatre. It was the only place where I felt truly accepted and welcomed. As I've mentioned in previous posts, I had some pretty gnarly social anxiety growing up. But the only place I felt confident in my talents, friendships, and self was on stage. I was good at it too, so why not major in it... right?

As if applying to college isn't brutal enough, the application process for performing arts majors is ten times more competitive and time consuming. In addition to all the normal testing, essays, and supplemental materials, I had to audition. For each school, they hold dance calls, interviews, and auditions where you sing 30 seconds of a song and perform a 1 minute monologue from a play. Then when all is said and done, the next four years of your life are decided for you.

Not only is this a shit ton of work, but also a shit ton of money. For a lot of the schools, you have to fly out to be seen in person. Most acting and musical theatre programs only accept 20-40 students, so you pay for more applications to cast a broader net. If you're able to, you pay for acting coaches, choreographers, voice lessons. You're not only putting your academics, finances, and talent on display, but also yourself as a human being. Does the school see someone like me fitting into the cohort? Do they see me being a successful student and performer?

All to say, it's incredibly high stakes and these auditions are imperative.

I applied to about 15 schools. I applied to my 3 reach schools, and the rest were ones I'd begrudgingly go to. I don't even say "Safety Schools" because there is no such thing. The 3 reach schools I applied to (Carnegie Mellon University, University of Southern California, and New York University) are bigger, more "prestigious" schools, so they host their auditions on weekends during January and February.

Then for smaller universities, they share a weekend separate from the big schools called ~The Unified Auditions~ In the acting/MT college audition world, there is this magical weekend called "The Unifieds" were literally hundreds of schools travel to the big cities in the US and host auditions. People fly in and audition for schools back to back to back. It's very productive, but if anything happens to you on that weekend... well, you're f*cked.

My audition for USC was okay. My audition for NYU was fine. My audition for Carnegie Mellon was great, and I even stayed late to audition and interview with all of the professors! But it was a long shot since my academics didn't quite line up with their standards. So, I was really banking on this Unifieds.

But of course, I got sick.

I have a pretty strong immune system, and I'm not one to get too sick too often. But this time, I had never been sicker. I had a fever, nausea, dizziness, body aches, sweats, chills, and I COMPLETELY lost my voice. It was both physically and emotionally awful.

I had no real choice, I had to go to my auditions. So, I went to the Unifieds in Los Angeles feeling more ill than I ever had in my young life. I attended one audition in the morning for Syracuse University. I attended a dance call, which on any normal day, would have been pretty easy. But I could barely stand up. Then when it came to singing the same songs I had rehearsed with a coach for 9 months, not a whisper came out of my mouth with my laryngitis. It was incredibly devastating, disappointing, and embarrassing all at once.

I was so ill that I had to leave, and had to miss (therefore, was automatically rejected) from all other 10 universities I had applied to. I was royally f*cked.

I assume the anxiety and pressure suppressed my immune system, and made an already bad flu even worse. I mourned the next couple months, watching rejection after rejection pour into the mail. It was one of the most terrible feelings I'd ever had.

The only prospect I had was being a "Trojan Transfer" at USC. I'd do my first year abroad at a University affiliated with USC, then transfer over to the main campus my sophomore year. It looked like I was going to be a Communications major, with (maybe) a minor in acting.

After a month of grieving, I came to terms with it. I was in a voice lesson with my then singing teacher, and expressed to her that this was just the way things were meant to be.

Then in the most cinematic timing, my mom called. And when I tell you I never have my phone ringer on, it felt like a wild coincidence. My teacher who is normally anti-cell phone encouraged me to answer, so I did.

"YOU GOT INTO NYU!!!"

Even writing this now makes me emotional.

NYU had always been my dream school. When I was 12 years old, I stood in line with my dad at the Starbucks on the South East corner of Washington Square Park, and looked out on rainy, humid July day. I told my dad, "I want to go here!"

Life has a weird way of working out. I feel humbled, elated, grateful, and exceptionally lucky to have gotten the opportunity to live in NYC and study what I have always loved most.

So that's my horror story turned into a dream come true. My heart feels warm.

Until next time,

Tessa