#123: Dear Julie… interviews!???
Wednesday 12/18/24
DEAR JULIE: I’m nervous about upcoming college audition interviews. What do I need to know?
DISCLAIMER - this is good advice for any interviewing honestly, so anyone can benefit.
Ok, I’m going to say the hard thing. You need to prepare answers so you can be as relaxed and YOU as possible. I’m going to give you some tips to do so!
Plan answers or the outline of answers to a few standard questions that may come up: Tell me about yourself, why do you want to study theatre in college, how did you start doing theatre, what are you watching/reading now, what was the last impactful performance you saw, what are you listening to, why do you want to come here, what are you looking for in a program, etc.
HOW DO YOU OUTLINE ANSWERS? Use my acronym “ATE”! Yes “ate” lol I came up with it before it was new lingo ok. I want you to know and also limit yourself to a MINIMUM of 2 and a MAX of 3 talking points per question. If you funnel ideas through these 3 ideas, you will be fine. Let’s answer the question “why do you want to come here?” using ATE! Hit all 3 or at least 2 in any answer.
A = ARTISTIC
“I have been dancing competitively my whole life and it is important to me to continue that training and I know you have a high standard for dance.”
T = TECHNICAL
“I’m hoping to take advantage of your numerous internship opportunities and would love to see if the Study Abroad program in London would work for me”
E = EMOTIONAL
“I’ve seen so many of my friends go through your program and have made incredible progress so I know this will be a great fit for me”
See how I spoke about MYSELF in those answers? I didn’t just say “i want strong dance” - I have some insight into my history and connection to dance. Those are different answers!
Always repeat the question back! “Tell me about yourself” “Sure, I’d love to tell you about myself…” “Why do you want to study theatre in college” or “There are many reasons I plan to study theatre in college - here are my main 3…”
See how I said “main 3”? The more specific you are the MORE LIKELY you will stay on track and not talk too long! Again, rehearse. Get yourself an index card per school and answer all of these PER SCHOOL.
Prepare 2-3 questions to ask EACH school. You are speaking to department heads so your questions need to be well thought out and NOT yes/no or things you can easily find on the website. Questions can re-iterate your talent or an interest, they can be about things you CAN find on the website but ask them to expand, or, if you really are just doing teh audition to give yourself another option, then ask a general question like “what skills make a successful student here” or “can you talk to me about the culture of the program” etc.
“I’d love to know more about how you support students with other arts interests - i’m interested in writing my own work, how might the department support this?”
“Can you elaborate on the types of acting methods or techniques I will learn in the acting classes?”
Breathe. Ground yourself. Be honest and authentic. If you do this prep work, you can just be more off the dome. You can relax. You may suck at the first 1 or 2 but it’s important to reflect and refocus as you move forward. And, my best bit of advice, be ok STOPPING TALKING. A kiss of death is “anddddd” STOP SAYING AND lol. Be comfortable ending the answer… saying “aaanddd… so..yeah!” is not the end of an answer.
Dreams Don’t Die
Julie