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For music, musical theatre, dance and some theatre programmes, a prescreen is a recorded submission that decides whether you are invited to audition at all. It is due before or alongside the application, and no prescreen means no audition, which means no admission to the programme — regardless of grades, essays or test scores.
Families working a normal Regular Decision calendar routinely discover this in January, by which point the programme is closed for the year.
Most prescreens are due December 1, 2026. Manhattan School of Music, the Hartt School, the University of Oklahoma and Texas Tech all sit on that date. Stanford's arts portfolio is around December 10. A few conservatories run to mid-December.
Work backwards from December 1 and start now.
Realistically four to six weeks. Every year students lose places because they left it to Thanksgiving week.
Requirements differ sharply and are not interchangeable: specific repertoire periods, time limits per piece, whether cuts are permitted, whether the face must be visible, whether slates are required, unedited single takes versus assembled reels. A submission that breaks the format is rejected without being watched.
The Musical Theatre Common Prescreen standardises some of this — check whether your schools accept it, because it can collapse several recordings into one.
Portfolios usually go through SlideRoom and are due with the application. Most programmes want 12 to 20 pieces showing range and a point of view, not 20 versions of your best thing. Observational drawing is still expected by most studio programmes even for digital-focused applicants.
Passing means an audition, live or recorded, between January and March. Book travel early — audition weekends cluster and flights into conservatory cities get expensive fast.
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Senior Year
Send official test scores to the schools that need them
Senior Year
Check every school on your list for its testing requirement
Senior Year
Sign Early Decision agreement (student + parent + counselor)
Senior Year
Prepare for college interviews (alumni or admissions officer)
Senior Year