Submit your arts prescreens by December 1

December 1 — arts prescreen and portfolio deadline

Submit by November 29

Prescreen and portfolio uploads are large video and image files going into systems that every applicant hits in the same 48 hours. Acceptd, SlideRoom and institutional portals all slow or fail on deadline night. A file that will not finish uploading at 11:40pm on December 1 is a missed deadline, and appeals almost never succeed.

Give yourself two clear days.

Final check, per school

• The repertoire matches what this school asked for, not what another school asked for
• Time limits are respected, including any per-piece limits
• Slates are included if required — name, repertoire, and sometimes the school's name
• Video shows what the school wants visible: face, hands, full body for dance
• Audio is not clipping
• Files are named exactly as instructed
• The application itself is submitted — some schools will not review a prescreen without it

The fee

Most conservatories charge a separate prescreen or audition fee per programme, on top of the application fee. Fee waivers exist and are rarely advertised. If cost is a barrier, email the admissions office directly this week; they are routinely granted.

After submitting

• Save every confirmation
• Prescreen results usually arrive mid-December to mid-January
• Start planning audition travel now, before results. Audition weekends cluster in January and February, cities overlap, and the families who book afterwards pay several times as much

If a deadline is genuinely unmakeable

Email the programme today, not on December 2. Some conservatories grant short extensions for documented reasons before the deadline. None grant them after.