I'm thinking of auditioning for the University of Minnesota's Guthrie Theater BFA Actor Training Program

Question

But I've never had any professional training before and I've only been a lead once in one of my high school's productions, otherwise I'm only in the chorus of my school's musicals, but i'm just wondering if I have a shot and how trully difficult the audition process is.

Also, if it's worth it because really my heart lies in musical theater, but I'm not sure if the U has a specific program for that. Also with that, I've never had any professional dance or vocal training, so what are my chances?

Answer 1

It is always worth a shot.  I had no experience other than a few lines in a couple high school plays, and decided on a whim to audition for college programs, and to my surprise was accepted into a lot of different ones!  However, don't put all your eggs in one basket.  Make the decision to study this and then start looking at other schools too.  There are lots of smaller BFA programs that are wonderful even though they are not quite as well-known.  I also thought that musical theater was my passion, but I ended up being really grateful that I went for BFA acting training.  You can still take voice and dance lessons while you're in school, and the acting program will be serious in depth training which will have great rewards.  That being said, there are also lots of good musical theater programs out there.  I would suggest doing a mixture, audition for some acting programs and some musical.

Guthrie is a big deal.  It is always worth a shot but you may not get in.  Approach the audition process the same way they tell you to approach applying for schools in general.  Maybe Guthrie will be your "long-shot" program.  Start researching and choose a bunch of middle of the range programs.  Then choose a couple "safety" schools, which can include BA Theater programs that dont necessarily require an audition.  

Lastly, talk to your high school director and/or drama teacher.  They will be happy to help you choose and rehearse monologues.  I practiced for my auditions with them for 15 minutes everyday afterschool and it helped immensely.  :)