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Many musical theatre and acting prescreens end with a wildcard: a 60–90 second video of you doing whatever you want (the exact length depends on the school). It's another way for the faculty to get to know you as a human being, since they're not seeing you in person.
There's no correct answer — that's the point. Swipe through our quick guide, then watch real wildcards from students who gave us permission to share their footage. As you watch each one, ask yourself: what do I know about this person after a minute that a résumé or a song cut could never tell me?
Hadley — BYU Music Dance Theatre '29
Hadley is now in BYU's Music Dance Theatre class of 2029.
Addy — Syracuse BFA Musical Theatre '29
Addy is now in Syracuse University's BFA Musical Theatre class of 2029.
Jahlil — University of Michigan BFA Acting '30
Jahlil is headed to the University of Michigan's BFA Acting program, class of 2030.
Owen — Pace BFA Acting '29
Owen — shot vertically on a phone — is in Pace University's BFA Acting class of 2029.
Jack — Montclair State BFA Musical Theatre '30
Jack is headed to Montclair State University's BFA Musical Theatre program, class of 2030.
Need ideas?
Anything honest and specific to you can work. A few starting points:
- Share your favorite places in your hometown and why they matter to you
- Bring us along to your job
- Talk through your favorite books or albums
- Show us tricks you've taught your dog
- Showcase an additional talent
- Let us watch you learn a new skill
- Learn a family recipe from your grandmother
- Take us to your happy place
- Tell us about community-service work that's meaningful to you
- Take us along to your dance competition
Trust yourself and have confidence in the YOU that you are!
Ideas to think twice about
Some formats show up in a lot of wildcards, so they're harder to stand out with:
- Get-ready-with-me (GRWM) videos
- Baking
- Makeup tutorials
However — if there's something truly important to you to say or explore within one of these formats, go for it! The format matters far less than whether it's genuinely yours.
Feeling scared? That's okay
Putting any art out there is scary, especially when it feels like the stakes are high and there's very little structure. If it's honest, specific, and meaningful to you, you cannot possibly go wrong.
One last tip: steal the approach from the examples above, not the idea. Pick one true thing about yourself, show it instead of explaining it, and keep it well under the time limit.
Every school words its wildcard prompt a little differently. Browse programs to see each school's exact prescreen and wildcard requirements in one place.
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