<p>As requested, here is the data that I tabulated from the “Final Decisions: Background” threads for the last 3 years. I included all the data because a list of the “top 12” or whatever would not accurately characterize the information (see explanation below).</p>
<p>Note the following cavaets:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>It is highly likely that I made a few mistakes (I didn’t bother to check to see if every program I guessed was an audition program is, in fact, an audition program if it only had 1 or 2 auditions listed - it simply didn’t matter enough to bother, given my purposes for collecting the data and the inherent lack of accuracy likely in the small sample size).</p></li>
<li><p>The data sample is very likely to be less than 1% of the audition pool size.</p></li>
<li><p>The data is not a random sample (its from CCers and contains any bias inherent in CC).</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Hence, the data cannot be called a representative sample and may not accurately characterize the audition pool, in fact, I am sure that it does not accurately characterize the audition pool. However, it served my purpose to see what a typical data distribution probably would look like and I think it indicates some general characteristics of the audition field (such as, there is likely to be a significant concentration of audition interest in a relatively small number of programs). Many of the usual suspects are at or near the top, and some of the newer programs with significant mindshare (at least here on CC) are near the top. If you multiply a number for the size of the audition pool somewhere around 3,000 by the percentage shown for each program, you get numbers that, for the most part, seem to be in the ballpark for the quoted number of auditions for many of the programs.</p>
<p>Differences in audition counts of +/- 4 (or perhaps more) are probably not statistically significant, so the order as shown could easily vary by differences of that amount. I am sure the list would reorder to some or a large extent if a statistical valid data sample were available. If you don’t think the order is accurate, you are most likely correct. I won’t defend the explicit accuracy or utility of this list.</p>
<p>I would guess that data collected in this manner probably underestimates regional audition pools, perhaps to a significant amount.</p>
<p>Of course, the competitiveness of the audition pool at each program varies, you shouldn’t base decisions on this information, the most popular program doesn’t mean it is the “best,” numbers don’t tell the whole story, and so on and so forth.</p>
<p>The 50% break point is actually between schools 13 and 14.</p>
<p>The list shows: </p>
<p>[School] [audition count] [% of total audition count]</p>
<p>CCM 39 54.17%
Carnegie Mellon 37 51.39%
Point Park 35 48.61%
Ithaca 30 41.67%
Pace 29 40.28%
Michigan 27 37.50%
Texas State 27 37.50%
Baldwin Wallace 26 36.11%
Penn State 25 34.72%
Boston Conservatory 24 33.33%
Rider 24 33.33%
Otterbein 23 31.94%
Ball State 20 27.78%
Elon 20 27.78%
Hartt 18 25.00%
Coastal Carolina 17 23.61%
NYU 17 23.61%
Syracuse 17 23.61%
Emerson 16 22.22%
Montclair 15 20.83%
U Arts 15 20.83%
Oklahoma City 12 16.67%
Northern Colorado 11 15.28%
Oklahoma 11 15.28%
Roosevelt CCPA 11 15.28%
Shenandoah 10 13.89%
Webster 10 13.89%
Florida State 9 12.50%
Indiana 9 12.50%
Ohio Northern 9 12.50%
Wagner 9 12.50%
Marymount Manhattan 8 11.11%
TCU 8 11.11%
Wright State 7 9.72%
Miami 6 8.33%
James Madison 5 6.94%
Utah 5 6.94%
Western Michigan 5 6.94%
UCF 5 6.94%
Alabama 4 5.56%
Millikin 4 5.56%
Viterbo 4 5.56%
LIU Post 3 4.17%
RCS 3 4.17%
UCLA 3 4.17%
Wisconsin Stevens Point 3 4.17%</p>
<p>2 each
American, Belmont, Catholic, Central Michigan, Illinois Wesleyan, Memphis, Molloy/CAP 21, NYU-Steinhardt, Plymouth State, South Dakota, UT Austin, Western Carolina, AMDA</p>
<p>1 each
Arizona, Buffalo, Catawba College, Christopher Newport Univ, Colorado, Colorado Mesa, Evansville, Missouri State, Oakland, Rhode Island, Sante Fe, Seton Hill, Southern Illinois, Southern Maine, Tampa, Temple, Tulane, Urdang Academy, USC, Western Connecticut State, Western Kentucky, Wichita State</p>