@beachymom Thank you for putting this together, as it should be helpful to future classes looking to get into MT! (Of course, perceptions of which schools belong in which list will no doubt be discussed…lol) Personally, I love all the info that people provide and adjust to suit our individual needs, as I’m sure most do to. I’ve added in Western CT State U (WCSU) to the ‘Selective’ list, USC to the academic list as @Notmath1 suggested, and U AL-Birmingham to the "newer/revamped’ list. I’m sure others will join in to add…
ETA: PERSONAL FIT IS MOST IMPORTANT! A balanced list = schools that are not all extremely low odds at artistic admittance + schools that are not all reaches per the student’s current strengths and weaknesses + schools that meet the individual goals (training, opportunities, finances, general university preferences, and more) of each student.
By nature of auditions being required, any audition-based program is selective to some degree.
ALSO, this post’s intention is simply to help in school list creation. When evaluating acceptances in hand, students need to make sure the fit is paramount, and things such as recent alumni success and/or new leadership are also critical.
It seems to be more effective to look at the schools in terms of the competitivenss within artistic admission instead of tiers - so that would be EXTREME REACH/LOTTERY (less than 3% acceptance rate approximate), REACH (4%-8% approximate), SELECTIVE (could be broken down into more competitive at 8%-15/20% , and less competitive at 15/20%+ approximate), and NON-AUDITION SAFETIES (which might require an audition for scholarships only). The reason for this shift (tier-thinking to competitiveness-thinking) is that great programs exist across ALL of the categories, and “tiers” tend to insinuate lesser quality, even inadvertently. Knowing this info is important so that you can craft a BALANCED list, regarding difficulty of artistic admission, program focus, and your personal strengths/weaknesses/preferences.
We categorized based upon things programs were known for. See below and hope this helps.
And always remember that no list is exhaustive and YMMV!!
Programs with a dance focus/dance track:
BOCO
Roosevelt
Rider
FSU
TxSt
CCM
PP
Pace
Marymount Manhattan
Hartt
Acting focus:
UNCSA
Otterbein
CMU
Syracuse
Wright St
Emerson
Webster
SUNY Purchase
Julliard
U o Arizona
Ithaca
Music focus:
BW
Shenandoah
Oklahoma City U
Arizona State
NYU Steinhardt
Belmont
Academics weighed more heavily/given more focus:
NYU
Michigan
Elon
Northwestern
FSU
Penn St
Indiana
American
JMU
TCU
UCLA
Miami
U o Oklahoma
U Southern CA
Newer/revamped programs:
Ohio U
Texas Tech
U o Arizona
Molloy/CAP 21
Manhattan SoM
Shenandoah
Rutgers
BU
W Carolina U
Western Conn
UNC Greensboro
Missouri St
U AL-Birmingham (UAB)
Discounted/ lower tuition:
TxSt
FSU
Montclair
Missouri St
W Carolina U
Selective (both more which is designated with , and less)/Hidden gems:
Illinois Wesleyan
American
Ball St
U N Colorado
CCU*
Ohio N
Viterbo*
W Mich
U Arts*
UCF
MM*
Rider*
JMU
Molloy*
Wagner
Montclair*
SUNY Fred
Temple
Hartt*
Roosevelt
CCPA
Catholic U
UWSP
Wright St*
Central Oklahoma
Western CT State U (WCSU)
Non-audition safeties (just a sample):
Muhlenberg
Hofstra
Loyola Chi
U Tulsa
Chris newport
Cal St
Extreme/ Lottery/Reach:
Michiagn
CMU
CCM
BW
Penn St
FSU
Syracuse
Ithaca
Elon
TxSt
NYU
Pace
NW (audition after freshman year)
Millikin
Shen
Otterbein
OkCityU
BoCo
Point Park