So I have a question… If you apply to the college and then have your audition do you normally hear of academic acceptance first? Then MT? Don’t some schools send both at once? Is it unheard of to get your audition decision & get accepted artistically & then be denied academically after the fact? Or would the mt dept sorta "fight " to get you in if they really wanted you and werent accepted to the general school?
If it was a separate decision, we always got our academic decision first. We never had an artistic decision that left us waiting for academic admission. But every school is different so there could be some out there that could admit you artistically first. But I think that is very rare if at all. There are a number of schools who make it an all or nothing decision meaning you have to be accepted both artistically and academically to get in and you are notified of both at the same time. But I would check the boards here for each individual school you are interested in because each has its own process for applying and for notifying applicants of their decisions.
Many of the schools that my d applied to gave separate answers with the academic acceptance coming well before the artistic notification (probably about 75% of the schools on her list). If you are not accepted artistically, you just change your incoming major if you still want to attend.
Some schools don’t give you an answer until both the academic and artistic decisions are reached - for my d’s list, this was about 20% of the programs. If you are not given an artistic acceptance, they may offer an academic acceptance in another major (such as a BA Theatre Studies) or offer to review your application for another major that you stipulate.
Some schools will deny admission if you are not accepted both artistically and academically, however, they may offer you a chance to reapply in a different major (or not). I believe that this is a relatively small set of schools on an overall basis.
At some schools you may receive an artistic acceptance but be denied academically. It is not unheard of for this to occur, I seem to recall that there were some posts a while back here on CC about this occurring for someone who was accepted artistically at Illinois Wesleyan but subsequently denied academically.
The “fight” sometimes goes both ways (I know specific examples of both of these situations):
a. The academic admissions office calls the Theatre Department and lobbies for an artistic acceptance.
b. The Theatre Department calls the admissions office and lobbies for an academic acceptance.
Sometimes the lobbying works, sometimes it doesn’t.
OP - What I learned last year was that many scenarios are possible. While most schools have rules they generally abide by, my S had experiences that would be deemed impossible if discussed openly on this board. I say all this to say, do not give up hope until you have all results. Feel free to PM me if you have a specific question about a specific school. If it was on our list, I would be happy to provide you any information I can.