<p>Hi, I was just wondering if it's considered appropriate to ask admissions counselors or dept. heads how many students their program consists of and how many students they plan on accepting for a certain instrument that particular year? Those answers would be helpful but I wasn't sure if they generally give out that information (particularly about how many openings they have for a certain instrument and how many students they plan on accepting for that instrument)...thanks :)</p>
<p>Yes, that is a very reasonable question. If you take a private lesson, you can also ask for feedback on your playing and how competitive you are for that particular institution. The person can always politely tell you that they can’t answer, but as long as you’re not asking them to commit to a specific answer then they are more likely to give you the general information you need. “Will I get in?” or “Will I get offered a scholarship?” are too specific and puts the instructor, professor or admissions counselor in a tough spot.</p>
<p>Agree with SnowflakeVT, your questions about the number of students in the program and the number that they anticipate accepting are entirely appropriate to ask of admissions or dept. heads. It is probably best to word the second question something like, “Could you give me an approximate idea as to how many students you anticipate accepting on instrument X?” or “Approximately how many openings do you anticipate having for instrument X for the fall of 2012?” </p>
<p>Some schools have a definite number, for others it will depend on the number of students quitting/transferring out (which they won’t know yet) as well as on the number graduating, and a few schools have a policy of admitting more if the applicants are strong and admitting fewer if the applicant pool is weak. Thus some schools will be less certain about their numbers.</p>
<p>It is totally appropriate to ask, I have been in admissions presentations and the admissions people stressed, when those questions came up, to feel free to call or e-mail and ask them how many slots they anticipate having in ‘fall 201x’ in whatever area you are talking about. In reality, how many are in the program probably won’t give you much in terms of getting in there (if a department has 100 violins, but only expect to have 14 slots open, the latter is what is important).</p>
<p>As violindad said, no one number tells you your chance of admittance is going to be, because for example on a year when there are more openings, more kids might apply, assuming it is ‘easier’ to get in, so while there are more openings, it could be harder to get in because more are auditioning… or it could be easier then it looks, because on a year when ‘only’ 14 students are going to get in, they had a relatively less high level group of candidates applying…and so forth.</p>
<p>For some instruments, you can count on the number always being small, for instruments like flute it is a relative handful of admissions almost always…</p>
<p>Quite honestly, while knowing the numbers of slots is not a bad thing, I wouldn’t recommend using it as a measure of where to apply, unless the number is almost assuredly zero, simply because you don’t know what that number means. They can and will accept more then that number if, for example, they have some really incredible applicants they don’t want to turn away even though it would go above ‘the number’, likewise most schools admit more students then they actually intend on admitting, because they know there is ratio of acceptances to admissions that varies, and they might not guess right (thus a school where roughly 2 in 3 end up going there when accepted, might have a group where 75% accept) and have to ‘make more room’.</p>