<p>My D and I are developing a list of schools that she would like to attend. I understand that everyone's list will be different due to academic and personal choice. However, we want to also get a balanced list of "audition" schools. For instance, I would think the schools participating at Unifieds get a National draw; whereas, those schools that do not attend get more of a Regional draw. Is this a true statement?</p>
<p>Our goal is to get a list of schools which are very competitive, competitive, and less competitive (at least in the terms of number of people auditioning; we understand that they are all competitive). I have done a search, but have not found a listing of those schools that have a Regional draw of auditionees. Does anyone know if such a list exists?</p>
<p>I would not classify schools that do not attend Unifieds as mostly drawing regionally for candidates. Examples of MT programs that do not attend Unifieds but draw on a national scale include: NYU/Tisch, Syracuse, Ithaca, Emerson, Elon, and U of Michigan. </p>
<p>There are some schools more known on a regional scale, though still have candidates from all over, and examples of these may include: University of Central Florida, Wright State, Illinois Wesleyan, Milikin, SUNY Fredonia, and Western Michigan.</p>
<p>My son’s somewhat less competitive schools were Rider and UArts. Both are good programs and offer early auditions and rolling admission. Another example that draws nationally but does not attend Unifieds is Baldwin-Wallace. I would consider them very competitive.</p>
<p>LoveMyMTGirl-are you looking in any particular part of the country because that could help give you ideas. I also think that as we are on CC some many of these schools become familiar to us and we might not see them as regional, but off the top of my head I would add Ohio Northern to that list.</p>
<p>Syracuse, Ithaca, Emerson, and U of M were all at Unifieds this year, and some schools, such as Northern Colorado, didn’t list Unifieds on their audition dates and ended up being there. The Unifieds website doesn’t list all of the schools that will be there that year, mostly the regulars that are there each year, I guess.</p>
<p>But I agree with Soozievt. At my Florida State audition there were people from all over the country, and at University of Alabama, there were many from the Southeast, the Southwest, and from the Midwest, with a few from other regions. At Troy University, there’s MT and Dance majors from the Southeast, Southwest, and some from the West Coast, and Troy is a fairly new program.</p>
<p>You can rest assured that at Unifieds you’ll have students from all over the US, as well as some from Canada and the UK (schools from the UK also attend Unifieds), and while you may not have much international competition at other schools (with the exception of NYU, UCLA, the big names), you’d be surprised by how many people who aren’t from the region have done their research on good MT programs. It really just depends on what region you’re interested in.</p>
<p>If you are looking in the South, UA is a great program that has had good success with recent alumni, and so is Troy, though not as well known. I would also suggest Central Florida and Tulane. I don’t know much about Tulane, but I have heard it has a good program.</p>
<p>I would suggest that you consider the schools at the top of this forum, with their own strands, as the ones that might draw the most people (I know this is a HUGE generalization, but it is a place to start.) Then find the 2 lists on this forum: Big Lists of MT Programs, which is grouped by state, and Big Lists of MT Programs by Program Type (which I just bumped up to the top) and use those for doing research. Make sure you have a couple of backups from the BA and nonaudition lists. Starting now through summer, usually August at the latest, you will be able to see on sites where auditions are being held, especially if they are being held in the same places/times as Unified Schools. I also have a list of Unified schools that were present 2 years ago at Chicago that I would be happy to send you if you send me your email address (in word form) through a PM. A few have added on since then, but its a start. Another good question to ask, once you have a starting list, is to post here questioning about the # of students accepted, so you don’t have too many on your list that have very small programs. You can find some info about that here already, but its not really very current.</p>
<p>Thank you to everyone that replied. This information is very helpful. We are from the West Coast so we are looking at anywhere in the country at this point. Unfortunately, there are not many programs on the West Coast, and 2 of the better ones that are, appear to use a cut system which knocks them off our list. My D does not have a preference for location as of now, but that may change as we investigate further.</p>
<p>Christie2, thank you for your offer of the list of schools at Unifieds in Chicago. I would be very interested in the list. I don’t think I have enough posts yet to send you a PM, but I will send you one as soon as I do.</p>
<p>I made a mistake above about Ithaca and Emerson which do participate in Unifieds. U of Michigan’s MT program does not participate in Unifieds, just their Acting program does. I am not aware of Syracuse being at Unifieds, though it is a program, like some others such as NYU, that holds auditions in some cities, not just on campus, but not through the Unifieds.</p>
<p>Take a look at U of Utah. They participate in the WUE (not sure how that works since we are in the Northeast but I think it allows you in-state tuition). They attend Unifieds so draw nationally, but because they are a new program, they are not yet on everyone’s list so their pool is a bit smaller than some other programs that attend Unifieds. FYI, the new curriculum hasn’t yet been posted on their website. My D will be attending in the Fall and we were very happy with what we saw when we visited a couple of weeks ago.</p>
<p>One factor that you may want to consider in evaluating schools for competitiveness for entry is class size. Some schools admit very small numbers of students, and this raises the level of difficulty vs. schools who draw applicants from the same or similar audition pools on the basis of numbers alone. Some schools with class sizes of 12 or less include: CMU (12), Coastal Carolina (10), Florida (4), Florida State (9), Otterbein (8), Texas State (12) and UCLA (7). These numbers are from this past thread:</p>
<p>These schools are just examples of small class sizes, and I am not suggesting that they draw from the same national audition pool nor am I saying that they are all directly comparable in level of audition pool competitiveness (because I am not an expert and I have no real basis to gauge the general competitiveness of their audition pool). Of course, class size can vary from year to year, these numbers are just what was reported here on CC, and some schools draw fewer numbers of qualified auditionees, so additional research for verification and further analysis would be prudent if you are interested in including a metric like this in your evaluation of schools to include on your list.</p>
<p>I was going to suggest the same thing as EmsDad. If you look at class sizes, you can get a better idea of the opportunity that might be there. BoCo, NYU, Marymount Manhattan are all big programs, not that they are easier to get in to but you do have more chances. The smaller programs are pretty difficult - but should not be taken off a list if you are truly interested in them.</p>
<p>I don’t think a bigger program means “more chances.” I think when looking at numbers, it is more important to look at acceptance RATE, not how many are admitted. If a bigger program accepts 5% and a smaller program accepts 5%, the chances are pretty similar (though not taking into account the level of the competitive field of applicants).</p>
<p>^^ I agree, however, if you do the math, it becomes apparent why class size would likely matter:</p>
<p>Suppose Tisch has a 5% acceptance rate from well-qualified applicants. That means NYU draws 1,200 well-qualified applicants. Otterbein would only need to draw 160 well-qualified applicants to match NYU’s 5% admit rate for well-qualified applicants and if Otterbein drew more, then they would, ipso facto, be more difficult for admission. Now, maybe NYU has this fantastically large pool of qualified applicants that dwarfs Otterbein’s and therefore renders NYU more difficult for admission, but the numbers would have to pretty amazing for this to be the case. NYU would have to draw almost 10 TIMES more qualified applicants than Otterbein to more competitive. Perhaps they do, but I think that may be unlikely.</p>
<p>Of course, this is just a hypothetical and there are many factors involved, but I think the math speaks for itself.</p>
<p>Following on with Christie2’s suggestion, I took the Big List of auditioned programs and deleted the 56 schools listed at the top of the forum (I hope that I didn’t miss any). Here is the remaining list:</p>
<p>BFA PROGRAMS
Abilene Christian University (TX)
American Musical and Dramatic Academy (2 year certificate or BFA) (CA/NY)
Belmont University (BM & BFA) (TN)
Brigham Young University (BFA in Music Dance Theatre) (UT)
Catawba College (BFA or a non-audition BA-MT) (NC)
Central Michigan University (MI)
Central Washington University (WA)
Cornish College of the Arts (BFA Performing Arts w/MT emphasis) (WA)
Culver Stockton College (MO)
Drake University (IA)
East Carolina University (NC)
Hardin-Simmons University (BFA MT Track) (TX)
Howard University (DC)
Jacksonville University (FL)
Kent State University (OH)
Lindenwood (MO)
Long Island University - C.W. Post (NY)
Minnesota State University (Mankato) (BFA) (MN)
Missouri State (MO)
Missouri Valley College (MO)
Nebraska Wesleyan (NE)
New World School of the Arts (AA and BFA) (FL)
Northern Kentucky University (KY)
Oakland University (MI)
Rockford College (IL)
Rockford University (TX)
Shorter University (13-15) (GA)
Southern Illinois University, Carbondale (IL)
Southern Oregon University (BFA Theater, Minor in MT) (OR)
Tulane University (BFA through Music department) (LA)
University of Colorado at Boulder (CO)
University of Florida (4) (FL)
University of Idaho (ID)
University of Kansas (BFA Theatre & Voice, through Music) (KS)
University of Memphis (10) (TN)
University of Nebraska at Kearney (BFA through Music department) (NE)
University of North Dakota (ND)
University of South Dakota (SD)
University of Texas at El Paso (TX)
University of Utah (22) (UT)
University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee (Inter-Arts BFA MT) (WI)
University of Wyoming (WY)
Valdosta University (GA)
Western Carolina University (BFA and BM) (NC)
Western Illinois University (IL)
Western Kentucky University (KY)
William Peace College (NC)
Wichita State University (KS)
Wright State University (13) (OH)
Youngstown State University (OH)</p>
<p>BA and BM PROGRAMS
Adrian College (MI)
Arizona State University (BM) (AZ)
Ashland University (BA Theatre w/MT concentration) (OH)
Belmont University (BM & BFA) (TN)
Berklee College of Music (BM w/MT Minor) (MA)
Bowling Green State University (BA Communications Specializing in MT) (OH)
Capital University (BM VP w/MT Emphasis) (OH)
Casper College (AA) (WY)
Catholic University (BM) (DC)
DeSales University ¶
Elmhurst College (IL)
Emory and Henry College (BA MT Pre-Professional Track) (VA)
Fairleigh Dickinson University (Madison/Florham) (BA w/MT Concentration) (NJ)
Heidelberg University (BA/BS Theatre with MT Emphasis) (OH)
Illinois State University (IL)
Indiana University of Pennsylvania (BA in Interdisciplinary Fine Arts - MT Track) ¶
Johnson State College (recorded audition only) (VT)
Manhattanville College (BA Music w/concentration in MT) (NY)
Marywood University (BA) ¶
Meredith College (NC)
Mesa State College (BA w/MT Concentration) (CO)
Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts (Hons) (London, UK)
Nazareth College (BA) (NY)
New Jersey City University (BA Music in MT) (NJ)
North Central College (IL)
Northeastern University (BA or BS in Music with MT minor) (MA)
Palm Beach Atlantic University (FL)
Plymouth State University (NH)
Rhode Island College (BA Theatre w/ MT concentration)
Russell Sage College with NYSTI (BS) (NY)
Samford University (AL)
Seton Hill University (BA Theatre w/ MT emphasis) ¶
Southeastern Oklahoma State University (BA w/MT Option) (OK)
State University of New York, Cortland (BA, and Minor) (NY)
State University of New York, Geneseo (NY)
Susquehanna University (BA Theatre w/ MT emphasis) ¶
University of Alabama (AL)
University of Central Oklahoma (BM) (OK)
University of Missouri, Kansas City (BA Music with Theatre concentration) (MO)
University of Mobile (BM) (AL)
University of North Carolina at Pembroke (BM) (NC)
University of Southern Maine (BM) (ME)
University of Tampa (FL)
University of Texas at Arlington (BM) (TX)
University of Texas at Austin (BA Theater & Dance, MT emphasis) (6) (TX)
University of Wisconsin, Green Bay (WI)
University of Wisconsin, La Crosse (WI)
Vanguard University of Southern California (BA w/MT Concentration) (CA)
Weber State University (BA or BS) (UT)
West Chester University (BA Theatre w/ MT emphasis) ¶
West Texas A&M (TX)
Western Carolina University (BM and BFA) (NC)
Western Connecticut State University (CT)
Wilkes University (BA) ¶
William Carey University (BA w/MT emphasis) (MS)</p>
<p>And while nyu doesn’t officially attend unifieds - they were in la at the same time as unifieds last year just not officially a part of it and in a different location.</p>