<p>I am curious to know just how selective the CAP 21 program is. It seems that because they accept such a large class (i think i heard almost 80) where as other top programs accept as small as 8 to 10, it would be difficult for them to maintain a high standard in their acceptance offers. I am also curious to see how early decision or gender affects acceptance offers, and what is valued more in terms of the voice/acting/interview portions of the audition. Thanks you for your help!</p>
<p>I would say from a percentage perspective (number auditioned to number admitted), it's just as selective as any other top program. </p>
<p>The class of 80 was true, but that was when all who were admitted accepted (CAP hopes to have around 64 in a class, so they admitted 80 hoping for this, but all 80 accepted). My current class size is the 64 they want. </p>
<p>Gender- my class, I believe, is more female heavy. I don't know the exact statistics, but there are definatley more girls than guys. </p>
<p>Early Decision: Most definatley helps. A LOT of kids in my class were ED.</p>
<p>I do not know what to say about what is valued more in terms of an audition, as I am not an auditioner. But, since it is within the department of Drama and the goal of CAP is to train "Actors who sing and dance" I would say that the monologues are definatley important.</p>
<p>Hope this helps,
Chris</p>
<p>The selectivity of a school is not based on the size of the program. A program that has 10 students isn't more selective than a program that has 64. You must look at the ACCEPTANCE RATE. </p>
<p>Arthur Bartow, the Artistic Director of Tisch, posted on CC a year ago the following:
[quote]
We have 1,000 applicants to our musical theatre program annually. We select 75 in order to make a class of 64.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>That is approximately a 7% admit rate. If a school has 250 who audition and accepts 12 in order to make a class of 10, that is a 5% admit rate. You need to examine how many audition, how many are accepted (not enrolled), to figure ot the acceptance rate. Another factor to examine is the strength the of the applicant pool which may vary from a nationally recognized program from the audition pool at a lesser known or regionally program in a general sense.</p>
<p>In terms of gender, at MOST BFA auditions, more females are auditioning than males and if a program wishes to accept a balanced class gender-wise (most tend to), the acceptance rate for males is higher than for females overall. </p>
<p>In terms of what matters most in the audition, I believe that Tisch would equally weigh singing and acting. Both are very important. They wish to train actors (it IS a DRAMA school) and in CAP,, they want actors who can sing well. The "interview" portion is also important. Also, please realize that at Tisch, 50% of the admissions decision is based on artistic review and 50% is based on academic review.</p>
<p>In general, as at any college, the acceptance rate in the ED round is usually higher than in the RD round.</p>
<p>thank you! you helped very much</p>
<p>Soozie or anyone else --</p>
<p>Do you know how they actually go about making a decision based upon this 50/50 split between academics and audition. I read the post about the applicant needing to be on two lists -- the auditors and the admissions committee -- but it seems that many people might make both lists. It seems they must have a ranking system. Did I read somewhere once that they score the audition and the application out of 50, add those up, and then make a decision that way? Or am I dreaming?</p>
<p>Manuelo, I do not have direct information for you, sorry. I have never heard of the scoring out of 50. I imagine that Tisch, through the audition process, selects those whom they are interested in artistically but then those students must also be of interest in terms of being academically admissable to the selective university itself by the admissions committee. The admissions committee will weigh the students for admissions based on the usual academic and related factors (not just "numbers" but the entire application). Someone who is admissable academically but is not artistically is not going to be admitted. In any case, in selective colleges (be it academically or artistically), there are MORE qualified applicants than those they can admit. So, they will evaluate all aspects of the applicant and decide who to pick. It is not like the highest SATs "win", etc. Qualified applicants do get turned away at schools with low acceptance rates. I don't believe admissions' committees "rank" students. I believe they look at the package, narrow the pile of files down, discuss the applicants in committees and make a determination. Even institutional needs come into play (ie., balance of gender, types of applicants, backgrounds, and many other factors to build a class).</p>
<p>OK, thanks, that's what I thought, I was dreaming!</p>
<p>Not that it was necessarily such a great dream, either.</p>
<p>soozievt,</p>
<p>In 2004, you stated that Tisch's admissions are based 50% academics and 50% artistic. Is that still true? Also, do you know if Tisch's average GPA is based on weighted or unweighted grades? It's so hard to tell in this day and age, unless they say their average is a 4.2. Thanks.</p>
<p>Hello Debi...</p>
<p>Yes, Tisch evaluations for admission are based 50% on academics and 50% on artistic review. This was the case back then and it still is today. That is not the case at many other BFA programs where artistic review is a higher percentage of the overall admissions decision, though academics matter of course. </p>
<p>The average GPA for ALL of NYU (I have no idea just for Tisch as I have never seen that statistic ever reported) is 3.63 UNWEIGHTED. All colleges report an UNWEIGHTED GPA average for admitted students. The reason for this is because not every student will have a weighted GPA. Many high schools, including my kids' school, only use unweighted GPAs. All kids from any HS will have an unweighted GPA (or if they do not, one can be computed) and so that is the number used for comparison purposes when you see a school report the average GPA for admitted students....you must go by your child's UNWEIGHTED GPA. In fact, right now I am evaluating a junior's background and doing a college search for her and I have had to do a lot of math to come up with an unweighted GPA given the very different grading system her school has, and I just had to do this last week for another junior who has a very unusual grading system at her high school. Even if your HS reports a weighted GPA only, the college will likely compute an unweighted one. </p>
<p>BUT...don't worry....if your kid took Honors or AP classes, these DO matter and these DO count. The admissions office will examine and value the rigor of the courseload that the student took within the context of her high school and what was available. So, even if the unweighted GPA is 3.5, for example.....but the student took the most demanding courses available, this will boost their academic profile overall. Also, if your school DOES have weighted grades, it would be a boost to your child's class rank (if your school ranks and if your student took demanding courses), compared to a school like our that did not compute or use weighted grades to rank. </p>
<p>For NYU, a kid with a 3.8 who took the easiest track of high school courses may not necessarily look as good as a kid who has a 3.5 who took all Honors or AP classes, four-five years of a language, etc. So, rigor of courseload is examined, not just GPA.</p>
<p>Anyway, the 3.63 GPA average for NYU is the unweighted average as is the other ones you see listed in directories or online for colleges. </p>
<p>I hope this helps.</p>
<p>Soozievt,</p>
<p>Thanks for the information. S had a "fun time" last year as he almost died in the fall from sepsis. It took 9 full months until he fully recovered. SO grades last year were terrible and EC's suffered--about all he did during school was Seymour in Little Shop. This year it's back to straight A's. S was pretty stoic about his life experience until his girlfriend got accepted this year. He didn't think she would as she had no private voice training and never took dance. Everyone says he's a "shoo-in" after she made it, but he knows how hard it really is and just hopes straight A's from now on and a letter from the principal plus his essay re: sophomore year will be enough to pass the academic review.</p>
<p>Debi, it is hard to compare oneself to another kid who got in as each case is so different in terms of the entire package. </p>
<p>I am sorry to hear that your son had such a terrible illness but grateful for his recovery. I wish him the best as he pursues his dreams which will be all that much sweeter after such a low point in his life. I have a child at CAP21 who was severely injured, was in intensive care, etc. right after her college auditions ended and learned of her acceptance to Tisch in the hospital. It was the best medicine. And now, after going to the depths of a near miss on life, everything is in perspective and certainly it is a dream to be back at her "game." I wish the same for your son but if it isn't Tisch, there are many places where he can thrive and pursue his dreams. </p>
<p>I don't think his main essay needs to be on his illness and circumstances with regard to academics. Such special circumstances are best written up as a supplemental statement to the question: "Is there anything else you would like the admissions committe to know?" or sometimes it is stated: "Are there any special circumstances that have affectd your academic record?" Your son could write it up for that, but not his regular essays. As well, his guidance counselor should speak to this circumstance and his resulting improved or more normal grades once he recovered, in his/her report. </p>
<p>Let me say that anyone who knows about BFA in MT admissions, particularly at the highly selective BFAs, would know to never think of anyone as a "shoo-in" given the low odds of admission. A very talented person can still be denied at such schools but if he has what it takes, will most likely get in some where for MT. I can say that local people would tell my kids they were shoo-in's at their colleges and I never took that seriously because I knew the very very low admit rates at their colleges and that even very qualfied kids get denied and so I surely never ever expected admissions as a sure thing but only that they had a chance. Unless someone is very familar with this process, they really have no idea how competitive it is or they wouldn't say "shoo-in". I am sure your son has what it takes but still, keep in mind, that doesn't always equate to an admit at a particular BFA program but likely will mean an admit at some of them. </p>
<p>By the way, there are kids who get in for BFAs in MT who never took dance, especially when the BFA program doesn't hold a dance audition. CAP21 has dance placement auditions at the start of every year. So, for instance, during freshman year alone (same with this year as a soph), there are four levels for jazz, four for tap, and four for ballet. There are kids with barely any dance background who will be placed in the first level of each discipline as a freshman and likely the first level for the four levels that exist for sophs, etc. Then there are very talented and experienced dancers at the third and fourth levels in each year of CAP. So, that doesn't surprise me much about the friend who got in.</p>
<p>Good luck to your son!! I'm glad he still got to be in his show when he was ill. My D was out of all her shows she had been rehearsing her last spring due to her injuries and recovery.</p>
<p>I'm just glad I'm not going through this now. I was top ten percent of my class, and didn't have near a 4.0. Things have really changed. Did your daughter do ED?</p>
<p>No, my daughter applied Regular Decision. </p>
<p>Yeah getting into college seems tougher these days, though there are a ton of wonderful colleges and more than one place where a kid can thrive. While it is a nerve wracking and at times, overwhelming process with college admissions, kids do all end up somewhere and things work out.</p>