^^ I’m with @MTVT2015. It’s time to quote an old saying that will help none of us now, but here goes: “Luck is what happens when preparation meets with opportunity.” You have to be really lucky too!
It’s a no for Penn State. No big deal.
:)>-
and sometimes the size that fits the costume they already have… 
When a school picks their class, they’re also casting their shows. They can’t have ten blonde sopranos no matter how good those blonde sopranos are. I’m sure all your kids are super talented! Sometimes, though, your S or D is just not what they need. That doesn’t mean that they aren’t wonderful or without professional potential! It just depends what that particular school wants. Here, have some wisdom from Kyle Dean Massey (Pippin, Wicked, Next to Normal…): https://mobile.twitter.com/kyledeanmassey/status/438397061525168128
DaddyDoRite and winnieroot, thanks for taking the time to respond to my anxious post! It was so kind of you. I am not the best at assessing my son’s talent, but I will tell you that he works his butt off. I am so proud of him for that. Thanks for your support and insight. So glad I found this site and I hope all is going well for you and yours.
@lojosmo That has actually happened to me already. Haha.
I know it happens! 
Why does the mail have to come so late in the afternoon… :-S
@Martin247998 I agree with your post about ‘how do they know’… and my son’s best results were the auditions where they took the time to get to know him a bit. All of these kids can be so much more (or less) than what comes out in a 3 minute audition. Kudos to the schools who take the time to look deeper…
Unfortunately, I believe sometimes auditors don’t “look deeper” because they know they are not going beyond the surface for a particular applicant. The applicant doesnt have the right height, weight, hair color, skin color, voice type, eyebrows, sex appeal, can’t dance, dances too well, whatever. So while you have spent perhaps $1000 to come audition for their program, its over for some applicants before they slate. Welcome to show biz.
@MTmom2015 and @Martin247998 – I hear you and couldn’t agree more. CAP 21’s audition was worlds away from the cattle call of Unifieds and even the on-campus auditions D did…the CAP 21 folks took the time! They showed her to a practice room and encouraged her to warm up. When she was ready, they talked to her for a while about what she’d been doing in HS. Totally calmed her down…and it worked. With so much less stress, she got the chance to show them what she could really do. This is the way it should be, IMHO.
People should be a little optimistic about coming off of wait lists. I count 36 members posting on the accepted thread with a total of 124 acceptances. Some schools accept 60 to get to 30 or some such formula, but I’ve never heard of a school accepting more than twice what they expect their class to be. This looks to me like more than 50 wait list spots opening up, with a lot more decisions to come. And that’s just for those who have posted. Keep the faith.
As far as I know, these kids are only going to one school each.
I agree with you @tramsmom. I think they have ruled out some candidates when they walk in for just those reasons. My S has a very strong presence (one of those people who never enters a room without everyone noticing) and he was kind of taken aback by the one audition where the person didn’t look up when he entered and slated. He had to regroup pretty quickly, but admitted it was nerve wrecking. He ended up having a great audition experience with that auditor and that school eventually moved up his list. This was a school where you handed in your head shot and resume prior to auditioning, so I wondered if he was not initially interested in S.
Exactly! This is why no one can agree if a school is an easy/hard/lottery admit. Even with the lottery schools, if you are the exact type they are looking for as part of a bigger puzzle, that may not be a hard admit in that situation.
For those planning next year. NO audition program should be considered a safety. None.
This is the situation for let’s say one of the “easier” admits: if they go to Unifieds, they see about 800 kids. If they are a newer or “under the radar” programs then they will most likely extend triple the offers needed to get 15-20. Math is not my thing, but still pretty tough. ( and this is an “easier” admit) (I know I’m preaching to the choir here, this is for next year’s class)
I agree @winnieroot. It’s been said here over and over, but I’m not sure if people are aware of that outside of CC. One boy decided it was easier for boys and he didn’t need a safety and now he has no acceptances. He is moving on to a back up plan, but is considering a gap year based on his FB post.
I have said that over and over…NO audition program is a safety or even an easier admit than another….
I applied to 23 programs, all around the country. I have a running tab of 13 no’s since November. Luckily, I have 1 acceptance and 2 waitlists. It’s hard to accept the fact that while you’re searching for a perfect match, they are too! The waiting is killer, but honestly, what can you do? You can’t change yourself after the audition to make you be the type of person that school is looking for, it’s out of our control. It’s a crapshoot, literally. Just have a running supply of Ben and Jerry’s, us kids will be fine!!
@humanbean you are way to put together for our Pity party ;)… Thank you for your great words of wisdom!!!
Not only is no school a safety school, but the vast majority of these schools only accept between 3 and 20% of applicants! (I say “vast majority” because I don’t personally know of an exception to this out of all of the many programs we researched, butI can’t really claim all since I researched some much more than others and missed some, too). Seriously? How are ANY of those not reaches? In the “real world,” every one of these schools would be a high reach! I admit that it makes me a bit batty, then, to hear people go on about tiers or more heavily congratulate people who get into certain programs than others. These are all challenging to get into! So, hearty congratulations to all who get in one, and hearty congratulations as well to all who go through this challenging process, whether you get into your dream school or no school at all! You have most likely shown great character and work ethic. Now go apply that to the rest of your career!
@bisouu, I would not go so far as to say that NO audition program is an easier admit than another. Surely it is more difficult to be accepted at some popular programs over some regional programs on the whole. I do agree however the “ease” of the admit is different for each kid in each program each year. Just because this year school “x” took pop sounding girls who had a strange resemblance to Natalie Wood, does not mean they will do the same next year. They may decide they want legit singing Marilyn Monroe look-alikes next year, unless of course they have taken Natalie Woods for the past 8 years running. That might be a sign.
And if you know a certain school really doesnt care about dance for example, and your main strength is dance, chances are your odds are even worse at that particular school unless you posses some other highly desired skill or attribute that school values.