<p>Alliesmom, sorry that I made an assumption that your D went to the same high school as the boy in the article. I guess I jumped to that assumption as you said she contacted the school to find kids and I thought your D and the boy were at the same school. My client DOES attend the same school as the boy in the article, however. </p>
<p>Also, along with this client of mine, I have had several who have applied to a mix of BFAs and BAs and by the way, also were top students in terms of stats. But it is rare to apply to two BFAs and the rest BAs, although I imagine some do who are not that tied to trying to get into a BFA. My client from that HS preferred a BFA but applied to a mix. But on his BFA list, he sure had way more than two BFAs. My niece also applied to a mix and again, had way more than two BFAs. In this one respect, this boy in the article was atypical, even for kids who apply to a mix of BFAs and BAs, in my view.</p>
<p>I think she found this boy through the state arts competition or our local Cappies organization.</p>
<p>As someone who used to write for a newspaper(s) for a living, I have to say that I understand completely why the writer of the article in question chose to tell the story of college auditions through one students. Every reporter I know understands that focusing in on one specific person is usually far more interesting to the reader than interviewing two dozen people and getting a lot of general comments. That said, I still wish the piece had included at least one paragraph that put the whole audition process/competition level/rate of acceptance, etc. in perspective. The reporter just ended up, through various circumstances described by several of you above, focusing on a student who, though clearly very talented and smart, was not typical in terms of #s of schools auditioned for and so on. Still, it was nice to have a story about the whole thing in the Times!!</p>