NYU Tisch & Steinhardt.....numbers

@soozievt - You are a better person then I am :slight_smile: - Iā€™m sure there would be some bragging happening if my daughter got in to CMU or UMich, even though Iā€™d rather if she was accepted and went to RCS (which I think have slightly higher acceptance rate).

@soozievt, his name is Chris Andersson, not Anderson

I do think that what studio or studios a student is willing to accept muddies the waters. My D at first said that she only wanted NSB, but then changed her mind and would be equally (or even more) excited to be admitted into ETW. Iā€™m not sure how sheā€™d feel about the other studios; she only talks about those two. One would have to determine each applicantā€™s desired studio placement to figure out the odds for that studio or studios. As it is, this is the MT thread, not the acting thread, in which we ascertain the MT odds, not acting. This is just as with other programs in which one may choose to be considered for acting as well as MT; chances go up there, too, maybe only slightly, but they do go up.

To me, placing a bunch of importance on determining exact admittance percentages when those percentages are ridiculously small to begin with (between 3 and 20 or even 25%) is like splitting hairs.

I agree - I looked this morning - according to US News (fast Google search) Stanford had the lowest overall admit rate at about 5%. Northwestern had a 14% admit rate. Thatā€™s nearly 3x higher- but would people call it an ā€œeasyā€ admit?

Thank you @uskoolfish!

The reason I was discussing the MT acceptance rate is that this discussion first started on the Acceptance rate/numbers thread for MUSICAL THEATER PROGRAMS and so if you want to maintain such data, the rate for MT is what one should examine, not the rate for acting. Comparing the acceptance rate at one program for acting/MT with another program for just MT isnā€™t really effective.

Also, in my view, when most MT program have acceptance rates in the single digits, it really isnā€™t saying much to say that a school that accepts 9% is easier to get into than a school that accepts 4% when both are quite difficult odds and other factors enter into admission as well.

I find this a very good conversation for next yearā€™s applicants. Comparing odds of getting into MT at CMU, Michigan, CCM an Tisch shows that Tisch would definitely be the easier admit just by numbers. I do realize there are other factors, but just looking at pure numbers, Tisch is definitely easier.

Really, @Dusing2? Itā€™s ā€œdefinitely easierā€ when the difference for MT is, at most, 6%? Sure, itā€™s easier, if thatā€™s what you want to call it, by that teeny tiny margin, lol! No offense, but that is a great example of the splitting hairs I to which I was referring a few posts ago.

I hope that people arenā€™t flocking to audition to programs or discounting others because of these percentages. I hope that they take the time to really research which schools seem to fit their desires most. (For example, since CMU, MI, and CCM were mentioned, mine didnā€™t go for any of thoseā€“and not because she was intimidated, but because she is looking for something different, and she met a fair share along the way who also did not include them for similar reasons. Obviously, many, many others do include them. Great for them! Itā€™s all about fit, IMO, not these minuscule differences in percentages.)

If you are an MT kid who would not turn down an AT studio the odds are great at Tisch compared to other places.

Yes, if youā€™re willing to go into any of the other studios, odds are obviously much greater. If youā€™re only willing to go into 1 or 2 others, odds are still greater, but not ā€œoverlyā€ so, just like other programs in which one may gain acceptance to acting instead. Odds at acting programs are greater, anyway, so one would have to figure out all of that exactly in order to fairly compare them all.

Thank you myloves!

As I said previously, pure numbers, Tisch is much easier. CMU takes about 1 out of every 100 kid that auditions. Michigan takes about 1 out of every 39 kids, CCM takes 1 out of 32, and Tisch takes 1 out of 16.

This probably seems significant to me because I remember sitting at the info session at a school not long after the CMU audition. When we were told the number of kids auditioning and the number they would be accepting, I realized the odds were about 1 in 40 and I thought that was so much better than at CMU, and Tisch is even better than that! Again, just pure numbers here. Nothing else.

Does Tisch give their stats for ED applicants? Number of applicants? Offers? MTs and acting?

@Dusing2 I think you and I are the only ones who agree that out of 2000 applicants admitting 600 is a pretty decent acceptance rateā€¦ but differing opinions keeps things exciting :slight_smile:

I would ask again, what does the number of students admitted have to do with the quality of training they receive? Do you have to take under 20 for it to work? ( though they train in groups of 12 or less in my Dā€™s studio). People always bring up the cost of NYU- guess what, that tuition pays for a lot of fantastic faculty. Seems like people are touting a "less (in terms of acceptance) is more mentality. I would say sometimes more is more in terms of opportunity.

And as with everything else, there is a school out there for everyoneā€™s taste. I have seen people rejoicing (and rejoiced in their happiness) over programs I wouldnā€™t have sent my kid to if they were paying ME. If you think NYU is too easy to be worthwhile- donā€™t get stuck in the tunnel on the way out Manhattan.

@toowonderfulā€Œ, I think you are missing the point entirely. Number of applicants and class size is just another factor that many people consider in selecting which schools to audition at. In this crazy process, most consider all sorts of things and then auditioned at a very wide range of programs. As the audition season and acceptances come in, the focus becomes narrowed until the student is able to choose the best fit from what is left of the original list. Number of applicants and class size should not be the only factor considered, but Iā€™m sure most everyone looks at those numbers and considers them, along with faculty, location, school-type and size, training focus, etc. It is just part of the program.

Actually @dusing2 - I agree with you entirely. Class size, school size, numbers of productions, methods of training, curriculum etc are all vital parts of the puzzle- and should be taken into consideration. Although I would make the argument that if the number of people who APPLY to the school is a determining factor, you might be in the wrong biz- b/c there are always going to be hundred (if not thousands) of people between the performer and the gig. But that has not seemed to me what your (or other peopleā€™s) posts have been about. Perhaps I am mistaken in the tone of earlier posts - but what I was getting from them is ā€œdrama is an easy admit at NYUā€. I took that (again, perhaps mistakenly, and from more than one poster) as derogatory of the program as a whole, an implication that ā€œeasierā€ meant ā€œlesserā€. And I got offended. You (and others) have a mathematically valid point if you are speaking of a student who is willing to accept absolutely any studio. But I donā€™t think all the kids who apply feel that way.

Believe it or not, I am not trying to be a fantastic, or an evangelist for my kidā€™s program. (It cracks me up when a person will come on cc and ask for advice on schools, and various member will ALWAYS point them to their kidā€™s program even if it had NOTHING to do with the criteria the poster set out.) but I do think NYU (particularly drama) is often misunderstood - primarily because it is SO different from any other BFA.

It is interesting that in post #91, there is a comparison of how many students each MT program accepts and how many audition. For most of the schools, the numbers being used are for Musical Theater. But for NYU/Tisch, the numbers being used combine MT and Acting. If you want to compare, then either compare MT to MT or MT/Acting to MT/Acting. For example, CCM and UMich have Acting programs in addition to MT programs, just like Tisch.

In any case, when my D applied, and when my advisees apply now, I consider all these BFA in MT programs to be highly competitive and donā€™t use acceptance rates to compare because they all have very low acceptance rates. There are other factors that make some programs more competitive to get into than some others.

I certainly did not mean to offendā€¦I said statistically better odds for admissionā€¦never once suggested that the program was of lesser value.

@soozievt, I used the numbers provided on this thread from the Tisch podcast (or wherever those numbers came from) that are for MT only. They do not include kids applying for or accepted to acting studios. I used 1000 applicants for MT and 60 spots (in reality the ods are even better because I assume Tisch accepts more than 60 to fill those spots). All of the numbers I used were MT only. @toowonderful, if your daughter (and other students) was willing to accept other studios as well then that would make the odds at Tisch even better, not more difficult. Again, speaking totally from a numbers standpoint.