@Notmath1 you’re name makes me smile because the less math, the better is a motto in my house. The scholarship was partial as opposed to full, and we are super grateful that he was a recipient. I guess it goes along with the “never hurts to ask” mentality that I also employed with fee waivers. I have 5 boys, no girls; and I cannot imagine the stress of traversing this process with a daughter. It’s incredibly competitive for anyone in this field, but girls have a marked disadvantage regarding sheer volume. My kid, like many of the kids on this board, is a strong vocalist and an intuitive actor. However, dance is very much at a beginner-level. He had his fair share of all types of school decisions from a variety of programs, but we are really pleased with how things have sifted out. He’s fortunate, and we don’t lose sight of that. Sending all the great BAL vibes to your talented kids. hope some of my tips might save someone a few Benjamins.
Having an MT daughter and one who got a BFA in studio art, I can say without doubt that from the start of HS to undergrad graduation, my art major D cost me more money.
Both D’s took voice lessons throughout HS and did summer programs in the arts, but artist D needed to supplement her HS art classes by taking classes in the city for most of HS because our art program was not strong enough to allow D to get the training she needed. Our HS did have a strong choir and theatre program, so MT D was covered.
We visited the same number of colleges for both girls. Both either auditioned or arranged for portfilio reviews and interviews during visits.
For MT, all auditions were done on those visits. For artist D, even if she had a portfolio review, she needed to send her portfolio to each school. That required hiring a professional photographer to properly document her work which cost hundreds of dollars. Similar to audition fees, each school charged for on-line portfolio submissions.
Once in college there were additional fees for the use of studio space for art classes, but since MT D needed to pay for an accompanist, I’ll call that a wash.
However, the real reason art was so much more expensive, was the cost of art supplies. I don’t even want to begin to calculate the thousands we spent. Some art projects cost hundreds to make. She used silicon, expensive clays, glazed, brushes, paints, waxes, metals, special effect make up, etc in her sculptures and ceramics. Plus installation pieces that required plants, Astro turf, furniture…
Let’s face it, being a dedicated parent is expensive—but MT parents are not alone!
^^^Yeah, I forgot in my posts that my non-MT D’s supplies (particularly in grad school) for architecture projects was very high. Plus cost of portfolios.
@loribelle I agree. Girls have to apply at way more schools these days. MT programs are much more competitive then years ago. More schools means more money, period!
I agree with wig @LBSMOM. It was far more expensive for us this round than the other two.
Full disclosure…I am the parent of an only child, so I have no other kids to compare to…guess I should be glad I wont have to fork out any more dough for ANY college admissions 
Just for clarity my S’s original list was 11, including the one non-audition school. Did not pass 1 prescreen and wasn’t able to schedule auditions at 2 other schools because they were full.
And with 2 going through college admissions at the same time we were about at the max number of applications we could manage tbh