Hello everyone! So I am a gap year student who’s finishing up putting my college list together. One thing I’ve run into trouble with is figuring out which schools are reaches, matches, or safeties. I want to have a good balance, of course. Some schools I know already get hundreds of auditionees every year and have very small acceptance rates, but others it’s been harder for me to find the information. I know when it comes to figuring out which schools are reaches or matches can depend on the individual student, but I’m just asking for more general info. Like based on the number of kids that they audition and the percent they accept, stuff like that. I just thought that some of you on here may be able to give me some info!
Here are some of the schools that I’m unsure of when it comes to reach, match, or safety status:
Montclair State, Wagner College, Marymount Manhattan, James Madison, CCPA at Roosevelt, SUNY Fredonia, Millikin, and Emerson.
Most people here agree that no audition based school is a true safety. Most of them
Accept 10% or less of those auditioning. That said there are differences between a lottery school (Juilliard with less than 1% acceptance for BFA acting majors) and other schools with a smaller applicant pool. But due to the nature of auditions - nobody is guaranteed an admit at any school. Lots of talented people get turned down from one but admitted to another. For many they may get into one that they consider more prestigious than one they were not admitted to. As others here have said “it is one of life’s great mysteries” how schools select their MT and drama classes based on such a brief audition. Talent is only part of it.
There are many threads on both the MT and the drama/theater forum about “safety” schools. A true safety is non-audition, one you know you can get in academically and a financial safety (you know you can afford it without needing lots of scholarships which you may or may not get).
Most schools that you named above are competitive admits via audition. I know Wagner you have to be invited to audition based on your application (not a prescreen). Marymount has a few different options for majors and the classes are a little larger than at other schools. But not everyone is admitted of course! Emerson is very competitive from what we saw last year.
Some of it is subjective too. We know kids that did not think milikin was hard to be admitted to and also know others that felt it was a selective audition. Perspective changes opinions.
Really casting a wide net with a range of programs (not all lottery schools) is a good approach. And either having a true safety or plan of action should you not be admitted to an audition based program is a must. My daughter had an early academic admit to a school she could get a BA in theater (no audition required) if she didn’t get into the BFA program. So she said that was her “safety”. (Note that is not an option at all schools)
Yes, what @bfahopeful said. Only true safety is non-audition. Reach and match really depend upon your skills and experience. The schools that audition are going to be competitive and no guarantee to get in. Some regional schools (smaller state schools, etc.) may accept somewhat more, but if audition is required there is always a real chance you might not be accepted. But depending on the school and situation, non-audition BA programs can be good too - there is always a place for you!
I don’t know about the other schools, but when my daughter auditioned at Montclair 4 years ago they said they had over 700 applicants and accepted about 3%. Since then, they have started giving out-of-staters in-state tuition, so my guess is the application pool has grown.
Since all of the listed schools require an audition for program admissions, none are safeties.
While some may pull from a more regional pool, and may have slightly higher acceptance rates (10% - 15%), match is hard to predict in schools that require an audition. All schools are evaluating on slightly different criteria, and it is a subjective process. So, while a school may statistically appear to be an easier admit, that is no guarantee that a specific individual student will be admitted.
If you’re admitted to Fredonia academically but not artistically (by audition), you can re-audition the next year. If you attend Fredonia in the BA program (if you didn’t get into the BFA), they’ll work with you to improve your audition which may help your chances if you re-audition the following year (if you don’t attend, you can still re-audition, but they only coach/help the people who go to Fredonia).
All of those schools are what I would consider strong second tier programs (except maybe Fredonia), so not as hard as CMU or Michigan or CCM, but by no means easy. I think CCPA’s admit rate for MT V is around 5-6%, and it used to be a regional program, but my impression is that it is drawing from an increasingly national (even, to some extent, international) pool.
Wow. It really says something when the program’s most of us consider as slightly less competitive than the upper echelon are taking 5-6 percent of the kids who audition. Just shows how tough it’s gotten at all these schools, not just the ones we all see on the top ten lists.