@DramaLove2020 Otterbein makes phone calls all on one day; last year it was Feb 27th. Ohio Northern notifies by snail mail; last year my D heard on Feb 14th after auditioning in Chicago, but they are not doing rolling admissions this year. Their last audition day is Feb 15th for this year. My S auditioned there this season and they said they would notify after all the auditions, but I don’t believe they gave a date.
@MT85 No word here from Oklahoma.
My daughter auditioned for Ohio Northern in Chicago, has not heard about acceptance, and received an email today asking her if she has registered for the performing arts accepted students’ day. It’ll be great if she’s been accepted but if they accidentally sent that email out to everyone who applied and forgot to add a filter, that’ll be really disappointing.
@Dance3Looks3 we got the same email. I haven’t logged in yet to check the portal though, will do when I get to my computer.
The portal we have looks like just an admissions checklist, no decision noted there.
@Dance3Looks3 We got the same email and have not received a decision and the portal is also just a list of items.
@DivaStageMom - well, I guess you could see them as depressing - the numbers don’t change the reality that I think most people here are already in tune with - there are lots of MT programs and even more applicants. Set a reasonable list of schools that personally work for you, cast a wide net within that list and you’ll end up with a good match. The kind of depressing part comes after someone has spent 4 years training and gets out of school to be one of thousands looking for performing work. But again - I think/hope most performing arts applicants know this to be the reality of the biz.
Back to acceptance rates - I personally think people over-estimate the difficulty of getting into a lot of programs. The schools feed this anxiety by hiding their yield numbers. Not the top-most tier because they are truly OMG difficult. But go down a tier of competitiveness and programs have to accept more applicants than their class size. When a school says they audition 600 “for a class of 24” they aren’t saying they accept 24. They might accept 36 - or 48 - or 72. When you consider how many schools each senior applies to and how many performers get multiple acceptances … you recognize that the numbers don’t add up to a high average yield for MT programs. For every U Mich that doesn’t always go the the waitlist there’s a good program that accepts twice as many students as they want because they know half of them will go elsewhere. This does not mean the program isn’t good! It just means they recognize talent and the talent is also recognized elsewhere so their accepted students have choices.
I know it seems like a dream now but before May 1 many of you/ your kids will be agonizing over having more than one acceptance and not knowing which to accept - because it means saying “no” to schools you love. It’s really hard to turn down a great acceptance after working so hard for it… but you can only accept one offer!!!
to @CaMom13 point, ill document in our final decision story ( eventually- no where near there yet) about all the things we did out of PURE FEAR…I think its good to have a healthy fear, RESPECT THE PROCESS , certainly better than some naive confidence bc a kid was the lead in all their HS shows ( which btw is completely meaningless- if you dont believe THAT this process will be a rude awakening) NEARLY every kid out there is extremely talented, mine, yours, hers and his… & I’m not sure I believe that everyone ends up where they belong bc the numbers are pretty overwhelming and the top schools just cant accommodate all the worthy candidates- they pretty much all tell you that, but I do believe each of these kids bloom where they are planted…ok end of soapbox for now
@camom13 - I agree with a LOT of what you posted above. I don’t necessarily think there is an overestimation of getting into many of the programs. The fact is, most programs are small. There are generally only 1-4 slots for your “type” per school – not 15-24. Some programs are set on having even smaller class sizes (such as Texas Tech at 6 and Texas State at 14).
The positive is exactly what you stated — you can accept one offer! That means, for someone who has 9-12 acceptances, that frees up all the other slots to alternate or waitlist. And they may have already accepted another slot, so they decline that and take the spot in the school they wanted, freeing that one up . . . and so on.
The worst part about this is that, unlike many other majors, MT kids are often still making “moves” in May because of May 1 decisions and waitlists. This impacts their ability to get housing, etc. And many of them lose housing deposits put down at other schools. I wish there was a way to fix this issue, but for now, it is just a cost they have to consider if they want to take a waitlist spot that is offered.
It would be wonderful if everyone would relinquish held spots earlier, but realistically, that isn’t possible either because for many, it comes down to financial aid and the complete package.
It is a stressful season. But at the end I have observed that most of the kids find where they are supposed to be. Or they decide to change course (gap year or different major).
My kid has never played a lead and doesn’t do the school shows. She wants to work on Broadway as an ensemble member who understudies multiple leads in one production, or a swing, or a dance captain/associate choreographer. There are only a handful of Idina Menzels out there who play 3 or 4 big lifetime roles and become household names and it supports them and their families. Everyone else needs to be marketable in a different sort of way. Hopefully the programs my daughter researched and applied to both see the potential in her to be a working member of the professional theatre community AND are equipped (as they appear to be on paper) to prepare her for that life in the work force.
@onette - certainly not trying to say that any one school is easy to get into! Simply saying the numbers aren’t as bad as many schools make them out to be - they can’t be. The yield for some really good programs is low. As proof of that, if you look at the “acceptance” list for 2023 you’d swear some MT programs filled half their freshman class with the kids of people on this board because there were 6 -10 acceptances from CC alone for very desirable programs. That’s not an indicator that belonging to CC and posting here gives a kid an advantage 
- it’s an indicator that the schools accept a lot more students than they matriculate. As performers have started to apply to more and more schools, schools see their yield numbers fall so then they get overly concerned about “fit” which in turn leads to random rejections and people applying to more schools - it’s honestly kind of a vicious circle. So my point wasn’t to say people should think it’s easy to get into any one program - more to say that you don’t get a true “acceptance rate” from class size and number auditioning for any but the top programs, which do have a very high yield.
@Dance3Looks3 that is awesome!! I know that many directors struggle with placing kids who have only played leads. As a director myself, it is often hard for them to be ensemble. They are used to having stronger roles, leadership, more challenge. But ensembles are a hugely important part of most productions. I have directed several ensemble-heavy shows like Hairspray, Matlida and Addams Family where the ensemble was the heart and soul of the show. I actually told both my students to include every ensemble role they have had (initially they wanted to leave them off) because they should show that they are willing and able to be ensemble.
We got the same email from Ohio Northern …
Somewhat similar to @dance3Looks3.
My D did not start acting until the 6th grade and found a love in theatre. Thus, her singing and dance skills are still blooming. My D strength is that she is appreciative for all parts that she receives and will be the best “singing dancing tree” - giving it her all!
Knowing nothing about theatre, the past year has been a huge learning curve with regards to college theatre. We have a Class of 2023 MT friend (super talented) that prescreened 20 schools, auditioned for 18 and was accepted to 2 schools. Soooooooo………the harsh reality started to set in. Over the summer with the guidance of an acting couch, decided that my D’s voice and dance is not strong enough for college admittance, so she applied Acting track only to colleges that also have MT on campus. She plans on taking voice and dance on the side.
She applied to a good mix of colleges: BA theatre (no audition), BA Theatre (audition) and BFA’s. Acting only allowed for some Early Action. At this point in the process she has been accepted to two BA Theatre and two BFA programs. Will see what other Reg. Decision colleges she is accepted too.
She is going to college!!!, somewhere….Lots to consider in the next few months…….
Take away from this “adventure” for the 2025 group. Research, get help from others, be realistic and try to enjoy the ride. My D and I had the BEST traveling adventures that will keep us laughing for years to come!!
I realize there programs who like to accept students who are pretty much career-ready and just need some polishing and orientation, along with the life experience of separating from family, meeting people from different places, and living on their own in a protected environment like college. I suspect those aren’t the programs that’ll suit my daughter, who isn’t fully molded as the artist she’s going to become yet.
I heard some INCREDIBLE voices during auditions. My daughter was so stressed when she did mock auditions as she is newer to singing, but I said, look around, how many can do all three? After that she was a lot less hard on herself. That being said, I think singing still reigns supreme and there is a lot more forgiveness for acting and dance. There were only 2-3 dancers per dance call in Chicago that were advanced. There really are only a small handful of programs who care about dance enough to consider it as part of the audition, the rest are leveling for class placement or weeding out people who might not walk on a beat.
@intheburbs yes, my daughter is probably one of those 2-3 advanced dancers per dance call – who has to hope she picked (and passed the prescreens for) the programs that DO care about dance ability, not just for leveling/placement but for admission. She’s not interested in being a dance major, she wants to work in musical theatre, but she’s been training as a dancer to the tune of 12 hours/week during the school year and 30-35 hours/week during summers (training in classical ballet, plus pointe/tap/jazz/modern, not musical theatre dance). There were a handful of calls she felt like really cared to see what she’s capable of, but the rest, not so much. She’s not looking for a program that has her dancing in one beginning ballet class for 3 hours a week.
Rider has released at least some decisions on the portal.
@onette I am so glad to see that you encourage your students to include their ensemble work on their resumes. We just cast our spring musical and I was gravely disappointed when our lead from last year, upon seeing she was cast in a featured ensemble role this year, chose to drop the show. There was no convincing her that a) contrary to her belief it was not a bad look to have an ensemble role in a school play on her resume after having had a lead, b) it sends a terrible message to the other students in the program about the importance of ensemble work, something she ought to know better if she’s going to do this professionally, c) she was not stepping up to support the kids who stepped up to support her last year, and d) we need leadership from experienced actors in the ensemble to bring the level of everyone’s work up. This just wasn’t her year for a lead - we have lots of talented kids! So disappointing. My S has a ton of ensemble work on his resume - and only 1 HS lead, in a student-directed production. One of the most difficult jobs I have is convincing these kids that ensemble work is crucial. It’s where my S developed his chops, learned how to steal a scene, and now he gets typecast in large, show-stealing features. Grateful for your perspective on that and I will continue trying to message my students with that tidbit!
The no’s keep pouring in. No from Rider. No from Ithaca. No from Pace (Acting, no no yet from Pace Acting for Film etc). So far not a single yes from a BFA program–MT or Acting. My D has had two yes’s but they are both BA programs in schools that also have BFA programs (which rejected her). She has 6 academic admits but 2 of these are in the 2 BA programs and the other 4 are useless unless she passes her auditions. This sucks about as much as anything I have ever done. I spent 18 years working on my D’s self-esteem only to stand by and watch it slowly wash down the drain. If I had a time-turner I would NEVER DO THIS.