<p>Our process was similar. My D and in some cases I went on a little road trip to the various yes’s. She stayed overnight at each school, attended or observed classes and that made her decision an easy one. </p>
<p>As SoosieVT accurately stated during her search, the acceptance rate is much higher at Boco due to the freshman class size. And because of the schools reputation, it is highly competitive. Think of BOCO as a very large Harvard, Yale or Princeton of MT. </p>
<p>My D actually liked that her class was big and diverse and the talent pool deep.</p>
<p>I agree with most of what you wrote, beenthereMTDad…except that acceptance RATE is not the same as numbers accepted. Yes, BOCO is a large program. So, is NYU/Tisch for MT. What struck me at BOCO the year my D auditioned was the acceptance RATE which was much higher (though still very competitive!!!) than all the other BFA programs on her list (all very selective ones too). Tisch’s program for MT is also large but the acceptance rate for it is not has high as for BOCO. I just recall this moment in the BOCO presentation because I was so surprised to hear the rate (when I did the math) of acceptances and was happy that one school on her list did not have a single digit acceptance rate (though it was still so competitive of course at BOCO). </p>
<p>My D, like your D, liked the size of Tisch’s MT program as she wasn’t confined to a set of 10 to 20 peers and had a broader group of peers in terms of forging friendships and also worked with many different teachers over the four years.</p>
<p>I tried looking into my kid’s folder from her application year (to enter in fall of 2005) at BOCO and cannot find where I had jotted down the numbers. My vague recollection was that they were going to accept 120 to yield their class of 60. I can’t recall the number of applicants but do recall that the accept rate was at least 10% (perhaps as high as 20%) and not single digits. I also was surprised to see how low their yield was (yield is how many take the offer of admission out of those who are offered a spot) because a lot of people don’t take the offer and thus they accept many more than the number of slots in the class. </p>
<p>I think someone mentioned the scholarship money and again, my D’s audition was 8 years ago and so it is now outdated. But I did just find the scholarship portion of her entire financial aid package and it was only $7500 at BOCO compared to getting $20,000 per year in scholarship at NYU. This is not why my kid chose NYU as we allowed our girls to attend whichever college on their list that they wanted to enroll at among their acceptances. But just saying that the scholarship at BOCO was one of the lower ones my D was offered among a number of other BFA scholarships at well known programs. Perhaps this is a reason for the low yield there.</p>
<p>^^^^ A very BIG factor in the math of the acceptance rate no doubt ties to the cost. Boco is one of the only true conservatories out there from a financial standpoint. Meaning it is not a conservatory that resides within a university setting and tied to any university, big or small. It is very expensive and does not offer any comfort to students or parents to change majors or educational paths.</p>
<p>I do know that Boco never had a class more than 54 until my D’s of 2007. They went back to a max of 54 in 2008 -2010. I believe they up’d the number to 60 in 2011 because MT basically pays for Music and Dance programs.</p>
<p>My D was also fortunate enough to get a scholarship. I believe she was originally offered 5K, was bumped to 9K (after I met with them) then received another 1.5 during her first semester for private voice. Year two I was able to get another 2K for a total of 12.5K.</p>
<p>I wonder how much total scholarship money they have available?</p>
<p>If memory serves me correctly, I believe they have about $250K per year for scholarships.</p>
<p>thank you been there</p>
<p>Do they re-audition and cut students throughout the years or is their place in the program secure as long as they are doing the work? Also, is the senior showcase something they audition for or something they all participate in?</p>
<p>No cut system and they ALL do the showcase. I saw it last year. All 54 of them were in it!</p>
<p>^^^^ to add to monkey13 Boco uses a “sophomore promotional” system and at least 90% move on. And yes most that are cut did not do enough work to move on. Although senior showcase is not technically guaranteed, I never heard of anyone prevented from performing IF they met all the graduation requirements.</p>
<p>So the goal of the “sophomore promotional system” is to keep them on their toes rather than to reduce the size of the graduating class. If they are working hard, they should be fine then right?</p>
<p>Yes. They do not use it to cut the class size. If they are working hard, they should be fine.</p>
<p>Agreed. It should also be noted that there is always a 6 month or semester where the student is place on probation first. Boco is hardcore MT but in a very caring, friendly environment.</p>
<p>Anyone know when they send out acceptances… do they email or call?</p>
<p>BoCo typically let’s people know March 31st or April 1st. It’s a long wait, unfortunately. But who know…maybe this year it’ll be sooner!</p>
<p>Late to weigh in on this, but I figured I’d offer my input on BoCo’s cut system. I have a friend that graduated in 2007 and her experience at BoCo was excellent. She felt a LOT of stress in her first two years though- there were some egos in her year though and I think that didn’t help her stress level. After it was all said and done, she said in hind sight, she could have guessed the students that were going to get cut because they were not doing the work. Her year though, they cut from 50-55 students down to around 25-30 so it was much more substantial than 10% (at least two of the cuts were kids who had obtained professional work and asked to have their spot held, and their administration chose to not). Just some thoughts on the system. I’m more than happy to talk a bit more about the school if anyone would like- just send over a PM.</p>
<p>All best to those waiting for their decisions!!</p>
<p>I think your post is a little misleading. One, Boco does not have a cut system, it has a promotional system and there is a big difference between them. Two, I believe you are trying to say they went from 50- 55 freshman to GRADUATING a class of 25 -30. My daughter entered Boco in 2007 and I believe that had 38 kids at 2007 showcase. I think you are more referring to an attrition change which 55 to 38 is probably not that unusual when you factor in kids that realize the program is not for them, the cost of attending , promotionals or kids they get professional work (sometime 2 or 3 kids a year leave for work). Also my reference to 10% was derived from 4 - 5 kids who are not asked back per year almost entirely do to not working.</p>
<p>I agree with beenthereMTdad…I attended last year’s senior showcase, and there were 56 kids in the class. So, most, if not all, were promoted.</p>
<p>What I don’t understand is how in the world you “showcase” 56 kids? How long was the show? Seems like it would need to be at least a couple of hours long to be able to really “show” all of the kids. Since you were there monkey13, could you describe the show?</p>
<p>Sure! My only caveat is that I saw it last April, so…I don’t know if I will remember precisely how it went.</p>
<p>We saw it in Boston, but they took the same show to NYC the following day. Each student had a solo, but they performed in pairs (boy and girl most of the time). It was actually cute…the songs kind of fit together. So typically 2 students came on stage, a boy and a girl, and one would sing, and then the other. Sometimes they did a duet. But, they all had solo voice time. This was interspersed with a few dance numbers with 20 or so kids (one of the things that really struck me was how MUSCULAR all these kids were! They were in great shape, every last one of them…Broadway bodies, they call it). I would guess that they each had approximately one and a half minutes of solo time, give or take. The whole show was about an hour and a half long.</p>
<p>It was pretty easy to see the stand out kids given this type of set up. I think the casting directors and agents are really good at telling who they like and who they don’t. After all, our kids are getting into 4-year BFA programs with sometimes as little as two 16-bar songs and a 1 minute monologue. This really isn’t much different. </p>
<p>I think it did showcase the kids. After all, some of these agents are using the showcase to decide whether they want to meet with them, not to sign them immediately. And, it really made me wonder why some schools only let 50% or so of their seniors go to showcase, when their classes are MUCH smaller than BoCo’s. It served it’s purpose, and BoCo has some really good successes, so it must be working! </p>
<p>(My only complaint was that most of the girls’ dresses/skirts were too short, and they kept tugging them down!)</p>