When you say Emerson College had over 1000 applicants, are you saying they auditioned 1000 and accepted only 19, Or were there more offers made, thus the yield was higher than they wanted. To determine the odds, we need to know the number of offers made, and number of students who actually auditioned. If they in fact auditioned 1000 students, that would put them at the very highest, number of auditions - right up there with CMU, nearly twice as many as Penn State, more applicants than Michigan or CCM.
If your child auditions and gets in everywhere then your odds are 100% if they get in nowhereâŠ0%âŠtrying to figure anything out beyond that is a waste of time and energy.
There a people (like me) who are comforted by the numbers, not the reverse. Just sayin, not everyone finds it a waste of time.
So glad the daunting numbers comfort youâŠthey drove me crazyâŠbecause the âeasierâ programs to get into my daughter was redirected fromâŠthe one with the tighter admissions accepted her. No rhyme or reason.
^^Yes, I think that happens because the odds at any of these programs are low. Not much difference between a school that accepts 3% and one that accepts 9%. Itâs VERY low odds at both.
However, I do agree that if one were to look at numbers, you need to know how many offers are given, not how many spots in the class, to determine acceptance rate.
I am also comforted by numbers and the numbers show that most of these kids in fact find a slot at one of the 80 schools offering a BFA in MT. Trying to quantify your childs odds at a lottery school is not about numbers. No one can predict based on numbers if my 5â9" Brunette D will appeal more or less than the other 5â9" D. They both made it past the prescreen so the assumption is they have talent. I like soup, you like salad, both are good. These lottery schools have more than enough of each type and numbers wonât tell you anything there, sadly, Would be great if it did.
Delete.
What IS NOT a huge difference however, are the ODDS. Acceptance RATE is low. Even if more total slots are available, your odds of getting one in any particular program are on the low side due to the acceptance rate being in the single digits. Personally, I donât find comfort in the fact that one school admits 8% and another admits 4%. Whether they take 8 out of 100 or 4 out of 100, those are low odds either way. While 8 is twice as many as 4, it still represents such a very low percentage of the total number who audition at the one particular school.
In any case, I agree with evilqueen that when it comes to MT programs and also when it comes to any school with such low acceptance rates, more goes into the decision and factors that canât be controlled (your type, look, needs of the program, gender, how many others are similar to you in the talent pool, depth of the talent that audition at that program and so forth). Each of these programs, particularly the most selective ones, can fill their class a few times over and end up with a similar level of talent. So, you can be super qualified to be admitted and still be rejected.
I get you @tramsmom, because Iâm a numbers person, but I would say that the acceptance percentage may change depending on the total number in the pool to choose from. Last year most schools remarked at how they had seen their highest numbers of applicants ever. As a result, I would say that the acceptance percentages for the class of 2018 may be lower than usual. However, there may be a year when the number of applicants is lower than normal and then the acceptance percentage would seem higher. From what I can tell, the schools seem to accept the same number of people no matter how many applicants there are. Itâs really hard nailing down total applicants and total accepted numbers to get solid rates, though! Because of that, I gave up trying to quantify it all.
My post 227 responds to post 226, but that post has since been deleted and so mine doesnât make much sense since it was responding to what is no longer there, and so never mind.
Another thing to consider when trying to compare your odds at one school to another school is this:
Unlike test scores, grades, GPA, class rank, and even your essays and recsâŠwhereby every school pretty much gets the same information about youâŠbut in an audition, your performance can differ from day to day and audition room to audition room. You might perform slightly differently in each audition. You might have a cold at certain auditions and not at others. You might improve and be more confident as the audition season wears on. And so on. This doesnât even take into account that your material may be slightly different depending on the requirements for each school (Ie., you may use a pre-1960 song at some schools and not use one at others, or a classical monologue for some schools and only contemporary ones for others) and so every school on your list isnât even quite seeing the same performance, compared to their viewing the same stuff about you on the written application materials. So, already that changes your odds from school to school.
One thing that may be comforting, though, is that after many years of watching this process itâs become clear that various schools really do seem to be looking for different students, and similarly various students are drawn to different schools. So if, for example, there were 10 top schools that each admitted 20 students, they will NOT all want the same 20 students, and not all 200 of those kids will prefer the same schools. Your childâs top choice schools may not even make another talented kidsâ list of 15 schools and vice versa.
Ultimately the least difficult program to get into is the one that is looking for someone exactly like you. 
The less comforting fact is that when all of our talented and well-trained MTs graduate they will enter that big talent-pool in the sky, right along with the film stars, the experienced 35-year-olds who can still play 16, and the 14-year-olds who didnât bother with college. So long odds are par for the MT course.
Soooo true, MomCares!!!
Getting into a BFA program now seems like a piece of cake (sorta) compared to getting cast professionally once you have the degree. Then the odds become very very very low, especially at the highest levels of theater. Some report it is even very difficult to get a chance to be seen at an audition.
I think we should offer ourselves up for a psychological/sociological research project. What happens to rational, type A, people who like to be in control when faced with a process that appears to be completely irrational and out of our control. Hmmmm, in fact maybe we are being studied even as we speak â this could be just like the Truman Show. Hereâs my theory â control what you can control (travel, extra backups of leotards, sheet music etc.), be there for your kid and let the rest go. I need to repeat that several times a day and I think the letting go part would be better with a drink or donut in hand. Hang in there guys, it is going to get worse before it gets better.
Speaking strictly from personal experience (mine and DHâs) they give up acting and go back to Engineering school. 
Sorry @GSOMTMom I deleted the post because I donât want to appear argumentative. I believe that there is a huge difference between an admit rate of 3% and one of 9% (three times as many kids as a matter of fact haha) and others donât see it as significant. They cannot understand my point of view anymore than I can understand theirs. I just donât want to seem argumentative. Probably a little late for that! 
I think what was meant is that 3% or 9% doesnât matter because neither percentage is high. Both scenarious make it hard to get in to the program - just my thought
RaamâŠyes, I know that is what I meant in my posts.
