If anyone is interested, I just came upon notes from 2 years ago (yup, still have some) and found this about Wagner, straight from the faculty’s mouths, at the audition, to the parents: “350 applied, 200 got invited to audition, 170 were there that day (divided in 2: morning and afternoon) and 30 were submitting videos. Out of the 200, approximately 50 will be offerred spots to try to yield a class of 32-36.” So a 25% chance. Of course this was 2 years ago and things change, but it does seem like the odds of getting admitted are better than some. My daughter didn’t choose Wagner and it is not a conservatory-style program, but I liked the school. Saw a production of RENT there that year which was amazing.
I love it when people can find actual numbers and data! And yes, as always, there are MANY MANY factors to consider when choosing a school, but I always feel that the more information you have, the better.
Here’s the FAQ from Marymount Manhattan’s website:
How many students audition each year?
This past year, we auditioned approximately 1100 students. Of those students who complete the application and audition process, about 1 in 3 is offered admission to the Theatre Department.
How many people do you accept a year?
On average, we make offers to 100 students for the BFA Acting Program, 100 students for the BA Theatre Arts Major with a Concentration in Theatre Performance, 70-75 students for the Musical Theatre Minor. For the non-performance concentrations in the BA Theatre Arts Major, we enroll approximately 30 students per year.
When my advisees build a balanced list of schools, and are striving for BFA in MT programs, I suggest adding one or two BA by audition schools and two non-audition schools. Marymount Manhattan and Wagner are two great examples of BA in MT programs (at Marymount, typically MT students are not in the BFA track). While it is NOT easy to get into BA by audition programs, they typically have a higher acceptance rate than most BFA in MT programs. American and JMU are just two more great programs that one may wish to consider to balance out a list of BFA in MT programs. But having two non-audition programs is a wise thing since even the BA by audition programs are hard to get into.
Another auditioned BA MT program we liked very much is the one at U of Alabama. (When my D auditioned 2 years ago) their auditions were only on-campus, so the pool is on the small side making for better odds. The campus is gorgeous and it is a full rah rah school if that interests your child.
And for the northern New England area, check out University of Southern Maine. It is a BM MT with a campus in Portland and Gorham. My son had a great audition day experience, found out he was accepted a week later (the night before the NYC unifieds), and was offered merit and a large talent scholarship. Son chose to go to Otterbein instead, but knew he would have been in a good program if he had chosen to remain closer to home.
Re Post #90… the JMU stats have changed since then… we now audition between 150 and 200 for the BA MT program and accept 16 - 20 to yield a class of 12-ish. Many other schools likely have also changed since 2008. 
This weekend we asked students at our NYC auditions what other schools they are applying for. This is a convenience sample and may not be representative of the population since to be included, the student had to have chosen Shenandoah as one of their schools. Taking that into consideration, here are the top 10 from most to least that were listed on our info sheets.
Carnegie Mellon
Tied: Penn State, Syracuse, Pace
Tied: CCM, Ithaca
Montclair
Tied: Boco, Hart
Point Park
VT
Interesting. No NYU. No Michigan. I know, people are going to say that those that apply to Shenandoah arent the same “caliber” of those that apply to NYU or Michigan. Nonsense. Penn State and Carneigie, and CCM (even tho conservatory) are surely among the tippy-top schools, so that argument really doesnt work. I think in the case of NYU it is not there because of the money and the grade factor, with Michigan, its not there because of the grades and difficult prescreen pass.
But honestly, I don’t understand why schools ask this question, and I don’t think most kids give a complete answer. How is it relevant? Is it taken into account in the acceptance of students?
Thank you @VT, always love and appreciate when you are on CC. @transmom, it just is…we don’t always need to know the whys and wherefores. Again, thanks for sharing VT.
I do. I need to know the whys and wherefores. ~O)
For at least some people (and we were among them), The fact that U Mich doesn’t come to NYC Unifieds helped us cross that school off the list. We would have had to go to Michigan, and my daughter was not interested in the school enough to spend the time/money to get there, whereas if they were at Unifieds, she might have thrown her hat into the ring, even though she was really looking to go to school in the Northeast.
Good point @Calliene. Had not considered that, but you are right. That explains why Michigan may not be there. Doesnt do much to explain why NYU is not there however.
I agree with @transmom. I appreciate the information that Voice Teacher provided…but it would be that much more helpful to understand what the college was looking for by asking that question. Is it so the school can understand their competition? Is it to gauge how serious the prospective student is about their school? Are they looking for the student to say “Well, you’re #1 on my list but here are the others…?”
Certain coaches advise not to answer this question when asked. So I am also wondering why they would so advise.
An evasive answer is transparent. Auditors know that you are applying to other schools. How you answer this question will tell them more about who you are than the names of the schools themselves. If an applicant to CMU with high level skills that would make him competitive claims that he has applied only to that student has revealed more about his character than his school list.
Really? If they ask you to fill out a form, and you put down four of the ten schools you intend to audition for, how on earth are they to know? Further, “high level skills” is subjective. Maybe this student doesnt like the other schools that are the “peers” of CMU? Maybe he feels that if he does not get into CMU, he’d rather go to a less expensive school, even tho he might be competitive for other better known programs. This would be the height of speculation for a school to second guess why someone made the choice they did.
More importantly, why is this their business? If a student desires to offer this info, that is one thing. But to me, it is an optional answer. And given the proliferation of walk-ins, withdrawal of applications (after being admitted somewhere else, or having a bad experience at an audition) the answer is going to change at any given moment in time.
We were advised to share school lists that were similar…
So not necessarily “complete” lists, is that right @Bisouu?.
Correct… we applied to 12 schools and only gave lists of matching schools when asked.
This is not an uncommon question. D had an abbreviated list she used to answer- tailored to different schools. All’s fair in love and war