<p>Okay, I am a bit confused. I read about all this rolling admissions, and questions regarding early auditions, etc. What is a rolling admission? What are there pro's and con's for auditoning at your school of choice early? I know of a few who are auditioning already in November and others who are waiting until February. Could someone enlighten me about the reasoning for all of this?
Thanks,
Mombull</p>
<p>In the regular decision pool some schools hold all their decision until a specific date when they announce all their decisions ... the IVYs do this for example with the decision date being in the spring so if you apply regular admissions in September you will not hear anything for months. </p>
<p>Other schools do not wait until a spring time announcement date for some of the obvious admits or rejects and provide decisions to applicants on a rolling basis during the year. For example, when I applied many moons ago I heard back from Penn State in October that I had been accepted ... Penn State had rolling admissions and informed a subset of applicants of their decision on a periodic basis through the year.</p>
<p>The pros - you may know sooner whether you're accepted (may - because another possible outcome is waitlisted). If it's your first choice, you may opt to cancel some of your other auditions. If it's not your first choice, and you're accepted, at least you enter the other auditions with the sure knowledge that you have somewhere in hand. Some schools have more scholarship $ available at the start of the process.</p>
<p>The cons - may not be the best thing to have your very favorite school as one of your first auditions. If you wait until later in the year to audition, they may have already accepted someone (or several someones) who are your "type", and not be willing to consider adding another.</p>
<p>If a school says it takes 14 max, and they offer 8 people admission from the first set of auditions, the bar is raised on anyone auditioning after that.</p>
<p>Many MT programs do not offer rolling admissions to the department. You can get admitted to the school, and be awarded scholarships based on merit. But you do not hear about your departmental audition until after all or some of the auditions are complete.</p>
<p>At a non-audition school, applying early decision or early action can offer you peace of mind. Biut early decision is binding, and you must withdraw any other apps.</p>