chrisnoo, the vocal performance program is in Steinhardt at NYU, not Tisch. It would not be possible to get into that program if you are not accepted into CAP21. At NYU, you may only apply to one college and if you are not accepted, you cannot re-apply for at least one year. This is true of every NYU program. I'd also like to say that it is not generally a good idea to try to get into one program at NYU with the intention of transferring to another, especially CAP21. Internal transfers are very rare into Tisch, especially into the CAP21 studio.
MaryAnna, I'd have to disagree with your student as to any lack of acting talent on the part of Steinhardt kids. Having seen several of their productions, there are some incredibly talented kids there. Their production of Ragtime a couple of years ago got rave reviews in the NYC theatre community, including from Stephen Flaherty, Lynn Ahrens and E.L. Doctorow all of whom attended. The reviews in the city papers and theatre websites were uniformly gushing. They don't get the intensive acting classes that Tisch drama students do but that's to be expected because it is a Bachelor of Music in Steinhardt, and the curriculum is music-based. I'm not really sure how large corporations decide to whom to donate funds, but Juilliard's drama program is only two years older than Tisch's. Juilliard certainly has greater name recognition and it's also a much smaller school so the funds they do receive, can go further than at Tisch.
