Hm, Anti, I am not sure if you were asking me or Hope2Elonmom, but I just wanted to let you know it sure seems to me that you were a very strong academic candidate based or your GPA and SAT scores.
I don't know if you actually applied for the musical theatre program, but in regard to academics, all I can say that tons of schools throughout the country are sending rejections to many, many qualified candidates. There are simply way more students applying to certain colleges than there are spots available.
In our case, yes, D is indeed out of state (CA) but she is 100% American
. She was lucky to have a good audition that led to her artistically being admitted. Subsequently, her current courseload (including AP's), solid grades, acceptable SAT & ACT scores, and a great (so she is told) extra-curricular resume with a host of leadership, employment & community services activities led to her academic acceptance. D realizes however that in spite of all that, she easily could have been one of the deferred or rejected ones as well. She also received a rejection, and knows what that feels like, but she still thinks the world of that program; it was just not where she was meant to be.
I don't know that any school these days is really a "safety school" anymore, especially in the BFA world, but also BA's are getting increasingly competitive. Things do tend out to work out in the end though. Best of luck to you this year, and please let us know how things turned out for you.