Starting a thread for BFA Acting (not MT) Fall 2025 admissions to share where they are applying, prescreen and audition results.
My daughter is applying to 19 BFA acting programs. (And 3 non BFA schools too)
Starting to hear back regarding pre-screens. Anyone else?
Same here. My daughter applied to 18 (14 BFA, 4 BA) programs. Have had two in person/on campus auditions after prescreens so far with one more scheduled next month. Still waiting to hear back from all others.
Weāre waiting to hear the result from Elon pre-screen submission. The Acceptd site said results would be out by Dec 13, but weāve heard nothing yet. Has anyone else heard yet?
A āNoā from Elon, and also a āNoā from Carnegie Mellon. But, pre-screen passes from Syracuse, Pace, and Fordham. Waiting to hear from Michigan, Boston, UTAustin, CCM & Purchase. Minnesota confuses me because it asks for you to register for an audition slot and submit a pre-screen at the same time. If they tell you ānoā then do you just delete your audition slot?
Any other updates from anyone else?
@jjpmcQ , did you hear from Elon today? We are still waiting. Applied to some of the same ones as you, but a lot are different. We donāt have any final decisions yet anywhere. Havenāt even heard from several schools to know if my kid is invited to audition after the prescreens.
Yepāit was a ānoā from Elon. But she did hear from the New school with an acceptance. Still waiting to hear from Emerson, Boston, Michigan, CCM, Columbia (bfa), UT Austin & Purchase.
Also got a ānoā from carnegie mellon, and but an invitation to audition from pace and syracuse. I guess the goal is to have a few solid options at the end of the process!
S21 is a fourth year at UNCSA. I am sure you all know this but there is no rhyme or reason to acceptances. It is all about school priorities. He did not pass the prescreen for Hartt or pace acting but got in to UNCSA, Emerson, NYU,
Fordham and others I donāt remember and passed prescreen for Michigan
Yeah I thought there would be at least a semi-visible pattern in this process like āthe no thanks go firstā at all schools, but nope. My daughter submitted to MT and acting wherever it was possible to submit to both. For a few schools the no thank you for MT came quickly and then she passed prescreens for acting and went to campus for those, and then for others she submitted by 11/1 and 12/1 and itās been radio silence. One program said weād hear something by ālate November or early December ā but we have heard nothing yet (except some people have just heard no thanks there, so we are hoping that no news is good news). The waitingā¦ā¦ sheesh. Not easy.
Hi! I know there hasnāt been activity on this thread since December, but I would love to contribute and get it active again as we head into decision season.
I applied to 23 schools - 16 BFA programs and 7 BA programs. I passed 10 prescreens - BU, Carnegie Mellon, DePaul, Fordham, Ithaca, Michigan, Pace, Purchase, Syracuse, and UT Austin. My prescreen was denied at 1 school - USC (although Iām still being considered for the BA program).
Iāve completed all of my auditions and callbacks, and itās just the waiting game. Along with the schools mentioned above, Iām waiting to hear from BFA programs at NYU and UNCSA, as well as BA programs at Northeastern (deferred EA), Northwestern, Sarah Lawrence (deferred EA), and Skidmore.
So far, Iāve been accepted to BFA programs at Boston Conservatory (EA), Emerson (EA), Marymount Manhattan (EA), and UT Austin (RD), as well as BA programs at Bard (EA) and UMass Boston (EA).
If anybody has insights to these schools and programs, I would absolutely love to hear!
How has his experience been at UNCSA?
He absolutely loves it, amazing program
Congratulations on your acceptances! You will have some exciting and tough decisions to make. My daughter is accepted to Emerson (EA), New School (EA) and CCM. After this past week of auditions, waiting to hear from UNCSA, Boston U, Rutgers Mason-Gross, Purchase, Pace, Berklee BoCo, Minnesota, Syracuse, Fordham & NYU. The week of Chicago unified auditions were very telling about the overall bfa programs each school offers. Great opportunity for my daughter to also evaluate from her end.
Congrats!
What do these schools typically do for offers that are not accepted?
My daughter did not get into the BFA at UT Austin, but she was an auto-admit, so she was offered a second choice major. Do they do any kind of waitlist? The process is always so cold; Iām afraid to ask admissions anymore questions.
Yes, some schools are more transparent than others. For example, Fordham makes their policy clearāif you donāt get accepted to Theater/Acting, you can still minor in Theater (while doing some other non-theater major) and still audition. And there is a āsecond chanceā process for Theater minors to become Theater majors.
But I donāt know about UT-Austin. Their webpage didnāt make it clear to me. I do know that most Theater programs have a certain cohort size they aim for (e.g. UT-Austinās is 35) and so then they extend offers of admission to as many students as they predict they have to in order to yield that many given that inevitably some will enroll while some will not. So letās say they know from years past that they have to admit 50 to yield about 35. They might keep a wait list beyond that 50, I donāt know. I donāt see any problem with calling the department and asking.
Thanks. I think UT-Austinās acting cohort is actually around 18. I donāt know if they offer a minor in theater; I donāt see it on the list of minors for liberal arts majors anyway. I see a phone call in our future.
Thank you, and congratulations to your daughter as well! Best of luck heading into decisions. I also had some very telling audition experiences throughout January and NYC Unifieds. Would love to stay in touch with updates throughout decisions - so helpful to hear from others going through the same process.
Thank you!
I think itās pretty different from school to school.
Congratulations to your daughter on the auto-admit to UT Austin. As for the major, I know they offer a BA in Theatre & Dance as well as a Performerās Process track within that major. Perhaps that could be a good second choice.
I got the following information from a virtual info session with the CFA over the Summer: 20 students are accepted into the BFA program, and the cohort ends up being around 15-18 students. The BA program is closer to 20 students.
I totally hear you and and agree with the process feeling cold at times. Maybe you could reach out to Ashley Rivera at UT for some answers - her email is tadadmissions@austin.utexas.edu. She has consistently been warm and helpful in answering my questions. I think it would be worth asking about a waitlist for the BFA Acting major if itās a program that your daughter is really excited about.
Best of luck to her throughout the process!
Anyone else getting antsy?? Hoping to hear soon! Waiting for UNCSA, SUNY Purchase, Pace, and Webster. He did a walk-in at Long Island University during Unifieds so guess heās waiting to hear from them too. Accepted into SCAD, but did not offer enough scholarship money.
Certainly getting antsy here as well! I am also waiting on UNCSA and Purchase.
Based on what I have heard and read on previous forums, I think UNCSA should be releasing this week or next⦠Keep me posted if you here from there or anywhere else.
Best of luck as you receive decisions!