<p>NMR is definitely right, and last year when me and my friends went through the whole college theater admissions process we were all really surprised to find out who didn’t end up getting into NYU. Case in point were two of my friends, let’s call them A and B.</p>
<p>A was class president. Good grades, honors (not AP or gifted), NHS. SATs were average. Talented, not amazing, but all the teachers LOVED him, he got all of the parts in shows and was selected for all the opportunities my school had to offer. He did governor’s school and the CAP pre-college program. </p>
<p>B is one of the most naturally gifted performers my age I’ve ever seen. He’s absolutely phenomenal. He was class treasurer, prom king, good grades in honors (not AP or gifted) classes. Average SATs, but amazing at the flute. Got leads and teachers loved him too. You can watch him on the high school musical reality show ;-)</p>
<p>I went for straight theater. Good grades in AP/gifted classes. No impressive extracurriculars. I’m not amazingly talented, but I’m a good actor and I’ve gotten a couple leads. I used to do MT, so I’ve taken dance and voice for a couple of years. I’ve never done a pre-college program but I was in a professional show and I’ve done a couple summer dance intensives. High SATs. Worked really hard on my essays. A couple teachers really liked me and supported me, most were pretty indifferent, a few hated me. </p>
<p>I got into NYU, they didn’t. Of course, I don’t know the actual reasons why this happened, but I think I can safely say it wasn’t talent. So either it was academics, or the fact that I was more intellectual, or both. But it really proved to all of us that no matter how talented you are, you have to have great academics to get in. So if you know you want to go to NYU, make academics your priority. And audition at a number of other programs, reach, match and safety! And pick real safeties, do a lot of research because you might be surprised to find that schools you thought were your safeties are your match schools. Remember that even if you can get into a school easily academically, it might be a lot tougher to get into the theater program and vice versa. I don’t mean to be harsh 
but a lot of my friends didn’t get into the schools they wanted because they didn’t do enough research.</p>