<p>My son is a freshman at UArts. He was not accepted into any other auditioned BFA programs, and so I do not know whether actual lack of coaching harmed him. He worked with his Theater Arts teacher/director, who has coached other students who have gotten into more selective programs (e.g. Tisch, Emerson, et al), but we did not hire an outside coach. He selected his own material. He did not attend a performing arts school, but his school offered an IB certificate for Theatre, and he was able to take Theater Arts all year, for four years. He had to fulfill a sports requirement for at least one term, through junior year (two terms as a freshman), and therefore could not perform in every production at school. Since he attended a boarding school, he could not participate in any community theater groups, either. He did attend the Shakespeare Theatre of NJ’s summer program every year through middle and high school. His classmates at UArts represent a pretty broad spectrum of backgrounds, but I’d say that NJTheatreMom’s guidelines probably apply to most of them.</p>