<p>Many people are going to have a lot to say about this, so I’m not going to go into detail, but I would say that (although I applied to more than 15 colleges), 10 is probably a relatively even number, as long as you vary the colleges. It’s fine to have prestigious schools that take a select few from a large audition pool on your list, but you also are going to want a few matches that are academically safe and are not by any means guarantees (no audition-only school is a guarantee) but are more likely to be accepted to.</p>
<p>In addition, I would suggest that you have at least 2 programs that are completely NON-audition and that your daughter could easily see herself as attending and not feel like she was settling. Whether that’s a BA or BFA is up to you, as long as you love the school. I would recommend that said non-audition “safety school” does NOT have a BFA program that your D is auditioning for, because often it’s difficult to attend a school for a non-audition B.A. when you auditioned for the BFA. It can feel as if you are “less than” even if the faculty and the rest of the students do not treat you that way.</p>
<p>Also make sure that at least one of the non-audition safety school is an academic safety as well. People are going to bring up Northwestern and Muhlenberg which both have AWESOME non-audition B.A.'s in theatre (best in the country) but are tough to get into academically. They are great to have on your list and great to attend but, not knowing your daughters grades, are reaches for people academically. Having one or two of those is fine on your non-auditions, but some place that is both a non-audition and an easy-in academically is best.</p>