<p>At the top of the MT page there is a “featured Discussion” titled “Preparing to Apply- Information for H.S. Juniors and Seniors”. It’s not a bad place to start for information about the school selection/application/audition process. Lots of info from parents who have gone through the process, college counselors, school reps.</p>
<p>As to the number of schools, meaning no disrespect or offense to anyone, I think 15 schools is far in excess of what is necessary. 8-10 schools is more than enough if you structure your list with appropriate diversity. Diversity, in this case, means a mix of audition based schools that reflect differences in freshman class size, academic standards for admission, the weight given to academics vs talent, whether they draw from regional audition pools or national pools, number of applicants to the program. Make sure the schools seem to match the strengths your daughter brings to the table in terms of the weight given to the acting, voice and dance portions of the auditions. And, as AlexaMT advises, make sure to have at least 2 non-audition programs where admissions is based on the same student profile criteria as any other major. One of them should be a true academic safety school and the other a match. </p>
<p>If you put together a well thought out, calculated list of 8-10 schools, the odds of having at least 1 BFA and 1 BA acceptance to choose from are pretty good. Applying to 15 schools will do far more to create stress and time management chaos in your daughter’s senior year than it will to materially enhance your daughter’s chances for an acceptance. Remember, in addition to applications, audition prep, auditioning, travel time etc, she still has to take care of all her h.s. responsibilities and continue with her extracurricular activities, including local/school theatre and shows.</p>