@nnirodi … most every school that is audition can be considered a reach. There are lots of schools that are bantered about here, which you may not have ever heard of, that will have MT acceptance rates lower than any of the Ivy League/Top 20 schools. In fact, most schools have acceptance rates lower than 20% (and typically near 10%) when it comes to MT programs. (I number crunched a lot of them last year … I need to find where I posted the numbers.)
Her GPA/SAT won’t help when it comes to admittance at most schools (save for the likes of Northwestern & U of Mich) but those kinds of numbers that your kiddo has will real in the big bucks at many privates. So yay!
Best tips for you …
Dance classes asap - especially ballet. In fact, start right now.
Get a coach. Biggest mistake I made - I thought I could figure all this out on my own since all of the information is out there on the interwebs. Technically, it’s true … but there is a huge learning curve. Also, most high school guidance counselors and local voice/acting coaches will not have a clue on 1., how competitive the admission process is and 2., how to help you. There are several national coaches that are spoken about on here - contact one of those.
She wants to go anywhere that has a “very good musical theatre program”. Ideally, that’s what everyone wants. BUT … kids should really want to go to the very best musical theatre program FOR THEM. Kids transfer out of the elite MT programs all the time … sometimes it’s because it’s just not the right fit.
Use these boards! There are many MANY parents who will go out of their way to help and support you if you ask! Set aside some time to just sit and go through a lot of threads from the past couple of years - you can learn so much about the MT world that way.