Last year, most of my D’s friends’ favorite audition experience was hands-down Otterbein. As they take so few kids (4 boys & 4 girls), I’d say that is the hardest program to get in. Congrats to your S for getting admitted! This was one of my D’s top schools. She made it to Priority Hold (or whatever they called it), unfortunately, she was then released. We never considered NYU for financial reasons, and for the other reasons you listed above which we heard from a national college audition coach we heard talk at a popular MT summer intensive.