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<p>My opinion differs a bit from this. Yes, for students with very strong academics, American would be an ACADEMIC safety school. But due to American’s audition, it would not be an OVERALL safety school. Safety schools, in my view, are “SURE BETS” where you feel certain you will be admitted. No schools that have an audition are sure bet safety schools. However, I believe that most BA by Audition programs have easier (but NOT easy) odds than BFA programs for admission (with the exception of UCLA). Therefore, a program like American can balance out a college list made up of mostly BFA in MT programs as the odds are better. But they are not a sure thing by any means. Therefore, I advise all students to still have at least one non-audition true safety school (not all non-audition schools are safeties…just ones that are an academic safety for your own profile). </p>
<p>Best of luck to your D at American. I have a former student who is a rising senior in that program and have had a number of students who have been admitted to American’s program, though have chosen to attend elsewhere.</p>