<p>Emerson cuts down from 25 to 16 in both BFAs by the end of sophomore year, according to the seminar I went to a few weeks ago. Their projected yield for this year (in both BFAs) is something like 32 for each, I believe they said.</p>
<p>Thanks for the clarification! I jumped the gun; I don’t know why I’d had the impression they’d changed their cut policy. FestivalSM, did they say whether the “cut” students regularly get offered a place in the BA? Maybe you could start a thread about it; cuts are always a tough subject for this group to understand.</p>
<p>If anyone knows approximately how many are auditioned for any of these schools, it is helpful information. No one is playing this as a numbers game, but I know the kids find it both reassuring and constructive to have an idea of what really happens.</p>
<p>All these stats should do is show any student who applies and auditions that to get in anywhere is a huge accomplishment, and that to be rejected cannot be taken personally.</p>
<p>When I visited Emerson with my son last summer, they went to great lengths to distance themselves from the word “cut,” by explaining that students leave the pure conservatory Acting and Musical Theater programs by mutual agreement, after they determine that they’d be happier with a less-intensive, more flexible curriculum. The evaluation system gives students plenty of time to realize that they should consider alternatives, and many students decide for themselves after a semester or two. I thought they were being somewhat disingenuous, but I also think it’s perfectly plausible that many students decide that the conservatory program is too restrictive and intense for them. My son has already determined that, if he were accepted at Emerson, he would opt for the Theater Studies major, to allow himself the opportunity to take more writing classes.</p>
<p>I don’t know how it’s possible to get precise numbers, but I know that there were approximately 20 auditioning for the Acting BFA at UArts with my son (possibly more for the Musical Theater); there were 30 at his session for DePaul (an earlier group was probably about the same size); there were only 7 in his group auditioning for Emerson at the NYC Unifieds. We can try to extrapolate estimates by counting the number of scheduled auditions, and then considering the number of students at each event, but it’s hard to determine how many show up on each audition date, how many video auditions they view, or whether they schedule a significant number of individual auditions. The figure of 1600 auditioning for Emerson sounds implausible, if other audition groups were as small as my son’s, unless it includes many video submissions.</p>
<p>I’m just reporting what I heard at the schools, northdad— there is every reason to exaggerate, on the college’s part, on everyone’s part, and I think the numbers get blown hilariously out of proportion. I don’t know how many Emerson accepts to yield those classes either. Julliard has no MT, no liberal arts, and also there are going to be many who don’t dare aspire that high yet. </p>
<p>And probably most important was what was said at Syracuse-- “Yes we audition 10 people for every spot, but very few of those are serious applicants, who know their monologues inside and out.” Numbers alone don’t tell much of a story.</p>
<p>I should say-- D didn’t end up applying to Emerson! So I have no dog in the race, as it were.</p>
<p>I agree that number sounds high. But if a school goes to all of the Unified Audition sites, and holds several days of auditions at their campus, I can believe they have hundreds of applicants. I know some schools are more popular than others (CMU must easily audition 2000+) but if there are over a dozen days of auditions, there could be 100 kids per day, plus extras. Certainly a school can inflate their applicant numbers … this is all on the honor system. A school like Emerson has such a variety of applicants in different streams that they can pull almost any number to paint whatever picture they want.</p>
<p>The general conclusion of these unofficial stats is that we really are talking about 5-10% acceptance rates for auditioned BFAs, with a few outliers. And I agree with Gwen - this is a very self-selecting group, and even within those who do audition there is a percentage of kids who aren’t savvy or sincere enough even to be considered.</p>
<p>I have learned working in the recruitment office that it’s certainly easy to make audition numbers seem higher than they were. I don’t think any schools are trying to be shady by doing that or make themselves look better, but there are different ways to do the statistics.</p>
<p>At Coastal Carolina, we will see approximately 350 people on-campus or at our off-campus auditions in Chicago/Dallas specifically FOR CCU. However, if we added in the number of people we called back from NTDA, SETC, or other mass auditions, the number jumps to around 500. If we add the number of people we SAW at all of these unified auditions, the number of people “auditioning for us” becomes somewhere around 800. </p>
<p>It’s all relative. What I’ve really learned is that- getting into almost any auditioned program is a difficult task! At some point the difference between a school seeing 300 and 400 is not that massive if all they are accepting is still 20 kids to yield 10. Times is hard. ;)</p>
<p>Not doubting your reporting, Gwen, just the number that they reported… compared to some of the other numbers on the list (and maybe they are inaccurate in one way or another…). If BU sees 800-900 hundred, is Emerson that much more popular? UCLA reports 700-800… I wonder what’s behind the Emerson number…</p>
<p>Northdad-- I know, 1600 seems a lot… but looking back at my notes they say they accept 250 to yield 125 in the different programs-- so it would boil down to accepting one of 5 or 6. By contrast BU accepts one of 8 or 9, and Adelphi is accepting one of 10, according to the numbers above. Alexa makes a good point, that the numbers are very slippery. I wish someone would write a really good guide to BFA programs, talking about philosophy, curriculum, atmosphere, all the things that matter. Then we could really have a good discussion!</p>
<p>Strange… below it says that Emerson yields 25 + 25 (but perhaps if you count in BFAs, BAs, and Theater education the number is a lot larger? I went to an info session for Emerson at the NY Unifieds and cannot remember what he said about numbers. It was about 80 degrees in a crowded room without much air circulation so my memory is dim. It did seem like there were many more MT majors auditioning than acting majors, although that may have been an illusion because the MT kids have to stay around much longer.</p>
<p>As the then DePaul admissions director described it to us in 2010, some auditions seem to them like "oh, did you wake up this morning and decide you wanted to be an actress?’</p>
<p>Also, in terms of the number of people Emerson claims to audition, I have no personal knowledge, but I would point out that its academic standards for admission are significantly [ahem] less rigorous than many of the other schools on the list, and that it provides extremely generous merit financial aid to students with outstanding academics/test scores. (I don’t remember the actual cutoffs, but they gave us specific numbers at the info session - if you are accepted and have X SAT scores, you will get a Y% scholarship.) Thus, it may get an extra measure of interest from those for whom it could be deemed to be an academic safety, financial safety, or both.</p>
<p>We were told at Pace they audition about 1500 (BFA, BA, MT, Commercial Dance, Directing and Design/Tech) they accept a total of 150 so they get a class size of about 80 total ( I’m trying to remember this I could be off). With BFA, BA, MT being the largest of the classes in the end.</p>
<p>I think it’s very possible that any school (like Pace and Emerson) that travels through Unifieds and has on-campus auditions is capable of seeing well over 1000 kids. And schools with lower academic thresholds (either in general or because they don’t count academics as much) and schools with a lot of financial aid or a lower sticker price will also see lots more applicants. In addition, look at how many different degrees schools like Pace and Emerson offer. It seems very possible their applicant numbers will be that high. But at the same time, if you add up all of the degrees, they are taking more kids than many other programs.</p>
<p>I had questioned the figure of 1600 for Emerson’s auditions, but then checked their total number of applicants: it’s over 6000, so I suppose it’s perfectly plausible that one-quarter of their applicants are interested in an auditioned theater program. I guess my son’s group was a statistical oddity, and most other audition slots were much more heavily attended.</p>
<p>My D auditioned EA for Emerson’s BFA and it was a big group - maybe 55 - for just their first of two EA audition days. That included MT though. We also were told that the “cut” was more by mutual agreement. Both the student rep and a grad that my D knows here in Chicago have said: basically if you’re not showing up for class or trying, you’ll be asked to move to the BA.
As to academic rigor they are looking for, my D has over 4.0, NHS, State Scholar, but was not immediately accepted to Honors. It seems they do pick off the top ACT’s and wait to see who drops out.</p>
<p>The numbers for schools like Pace and Emerson include multiple programs–BA and BFA, MT and Acting–so it can be hard to compare their numbers to schools that audition for only one (only BFA Acting, in the mentioned case of BU).</p>