@janne006 and @duxellen, breathe.
My daughter (who is a Tisch grad) never got a real MT slot at Strawhats either and I can’t explain why. Perfectly fine resume which should have been worthy of an appointment and bias aside as best I can, she’s talented. Applications were also always submitted early. So go figure. Can’t explain it but that was her experience.
The two years she tried (only 1 for SH but 2 for NETC) she was standby and or got an acting vs. MT slot. She would not look back on these opportunities and say they were make or break for her. She might look back and say that she tried hard to move mountains to get to them thinking they were really that critical because at the time she did think so. (Long bus rides to/from in the case of NETC and getting back after an all night bus ride just in time to make it to class on no sleep for example.)
She booked paying summer work both years she submitted to these group auditions anyway. It can be done. Yes do check the Backstage website. Hopefully your kids are all somewhere in proximity to audition outside of these large group auditions. They are not the keys to the kingdom that you might think they are.