<p>Does anyone know why Tisch wants a picture with the application?</p>
<p>Not to sound crude, but probably to see whether or not you look like a minority. Many colleges accept minorities with lower grades due to Affirmative Action. The more you look like a minority, the better your chances are at getting accepted.</p>
<p>They ask for a picture so that they can associate a person with their application and with their audition, if they are invited to one. It’s a way to remember who’s who, and keep track of which application goes with which audition/portfolio, etc. Also, depending on the program they might ask for a full body photograph, a head shot, etc.
It’s definitely not to see if you look like a minority or not. One, that’s already on the application anyway, and two, it’s extremely difficult to figure out someone’s cultural or ethnic background from just a photograph.</p>