How We Built Our Daughter's School List (And What We'd Do Differently)

One of the first — and most daunting — tasks in the MT application process is building your school list. How many schools should you apply to? How do you know which ones are a good fit? What criteria actually matter?

We went through this process with our daughter last year, and looking back, we’d do a few things differently. Here’s our honest take.

The Numbers Game

Most MT applicants we talked to applied to somewhere between 12 and 25 programs. That’s a wide range, and for good reason — this is an incredibly competitive field. Acceptance rates for top BFA Musical Theater programs can be in the single digits.

Our daughter ended up applying to 18 schools. In hindsight, that was about the right number, but only because we were strategic about it.

How We Categorized Schools

We broke her list into three tiers:

1. Dream schools (4-5 programs): The big names, the highly competitive programs she’d love to attend. These were reaches, but worth the shot.
2. Target schools (8-10 programs): Strong programs where her profile was a good match. These made up the bulk of her list.
3. Safety schools (3-4 programs): Programs where she had a strong chance of acceptance, but that she’d still be genuinely excited to attend.

The key was making sure she’d be happy at every school on the list. We didn’t include any “just in case” schools where she wouldn’t actually want to go.

What We Looked At

For each school, we researched:

• Program type: BFA vs BA vs BM — they’re different experiences
• Prescreen requirements: What videos/materials were needed just to get an audition
• Audition format: Unified auditions, on-campus, video submissions
• Location and size: Big city vs college town, large university vs conservatory
• Cost and financial aid: Tuition, merit scholarships, need-based aid
• Graduation outcomes: Where do alumni end up? What’s the showcase situation?

What We’d Do Differently

Start the research earlier. We didn’t seriously begin until August, and prescreens were due in October and November. That was stressful. Starting in spring of junior year would have been much more relaxed.

Talk to current students sooner. The best insights came from students actually in the programs. Instagram DMs and college visit days were goldmines of real information.

Use better tools. We started with a Google Sheet that quickly became unwieldy. Columns for prescreen requirements, audition dates, material requirements, portal login info — it was a mess. This is actually why we started building MyMT Manager: to solve the exact organizational problem we struggled with.

The Bottom Line

Building your school list is a deeply personal process. What matters to one family won’t matter to another. But having a structured approach — categorizing schools into tiers, researching key criteria, and staying organized — makes the whole thing a lot less overwhelming.

Start early, be strategic, and remember: the goal isn’t to apply everywhere. It’s to apply to the right places.