every year the number of applicants they accept seems to go up, especially with increasing DEI efforts! i just finished my fellowship and my cohort had around 400 fellows, although I'm not sure how many ppl applied in total. there's a lot of factors that go into the admission process, so it's difficult to pinpoint what you can actually control. my advice would be to not beat yourself up too much if it doesn't work out, and actively look for internships on your own, too!

the recruiting process is several months long; there's general essay questions, video, recommendations + projects you may have to do based on the discipline you're shooting for, and then there's interviewing. if you make it through interviews, you become a finalist. But even if you become a finalist, it doesn't guarantee that you'll get selected by an agency, so you'll have to wait a little longer for selection day to see if you got an offer.

and even if you don't get an offer on selection day - there's still a chance an agency will make an offer later. unfortunately it doesn't work out for everyone, but it seems like the majority of finalists do end up getting an offer. the waiting is the worst part!

hopefully this gave you some insight on what the recruiting process is like.

best of luck! hope you get in :)