<p>Boston is coming to So. Ca. today and I was wondering how helpful these types of college visits are?</p>
<p>I presume you mean Boston University? </p>
<p>Meeting with college reps is one way of learning about a school. Depending on who the rep is, you can get a lot of information. Sometimes it’s a dept head, or a professor, or a student, or all of the above. If you can’t visit a school, it has a lot of value, because it’s a whole new look, a whole new perspective, way different than a website. </p>
<p>It is very helpful to come with very specific questions, not to ask for information that is otherwise readily available, and if there is a presentation, to ask only questions that are still unanswered. </p>
<p>As with any contact with a program, while a good or bad vibe is important to notice, a welcoming experience with an auditioned school does not mean any more likelihood of acceptance.</p>
<p>FWIW, BU’s visit was one of the nicer ones we went to, lots of info (and good food/drink ;-)) The rep was very informative and there were others there who happened to know specific info about the theatre department. We were able to get questions answered about opportunities for musical theatre training (little to none) and the fact that the theatre “clubs”, some of which will put on musicals, are not available to theatre majors. Despite this D applied and auditioned because she loves Boston and the school itself and was interested in “straight” acting as well.</p>
<p>Thanks for the info! NYU and Emerson visit this month too.</p>
<p>bisouu - what does your student think? If she wants to attend, then it is a no-brainer.</p>
<p>What’s a no brainer? We were just curious as to how helpful these off site visits were. She will have to leave rehearsal early and if you know my theater kid this is a huge no no for her.</p>
<p>“No brainer” is an idiomatic expression that means you don’t need to wrestle with wrestle with the question mentally.</p>
<p>I meant what part of my question was a no brainer? Just looking for advice. Wondering how helpful these are for a theater kid, if someone from the department might be there.</p>
<p>Your daughter needs to ask her director if she can leave early. The visits aren’t that big a deal; nice to go, no harm done if she can’t. I’m sure she can ask her teacher and/or guidance counselor about how to proceed. Schools are used to helping kids with this.</p>
<p>If it’s a theater department visit she should go. If it’s a general university info session not so much unless you have specific questions that remain unanswered. If you’re wondering if attending will in any way help with acceptance. No. Audition. Audition. Audition.</p>
<p>Bisouu it’s the whole question that is a no brainer. If your kid is applying to the school then going to an offsite event will show the school some love. That love can only help your kid no matter how useful the info they give her is.</p>
<p>Flossy I would disagree. Boston is a competitive school and going to a general university session could be the one thing that ends up giving Bisouu’s kid the edge when comparing prospects with similar grades. She took the time to show the school the love. </p>
<p>In Joyce Slayton Mitchell’s book " 8 First Choices: An Expert’s Strategies for Getting into College" she states that the interest and love you give colleges is just as important as SAT prep and a good essay.</p>
<p>I’ll disagree that missing it is “no harm done.” If you live super far away from a school, these things can be invaluable. My D applied to a couple of schools from a college fair experience. She got to ask a ton of questions, and the people were very honest. From our experience at Unifieds, the BU information would probably be excellent, as austinmt has related.</p>
<p>We can’t speak here if it’s worth missing rehearsal. I guess my feeling is that the point of HS is to learn what you need to learn for your next step in life, one of which could be college. Depending on what they’re doing at a HS rehearsal, I’m having a hard time believing that missing it once or twice for important college opportunities is so terrible. But you and your D will have to decide what takes priority, including which schools are the most important to her to meet representatives from.</p>
<p>My D has permission to leave rehearsal early so that won’t be a problem. She just hates missing. Thanks for all the input. This is our first off site visit so was just curious as to what everyone thought.</p>
<p>Shacherry, that advice does not pertain to all colleges. Some care about demonstrated interest and some quite simply don’t. I agree that the information can be valuable if you can’t visit, but it should not hurt her in terms of admission if she can’t attend–that’s what I meant by no harm done. There are other ways to demonstrate interest, including being in direct touch with the admissions rep for your area (I’m talking about the <em>student</em> e-mailing or writing, obviously).</p>
<p>Shacherry - My only point is that BFA admissions work the other way around. The admissions people are not a factor until the theater dept. wants an applicant. They call the shots in admits. </p>
<p>Bisouu, go and have fun. But it’s like summer programs. If you’re going because you think it’ll help with acceptance that is unlikely.</p>
<p>Showing the love (and there are other ways to do it) probably does matter to BU since admissions there are not entirely up to the theatre department but in any case, why not go? The real benefit is for you to have a window into what being a student at that school looks like in a broader sense. BU is a big school and is very much intertwined with the city of Boston. Even if there isn’t one word uttered about the theatre department, you’d likely have a take away about what it’s like to be a student at BU because you will not be living in a theatre island there. You’ll be dorming with kids from all over the world with a wide variety of majors. You might need to develop a love for hockey. You can ask about the weather which will be really different from So. Cal etc. So a sense of what that looks like will be helpful in your evaluation of the university. It also might help answer the “why BU?” question on the application (assuming there is one). Go. It’s a cool school.</p>
<p>What I meant by a no-brainer is if your daughter wants to go, then go - no need to figure it out! It is great to just go and get a feel for the school, as others have said. And if the director says it’s okay to leave rehearsal early, then you should attend. Both of my kids wanted to go to anything that pertained to any school they were interested in. It’s FUN!!! And it doesn’t hurt for your daughter to get out there and meet the admissions people. That is correct info that the BU CFA is only one part of the admissions, so in this instance it is smart to find out what they are expecting from their applicants.</p>
<p>And I also believe in “showing the school the love”, but if you can’t make it, then you have other ways of doing that, as Times3 pointed out. I mean, your daughter has other ways of doing that.</p>
<p>A lot of BA schools have regional admissions officers, too, so you might get to meet the one for California. We met the New England admissions officer for one fairly competitive southern school, and she was extremely helpful and responsive when we had questions…though not, sadly, to the point of getting my son off the waiting list.</p>
<p>If by Boston you are talking about BU, then it is very important to BU admissions to demonstrate interest by attending. The reps want to return to their offices with X names of kids who showed interest otherwise, they feel their trip across the country was not worth their while. BU in particular has been turning away great candidates who are not demonstrating true interest. If the kid cannot attend your student should get the name of the rep and send a short note or email stating they couldn’t attend but have the following 2 or 3 well worded intelligent sounding questions. Doesn’t have to be rocket science but questions that show an interest in the school as a whole and how the student is thinking of what is on the websites and not just looking at one more name on a list. Showing that this school is high on her list of schools. At least saying, I am very interested in program A and B but was unable to attend the session and would like any information that you have to share with me.</p>