<p>Visiting either prior to senior year, or for auditions, is probably ideal if you can swing it. Colleges are different and you never know what will pique your kid’s interest during a visit, or conversely, convince them that they wouldn’t want to spend four years there. My guess is that most people do not wait until decisions come in. Otherwise campus tours, appointments with faculty, overnights with current students, sitting in on classes, etc., would never have to be offered or arranged by schools. </p>
<p>Keep in mind that even if you have received all of your decisions by April 1st (which isn’t always the case), you would then have to make travel arrangements, deal with missing time from school or spring shows, in order to make your decision prior to the May 1 deadline. It can be tricky for some kids to manage to do that for a visit to one school, let alone several.</p>
<p>I would say in general it’s more important to visit after acceptance, when you are (tho’ not in the case of NYU, though) allowed to sit in on classes. Spending time on campus when you are not strictly under the thrall of the admissions department (i.e., getting to walk around incognito and be in a real class) gives a lot of valuable information.</p>
<p>But… in my daughter’s case, it was a visit before she applied, to Fordham, that made the school her first choice. Fordham wasn’t even on her radar until we read about it on CC. She was considering applying, so we came up to NY (easy for us, just a two hour drive) and also looked at NYU, Sarah Lawrence, Bard, and Barnard on the same junket. After spending an afternoon and evening at Fordham (in an admissions event, but also talking privately to the son of a CC mom), Fordham rose from the bottom of her list to her first choice. She’s now a sophomore and is ever-more convinced it is the ideal program for her. So I do credit that early visit as being quite important in her case.</p>
<p>^^We started doing casual visits very early in the process (spring of my son’s sophomore year, did a swing through about 6-7 schools, all “unofficial”) and that was a game-changer. He saw a place where he felt at home, and although he liked–even loved–quite a few programs after that, this one stayed at the top. We visited again officially, saw a couple of productions, etc., and he auditioned on site as well. All of it added up to a consistent feeling that this was “the place,” and it made his decision easy when he was lucky enough to be accepted. Their ideas and aspirations develop over time; in my son’s case, I’m glad he had plenty of time to think about it, get past first impressions, and know just what he was getting into when he made his decision. Maybe I’m overly focused on this because I teach high school and talk to a small but steady stream of kids who return each year, the winter after they’ve graduated, to meet with a college counselor about transferring…they made rushed decisions and the school didn’t meet their expectations.</p>
<p>If you are fortunate in your acceptances, it might come down to a tough choice between two good schools.</p>
<p>My son was accepted at both BU and NYU. He had visited NYU, but not BU. We quickly and easily arranged a visit to BU, during which he shadowed a freshman in classes. </p>
<p>We also visited the NYU studio where my son had been placed. He was not able to sit in on classes at NYU, but the receptionist, who was an alumna of Tisch and had been in that studio, spent a lot of time talking to us and showing us around. My son also obtained contact information from a current student and talked to her on the phone.</p>
<p>Based on these post-acceptance investigations, my son was easily able to pick the school that was right for him. It would have been impossible to know whether he was making the right decision otherwise.</p>
<p>We visited some schools once, others twice, and some safeties not at all. I was surprised how much my D’s opinions changed over time. At first, our trips were both exciting and unreal, and everything looked possible. Those were the junior year trips that mountainhiker is talking about. That’s how my D decided where to apply. But more trips, and especially the first few interviews, narrowed the list to just a few choices. Then after she got her acceptances, we made one last trip to three colleges, in April, and she was able to stay on campus and attend classes. It only took the first such visit to put everything in order for her and she made her decision then. So I’d have to say if you can only make one trip, save it to the end. But I would also advise making as many trips as are feasible.</p>
<p>Thank you Theater Mom…we will be able to visit or have visited all the West coast schools before applying. But we are taking a leap of faith with the East coast schools. I have to thank so many of you here on CC who have mentioned schools that we never had on our radar. Also many of you have PM’d me with your child’s first hand experiences at a particular school which has also helped to narrow our search. Any and all first hand experience with a particular school really helps.</p>
<p>Photomom, I get what you’re saying about the campus not always being important (it is for some kids, not for others), but the PEOPLE really do matter, and I don’t think you can be confident in gauging school culture without a visit. As Bisouu says, though, hearing other families’ first-hand experience can be helpful if you really can’t visit at all.</p>
<p>Since we haven’t been able to travel to the East coast colleges yet we have been receiving a lot of their brochures. Emerson’s came yesterday and my D’s face lit up when she saw that the FIRST pages were all about the Performing arts degree and the LAST page was about the athletics. She said “That’s my kind of school”!</p>
<p>There is something special that happens when the applicant walks on the actual campus and interacts with the faculty and the students. It is something that I did not understand could really happen but when your son or daughter truly feels they fit in, feel comfortable with the student body and the campus set up, there is no greater feeling. Many acceptances come mid April and the thing to keep in mind is that many HS’s forbid a certain amount of absences to actually get a diploma. Many kids on CC were actually close to that point by the time May 1 came around. If you can schedule a visit East to explore those schools that seem to excite your D, it is helpful. Brochures are just that, brochures, just the picture that the school wants to create about their department, it rarely coincides with reality, just excites and inspires the applicant. I would try to visit as many as you can during the auditions or during a school vacation but make sure the particular schools are open. All close for Thanksgiving and Xmas break as early as Dec 8 or 10 and are closed for many weeks, so just be careful about that.</p>
<p>This is an older post, but maybe our experience will help others. Yes, senior year was ridiculously busy (and expensive) but we were SO GLAD we made some visits in the fall before the crazy audition season started. There were two schools that we were absolutely 100% sure were a good fit based on our research and their reputations, but after she visited campus they came off her list. Eliminating those two schools freed her up to explore schools she originally had not considered.</p>
<p>We have booked an east coast trip for March 24th and hoping we may have heard from some schools by then. I know we should have done this last year, but circumstances didn’t allow for it. Live and learn. Since my D is an only child I will try and share what I have learned for the next group coming through CC</p>
<p>bissou, this is my twobits and I don’t have the benefit of experience that other posters with older children do so it is pure opinion on my part. I think the late March visit will be fine. Most of your schools are close enough together that you can see them in a week(or even more crammed than that if needed). The only exception is CMU, It would be doable to get out there but if you can, look into flying from NYC or Boston to Pitt if that’s an option. You may have heard from some of schools by then and if so, can either make sure they are on the must visit or if needed, removed from the list. Since the BFA admissions are so daunting, there is some logic to waiting until you have some yea or nay letters in place. Trust me, I know the challenges of getting to see schools on the opposite coast and what a great time of year if the weather cooperates to visit NYC and New England :)</p>
<p>I am thinking it is at least a six hour drive from purchase to CMU if you take 84 and 80 and the weather is good, Check google maps as im not sure what best driving route is. And I would consider taking a train in to see the 2 NYC schools. I think Purchase is in Westchester county, which is one county north of NYC. That to me seems to be the best area to be based out of if you want to be based in one area and travel in and out of it. Or are you thinking of starting east and travelling west? Which airport are you flying into? If you make it to Fordham, it’s not that far of a subway ride down to NYU, at least I don’t think it is, Pretty sure Fordham acting is in Manhatten, near Central Park. Someone else correct me if I:m wrong on that.</p>
<p>and I still rec flying out to Pitt, I just wanted to give you a rough estimate driving time if you decided to drive</p>
<p>Be sure and check the Academic Calendars for each of the schools you want to visit, and make sure they will be in session! We’re planning a NY trip over DD’s spring break, and the breaks for the schools don’t all occur at the same times.</p>
<p>Bisouu when you are ready to finalize the trip PM me. I live in Eastern PA and I know all these areas well and even the traffic patterns. We go in and out of NY all the time too and I know the subway.</p>
<p>We did not visit any school beforehand as our money is tight and also the chances of being admitted to any one school are so low. Ideally if you have the money and time it’s probably good to see the colleges beforehand particularly those whose location or atmosphere may be dealbreakers.</p>
<p>However, when we could, my D auditioned on site. We were able to do that because we live in the NYC/Philly area, so could do several trips. </p>
<p>We also did a road trip and my D did an all day audition at Coastal Carolina, which was a great experience, and catapulted that school up to the top. Strongly recommended to those who might be considering it. </p>
<p>After my D had acceptances, she then visited the schools. She ended up at Northwestern because it was the best match for her - and ultimately she felt she wanted a BA and also their generous aid package made it possible. But we flew out after she’d been accepted to get a feel for the campus. We were only there for a day because she was in a show at the time. But she knew immediately that she loved it. </p>
<p>For my son, he will do a similar approach. </p>
<p>I’m sharing this so people with more limited money or who haven’t been able to go earlier know it’s doable to not go beforehand.</p>
<p>connections, great advice. We have to work in our budgets. We spent more than we should have travelling to the opposite coast this summer and in hindsight, I am questioning the wisdom of that esp with looming college expenses. Congrats on Northwestern!!! wow :)</p>
<p>and totally agree with the BFA admissions issue as those admissions are considerably more variable than other programs so that issue clearly falls on the wait and see side of the ledger</p>
<p>I also think there’s no great need to look at schools until you have acceptances in hand. A visit post-acceptance is a whole different animal-- you will be pulled in, shown different classes, meet students. An earlier visit is likely to yield a tour of the school and maybe a meeting with an admissions rep…not a whole lot of help.</p>
<p>Thanks guys…I don’t feel so much like a loser parent now for not going sooner. Dramamom I will be taking you up on you offer. I have friends who live in NYC and near Purchase but have never done the driving myself. So I will certainly need some help. :)</p>
<p>None of us are loser parents! Our kids know we are doing all we can to help them.
As Jay on Modern Family said on a recent rerun, and I thought was very true, “90 percent of being a Dad (or Mom) is just showing up.”
We are always there for our kids and that’s what really matters. :-)</p>