<p>I know we've discussed schools asking about other places our kids may have applied to, but last weekend and this weekend, my son was asked whether or not he had any friends in the programs he was auditioning for.</p>
<p>Anyone know or care to conjecture as to why??</p>
<p>Just a conjecture, indeed, and based on an article that was in our Sunday paper today. This article, about colleges in general and their potential financial woes, said that colleges are really assessing how strongly an applicant is interested -- as in "if we offer this kid admssion, is he/she really going to give us all that tuition money we charge, or would we be better off with a kid for whom we are #1 school, above all else?" With that thought in the back of my head, makes me wonder if the question was asked either a.) to see if prospective student is only auditioning in the hopes of coming to school w/friends or b.) unrelated to the financial theory, to see if the auditionee has some information from friends that either positively or negatively affects his/her perceptions of the school, accurate or not, or c.) a question in hopes of helping the student open up, and talk about where the social scene in college might fall for this kid. </p>
<p>Okay...now for the people who really know what they're talking about...but this topic caught my eye because of the article I just read.</p>
<p>Perishack....do you live some place far away from the schools or culturally very different? I was just wondering if they were assessing whether he would have someone there to make him feel he had a kinship initially. Or maybe your son goes to a school where a lot of people attend there and they wanted to know who he knows? My daughter was not asked this question but on several auditions she was told they had many people from her area attending their school. It was taken by her as kind of an enticement like she wouldn't be alone there.</p>
<p>No, HoosierMom, these two auditions were close to home. The only thought I had -- and I could be wildly off, which is why I asked -- is that, while they are both very good programs, they're not among the absolute most competitive of schools, and are among my son's "safer" choices (as if ANY audition-based program could be considered safe in any way, LOL) so maybe they want to have a better sense of might he actually attend if he got accepted, and maybe knowing other kids in the program gives them an indication that he would. They must have SOME reason for asking! Mommafrog offered some interesting thoughts, as well.</p>
<p>In that case I think your guess might be very likely.</p>
<p>Very simple, and they have it right. Bottom line is, we are trying to assess the chances of the student attending. Friend on campus raises the chances. Nothing more, nothing less.</p>