<p>Just wondering if anyone thinks they know (from the acceptances you have now) which school they will attend next year. Mind you, she only applied for 4 schools...1 BA non audition, 1 BA audition and 2 BFA...she has been accepted at 3 of them so far. (I know, I know...only 4 schools??? She had an early BFA acceptance at one of her top choices so she decided to trim her audition list down.) My D has chosen but is waiting for one more school to come in. They are supposedly notifying today and if she doesn't get in then she knows which of the others she wants to attend. She seemed to make the decision quite easily which worries me.
Are you going to choose the "dream school" you've always wanted to go to or are you really weighing out pros and cons of the other, less dreamy schools?
It's easy to say "I want to go to XYZ school when you are planning all this but quite another when you must choose for keepsies!!! lol</p>
<p>Oh and the reason I'm interested in this is because her final choice is NOT the BFA school she swooned over and canceled all the other auditions for!!! Go figure!!!</p>
<p>My child is not a current applicant. However, it is very important that the student has visited all their options to compare them equally. The student can list their selection criteria and then list for each school, how that school meets it. Also, list pros and cons for each school and compare them. Sometimes that really demonstrates how well each school fits your own personal selection criteria. There is also a GUT feeling that should factor in (but not the main factor). If the student is still unsure, attending accepted student events on campus are strongly advised.</p>
<p>When my D went through this, she applied to 8 BFA schools and visited them all (seeing four prior to auditions, and then seeing all 8 at campus auditions, thus revisiting four of them and doing overnights on campus and so on). My D had wanted to go to NYU/Tisch since she was 12 years old (back then that was all she knew, LOL). She could have applied ED as many friends did. But she had not seen enough schools to compare them (had only seen four). We would have seen all 8 prior to applying, but she unexpectedly decided to graduate a year early and so applied to college in her junior year. We only saw Tisch in tenth grade and saw three more in fall of 11th prior to applying. I had originally planned for her to see all her schools in junior year and apply in senior year, as her sister had done. So, given that, she did not apply ED to NYU. She ended up with 5 BFA acceptances, 1 BFA Priority Wait List, 1 acceptance without the BFA program, and 1 denial. But when the NYU acceptance came in, she automatically knew she was going there. She did not go through ANY decision process, because she had come full circle and had compared every school on her list and truly knew that Tisch was the right fit at that point. We went to the accepted student event and never looked back. She has now graduated and I can confidentially state that she truly picked the right fit college and program for herself. I am glad she didn’t apply ED as she really explored each school in depth to arrive at this decision and it wasn’t just because it was a long time dream. (ED would have been fine had she applied as a senior and had explored all her schools and visited them ahead of time to make that decision). She really could state why this was the best fit. </p>
<p>So, I encourage going through that comparison task and also making sure to explore each school in depth including visits. If all that is done and she feels she knows where she wants to go and can articulate it with clear reasons (she truly should have reasons though), then be happy…you’re done! :)</p>
<p>I completely agree. I have known where I am going next year since my unidfied audition in January but still felt it necessary to do some heavy weighing of pros and cons. Facebook is an excellent way to meet current students who will give you a REAL sense of what these “top” schools are like in reality. Also, you have to visit your school before agreeing. I am by no means in a financial situation where I can just afford to get up and visit everyone of the schools that I was accepted to but when I had narrowed it down I started saving, fundraising and begging to get whatever I could to get myself up to this school. I am actually heading off to my future school in a couple of weeks and have scheduled meetings with admissions/financial aide, classes I am going to sit in on, shows I am going to see, teachers I will meet and students that I will pal around with. If any of your kids are like me then they have a pretty extravagent imagination and it is important to experience that “dream” school so you know that it is definetly the right dream for you to follow :D</p>
<p>Amen Soozievt! You describe things very effectively :D</p>
<p>My post should have read: “confidently state” and NOT “confidentially” state. LOL. This is College Confidential, but I did not confidentially state that my D made the right choice for herself. It ain’t confidential. But I’m confident about it! :D</p>
<p>My D says she has decided on her school. She had very sucessful auditions and was left with several options to select from. I am not unhappy with the school she has selected, but I am not sure she made her choice for what I would say are the right reasons. I am not sure there are right reaons, but when she started her list at the end of junior year, her final school wasn’t on it, and it meets non of the criteria that she thought were important at that time. Same for me stagemom23, Go figure!!</p>
<p>My son is currently a soph a U Miami. We visited all but one of the schools he was accepted to. I went with him to all except Miami, which my wife went to with him. Although his top three choices all met the criteria we set out prior to visits, he eventually made his choice by his gut. He made a real connection with the faculty he met. He is currently as ecstatic about his choice as when he first decided. I can’t say I completely understand his mechanism of final choice, but like I have heard on this site so many times, the kids seem to end up in the right spot. I know this may not be much help, but my point is that if your kids feel strongly about the schools after visiting them, meeting the students and staff, they will probably be making the right decision.</p>
<p>“extravagant imagination” I love it, Humchun, you’ve got the perfect phrase! Great luck to you–</p>
<p>For years it was NYU. Then after some careful consideration it was Fordham with NYU averyclosesecond. He heard a couple weeks ago from Fordham and it’s been Fordham ever since. Until the NYU email. Now we’re back to where we started…who knows??? :)</p>
<p>I’m very happy with his choices and I think he would fit in and be happy at either school even though they are very different programs. I’m just praying that the accepted students visits don’t conflict. Fordham is 4/10 and the NYU email states 4/9-4/11. I like his chances but understand Murphy’s law all too well.</p>