<p>that your son or daughter would attend without ever visiting based solely on reputation?</p>
<p>Juilliard!</p>
<p>My D had schools on her list just because of reputation without doing deep research or visiting prior to or during auditions, but as we visited some she was accepted to she would not have been able to make a yes choice to the school without it. Once she visited the school she is attending she new she did not need to visit the other one that was in contention because it was so opposite she knew she couldn’t go there.</p>
<p>I know I sound like a broken record, but please - I don’t care how “prestigious” a school is - don’t have your child just show up to a school for orientation without ever seeing it, or seeing the type of kids who go there, or seeing productions there, or seeing the surrounding town. You are doing them a horrible disservice!</p>
<p>^^ strongly second Marbleheaders post!</p>
<p>If my D would be accepted, by a huge miracle, into Juilliard or Yale (BA), I would use all my parental powers (not that I have many) to persuade her to go there even if she didn’t visit the school. Can’t think of any other school like that though because my D does not plan to apply to any other Ivvy (she applies to Yale only for me!) and I really would like her to go to a college in US, so British schools (that I am sure are just great!) are not so appealing to me.</p>
<p>This is just chatting though. First, my D does not listen to me much (she says-- you don’t understand anything, mom!). And second, I am sure she will visit the schools she will get accepted to before she makes decision. In fact, she plans to visit almost all of them for audition (and she visited already 4). Actually, to think about it, the only schools my D does not plan to visit are Juilliard and Yale. LOL!</p>
<p>I know my D would go to NYU in a heartbeat without ever visiting. For her that is her dream. We will visit, I was just curious of your children had any schools they would accept without hesitation. :)</p>
<p>No. I’d not send my student a school I haven’t been to and nor would they want to make that commitment sight unseen. I can answer that definitively with two letters and a period though only because I can afford to (which means by the hair of my chinny chin chin). Many students are not as fortunate and they have to go on reputation and what they can read online.</p>
<p>On the other side there are absolutely schools that my kids (both including my son who is applying right now) would apply to before ever visiting based solely on reputation. </p>
<p>And the funny thing about NYU bisouu (since you’ve just mentioned it) is this. Go ahead and visit after your daughter gets accepted (here is hoping!!!). You still will have to take a leap of faith. You can’t visit classes and the campus pretty much looks like NYC. Does she like NYC? Then she’ll like the NYU campus because they are one and the same. But I promise you can find current Tisch students that would be happy to do their best to meet with her after classes and show her around. It just won’t be anything that involves sitting in on classes because they don’t allow it. That’s the deal there so there and I know that rubs some people the wrong way. It didn’t bother us.</p>
<p>She loves NYC and has been there on several occasions (visiting family and friends). Every time I ask her where she would like to go on vacation we end up in NYC…she is enamored and one day hopes to live and work there. I think a lot of this process is taking a leap of faith and even the best laid plans/visits etc don’t always work out. My D is a little different than most kids, she is highly adaptable. She makes the most of any situation or experience so I’m not too concerned. I love hearing other families stories and experiences. Thanks all for sharing!</p>
<p>So what we learned from campus visits was that she loved the ones she thought she would love and hated the ones she expected to hate. There were no surprises. Most were somewhere in the middle. No dealbreakers. And, for her, going into the process reputation was probably the most important thing.</p>
<p>Interestingly, my son who is not in theater is headed off to a campus next week that he saw once for about 5 minutes by accident and applied to solely because of reputation and recruitment in his field. I’m not worried.</p>
<p>First: a huge “AMEN” to Marbleheader’s post! I could not agree more strongly, as an experienced parent and a veteran high-school teacher who has talked to literally hundreds of former students about their college decision. </p>
<p>But second, my own kids have been quite different from what you guys are describing. There’s definitely not a single school any of them (theater kids or otherwise) would have attended without visiting. My youngest, the BFA kid, did apply to a few non-auditioned academic safeties without visiting but would not have attended without a visit (if those had been his final options). He was pretty nonchalant about the campus, facilities, etc., but very much needed and wanted to see what the people were like, something he could only do with on-campus visits. We saw productions, wandered around buildings, ate in dining halls, read the flyers on the library bulletin boards, and lurked around the campus center drinking coffee and watching the natives. He was interested in NYC schools and he likes the city, but after visiting he realized those schools were not for him, not undergrad anyway. He never felt a need to sit in on classes, by the way. And while he was aware of reputations, they were never a deciding factor, and he NEVER would have picked a school based solely on reputation (nor would I have condoned it). </p>
<p>The whole to-visit-or-not-to-visit thing keeps popping up on this board as an issue…and I think the range of responses shows that it’s just very, very personal. You know how your kid ticks and what they need to do in order to make the best decision. Some kids need to scrutinize curriculum, some need to read statistics, some need to see dorm rooms and eat dining hall food, and some need to wander around campus and figure out if these are “their people.” Do what works for you, but please make sure your child makes an informed and thoughtful decision based on more than perceived prestige.</p>
<p>Funny enough, the one school where my daughter sat in on a class was bumped to the bottom of the list before lunch that day. But going in she was less than enthusiastic and basically just giving it a chance because I encouraged her to widen her options. A mistake. She’s stubborn. </p>
<p>Visiting after acceptance makes more sense to me, at least if you’re talking about a girl at some of these programs with teeny-tiny acceptance rates. They have to choose you before you get to choose them.</p>
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<p>NYU was my daughter’s top choice from about age 14. She had seen it and been in the area many times. However, during her audition year we went to a general NYU tour and a Tisch tour, and after she was accepted we went to a tour and info session for accepted theater students and spent a lot of time walking around. She then decided that NYU was not the right school for her, not the right feeling, not the right vibe.</p>
<p>I realized how important visits could be when I took S to visit Carnegie Mellon. Going in I thought he would love it, and only hoped he wouldn’t fall in love with it too much since I knew the chances of acceptance were very slim. We did the theatre department tour and I couldn’t have been more impressed - the program sounded amazing and i didn’t see how you could go there and not come out an incredible actor. S hated every minute of it. Who would have guessed? So I wouldn’t have him accept even Julliard without visiting first!</p>
<p>^^both stories above are perfect example of why I’d say “no.” to buying sight unseen if you can afford to make your choice in a manner that includes a visit. (And again, not everyone can afford to visit and if that is the case, you just have to do the best you can with the information you have at hand and for the most part, you will hopefully be just fine.) We had similar experiences after actually visiting various “hot” schools instead of just riding the tidal wave of hype. Fit is deeply personal and certainly one person’s “schwing” school will not always have the same effect on the next person.</p>
<p>Agreed. But, after acceptance. Before that you’re just window shopping at places that may not let you buy anything. CMU is a perfect example since they take like 10 people. Now, if you live nearby or are in the area, sure, why not look around? But for anything that involves an airplane or a family budget issue I’d still wait until you are actually making decisions to start making decisions. There’s also the burn out factor to consider here. This process is pretty draining. By the end it was not fun and we all just wanted it over.</p>
<p>Bisouu, I personally would not feel comfortable with my kid going to a school they never visited, BUT you would not be alone if that is what your daughter decided to do concerning NYU.
There are so many students from all over the planet there, many of them did not have the luxury of visiting first. This is probably very common for schools that are considered “dream schools” but I would be concerned the reality wouldn’t live up to the fantasy. Or the TV version!
This would include Julliard, or Yale or anywhere.
And Flossy, my kid was just like yours. She hated every school that she thought she would hate, and visa versa.</p>
<p>No! You must visit the school at some point I think. Finances may be an issue but you are about to invest a large sum of money and I consider whatever you spend to travel to visit just a down payment on that investment. If you make a mistake choosing a school, it will end up costing you much more than the travel cost in the long run. (Transferring schools, etc)
As an aside, definitely visit Juilliard, even if you aren’t considering the school. It is a fascinating place. We loved the tour! Anyone interested in theatre or music would spend an enjoyable couple of hours there. During the school year there are free music concerts nearly every day… These are the music students giving their recitals. And did you know there are more pianos in the building than in any other building in the world? :-)</p>
<p>Re: NYU. I think NYU is a must visit. I am pretty sure my S decided against it as of this moment… but, hey, never say never. There seems to be a black and white opinion of Tisch by the kids who have matriculated there from out HS. A few loved NYU, but not Tisch, and changed majors, a few absolutely hated it and transfered quickly. Their acting program is big, although I understand that they have smaller groups in the separate acting schools. And, I think it takes a certain kind of kid to make their way at what seems to be a pretty impersonal place… some kids probably love that though. On some days I can see my energetic, bright light, creative, never sleep kid loving it, and then I also see him wanting a more intimate and smaller place.</p>
<p>All I can say, is that I would not feel comfortable sending my child away without visiting if I could avoid it. We actually had to decline a few just because we could not arrange a visit within their acceptance deadline (which was before the May 1 date). As for NYU, both of my children dreamed about going there, it was their number 1 choice, until they visited it. They both did not like the vibe and it was dropped, I was as surprised as they were that they did not like it. So you just never know.</p>