<p>My mom and I visited Tisch and I didn't really like the head of admissions. I am a junior and went to an information sessnio and the lady there was really the only person from the program that we met. There were other girls with thier families and moms and a few boys but a small group overall, about 20 maybe? The lady sseemed pretty uninterested and didn't really make an effort to be nice or friendly or anything. I know I shouldn't judge the whole program on one person but she is the only one i have met there so its like how can I not judge the program by my reaction to her? I was not the only person who thought she was bored with us, one other family said the same thing in the elevator on the way down from the office. Until I audition if I am going to I have just this one impression of Tisch and can't really see myself spending four years there. The other people who worked in the office when we came in and sat down were bored and sort of acting "over" it as though we were just interrupting their day. Nobody smiled or said antyhing that wasn't necessary.</p>
<p>I know it is hard but I would not judge if a program or school is right for you based on someone who works in an admissions office. Once you go to the school, you will have no involvement with that office. I am sorry that whomever this person was, left an ill impression. When we visited Tisch when my D was in high school, there was no woman that we met. We had a great visit. But even so, I have been to many different colleges with my children and many information sessions and tours and the like, and it is not the best way to judge a college. It is important to meet with current students and faculty and to also find out the information you care about the most in selecting a college. The “messenger” in some office is not going to have any bearing on whether the program fits you or not. </p>
<p>If you have certain selection criteria, ask specific questions on this forum or go over to the Musical Theater forum where there is a special section just for NYU/Tisch and glean the answers to the specific questions you have. There are either current students or parents of such students who may be able to assist you. I am the parent of a Tisch senior, in fact. </p>
<p>I have met people who say they don’t like a certain college because they didn’t like the tour guide. Picking a college goes well beyond who gives an information session talk or tour…list all the things you want in a college and then find out how each college matches with that set of selection criteria and preferences. Meeting one person who works at a college really doesn’t tell you much about whether the college fits you.</p>
<p>Was this person the Director of Recruitment for Tisch? Does her last name begin with D? While she did not run the information session when we visited Tisch when my D was in high school, and a man did, I looked up who is the director of recruitment just now and if it is Ms. D, I recall meeting her at the accepted student event and she was very friendly!</p>
<p>I don’t even remember her name, I am sorry. She just acted the whole time like, let’s wrap this up and I can go do something more important. I know it’s silly to judge a program on one person but she is the director, I do remember that, and if the director is not friendly I would think maybe it is the same feel of the whole department. I’ve just found this site by luck and think it is great to have a place where people will actually answer your questions. There will be many questions in the fall! It’s funny that you said that about the tour guide, because our tour guide was pretty snobby about NYU and how smart you are to get in, like we couldn’t read that on the website and needed him to tell us. The guide was a music major but not a ocnservatory student. I don’t know, the students we passed weren’t laughing or talking a lot just running to class I guess. But nobody seemed to be enjoying themselves very much. I don’t know what I expected but it wasn’t that!!! I’ve seen about five schools and just dont think I have found the perfect place where i think I would be happy and am now owndering if I will even find it, if I didn’t like NYU and everyone else thinks it is so great.</p>
<p>Nobody in the admissions is the director of the program at Tisch. These are just folks who work in admissions. Your experience will never be with anyone in admissions after you get into a college. I’m not saying you will like NYU but the personality of whomever works in admissions for visitors will have nothing to do with actually ATTENDING the college and so it is important to find out about the things you care about in a college and see if this school matches up or it doesn’t. But nobody you met is the director of the PROGRAMS. </p>
<p>Here is a little story…my other daughter and I visited Brown University in fall of her junior year of college, when we began her college search and visits. We had a reservation for the information session (among many other things we did to make a complete visit which included meetings with professors, activities, and students). When we arrived to sign in at the information session, we saw other kids and their parents sitting in the waiting area looking over a Brown booklet for prospective students and so we asked if we could have one and the receptionist said we could not because my D was a junior and they were only handing those to seniors who were attending. I found that very odd as visiting colleges in junior year is normal, expected, and encouraged. Now, if we walked away with a bad feeling over that (we didn’t, though we thought it was odd), we’d have made a HUGE mistake as my D attended Brown and loved it immensely. I have heard of people not liking a tour guide and deciding not to apply to a certain school based on that which is a shame. You have to talk to many at a school to draw any conlusions. But it is so important to be asking about what YOU want in a college. Impressions of a person or two is not really what you need to find out the most. Do you have selection criteria? Why are you considering or visiting NYU/Tisch and what do you want in a college or BFA program and do you know if Tisch meets your selection criteria? That’s what truly matters. Ask questions here or on the NYU/Tisch musical theater forum (which discusses acting too). </p>
<p>All that said, my kid has enjoyed herself very much at Tisch. It was everything she had hoped it would be and so much more. Her opportunities have been wonderful. She loves it. NYU is not for all people. But I don’t know if it is for you or not as you have not mentioned what you want in a college and how NYU fits or doesn’t match your set of criteria and preferences. Right now, your impressions are on very superficial things like someone who works in the admissions department and who you saw walking down an urban street. NYU may not be for you, but it is hard to tell based on the things you have said about it so far. Did you ask questions at the information session? Have you examined the program, etc.?</p>
<p>No, I meant that the lady is director of admissions to Tisch, at least that is what I think she said. And it is not just her, or that, I guess it is that everyone I met there had a sort of deadpan demeanor. I have visited other schools and even though i know there is more to a school than what you see on a superficial type of visit I absolutely think every school has a different vibe and you can feel that when you are there. I respond to that kind of thing and even if I didn’t make a decision based on that only I wouldn’t just not pay attention to it, if you know whaqt I mean.</p>
<p>As for the programs, I just don’t know. I don’t know if I like the school deciding right off the bat if I am this kind of a ctor or that kind, but I also don’t know if i could really stand being witht he same 20 kids for four years. I have a family and don’t really want another one and that’s what i am hearing, that the programs are like a family. That sounds totally false to me, and shallow and facebooky. It’s so much money to go somewhere if you aren’t sure you’ll like it, isn’t it? And there is a chance i wouldn’t even get in anywhere so all that would just be a moot pt anyway. It’s a good thing i have almost a year before deciding this. It’s scary though because you can ask all the questions you want but you don’t even know what the really important ones are to even ask. Somebody said that in a post on one of these forums and it is completely true, and what if the most important question of all is somehitng you didn’t even know enough to ask??? What do you do then? Well, I am just thinking outloud or ranting outloud and don’t expect an answer, but I am jealous of the kids who know what school they really really want.</p>
<p>millie, it’s unfortunate that you had a bad impression from your visit but I agree with Susan that it’s unwise to let admissions employees color your view of a school to the extent that it removes the school from your list. </p>
<p>As for being ‘with the same 20 kids for four years’, that shouldn’t be a problem. In fact, you have more of a likelihood of that NOT happening at Tisch than at probably ANY other BFA in the country! Each Tisch studio breaks the class down into small groups of around 15-17 kids for studio classes. These groupings are switched up each semester so that you have a new group of studio-mates. The system at Tisch, as I’m sure you know is that you do your primary studio for two years then you have the option of switching to one of the other studios for advanced studio so you not only then meet even more kids but you have the opportunity to study in an entirely different studio. I think you will find at almost every other BFA theatre program that you will, indeed, be ‘with the same 20 kids for four years’. </p>
<p>I’ve never been one to truly buy the ‘family’ description but I’ve seen that mentioned for many college theatre programs. My D certainly loved her four years at Tisch and she made many wonderful friends who will always be a part of her life. She felt that her classmates were supportive and generous and that that part of the equation in her education was important in such a collaborative business. I’m not sure I ever heard her describe it as a family, though. 
She, too, has a family who she is very close to so she didn’t need another. However, having close friends who you will interact with and whose paths will cross with yours in the years to come does definitely provide a level of comfort that exists in a family.</p>
<p>You’re early in the process and you’re in a good spot that you’re starting to visit schools now. Don’t worry that you don’t know all the right questions to ask! You’ve found CC and there is much information here that can be a good resource for you in your search. There’s nothing wrong with not knowing what school you ‘really really want’. That is often a blessing because you may learn that to compile a list of schools where you think you could be happy, rather than focussing on ONE particular favorite school, is the smart thing to do. </p>
<p>My advice is to take some time and read as many of these discussions as you can. You’ll learn a lot, including the questions you might want to ask when you visit schools. Also read the MT forum because there’s an abundance of information there that is also applicable to the straight theatre programs. And don’t be afraid to ask questions! Best of luck to you.</p>
<p>modernmillie, another NYU Tisch drama parent chiming in. I am sorry that you had an unpleasant experience when you visited NYU. Believe it or not, my D didn’t visit NYU Tisch until AFTER she was accepted (the auditions are not held on campus, but at a studio in the city); we visited when my D was invited to accepted students’ day (something they used to call Saturday in the Square) and that day, everyone was super friendly, from the administrators answering questions to the kids leading tours to the other kids who were accepted and were excited to be there. My daughter has also found people, including the administrators she has had to deal with (her studio advisor, etc.) to be very helpful and friendly. And the kids are great!</p>
<p>You could just decide not to audition for NYU and that’s fine. There are plenty of other schools, for sure. But one thing you wrote above makes me think that maybe you should still keep NYU in the running, and that’s that you wonder if you could stand being with the same 20 kids for four years. At NYU, this year’s freshmen class has about 60 kids. These kids ended up being divided into groups of between 8 and 15 the first year and now take most of their studio classes (dance, acting, vocal technique, etc.) together. These kids have gotten to know each other quite well and how to work together. But next fall, they will find themselves mixed with other kids who they have not had the chance to work with. That happens every year. So in that way, NYU may appeal to you over schools where there are, say, 12 kids in the freshmen class and those 12 stay together over four years. </p>
<p>You say that you wonder how a kid can be sure he or she will like a program before enrolling. The truth is, you can’t. Not really. But you can certainly up the odds of being happy and satisfied by doing what you are doing: research. When you have time (and it’s wonderful that you are starting as a junior in high school!), try to read through as many threads on this forum as you can. You will be surprised at how much you can learn. Go, too, to the various schools’ Web sites and look at the musical theater and acting curriculums, admissions requirements, etc. Read student blogs if they are available. Most of all, though, talk to (via email, facebook and/or in person) people who attend the programs in question. (Here I will caution you not to talk to kids at one school about another school, unless that person transferred. It’s human nature, unfortunately, for students at one program to put down programs of which they are not a part, and it’s useless information. Worse, it may prejudice you unfairly against a program that would be great for you. So be cautious about that. Make sure kids stick to the topic of their own schools.)</p>
<p>And be aware that it really is best not to go into the whole college audition process fixated on ONE school anyway. BFA admissions at the top schools are very, very competitive and rejections are inevitable (I have never heard of anyone getting into every school to which he or she applied, though as I write this I am sure someone will post that he or she did just that!) and it’s best to audition only for schools that you would be thrilled to attend. Luckily, there are many wonderful choices.</p>
<p>Best wishes, and keep asking questions. If you want to know more about NYU Tisch specifically, feel free to PM me. I am the mom of a freshman, as I said, so I don’t know it all (far from it!) but I will do my best to help you in any way I can.</p>
<p>
A lot of people do use the term “family” in describing it. I prefer “cult.” 
Actually, that’s all problematic because you’ll find that every class/group/studio/company at any one of the smaller conservatory programs has its own personality completely different from the ones around it. For instance, my own class is known for being very businesslike. Too much so according to some on the faculty, but that’s just the way the chemistry has worked out. We get along and have a good working relationship, but we’re not all lovey dovey like the ones on either side of us and at least we’re not like one notorious class from a few years ago that didn’t get along at all … Now I’m probably scaring you even more, but fear not … I think the faculties do try to make some effort to bring compatible personalities into these programs as well as having a good mix of “types.”</p>
<p>I remember feeling somewhat like you when I first started the process and a wise one reminded me that “there are no perfect schools any more than there are perfect students.” You just have to first figure out what is important to you right now and then find a good mix of schools that have more qualities you like than you don’t. You have plenty of time. Have faith! It’ll all work out.</p>
<p>Obviously, I don’t go to Tisch, but I agree with what the above moms have told you. Good points. I just figured I’d chime in on one point that goes for other schools you might be considering.</p>
<p>Modernmillie, I don’t know whether you are set on a BFA in acting program where little of your coursework is outside the program (and you are with the same bunch of kids almost all the time), or whether you might be interested in a BA, where about 50% of your coursework is outside the acting major. In addition, I don’t know if you have geographical limitations on where you might apply.</p>
<p>I do understand that Tisch and New York City in general could seem overwhelming. </p>
<p>For some people, the right choice could be a BA in acting at a school where there is a warm, fun, welcoming and pleasant atmosphere. </p>
<p>A lot of people say that the very best path to training is a BA followed by an MFA (master’s degree) in acting. It depends on how impatient you are, I guess, lol. My son was so impatient to get into intensive acting training that he couldn’t imagine not going for a BFA.</p>
<p>Two schools that I have seen mentioned on here that offer BAs and sound like really lovely, comfortable places are Muhlenberg (Pennsylvania) and Evansville (Illinois). You might check them out online, and even visit, if you are open to the BA option.</p>
<p>I think Evansville has a BFA. But perhaps there is a BA in theater studies or somesuch?</p>
<p>I don’t know who you met, but I can tell you the people at the NYU Tisch auditions were the funniest, friendliest people ever. Just wonderful.</p>
<p>Oops I guess Evansville does have a BFA program and not a BA (should have checked before I posted, sorry). But that might make Millie even more interested. I remember reading things about it here that surprised me and made me think it would be a delightful choice for a lot of people.</p>
<p>Evansville is in Indiana and offers both a bfa and a ba…accepted performance majors can decide which one later in their education.</p>
<p>Happened to come across this thread, and just wanted to say that during my D’s BFA fact finding excursion we did not feel any “warm and fuzzies” when we visited NYU at all. </p>
<p>Based on conversations with past and current students, studying the curriculum & philosophy D knew however that this is where “she wanted to be”. </p>
<p>After she was accepted, I had a chance to talk to some people at Tisch, and I alluded to the not so friendly folks we met when we visited. They were apologetic, but explained that they really get bombarded with hundreds of visitors, simply try to do the best they can to accommodate people, but some days are more hectic than others.</p>
<p>As far as students being serious, and not looking very happy, I am not sure if some of that may have been perception and affected by the unpleasant session with the person in admissions, but I will admit that it is more likely to see my D smiling at her studio, than when she runs to her academic classes :). </p>
<p>D is one very happy girl, who counts her blessings every day for being at NYU/Tisch/CAP21.</p>