I was wondering everyone’s thoughts on doing the college road tour before even applying? My daughter gies back and firth in her mind about wanting a straight conservatory type school vs a true college type experience…,so I thought visiting some might be a good idea…but people have mentioned on here before that they don’t think it’s a good idea. Thoughts please?
Sorry for typos… Lol…and I don’t know how to edit them!
If your D doesn’t know which type would be right for her, I think it would be wise to visit beforehand. My own D couldn’t decide which she wanted even during the application process, and ended up applying for both (ended up at NU’s BS theatre program). It would have been easier if she had visited beforehand. Of course, this will depend on your budget and your schedule.
Also, in my opinion, it would be better if she went when college was in session. That way she can talk to current students and, if the school allows, sit in on classes (some schools allow this, some don’t).
If she can only go during the summer, it’s important for her to contact the theatre department folks, and not get a general tour but a more specific theatre dept tour.
Either way she should keep a very open mind, and rely on her own needs and take-aways, not what others say about the program or what their ‘rank’ is. She should go at first to try to answer very roughly: Which would be best for me? What is the BFA schedule like and would I like it? What is the size of the class? What is the training like and would it suit me? What is the curriculum? How much academics are involved in each program? What are the opportunities the college provides, internships, study abroads, connections with professional theaters?
The downside to touring is that you can fall in love with a school but not get in–so she should be cautioned against doing that, and keep a really open mind.
Good luck!
Ironic story: we visited several schools on summer vacations and my d did two summer stints on college campuses during high school at large universities and decided, based on her experience, that beyond a shadow of a doubt she wanted to attend a small to medium-sized college, most likely private. Where did she end up? At a **fairly large state university/b. It turns out that how she was treated during auditions and the approach to the theatrical learning process as described by the department heads ended up being the primary factors in her decision-making process (and, of course, where she got in). She loves where she landed and discovered that despite its size (23,000 students), WMU seems much smaller and is very manageable for her.
We visited all of S’s schools before applying except one - at which he did an on-campus audition in fall of senior year. He was pretty set on the conservatory-type experience, but then he had grown up in the prep department of one of the “biggies” in MT and knew what that was all about. One thing that did change over the course of his visits was the type of campus he preferred. He thought for sure he would want an urban campus, but after visiting several, he realized that a large, open-space campus was actually a better fit for him. Even if you can’t visit the schools your D is interested in, if at all possible, try to visit schools of a similar type in size and geography. We did this whenever we drove near a campus on vacation and even summer visits can give some good information. We visited one school during summer and S was able to get a private tour of the theater area and scheduled a private voice lesson with a faculty member. We drove through the campuses of two other “wish list” schools when he was in town for a summer dance intensive - one very urban and the other a very traditional “college town” setting. I think it helps to have a “real” picture in mind when envisioning where you might end up, rather than relying on website information. That said, S only had about 10 schools on his original list and applied to 7.
I agree with @connections that to determine conservatory vs. non-conservatory it would be very helpful visit while the school is in session. But your D may already be able to determine her preference by looking at what she loves doing in HS. Is she involved in all kinds of activities, including non-music/theater/dance related ones? Does she have a “big” social life with friends who have all kinds of interests? Does she love going to school sporting events, fundraisers, community service outings? Does she love the academic side of things?
My S could give an absolute, “NO!” to all of those things. He knew he loved the practicing and rehearsing of theater/music skills. He had a few close friends and every single one of them was in music/theater/dance. He would rather sit and noodle on the piano - or stick a fork in his eye - before going to a school-sponsored event. He was/is a smart cookie and took several AP classes, but he was willing to let the academics take a back seat to his theater training (good thing he has AP college credits at his less-selective school, because the academics are not even in the same vehicle with my S. They are more like in a rickety trailer that may, or may not, be hitched to the back and S doesn’t particularly care to see if it’s still there.) The conservatory-style BFA schedule is grueling. S comes home exhausted at the end of every semester, but with-in a few weeks, he’s bored and itching to get back to it. He can’t imagine living any other way.
But who says you have to choose one over the other while you’re applying/auditioning? Many students have a change of heart as they go through the process. We thought that might happen to our S and made him apply to one “academic” school (still a BFA). By the end of the audition season he was even more convinced that conservatory -style was the only way. Every year, there are students on CC who do an about face midway through the process. Your D doesn’t necessarily have to decide now. It may all become clearer as she applies and auditions - and also goes through the “senior year” activities. My S couldn’t get away from those fast enough. Others live for them.
Our 1st round of school visits were all ones that were within a few hours of our home. We’re in Ohio, which has a wealth of schools. We looked for what “type” of school seemed to fit D best, (Urban/rural, big/small, conservatory/non, etc) which helped guide our eventual college search- and gave us several safeties (non audition BAs at LACs). We saw approx a dozen schools - and she ended up applying to 3, but the info gained in tours etc was super valuable
We did NOT plan it that way, but turns out we mostly visited schools that my S didn’t get into. There was a bit of a mad dash in April, but everything worked out.
We like take our kids on college visits just to get a sense of the area and size of the school. Plus it was nice to speak with faculty and students in the departments. It helped to understand the process. @Jkellynh17. We too never did the “college tour” at my child’s selection even after the audition. We returned after they were accepted. I think you have to make college visits based if its something you can afford.
There isnt one answer here as different approaches work for different families. My opionion: (and just an opinion)-I think visiting a couple different types of schools is a great idea (urban, rural/college town, LAC, university or conservatory) to get ideas on what a student may want. Don’t think it is needed to see all applied to (in this field) before applying. The reason is that most won’t get in to many programs. So once acceptances are in hand narrow down top choices and visit then. We were lucky and D’s top choice was the only one she had to visit after acceptances as she loved it. We were prepared to visit her 2nd and 3rd choices if needed.
She had done some general college
Visits junior year but didn’t apply to
Most of those schools. It did help her decide what she did NOT want though. And also helped her realize the actual program (not the overall school
Or location) was most Important to her. She also got a great feel for programs during auditions (even off campus ones). The kids know if they “vibe” with the staff and like what they hear during info sessions or not.
Good luck.
If money is no object, go and tour the schools. However, most of these programs are so hard to get into, it may be better to explore the school online, audition and then visit where they are accepted. Make sure to have a back-up option in place. I know of kids who didn’t get accepted into any programs … it’s so competitive. I think going and visiting a school and deciding they want to go there only to not be accepted is devastating for them. I recommend going to Unifieds to audition.
“If money is no object” is one key phrase, but the other “if time is no object.” Often, for our kids, time is the valued commodity.
This is something that would have been a concern of mine if we hadn’t seen a school until after acceptance… Is there time to make a long term rational decision?
D had no choice but to make her decision without visiting all of her acceptances. Attending a PA HS meant that she was in productions throughout the year and it was impossible to visit all of her schools, especially considering that living in Texas meant many of them were 1,000 or more miles away. It was hard enough just to fit in her auditions much less make time for visiting acceptances. It was pretty nerve-wracking (for me) to watch her make a final decision but the practicalities of the situation demanded that she make her choice without being able to visit the school she picked (she auditioned for Western Michigan at Unifieds). In the end, it didn’t really bother her all that much - she admitted that she didn’t get all that much out of school visits (I sure did, but I wasn’t looking through the same lens). My conclusion is that “your mileage may vary” with regard to the importance of campus visits.
For D, there was plenty of time to visit after acceptances, including one out of three wait list schools (and re-visit those that had on-campus auditions) and make a rational decision. As @bfahopeful mentioned above, she had researched her schools well and really got a good feel for all during that research and auditions. Then, it just took a visit (or re-visit, again to those with on-campus auditions) to her 4 top choices (and that 1 wait list) and a few more questions to decide.
D didn’t want to visit schools beforehand because she wanted to avoid falling in love with one. That was just her preference; I would’ve supported her preference either way. She did take dual enrollment classes at one, so she knew the gist of that one, and she did tour another as a sophomore because she happened to be on campus, but neither ended up on her list–not because of those visits.
We are in this same situation now @DVCmember . What we are doing is if we are in an area for vacation etc we are visiting places. Also my D has about 3 schools that she is on the fence about and can’t decide whether to apply to them or not so we are visiting those this summer. We are fortunate though that we aren’t super far from schools as we are east coast . If she is loving the school then we aren’t visiting. She’s also not visiting her reach schools. I will tell you scheduling a theatre tour in the summer has been a little bit of a challenge. I’ve managed ok so far but it has taken several emails and calls to get it done since staff is limited. Fortunately at one school the theatre dept was holding a summer kids camp so the instructors were there for that and have my D a great tour!
I agree that you can get much by researching, but for some kids, a more tactile hands-on visit really helps. I myself couldn’t really take my kids on visits beforehand–someone mentioned time for the kids, but for me it was time for myself as I’m a single mom and I can’t take a lot of time off work. Also budget; but we are fortunate in living on the east coast, so many choices are drivable. But if you have the time and money, and as long as you know your chances of getting into any one school are low, a visit may really help narrow things down. For instance, to use one example, my own D got into a top small liberal arts school, had applied sight unseen because she loved what she researched – then when she visited after acceptance she disliked it almost immediately, it just wasn’t for her. She was able to visit during sessions, so was able to sit in on classes and talk to students. Every kid is different in what they feel they fit and what they don’t and sometimes you can’t get a sense until you actually set foot on campus. But on the other hand, don’t stress too much if it’s all out of your budget or time–the chances are so low that in the end it can make more sense to only visit afterward. I was more replying to the OP’s question about deciding between BFA and BA, which is a much bigger question.
Of my own kids, my younger son knew he only wanted conservatory, and applied accordingly. But my D was on the fence throughout. What made her realize she probably wanted a BA were the actual auditions. It especially helped her when she could do the auditions on site. You can then get a sense for more subjective/intangible things like the feel of the student body (on site there are almost always current students), the culture/climate of the school, the approach and style of the professors. As she auditioned, she actually decided she really wanted a BA much more than a BFA; each BFA she went to, she didn’t like the feel and didn’t feel it was for her. So for us, it probably would have saved us money and time and stress overall if we’d gone beforehand to narrow things down.
My D did not visit all of her schools prior to acceptance. We did have to work in a number of post-acceptance/post-waitlist schools in April. We were able to visit three schools in one long weekend (in and around NYC), then a fourth in the next weekend. She was able to sit in on classes at 2 of the 4 schools (which turned out to make all the difference when it came down to decision time). Like others, I don’t believe there is one right answer. A few years ago, my S did most of his visits pre-acceptance (or did his auditions on campus). He was able to rule out a few schools based on pre-acceptance visits and had a very good sense of the programs once the acceptances and rejections rolled in but I can’t really say which was the better approach.
@DVCmember We live in California and since D decided from the outset she would not apply to schools on the West Coast, we knew that multiple oncampus auditions would not be realistic either moneywise or timewise. She/we visited a handful of schools in connection with family visits and vacations (five schools over two trips to the East Coast, at least a tour or information session at each). This was enough to get some good discussions going about what she was looking for, and also to give her a realistic picture of what logistical tradeoffs might need to be made. In the end, performance opportunities and curriculum were the top factors in her choice, but she also considered the living arrangements.
Another item: two of her three admitted BFA programs arranged for her to skype into class as an admitted student; one would not–but it was the first such request they’d ever had. If it comes down to it, it’s worth asking!