<p>I am thinking of going to Interlochen this weekend for the Performing and Visual Arts College Fair. Has anyone ever gone to one of these? Did you find it useful?</p>
<p>This will be our second year going to the Chicago fair. Last year’s was very helpful, and we expect more out of attending a second time. It is a great chance to ask some of the questions that might come up only on a school visit. We learned, for example, that some schools want “piano literacy” in applicants, and many view ballet training as more important than tap or jazz. This helped my son focus on preparation he’ll need for auditions and also provide some concrete goals for his efforts.
I want to be careful not to read in too much to any one representative’s comments, but we also got some very specific “vibes” for different schools, and that was helpful as well. A couple of points: 1) the Chicago fair was mobbed – allow plenty of time at the fair as you may have to wait in lines to have a discussion with some of the more popular schools, 2) organize in advance to make the most of your visit; download a list of schools that will participate and highlight, in advance, the ones you want to see and use this forum to do some preliminary investigation of those schools, 3) be prepared that some of the schools with great musical theatre programs may be represented at the fair, but will only have information on that school’s instrumental music programs, or their dance program, but won’t have info on MT.</p>
<p>It would be a great idea to go to a college fair! Because it is so busy, you can find out a lot about a school from when they are busy talking to so many people. In fact, that is how i decided on my top choice. Ball State was very interested on making a personal connection with the people there, and it made them stand out among the crowd. I would advise you to look for those types of schools- that stand out with either the information they tell you or anything else, and then look into those. It can really make a difference!</p>
<p>We went to one this summer and D prepared a form/checklist that she took around to every school and “interviewed” them. She wrote all their responses on the forms and took note of who she talked to, as well as just her general impressions. Later she was able to compare the specific answers each school gave and it really helped her narrow down her list. </p>
<p>Ultimately, though, she found that MOST of the schools had very similar responses to her questions and it ended up coming down to how well she connected with the representative for the school. She weeded out one very well-known program that way because the head of the department, who was there seemed really arrogant and unlikeable. So I would say it’s a great thing to do if you can get to one easily.</p>