<p>What are the Pro's and Con's of Performing Arts High Schools in general?</p>
<p>Just like colleges, a lot depends upon the instrument! When we moved to Germany just before S2's senior year, we considered a certain well-known boarding school, but were told by S's private teacher that the school was not good for horns.</p>
<p>The other obvious negative to me is that it "defines" a kid perhaps too soon. I worried about my kid changing his mind part way through college (he hasn't, thank goodness) and not having a lot of transferable credits. It seems even more likely that a highschooler should not yet have his/her decision in stone.</p>
<p>I think most performing arts HS - whether they are boarding, or magnet, or whatever - still offer a basic education that meets the state requirements. </p>
<p>Depending upon your point of view, lack of other EC's might be a pro or a con. We wouldn't miss the sports programs, for example. But if the theater programs were limited to only the theater majors, that would have been a negative.</p>
<p>If it is a public magnet school, cost isn't an issue. But some private boarding schools are like paying for additional years of college.</p>
<p>DS's band director actually encouraged him to enroll in our performing arts Magnet School. However, the way it worked at the time, the student took their academic courses at their "home" high school and went to the Magnet in the afternoon for a VERY extended afternoon. Our home hs has rotating schedule...which meant that DS would have been missing classes left right and center. Plus while his true passion has always been music, he also had a core of friends at his school who were not musicians. AND the Magnet was an hour drive away if the traffic was optimal. To top it all off, the magnet strength was really in their jazz program and DS really has more interest in classical orchestral music (which he did through youth orchestra). So...the cons outweighed the pros and he declined to go. I think it's like anything else. Each student needs to look at the performing arts school and look at the pros and cons from their own point of view. I will say also...when we were looking for land to build our house, we specifically looked for a school system with a very strong public school music program. Ours is excellent. Another thing that kept DS their as opposed to going to the magnet.</p>
<p>My daughter attended a public (charter) performing arts high school. We briefly looked at Interlochen but decided against pursuing it because of the cost and because I wasn't ready for my only child to go away for high school. We viewed the performing arts high school as a reasonable alternative.</p>
<p>PROS
1. My daughter found "her people." Throughout elementary and middle school, my daughter was heavily involved in music (instrumental and vocal), as well as musical theatre. She had little to no interest in sports (except dance!) and was always the odd duck. I knew we had to find an alternative for her when, in 8th grade, she won the middle school talent show singing a musical theatre song. When she went up to accept the award, she was booed by many of the students (they apparently wanted the rock band to win). I think I was more devastated than she was, but since she was already starting to show an interest in opera, I knew that her "oddness" was just going to become more pronounced. At her PA high school, her musical interests were celebrated and encouraged, and while many of her peers didn't share her love of art songs and opera, they certainly supported her performances.</p>
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<li><p>Fiscal guarantees/priorities: At my daughter's PA school, the students never had to wonder if the arts were going to be eliminated during times of state-funding cutbacks. They were, however, well aware of how tight the budget could become and worked WITH the school to ensure that the programs stayed strong. During my daughter's junior year, she was the chair of a student-initiated committee to research fundraising/grant possibilities, and the students raised over $5000 in one semester for the school ($1000 from a grant my daughter wrote for the school). The school had significant cutbacks in administrative areas and supplies (e.g. parents started donating reams of copier paper and since the custodian became part-time, the students took over responsibility for cleaning the bathrooms), and the student fundraising just provided a bit of extra wiggle room. Contrast to our hometown high school...in that same year, the music program for the elementary, middle, and high schools was cut from $80,000 to $16,000 (the athletic budget was cut from $250,000 to $216,000). </p></li>
<li><p>At least at my daughter's school, interdisciplinary approaches to education were not only encouraged, they were expected. The English teacher teaching the creative writing course worked with the art department to have the poetry "illustrated", science teachers worked with the music department when principles of sound were studied, and even the math teachers found ways to incorporate the arts into their methods.</p></li>
<li><p>Diversity: This may have been just due to the area where we live, but my daughter's PA high school was extremely diverse both racially and economically. The metro Detroit area is still very either/or but not this HS. We're from a small rural village well north of Detroit, and my daughter's friends' homes ranged from rural to suburban to the actual ghettos of the city. Each year, the incoming classes start out by self-segregating, but within a month or so, the barriers start to break down due to the common love of the arts.</p></li>
<li><p>Again, this may be true of this school only, but although students are expected to "major" in an arts area, the school doesn't claim to churn out performers. Its goal is to foster a lifelong appreciation of the arts, but students are not viewed in a lesser light if performance isn't their ultimate goal. Amongst my daughter's closest friends, one is majoring in ASL interpretation; another is majoring in engineering; another is pursuing international relations; only two are going for arts-related (music performance) degrees. </p></li>
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<p>CONS
1. There is no question that it can be difficult to leave one's hometown high school. My daughter's experience her freshman year was very much like a college freshman experience...the initial rush of friendships, the filtering of those friendships and the doubts as to whether you'll ever have friends like you had before, and even a bit of questioning as to whether this is the place you really want to be. </p>
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<li><p>Distance: unless you're very fortunate (or attending a boarding school), the drive to school each day is likely to be far longer than going to one's hometown school. Until more kids from our area started attending and car-pooling became possible, I was driving an hour each way, each day, to take my daughter to school. On top of that, the school day itself was one period longer, so my daughter was getting up at 5:30am and frequently not getting home until after 6:00pm. On performance days (concerts, plays, etc), it was often 10:00 or later. </p></li>
<li><p>Academic unevenness: By virtue of the fact that students were coming from a multitude of school districts, there was always a shakedown period when the teachers were figuring out just what the students had learned in their previous districts. Although this school did have testing/auditions for both academic and arts placement, it wasn't always so simple to determine appropriate placement. Often the first few weeks of school were devoted to trying to get students on the same page...frustrating for both the students who were catching up and those who were merely reviewing. It was actually much less of an issue for the arts departments, but the English and social studies areas did have some challenges.</p></li>
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<p>Overall, my daughter wouldn't trade her experience for anything. She's the first to admit that her school didn't serve her well in math (in fact, the entire math department was replaced before her junior year!), but she does feel very strongly that she was way ahead in her art, well prepared in areas like time management, and confident in her ability to adjust to college.</p>
<p>mezzomom- very detailed and infomative. I have one question. Were guidance counselors able to present knowledgeable options and suggestions for those students wishing to pursue performance or other arts related specialties in college, or did you find yourselves "flying half blind" like a lot of us?</p>
<p>Violadad, one guidance counselor (it's still a very small school...my daughter's graduating class was about 50) with some knowledge...but CC was still invaluable. The students generally found that by consulting the GC, as well as there arts-area teachers, they were reasonably well-prepared. If I were grading the GC alone, I'd give her a B-, but if I were grading the combined resources of the school, I'd raise that to a B+.</p>
<p>One contrast I've noticed between the PA school and our hometown high school is that far more students from the PA school looked beyond colleges in our state. I think this reflects the higher threshold for "risk" found in the PA students; they've already left their comfort zone to attend high school, so branching out for college is not a huge stretch. And they've spent four years putting themselves "out there" through their art, so leaving for college is not such a big deal. I suspect this initially caught the GC offguard, as she came from a traditional high school, but I always liked the fact that she was willing to grow and stretch as much as the students.</p>
<p>Two of my kids have been at the public Performing Arts HS in Pittsburgh, a gorgeous facility (built with a major donor's help) where the academics in some departments are as good or better than in the "regular" urban high schools and classes are smaller. My daughter could dance for 3-4 hours/day but still was prepared for and got into several great colleges.(No thanks to the guidance counselor, though, who didn't even know to boast about her going to Middlebury. Luckily, I love to do research.) My cellist son, about to be a senior, does a lot better in a place where excelling academically (he doesn't) isn't the only focus. He enjoys doing music classes all afternoon, even if the level isn't very high. For us, I've looked at our PA H.S. as a great option for H.S., whether my child plans to go on to a liberal arts college or to conservatory, as my son hopes to do. My youngest may attend for guitar although I imagine he'll go to college for something else. It's just finding what's best in the school system for the kids.</p>
<p>My D attended Interlochen for her final two years of high school. It was one of the most difficult decisions we made as parents, and also one of the best. Primarily, she was growing increasingly frustrated with the limited opportunities at home. The principal advantage of going to Interlochen was that all of her needs were met in one place - great teacher, good performing opportunities with other talented students who shared her passion, time to practice and learn to make reeds, all in an academically stimulating environment. It is an intense place that requires a certain level of maturity and sense of discipline on the part of the student. If you are interested in knowing more, feel free to PM me.</p>
<p>Thanks for the responses!</p>
<p>Who would send their child to a top rated Performing Arts Boarding School such as IdleWild, Interlochen or Walnut Hill if money was not an issue and the child wanted to go?</p>
<p>Do you think that students that attend PAHS have an edge in college BM and conservatory admissions?</p>
<p>SingerMom1,
Were money not an issue my youngest D would have already been on the train to the School of American Ballet in NYC!!! (she is a dancer) She wants to audition for the Walnut Hill and Interlochen dance programs next year and maybe for SAB as well. I have told she is more than welcome to audition but w/o the presence of some serious financial aid from the school we cannot send her. I wish things were different, she is very strong, independent, and focused for only 12 going on 13. It breaks your heart when you can't do everything for your kids to help them achieve their dreams. I have 2 other children (1 on the way to college in 08) and they need my resources too. I often wonder how it is possible that someone like DH and myself managed to produce these 2 beautiful artistic girls with so much potential. Hear is hoping the baby (2) will be as wonderful as they have been.</p>
<p>Ditto RCMama on Interlochen. D also attended for her last two years of high school and it was life-changing for her. She has thanked us many times for giving her the gift of the Interlochen education. She just graduated from Rice with a vocal performance degree.
I want to emphasize that the academics at Interlochen were very strong. She got 5s in several AP exams and didn't sacrifice anything from the top prep school she left at home. Our family's interaction with Interlochen was incredible- I miss it so much. We made close friends, and the entire faculty (academic, arts and residential) nurtures the kids. It DOES take maturity, but the faculty and staff recognizes that they are dealing with exceptional kids who are talented, but are also struggling with the normal things all teens face. There is an acceptance there of ALL types of kids- straight guys are in the minority, there are a number of international students- and to watch these kids live and learn together is something to behold.<br>
There is quite a bit of financial aid available.</p>
<p>just a quick note: SAB (School of American Ballet) is only for dance, and so is not a performing arts high school. Students who attend SAB need to find a high school to attend as well. Some go to the Professional Children's School (private with fairly high tuition) and some to one of the NYC public performing arts schools.</p>
<p>Yes, I knew that about SAB. They have a section their website that discusses their partnership with the PCS as well as another professional childrens school and how they will help coordinate scholarships to these schools as need be. There are some girls at D's ballet school that have moved on to apprentice large ballet companies before graduating HS and are doing some kind of distance learning so that could be an option too. The only issue I have w/ SAB auditions is they are held in early Sept so that leaves absolutely no time to make a decision. It would have to be a quick move if she got in. She will probably audition for their summer program next year and see if she likes that (if she even gets in).</p>
<p>Ditto again on Interlochen. My son went for senior year only and it was a great experience, meeting his academic and musical needs without having to spend hours and hours driving to lessons, youth orchestra, competitions, etc. and trying to keep up with academics while missing so much school. I think the maximum benefits would probably be gained by students who attend both junior and senior years, as they really encourage kids and parents to start visiting conservatories/colleges during junior year and have excellent counselors who know the ropes at the top music programs. Being there junior year would also give teachers a whole year to get to know the student to help put together a realistic application list and write well-informed letters of recommendation.</p>
<p>I also totally agree with rcmama and MomofWC about the degree of maturity required in such an intense and stimulating environment, both musically and academically. There's no doubt that a student who's successful at Interlochen will be responsible and independent enough to handle the real world of college/conservatory. And to answer singermom's question, I do think kids at Interlochen (maybe not every PAHS) have an edge in music admissions for several reasons - faculty have seen the success of previous Interlochen grads and a surprising number of music faculty attended Interlochen Academy or Camp themselves and have an immediate common bond with the auditioning students. These factors probably only account for a very small part of an admission decision, and I certainly won't argue that playing a great audition is the single most important thing.</p>
<p>And finally, Interlochen is very generous with scholarship money for students who fit their mission and have compatible goals. This is directly from the IAA website:</p>
<p>"No student or family should be discouraged from applying to Interlochen Arts Academy because of lack of funds. We welcome a broad cross section of families who believe in their children and in their ability to succeed.</p>
<p>Interlochens commitment to a diverse, talented and highly motivated student body translates into an institutional commitment far greater than most independent schools to help deserving students and families have access to the high quality, unique education and experience that is Interlochen Arts Academy. </p>
<p>We offer considerable financial aid, based on three criteria:
The financial need of the family
The artistic and academic ability of the student
The enrollment needs of the academy </p>
<p>Approximately 70% of the Academy student body receives financial aid."</p>
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Who would send their child to a top rated Performing Arts Boarding School such as IdleWild, Interlochen or Walnut Hill if money was not an issue and the child wanted to go?
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<p>In our case, if money had not been a concern, I would have considered Interlochen as an option for my daughter's junior and senior years. I don't think she would have been interested at that point, unless she had been at her hometown high school all along, and I would not have been ready to send her away any earlier.</p>
<p>As it is, she did have the opportunity to attend a summer session at Interlochen through the U-M All-State program (then being held at Interlochen, now being held on the U-M campus), so she did have the opportunity to perform with some top-notch singers and prepare with U-M music faculty. She continued her association with U-M her senior year and received valuable training, support and advice from U-M professors, although she ultimately decided against applying to Michigan.</p>