<p>I recently had my Purchase audition, and it quickly fell down in my rankings. I was aware of a lot of the issues people have with the whole college - appearance, organization, etc., but applied because there are many elements of the program that are very interesting, exciting, and feel “right” for me. I was mostly disappointed in the people. I spoke to four different people (current BFA students and staff) while signing in, and not a single one of them smiled, and only 2 made eye contact. Someone had just taken the last pen off the table, and I asked very nicely if they had any more, and one of the students didn’t even look up from his phone, and tossed me the pen in his hand, not responding when I thanked him. I’m addicted to my technology too, but…c’mon. The woman in the information session wasn’t from the department, and kept repeating the same vague answers when asked a question she didn’t know. The students in the information session weren’t interacting with parents and kids while we waited, and the two students running my audition room didn’t speak to the auditionees unless someone asked them a question. They were nice when they answered, just not very friendly, and absorbed in their cell phones once again. Even when asked what her favorite part of the program was, the girl at my room barely cracked a smile. Nobody I met from Purchase, students or staff, seemed very excited about being there. I know it’s a rough, exhausting program, but considering it’s one of the best in the country, I just assumed they would be a little happier to be there 
It’s hard to believe I caught EVERYONE there on a bad day, but hey, who knows. I was called back, but being there for one day managed to drag my excitement and joy down about 5 levels, so I can’t even imagine spending 4 years there. If I get accepted or waitlisted, I’ll definitely go back for a visit and to see a show, but even with everything I had heard about Purchase’s environment in mind, I couldn’t believe how negative my experience was, especially in comparison to all of my other auditions so far!</p>
<p>What a hard situation to deal with - digesting the various personal experiences we all have at schools (whether theatre kids or not). </p>
<p>Many of us have seen the full spectrum: super-friendly vs. cold and unwelcoming people, malfunctioning bureaucracies vs. smooth-as-silk organization, ugly cold buildings vs state-of-the-art facilities. Of course we are going to get gut reactions from these things! Disneygirl is very smart to know that she should take another look, but again who knows how it will be? We’ve seen dream schools become nightmares on a second visit, shows at schools with fantastic reputations that make us cringe, ultra-cool students who turn out to be cold and mean when they’re not on display - plus all of the reverse.</p>
<p>I don’t know how to help anyone deal with gut reactions and these kinds of decisions. Sometimes more information becomes too much information. I’ll say what I’ve continued to feel for the past few years, after our experience and that of others on this thread:</p>
<p>1) Pick your school primarily based on curriculum, program and experiential opportunities. That is what you are in school for.
2) Pick your school based on a general feeling that you could live there for four years (this can change, but make sure at least a few of the aspects you really want are there - location, size, social and other resources).
3) Pick your school based on finances that you and your family can live with in the long run.</p>
<p>As for personalities - of the school and of the people - it’s so hard to gauge effectively by visiting. Just as your auditors are only seeing you for a few minutes, you are only getting a micro-glimpse (and a carefully crafted one at that) of what things really are like there. </p>
<p>Be prepared for things to be very different once you’re in school. Students rotate through - by the time you’re there, 1/4 will be gone, and 1/4 will be new, and that cycle will continue the whole time you are there. Staff and faculty change - picking a school based on the dept head, for example, is as dangerous as picking a school as a recruited athlete based on the head coach of your sport. </p>
<p>Be prepared that YOU might change, too. Be open to this journey and where it might take you. You’re going to learn a lot about yourself, because it’s that time in your life, and also because studying theatre, by definition, makes you do that to a very high degree. Who more than theatre students approaches their college experience by using guts, emotions, and the deepest focus on interpersonal relationships? No wonder this decision is so difficult, and so intensely charged.</p>
<p>Emmybet, I really respect your experience and opinions, but I have to say that of the many, many kids I’ve seen transfer or leave a school, virtually all of them left because it didn’t feel like a good fit in terms of people and overall environment. Most of them transfer to a school with identical curricular opportunities but with a different sense of school “culture.” I don’t believe you can experience that via viewbook, website, or curriculum guide, but I do believe you have to follow your instincts about people and the overall vibe of a place, experienced firsthand. Yes, of course, there’s turnover, but there’s also a school personality, and you have to be honest with yourself about whether or not you could live and study with those people, both classmates and teachers. I’ve been happy to follow your daughter’s story and see that her choice has worked out for her, but I’m quite positive that making a choice based primarily on program/curriculum would NOT work for my son (wouldn’t have for my older two LAC students either). Just another point of view, and as always I am grateful to have seen yours.</p>
<p>^I think Emmybet means that you have to start with program/curricula and take it from there. Theatre departments vary remarkably widely, so careful research is needed.</p>
<p>Hopefully most students can be accepted at a school with the curriculum they need and that also has appeal to them with regard to many other factors.</p>
<p>I wonder if as many BFA students transfer or leave a school as people in other types of programs. You do see stories like that here sometimes, of course…but far more often you hear about a student who did not get into their first choice school but comes to absolutely adore the school they ended up at.</p>
<p>Edit: Crossposted with Emmybet.</p>
<p>Yes, Times3, I am agreeing with you more than you think. Absolutely people have to go with their guts and their personal reactions. I’m just saying that how you get those personal reactions are so hard to trust - and that you just have to trust them, because there’s no science to it.</p>
<p>I’m not saying not to count personal reactions or any of that - it’s all involved in the “can you see yourself there” part of the equation. I’m just saying not to be surprised if the “fit” isn’t what you thought it was going to be. </p>
<p>My D had a terrific visit where she is currently attending. We both thought it was a great fit, although it wasn’t her dream school (all of which rejected her). When she was deciding, there were personal bits and impressions that mattered about all of her choices. So deciding based on her gut feeling wasn’t really possible - it was almost paralyzing. </p>
<p>Then when she actually went to this school, the actual experience there was very different than the impression she’d had when visiting - with many of the students she’d met, with many of the faculty as well. Some of that was due to a typical youthful idealism on her part, and a lot was because you just can’t judge. It’s not that things weren’t good - it’s just that she had a crystallized idea and when reality didn’t line up with her vision, she had to adjust more than she’d expected.</p>
<p>I’m saying it goes both ways - and it’s very much based on personality, too. Some people are happy anywhere. Some people put life through a wringer, and I’ll admit my kid is one of those people. If she had based her decision on her gut feeling, even if she had gotten into a dream school, she would have had to go through very much the same amount of adjustment and re-adjustment as she has at this school. And in the long run, as with so many kids, she would now say that she wouldn’t have wanted to go anywhere else - and most likely would feel that about whichever school she went to.</p>
<p>Also, even though I stress curriculum, I’m not saying that it varies so very intensely among schools, especially among BFAs. There are measurable differences, but much of the distinctions are in the details. Most people will find most of what they are looking for at most schools. The curriculum and program questions tend to be small distinctions - but they are often important ones to individuals. We’ve met kids on this board who found grave disappointment because they thought they would be able to do one thing or another at a school and only found out when they were there that it was missing - something they could have known beforehand with more preparation.</p>
<p>My older D chose her school (which she applied and got into ED) based on a gut reaction. She visited on a whim, and she said the feeling hit her like a rock. The factual information she got later did reinforce that it was right for her (if it hadn’t, I would have pressed her to think long and hard about applying ED). She also is very much the type who will make anything work. So I know that experience. My only real concern here is having seen so many kids who experience the very painful (and expensive) reversal of a gut feeling when it’s not confirmed - and then they have not much else to go on if the other issues haven’t been considered.</p>
<p>I totally agree that most kids transfer because of fit. I think that is because fit is so hard to predict, and gut feelings (most of what it’s based on) just sometimes aren’t accurate. Kids who like the program often can figure out the fit (which is what my D has done) as they grow and mature, or sometimes they don’t really think it’s worth it and they try somewhere else. Sometimes those kids also find that college is college and those elusive qualities aren’t really all that different at other schools.</p>
<p>I’m sorry if my efforts to be comforting and sympathetic are coming off as prescriptive. I’m just saying that there some things are more reliable to assess, but nothing is guaranteed. You just have to do your best and know that things - including your own feelings and needs - can change over time.</p>