<p>Newbie here.... Quick question: Our rising senior D has had a busy rehearsal/performance schedule this past year. We were wondering if it's possible to do college MT program visits in the summer, as she'll have some free time. Not sure what's available then. Any help would be most appreciated. Thanks!!</p>
<p>Most colleges have closed their programs for the summer, although a few, like Boco, Steinhardt NYU, UArts, OCU and others (check the summer program postings) run programs for high school and college students over the summer that often include classes taught by the MT program instructors, so you might be able to get a feel for the program and be able to arrange for interviews with department professionals, which I highly recommend. Most of these programs take place in July, though, not August, so it would be a good idea to hop on top of it right away. You can usually get a whole campus tour in July, although it will be so much less busy, you might not get a real feel for the campus. Check the summer program forums that are on here, and also check college websites to find out who is open.</p>
<p>Most faculty and students are working professionally in the summers, so it is difficult to arrange a tour or visit for the department during the summer months. </p>
<p>You should at the very least be able to take a general campus tour through the admissions office, and may be able to tour the theatre facilities at many schools (quite possibly independently).</p>
<p>Where I teach faculty may be available through early or mid-June and again in mid to late August (right before classes start)… and some students are around in the summer working on campus for the professional children’s theatre, or performing with a few local theatre companies… although most are working outside of the local area… when prospective students contact me about visits in the summer I try to find out if there are any current students who may be able show a prospective around and answer questions if I am not in town myself to do so. </p>
<p>Try emailing department offices and program coordinators and you may find that some may be able to meet with you.</p>
<p>It is generally better to visit when classes are in session, you can meet students and faculty, and can get a feel for the campus/ program “vibe” … however, I remember visiting campuses/ MT/ Theatre Programs with my mom (gulp…) 24 years ago when I was a rising HS senior, and I was able to glean enough information to discard a few schools/ programs from the list and solidify a few others. At the very least the summer visits can help a student see if they like the general campus, town, program facilities, etc…</p>
<p>We’re visiting Texas State next month, even though no one will be around in the theater department (I did check with them). Walking around that hilly campus in the Texas heat doesn’t sound great to me, but we’ll be there on vacation, and I hate to pass up a chance to tour the school.</p>
<p>We got excellent advice from my Ds audition coach. Visit when you go to the school for your audition. You can sit in on a class, tour the school, etc. Her advice that I thought was great is if you visit before then you may fall in love with a school, give other schools less attention because of that, and then if you’re not accepted to your “dream” school you feel even more devastated.</p>
<p>If it’s the only time you can see yourself going then at least you can see what the campus looks like and the surrounding area especially if you have a kid who has very specific ideas about the kind of area they want to live in. If it doesn’t matter then wait until you are auditioning there or once you get an acceptance. We initially looked during sophmore year and she decided if the campus area (urban, rural, large, small) mattered, after that we only went on campus visits when there was an audition that required it or an acceptance.</p>
<p>Well, if anyone is in the Myrtle Beach area over the summer (not too bad of a place to be lol) then you can certainly stop in at CCU. I know a few students are around this summer working in the area and I am sure they would be happy to take you on a tour and help you get a feel for the deaprtment. Several are performing at Brookgreen Gardens in “This Wooden O”, the Shakespeare in the Garden performances.
[Cool</a> Summer Evenings](<a href=“http://www.brookgreen.org/CoolSummerEvenings.html]Cool”>http://www.brookgreen.org/CoolSummerEvenings.html)</p>
<p>I strongly agree with jeffandann and broadway95. Schools are very different when they have all the students there. You will not get a feel for what the student body is like or the overall vibe. A school without students is dull and lifeless. And there is little as important as what your child feels about the MT program, the faculty and the way the MR students interact. If you can’t see the program in action, IMO it isn’t worth the trip as a rising Senior. You and your child will reach opinions that are not based on full information. And I agree that with the level of competition in these programs, it isn’t worth the money to go fall in love with a school and not get admitted. It is different than visiting with a student who is just applying academically.</p>
<p>If your child is like mine, it actually might be very useful. It made a big difference to see the physical environment, wander around the halls and talk to people spontaneously, and get a sense of whether it would be a comfortable place to spend four years. Of course you would bear in mind that it’s different when students are there, but for some students, it helps a lot to see a place in person–sometimes more than once. We were able to arrange tours with current students as well as conversations with faculty at several acting programs last summer, including Evansville and DePaul, places we wouldn’t have had time to visit during the school year. I also knew quite a few folks who found themselves trapped in April without time to visit everyplace their child was accepted–or without knowing about financial aid yet, so it was still a gamble. This is quite a divisive issue on CC, and you’re the only one who knows whether you think it’s worth your time. If you and your kid feel inclined to visit, I expect you’ll find it useful; it’s a pretty personal thing.</p>
<p>We are taking advantage of being in the midwest to do 5 college tours this summer. I think it is a good way for my D to get a feel for the campus – albeit without the full cohort of students. She is a rising Jr., so we have another year to arrange for other campus visits. With school and her typical rehearsal schedule, it is unlikely we will be able to tour anything other than the California schools during session. We will likely do the east coast next summer.</p>
<p>Speaking for myself in Mary Anna Dennard’s book she said that she recommends that you visit schools after acceptances were in hand cause it hurts so much more when you are in love with somewhere and then you dont get in. I think this is a great way to do it, and it worked really well for me.</p>
<p>The problem with waiting until acceptances are in is that many acceptances may come in very late and close to the decision deadline, particularly wait lists. I know some of those that just came in this week! Also that ups airfare for those far away. My daughter, in sophomore and junior year visits dropped at least 4 off her list just due to campuses that were unappealing to her and didn’t even apply there. You should only apply to where you are sure you want to go! Dealing with those that don’t accept you is part of your growth.</p>
<p>^Christie, I could not agree more!</p>
<p>I would try and get a few visits in over the summer. It is very difficult to get everywhere you want to go during the school year when your own child is likely to be very busy with school. As others have mentioned, some schools are available for a tour and information session and some are not. If you can find a few to do this summer, it will be helpful to get them out of the way. I think we did 7 of our 14 last summer. Make sure you get to the theatre department and not just the overall school tour. The overall tour will not help with your theatre specific questions.
If you really need to meet students to know the “feel,” you can do that aspect when you go for the audition.
One other point - we actually removed three schools from our “to apply” list based on things we learned at the information session/tour. My D just heard some things that she really didn’t like. We double checked the information afterward, and then decided that those schools just weren’t for her. She is looking for a different focus than those schools offer. So a visit can actually clarify whether or not you want to apply to a school.</p>
<p>Austinmtmom, we are actually planning to do just that in August, right when school opens up. So, I may be taking you up on that offer for my daughter.</p>
<p>I disagree with waiting until acceptances to visit. It can cause a logistical nightmare. Time and money are a consideration too. Also, these kids need to get used to rejection…plain and simple. They are applying to programs with very slim odds of acceptance compared to most other majors. They know that. I am old school, but I say visit and if you don’t get in, brush yourself off and move on. Apply and audition to a good number, and maybe you can’t visit all of them, but I think waiting until acceptances is risky. What if you don’t like any of those schools once you visit? Maybe the list would have been different if you visited earlier in the process.</p>
<p>sydsim - Sounds great! I’m not sure when rehearsals for Sweeney Todd start, since that is a department of music production, but a number of MT kids are in it and your D could possibly attend a rehearsal if those have started when you are there. But definitely get the tour scheduled and some time with students and faculty lined up! The official university tour is good, but your D will want the “all things theatre” tour as well. Since my D now lives there year round, I won’t be around since there is no move in this year - not that I’m complaining about not having to help with another move in! - but there should be some parents around if you want to try and meet up with any of them. I can help you with that part.</p>
<p>We visited some college campuses the summer between our D’s sophomore and junior years. She also attended OCU’s summer program and mPulse, Michigan’s summer program so she got a good feel for those schools as well. Many of the schools we visited we did just a cursory drive through - got out walked around, talked to students or faculty who happened to be around in the summer - and we usually did this as we were on our way somewhere else so it wasn’t that we had to make special trips to see each of these schools. For example we drove thru Ohio on one trip and drove through CCM, Otterbein and Baldwin Wallace. We were in Chicago and visited CCPA and Northwestern. On another trip we visited Carnegie Mellon and Point Park. It’s amazing how many schools you are close to if you really plot them all on the map. Although these brief visits didn’t tell us everything we needed to know about these schools, it was very helpful in figuring out what types of campuses appealed to our D. After a couple of summers, she realized she no longer was interested in city schools or conservatories - she wanted a conservatory style program but she wanted it on a campus where she could possibly go to a football game or participate in greek life or be in other clubs …Because she had seen a good number of schools once auditions started she decided to not visit any other schools until after the auditions were over. She did not want to fall in love with a campus and then be disappointed if she didn’t get in the program. She did the majority of her auditions at unifieds. She did do a few on campus auditions and liked all of those schools very much - but she felt sometimes spending part of the day touring campuses and sitting on classes could be a bit draining and took away from her readiness to audition. So I’m not convinced audition day is the best day to tour a campus. In the end, we did end up visiting some schools after being accepted to see the campuses over spring break this year. We did not find that too difficult to do. The schools were very accomodating and helpful. I think some of it comes down to you and your child and what gives you the most comfort level with your decision making. Some people make a decision on reputation of the school alone. Some choose solely because of the faculty they meet. Some choose because they already know people there. And some choose because of that on campus visit. I do think the preliminary visit of different types of campuses (big schools, small schools, city schools, more rural or suburban schools, conservatories, liberal arts programs etc…) at least gives you a basis for knowing which direction you want to head. So if you’re headed on vacation this summer I’d highly recommend driving through a few campuses whether you have a particular interest in that school or not.</p>