SUNY Purchase

Congratulations to everyone on your DKs acceptances! My DD is a current freshman and absolutely loves it! Yes, the current freshman class is 65. We were told at the auditions last year that they were looking for around 40-45 students initially but due to changes in the NYS Excelsior program as well as the school’s decision to drop the standardized testing requirement, they accepted more students last year.

@shanniebannie Can you provide specifics about what your DD loves about Purchase? I think my DD is close to deciding on Purchase, and would love to hear some experiences of current students. How many hours a day is she dancing? How is campus life, dorms, food etc? Thanks in advance!
And just to add to the info above, at the audition she attended they mentioned that they were shooting for a class size of about 45, and would accept about 90 in order to get that class size.

At my daughters audition they said they would accept about 60 and hoped to end up with a class of 40-45. It’s odd that they said different things. We will see!

@MomL98 I’m happy to share. DD dances around 3-4.5 hours daily, a combination of ballet, advanced pointe, modern, special modern, ballet partnering, composition/improv skills, ballet vocabulary. That time does not include rehearsals, which would be later in the evening and might add 2 more hours of dancing. She also has music, anatomy for dancers, dance production (she had to have a toolbelt and she learned to lay Marley flooring!) and one academic class (this semester it was creative writing; last semester was media studies). She loves campus life-her roommate is a visual artist and they get along well. She also loves the dance facilities and dance department. She feels that it is the first environment where there is not a vicious competitive spirit and all dancers in the department are unique. Everyone is encouraged to be their own individual self. DD is vegetarian/vegan so she eats at the vegetarian/vegan place on campus. She also is able to find edible food in the dining hall to meet her needs. The Purchase campus is quite dated and isn’t for everyone, but they are building some newer updated dorms. We live in NYC so DD comes home about twice a month for the weekend to see NYCB and performances at the Joyce. The access to the NYC dance scene was critical to her decision to attend Purchase. I hope this helps.

@shanniebannie I have heard that Purchase doesn’t offer much,or any $ for artistic scholarships. Do you know if that is the case?

Hi @birdie13. I don’t know what Purchase offers re artistic scholarships, but it would not surprise me that the artistic scholarships would be small and few in number, given that it is a state school.

@shanniebannie Thank you for the info! It was really helpful. After narrowing down her choices, she decided on Purchase. We have visited the campus, and it isn’t her favorite, but the program and the potential choreography concentration won out in the end. We live in the Midwest and her goal has been to get within an hour of NYC so she’s excited ?

@MomL98 Congrats to your DD! Would you mind sharing what you have learned about their choreography concentration process? My DD also had Purchase towards the top of her list in that she is also very interested in choreography, but has since taken it completely off after hearing from friends that are currently in the program that they have been very disappointed in how few they let continue on with the choreography concentration. My daughter was very discouraged by how they described the process and wasn’t willing to risk her love of choreography composition to be taken away after just freshman year! I want her to keep an open mind until she has heard from all schools and get as much info as she can about her choices before she makes final decisions.

Congratulations to your DD @MomL98 - my DS has several friends at Purchase and they are enjoying the program. While the campus isn’t gorgeous :)) we were impressed with the dance building. I think NYC is close enough for fun, but far enough away to be an everyday distraction!

where in the midwest? My daughter is considering Purchase and we are from Indianapolis.

Congratulations to your DD @MomL98!!! Please let me know if you have any other questions.

Thanks everyone! I’m really proud of her. We live in a small rural town in Wisconsin, and she was lucky to get very good training, but for the last three years she has been spending weekends in Chicago from September to March to supplement her training, and it’s about 31/2 hrs each way. She definitely showed her dedication and commitment, and her hard work paid off ?

@thedancermom we don’t know a whole lot about the choreography concentration, just that you apply your sophomore year and it sounds pretty in-depth. Purchase was one of the few schools she auditioned at that had it as a possibility. I guess she’ll find out next year ?

@dkmm1973 we are in Wisconsin
@shanniebannie thank you! If you have any advice on dorms let me know!

Congrats to her and to you!

@shanniebannie My daughter is 99% sure she will be headed to Purchase in the fall. Can you tell me about the food and the meal plan? Also, any good insight about the dorms? How often does your child go to the city? Do most kids have a car?

@birdie13 Congratulations to your daughter! My DD loves Purchase. There are multiple meal plans with many flexibility options. DD is pescatarian who eats vegetarian and vegan food. She has the 5 day a week meal plan that allows flexibility because we live in NYC and she comes home on weekends, about twice a month. She did not want the 7 day a week meal plan because it was too much food. For the weekends that she stays on campus, she eats out or uses Flex points, which allows you to each at local restaurants. I’d recommend signing up for a meal plan that allows some flexibility, and if your DD decides that it’s too much food or not enough, you can change it up. It really depends on how your dancer prefers to fuel themselves. There is a vegetarian vegan restaurant on campus and she eats there regularly. She has not complained about the food–she can always find something to eat. There’s a Trader Joes in white Plains and she likes to stock up there on the things that she can stash in her dance bag. As for housing: Big Haus, Farside and Crossroads are the three big freshman dorms. My girl is in Farside in a double, which she liked. Avoid the triples if you can, because some of them can be very small and tight for 3 people. Be sure to check out the virtual tours of the dorms on the Purchase website. The dorms are not as luxurious as other campuses, but DD didn’t pick Purchase for the dorms. She really only sleeps in her room; most of her time is spent in the Dance Building. We live in NYC and don’t own a car and neither does she, but she comes into the city about every other weekend to see NYCB or other dance companies, to hang out with NYU friends in the city, to audition for summer intensives or to take class at STEPS. I think she also likes coming home and getting a home cooked meal. My husband and I enjoy her whenever she comes home. Coming home also depends on her Purchase dance schedule. We did not see her much this past month, because of rehearsals for the Purchase Dance Company as well as the Junior and Senior choreography projects. I hope this helps. Let me know if you have other questions. My DD feels that she really made the right choice. She has had an AMAZING first year so far.

@shanniebannie thanks for the in depth reply! It’s just so scary making this decision. We are waiting a couple weeks until she commits as she is waiting on one more school. I’m worried if we don’t pay the housing deposit she will get stuck in a triple room. Is it first come first served I wonder?

@birdie13 I’m pretty sure that the housing is not first come, first serve. Keep in mind that the admissions season is still wide open and many students, like your daughter, are still weighing their options, and won’t make final decisions until they revisit the campuses, talk to other students, get financial aid packages, etc. and May 1st rolls around. Plus schools want to have all committed students in the new class accounted for before they begin matching them up and setting housing. Students also fill out housing questionnaires to determine their roomie preferences, so you can have a say in what type of housing you want. I seem to remember that housing assignments did not get set until July. So you are good. Good luck to you and your daughter in whatever decision she makes!

@shanniebannie one more question if you don’t mind. I see that orientation is 3 days in July and one day in August, the day after they move in. We have plans to be at the beach the days in July. Is that mandatory? Is that when they register for classes and she might get stuck with no options? Also, what academic classes did you daughter take her first year?

@birdie13 No problem! The July orientation is mandatory for students and optional for parents, but I would encourage you to attend if you can. Of course, you may want to call to ask if there is flexibility if you have a conflict. Your dancer only has to attend one of those July days, not all three. We attended with our daughter and found the parents orientation (which was separate) to be very helpful. Good general sessions on stuff parents want to know about like campus security, parking, financial aid, health resources, academic counseling, meeting the housing staff and residential life, and specific instructions on move-in day in August. Dance parents get to meet with Nelly Van Bommell and her assistant to ask specific questions about freshman year, specifically around the first intense 3 weeks of school regarding placement for ballet and modern and auditions for the Purchase Dance Company as well as Senior projects. We found this invaluable. Ms. Van Bommel meets with the freshman dancers separately. The freshman Dance major classes are already predetermined. They all take the same courses, only placement will differ. For academics, our DD had Media Studies in the fall and College Writing and Anatomy in the Spring (although I think Anatomy might be a part of the dance curriculum) I’m actually not sure if she chose those academic classes but I will ask her. I hope I answered your questions. Let me know if this helps.

@birdie13 just following up on the academic courses-my DD selected Media Studies and College writing. The dance courses are required for the major. Anatomy is part of the dance curriculum. Hope this helps.