What’s everyone’s take on whether to visit the college before applying or to wait and see where your kid is accepted and only visiting those?
(My son has both on the list)
We live on the west coast and could not afford to visit all the schools she applied to…we visited after acceptances…
I think that would be up to you! I’ve visited the ones in my state, but because of the many out of state schools on my list, I am planning on just touring those when I go up for my audition. As for the unified schools, if I am accepted to one of them, I will go up and visit those! Obviously everyone’s situation is different but I hope this helped!
We did a mixture. My D scratched three schools off her list after visiting (one before she applied, the other 2 after we flew across the country for auditions). Her #1 choice also became her #1 choice after her first visit there in her junior year of high school. I think it depends how much time and money you have. We saw 6 schools within driving distance her junior year. That was very helpful. We also went to shows, showcases, etc. But, I realize this is only realistic if you live in the northeast where there are a lot of programs within a 6 hour drive.
The danger, of course, is that they fall head over heels in love with a particular school once they see it, and then get their heart broken. We knew that was possible, but thought the benefits of seeing schools and comparing TYPES of schools (conservatory vs LAC, urban vs rural, etc.) was helpful. I think it’s a very personal decision and there is no right answer to your question. We did not visit schools which we knew she had to fly to for the audition…thought it was a waste of money. We did visit some schools in her junior year where she did on campus auditions, but they were close enough to make it feasible.
Sorry this wasn’t helpful, but it so depends on where you live, how much time and money you have, and the costs vs the benefits of visiting first…
Honestly, my biggest fear when auditioning on campus, was that my daughter would fall hopelessly in love with the school and program and have her heart broken.
So we didn’t go out of our way to visit schools.
We would talk about what she liked and what she didn’t like at each - and there were two where she had a strong dislike for the program and/or school. (I don’t know what we would’ve done if one of those would’ve been her only acceptance.)
She did end up falling deeply in like (hell, it was love at first sight honestly) with where she is now. So thankfully, everything worked out in the end but I could totally see it going the other way as well.
It’s a tough situation no matter what.
We visited a couple of schools before auditions – a few near us in LA and a few back east. After d was accepted at several schools we went back to NYC and visited and she also did a shadow day at CalArts which was her first love and choice. That visit sealed the deal. Visiting the schools before auditioning was more of a getting to see campuses and my d starting to realize that she would be going to college soon. After acceptances the visits were much more targeted – what does the program look like, what is the vibe.
My d was absolutely not interested in visiting schools until she was accepted. I think part of that was a defense mechanism, and part of it was the result of having visited (or at least drive-throughs) of several colleges on summer vacations in the years leading up to her audition season. We walked or drove around Harvard, Yale, USC, SMU, Rice, TCU, UT, etc. and she spent several weeks on campus for a summer program. Her conclusion was that it was likely that none of the physical differences in campuses were going to be significant enough to impact an acceptance to a program where she liked the audition experience and had good recommendations for the school from her coach and teachers at her PA HS. During audition season, her conclusion at on-campus auditions was that most of the schools and surrounding areas “looked pretty much the same” to her (she did on-campus auditions mostly at schools in the Midwest and South).
D had basically no interest in the size of the football stadium, the number of sororities, climbing walls in the rec center, the number of clubs, etc. She did study pictures of performances online for production quality (staging, choreography, sets, costumes, lighting, etc.) and looked at curricula very carefully. She also set up calls with some of the MT program heads to get answers to in-depth questions about voice training, acting methods, etc.
By the time she made her final decision in April, we were not able to visit the school that she chose, Western Michigan, due to her show schedule and various Senior Class activities. She had to just go by a “Google Street View Tour,” pictures of the campus online, and faith. We did have assurances from some friends from Michigan that it was a nice campus and Kalamazoo was a pleasant town. Luckily, it worked out really well, she loves the campus, the town, and especially the theatre and dance facilities.
Well my opinion isn’t good probably since my D is a junior but we are trying to only visit schools that she isn’t quite sure she wants to apply at or not for various reasons. To sorta knock out the ones that she’s just “so so” about. We already knocked off one because she had a bad feeling when we went and I did too and then another 2 schools she really liked after visiting so she will apply at those 2. The one visit was so helpful because she really doubted the school on paper but after talking to students and faculty loved it. Plus we are only visiting schools that are not far away. Farthest right now is 5 hrs. We are east coast though so close to a lot of schools. A couple of reach schools that she’ll apply to we aren’t visiting until audition. Also it’s good to compare a large campus with 20,000 students to a school with 2,500 if your kid is not decided on what size they prefer. I would try to visit at least a few if at all possible because some things are SO different in person.
I am a fan of visiting before auditions. I completely get the “don’t fall in love” aspect- but D and I are both planners- and it is hard to try to plan a future at a place you haven’t seen. For us- visiting worked, but we are in a good geographic area to make it relatively easy. We visited the summer before senior year. At some, we were only able to take the regular tour, some had opportunities to connect within the theater dept. several schools left her initial list after touring, and her rankings shifted slightly too based on general “vibe”. We did plan to revisit all acceptances later in the year- getting much more specific. But that was HARD given that she didn’t find out about many of them until late March (3 of her high interest acceptances came within a week of each other- and then she got off a wait list, a week before May 1, which added another wrinkle.) So that left April for travel, and the possible schools were in NYC, Chicago, Boston, and Syracuse. She had rehearsal for final show of HS- and I am an AP teacher- April is a busy month, neither of us wanted to miss school. To each their own, but I thought it wise to drop in a caveat about assuming you will have tons of time in the decision process
Also be careful about assuming you’ll have time to visit your acceptance schools before the end of the school year. You may not have all your acceptances until a few weeks before the colleges get out for summer. In those last few weeks, the seniors are generally gone or prepping for showcases (with the accompanying faculty). And the lower grades are prepping for exams, recitals, juries, etc. That is often NOT a good time to get feel for what the program is like. We started visiting schools during junior year.
As others have said, seeing the football stadium and climbing wall is not what interested our S, but getting a general feel for how the campus was situated in the urban/suburban/rural locale was VERY helpful. We visited a couple of schools in summer or immediately after winter break and got some personal time with a few faculty members. Even scheduled a voice lesson at one. We tried to see show performances whenever possible (whether musicals or plays), but sometimes the timing did not work out and S was allowed to sit in on rehearsals instead - which was even better.
It’s a personal decision and by the responses completely different for each family. This is my third, and for all three,visiting was important. They wanted to see the schools before applying. It helped them get a feel for the atmosphere,faculty and students. Gosh, there were a couple that my older two knew right away, I mean barely out of the parking lot that nope no way would they go there. Now we didnt get to see every school but almost all.
Some schools they were iffy about became real contenders after visiting. Ask your child which they prefer and follow their lead. Good luck!
Having visited about 3/4 of the schools my daughter is applying to, the most valuable visits were those in which she was allowed to sit in on classes. Probably the majority of schools don’t do this, but at one - the only one we traveled a reasonable distance to, after a morning spent exploring the city, an afternoon “regular” tour of the school, the next morning, in the middle of an arts-focused tour, I was thinking the whole visit was a dud and a waste of money because there was a distinct lack of enthusiasm for the place (which had been “on paper” one of her top choices) from my daughter. Then she was brought into the first of a few classes she was allowed to sit in on. LIterally five minutes later, she texted me with one of those “I LOVE IT HERE!!! TOTALLY IN LOVE” messages that only a teenager can send. In addition, we saw a performance that evening (planned the visit to coincide) which cemented the love. That visit really helped. But then again it cost a lot of money and we’re talking about a school which accepts a tiny percentage of applicants - so it’s an indulgence in many ways.
Seeing a production at another school, closer to us, which she had responded to favorably on the tour (she saw the production months later) had the opposite effect - she found it weak and the school dropped down lower on her wishlist.
Of course it comes down to time and money. We are saving any which require in-person auditions for the audition itself and recently had to cancel a visit combined with audition and seeing a production at another - doing NY Unifieds instead for the school – because of missing too many AP classes and rehearsals for the school musical.
In addition to everything else, not sure how standard this is, but her HS spring break this year is in March, making any post-acceptance visits even more difficult than when it is an April break. But - multiple acceptances and having to make a tough choice = great problem to have.
We visited three schools last Spring–one with 20,000+ students; one private farm-state school, and one recently trendy Eastern school. Son absolutely refused to visit any more, saying he’d got an idea of the different types of colleges and did not want to fall in love with any of them until he had auditions or offers in hand. I thought it would have been helpful to see more classes or shows but he insisted that web info was enough until he knew exactly where he was able to audition or attend. Sitting in on parent meetings at auditions during the last month, I came around to his way of thinking. When the speakers and current students tell a roomful of hopeful families how wonderful the school is but the school is only offering 12 spots, I have to stop listening - if there is no spot for us, I don’t want to hear how perfect a college is. At future auditions, I’ll sit and read a book while waiting, rather than attend those “carrot” parent meetings! We’ll find a way to deal with the traveling/scheduling once we know if there is an offer on the table.
@monkey113 don’t apologize because you think you’re not helpful! I was asking to get a sense for all of us (and future CC-ers) of what has worked, so your experience is valuable! We’re lucky to live just outside of NYC and started visiting schools sophomore year (Columbus Day of that year we checked out NYU and Juilliard, Veterans Day we plowed through Fordham and Marymount Manahattan) because we knew how many there could be to visit. Although we’ve visited over 25 schools since then (some BFA, some BA), there are still two he’s auditioning for (in NYC thank goodness) that were too far and he’ll check out if he’s accepted. We just took advantage of a recent trip to see his sister’s show at her college in Maryland to run to DC and check out American and GWU (both were removed from the list before we got around to paying the application fee—whew!)
I think accepted student visits to your top 2-3 schools that have accepted you are essential. Pre-acceptance or pre-application trips are nice to get a feel for the school but if you budget limits your visits, then default to accepted student visits. I am also a fan of the on-campus auditions if you can swing it. We did a mixture of Unifieds and on campus. Basically we auditioned on campus if the school was withing driving distance or the school did not go to Unifieds. All other auditions were at Unifieds.
Wow! 25 schools! Sounds like you have it covered!
We found our visits very helpful in helping D determine what kind of campus and program she’d feel at home in. Visits helped rule some schools out, made some schools she wasn’t so excited about top contenders, etc. We are in the midwest and applying to midwest schools only, so that helped.
@lovetoact, I just wanted to point out that you’ve been tagging the wrong CC member – it’s @monkey13 (NOT @monkey113) who’s active in the MT forum!
oh boy! Thanks @maMTma !!!
While I’m a huge fan of getting the vibe of places, and of kids getting a feel for their preferences of campus types, I’ve also seen how incredibly wrong first impressions can be. Based on firsthand experiences, I dislike it when people think they really know any school after touring, seeing a performance, and/or sitting in on a few classes. There is a reason that eyewitnesses are viewed as generally unreliable in criminal trials. For example, D sat in on what she thought was a so-so MT class at one school, only to later realize that neither the professor nor any of the students were even part of the MT program! And I’ve seen a huge quality range in productions on the same campus, depending on goals, budgets, directors, available casting pools, etc. that could lead to vastly different first impressions of a program.
Bottom line is I would never listen very hard to opinions about schools that were formed by anything other than actually attending.