Thanks for the clarification @exitstageleft that makes sense. Hard to read the meaning. @theaterwork I hope she has tons and tons of acceptances. This process is challenging and throw out a WIDE net…that was our problem. We only looked at the top tier programs. Didn’t have any help in the search until it was too late. Glad you are starting early.
And just an aside…out of the 80 people who posted their acceptances….40 of them had 1-3 acceptances…most of them were 1 or 2. The others were boys who had multiple choices. Just trying to share information and be realistic. Not trying to be a downer…
RE: choices. This past year, from the Acceptances by Member Name thread, it looks like these were the totals (caveat…I counted quickly).
GIRLS:
1 acceptance: 13
2 acceptances: 9
3 acceptances: 7
4 acceptances: 8
5 acceptances: 5
6 acceptances: 5
7 acceptances: 1
8 acceptances: 1
9 acceptances: 3
TOTAL # GIRLS: 52
BOYS:
1 acceptance: 5
2 acceptances: 1
3 acceptances: 5
4 acceptances: 5
5 acceptances: 2
6 acceptances: 1
7 acceptances: 2
10 acceptances: 1
13 acceptances: 1
15 acceptances: 1
TOTAL # BOYS: 24
UNKNOWN SEX:
1 acceptance: 3
Of course, the people who post on CC are a skewed cross section of the people out there. But I guess the bottom line is that lots of people on this thread got multiple acceptances.
Not sure how/if it pertains to when to visit schools…I agree with the majority on here that if you have schools close by (we used a 6 hour driving distance for our definition of “close”), go see them before…you can do it fairly cheaply. And, you can also skip the pre-audition visits to the schools where you KNOW you’ll be going to campus for the auditions, b/c you can see the school on audition day. Or, if you’re going to be applying to a school ED, I think visiting is crucial before you apply. It would be awful if your child was locked into a school that they ended up hating.
You can have multiple acceptances but other factors (like aid) rule out one or more of your choices. Also not trying to be negative, just saying…But yes there are almost always 2-3 kids who run the tables, everybody else gets one to a few offers.
Thank you @Jkellynh17 that was my point…1-3 acceptances are the norm. So visiting 15 or so programs before acceptances when you may only get the option of one or two to choose from for MY FAMILY was not feasible.
We went to see three in one spring break, two in Chicago, one on the way by car. (But we could not see a fourth, which was in S. Carolina, on the same trip.)
@bisouu, monkey13’s research shows that almost 60% of last year’s girls alone had at least 3 or more options to choose from (and there weren’t any that had absolutely no options at all).
So making the statement that worrying about visits was a moot point when it’s “highly unlikely” that she will have more than one choice at all, is a bit of a stretch and dare I say “projecting” your feelings about your daughter’s disappointing audition experience on the OP.
Visiting before or after has been a popular question for years. Your response to the OPs question sounded like “Who cares about visits…she probably won’t have any choices anyway!” IJS
Good grief, if the coasts were reversed, we probably wouldn’t have visited any ahead of time either. The statistics are daunting. I get it, @bisouu. Of course if funds are unlimited, by all means, visit away.
I would dare say that many of the students represented on this forum are probably some of the most well prepared students out there. Having said that, I think it is good practice to read the final decisions/background threads to gain a sense of what expectations were met…or not.
Regarding visits, son came late to the game in his junior year and spent the summer before senior year at a pre-college program, so no visits happened before auditions. Son visited schools after acceptances arrived. They were his top two and very different, but he could see himself at either. If you have the time, resources and desire, visit.
Remember last year when we had that “unnecessary roughness” thing going on with some aggressive posters? I am calling that on the post (#25) directed at Bisouu.
That said, last year’s group seemed to me to have more mega-multiple acceptances (which I would define as more that say 5, no science involved here) than any of the past years I have read. Not sure that it matters, just saying.
I think that there is no right answer to the visit/don’t visit question. Do what is right for you- it’s your journey
@toowonderful, I thought the same thing about bisouu’s original response to the OPs question.
I remember her posts while going through the acceptance/denials/deferral process and it just seemed like her response sounded a bit harsh. For those who were here during that time, it’s no secret that bisouu’s daughter’s experience was extremely heartbreaking for bisouu and she vented quite a bit about it (which was warranted of course).
Her response to the OP seemed like she was still bitter and telling the OP that her experience was probably going to be similar so why even worry about visits.
I thought that was much more harsh than what I said. 
Thank you @toowonderful I did not mean to sound gruff or dash anyone’s dreams. My posts are often short and to the point which I think comes off as mean. That certainly was not my intention. I would not have survived this process without the wonderful people on this site. I want to be a help and not a hinderance. My three mantras…
Cast a wide net
Love your safety
Your child will end up where they will flourish
<3
I am sorry that you are upset with me @exitstageleft I hope you will accept my apology. Was never my intention to make you feel like I was being rude to the OP…
I think for those on the West Coast, it is way harder for BFA in MT applicants to visit all their schools, simply because a majority of the BFA in MT programs are on the Eastern third of the US. We lived in New England. We were able to drive to 5 out of my D’s 8 schools and had to fly to 3 of them (but two were the same trip (Penn State and CMU). Actually, we flew twice to a school, once for the September visit and once for the audition day.
Again, I am very into visiting before April of senior year, but I realize it is not feasible for everyone to do that. I am NOT of the mantra of not visiting for fear of “falling in love” with a school you may not get into. I think the benefits far outweigh that. Further, going into this process, it is really important to not have one dream school you fall in love with. Considering how difficult the odds are at most BFA programs in MT, it is best to like a lot of schools. It is natural to have some favorites, but not a good idea to have one single fave. I’d say that with visits or no visits, just to be realistic. Pining away for one school as a BFA in MT applicant can be a recipe for disappointment. A student should like something about every school on their list (maybe some more than others) for the school to even be on the list. Visits can help, and I think they never hurt. But people need to do whatever works best for them.
@bisouu , no apology needed to me :). I was just worried about the OP. We both know that parents can be quite fragile during this process so I’m just hoping that the OP can “feel the love” just like you did during that tense time.
When you look at how many schools others get into, it is pretty complicated. Some apply to more schools than others. Some build a MORE APPROPRIATE college list for themselves than others do. Having the right list for oneself is crucial and that itself skews results. While it happens, I have found it rare for those with the right list for themselves to have NO acceptances or even just one (including BFA and BA schools). Not everyone starts with the same list, nor should they and that’s why it is hard to compare because everyone has a different list, and some college lists are more appropriate to the candidate and some are better balanced than others. Everyone’s talent skill set differs and same with their academic profile and so we are not really comparing apples to apples in terms of results here. The applicants differ. Their college lists differ.
part 2
I am sorry that you are upset with me @exitstageleft I hope you will accept my apology. Was never my intention to make you feel like I was being rude to the OP…I don’t want to sound bitter and am so very very pleased with where my daughter has ended up. It truly is a blessing in disguise. She is at the top of her game right now and if she had not had the rejections she did she would not be on the verge of some really amazing things right now.(Can’t share them quite yet). No one was brave enough to tell me that there was a possibility that we would get no acceptances. It is not as rare as you think. I truly believe that 1-3 is the norm and I don’t think I was saying her daughter was going to fall into the no acceptances category. I know we mama bears want to jump in and protect our young and any semblance of criticism at this stage of the game is a waving red flag. Again, was not trying to hurt anyone’s feelings. On the practicality side, visiting schools before those acceptances come in seems silly to me (JMHO) but if you have the money and the time do it. If you look back over time you will find that I asked the EXACT same question the OP did when I was starting this process. In fact, she and I have asked some of the same questions over time. I think we may be kindred spirits. 
@bisouu , I hear you about it seeming silly to you to visit before. I liked visiting before just because we had so much time and it didn’t seem like there was any pressure yet. (We started doing informal visits in sophomore year). But I live in the northeast so it was very easy for us to drive to most of the schools in one day.
I am soooo glad we visited every school on my MT daughter’s list ahead of admissions decisions. She had wanted to attend NYU/Tisch since she was 12 years old. She had older friends in theater who went there and frankly, at that age, she didn’t really know other schools. When she decided to graduate high school a year early and I had originally planned on doing the college visits in her junior year like I had done with her older sister, I didn’t think it was wise to apply ED to NYU (and she had a bunch of friends who were doing that) because we had not seen enough schools to make sure that was the best fit (and ED is a commitment). So, we were able to visit NYU, plus three more before applications were due and auditions commenced and then revisited all four at audition days on campus and then saw the other four for the first time at on campus auditions. D did not do ED. In the end, she did get into NYU/Tisch, but at that point, I felt she had made an informed decision, having visited all 8 of her schools and so she came full circle. I’m glad she didn’t do ED which would not have allowed us to visit all 8 schools ahead of time because her application year was pushed up a year and she applied to college in her junior year of high school. Doing ED, in her case, would have meant deciding on ED while still 15 years old, with not enough visits under her belt. The visits were very informative and solidified why NYU was her top choice when she had all her acceptances in hand. There also never would have been time to visit all the accepted schools in April and I’m glad we did not wait, and even more so because my D was confined to a hospital bed at that time and was finally able to make it out by mid April to attend the accepted student event at Tisch (in a wheelchair). This is just one anecdote.
Well I’m the original poster & I’m not offended by comments posted here…yet…lol. I ask A LOT of questions so I apologize ahead of time. I know my D needs to apply to a lot of schools and a lot of variety in her choices. We have at least 2 safeties right now. Plus a few schools that have easier admits in terms of they don’t draw from all over the country at least. I was just curious as to what others had done in terms of visiting. We are east coast so a bit easier to drive to quite a few. I appreciate everyone’s stories no matter what they are. I share them with my D , who’s having to do a lot of soul searching. She’s conflicted about committing to a total MT major and to be honest, a bit scared of the whole process. She’s so incredibly talented ( I know all of our kids are) and I hate to see her question her talent but I know that’s part of the process. She’ll never know unless she just goes for it but that’s gotta be her decision.
@theaterwork It is still early for your daughter. In her case, I think visiting a couple of BFAs and a couple of BAs to really explore up close the differences, may help her to figure out which path suits her best. Typically, when a student is still unsure of BFA vs. BA by the END of junior year (10 months away for your D), then the “unsure” aspect is typically a sign that a BA path might be the way to go because it doesn’t require a commitment ahead of time. Or she can apply to some of each, sorta 50% of her list of each type of degree program. But visits this coming year may help her really see and understand these differences.
@theaterwork If your daughter is not certain of her path, I would absolutely visit schools. Go during productions, let her talk to students, do summer programs to let her see if she really LOVES it.
I plan to take my d to several schools to watch their musicals. Not to get her to fall in love with a specific school, but to see the differences in productions. Even if she doesn’t apply (or get accepted) to a school, I think there will be something she can take away from every visit. One thing I want her to see is how much talent there is even at her safety schools.