<p>My son is applying to Juiliard and is wondering if taking a week out of his already very busy schedule might be the thing to do. We are in CA and this trip would be costly. We would also visit Curtis. He already met (not in their schools) and talked at great length with the teachers in both schools, they know him, have heard him play and have commented on his playing. THey have invited him to visit their schools several times. My son is in the middle of the application process and he practices for the audition. The trip will take time out of this. He will visit the schools for auditions next semester anyway. What do you advise, what was your experience? Thank you.</p>
<p>If your son has already met and talked at great length with the teachers, it’s probably not worth the time and expense to travel to the east coast. He will visit for auditions anyway, and get a good enough feel for the schools.</p>
<p>While glassharmonica has a good point, just to play devil’s advocate, I would say that the fact that teachers have invited your son to visit their schools implies that they would like to see that happen. These schools are by no means easy to get into, and if making the trip were to help and it is important to your son to be in the studios of the teachers he has met, it seems to me to be worth it to follow this up. At the very least, it would be courteous to write to the teachers, thanking them for the invitation to visit them on campus, indicating that he is applying to their conservatory and that he hopes to be able to meet with them at the time he visits for an audition. He might ask directly if they would like him to come for a visit in advance of auditions. Each teacher is different and may have a preferred approach to the audition year, just as conservatories vary in this as well.</p>
<p>I don’t think it matters when it happens but given that you live in CA your son needs to spend time in Manhattan before even considering attending Juilliard. Living in Manhattan is not like living anywhere else and for many kids just the stress of being in a city that never sleeps, which can be very dark, dirty and cold and miserable in winter is too much. If your son is unhappy he will not be able to be successful with his music. Most kids do not spend 24-7 in the practice room and hopefully as developing musicians-artists they are getting out and learning about the world around them as well. Doing that in NYC might not be right for your son. Your son might decide that Juilliard is not the right place for him to go to school and might consider other top conservatories in other cities if NYC is not right for him.</p>
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Not that I disagree that Manhattan is different from California and other parts of the country, but realistically speaking: this family lives in California and will travel east for auditions at Juilliard and Curtis. Dollars to donuts they won’t be adjacent auditions, so that will either be a longish stay in the east or two trips. These trips are extremely expensive. It it were me (or when my kid auditioned on the west coast) we confined our visit to the audition trip. </p>
<p>Two of my kids go to college in Manhattan. They knew the place, but many of their friends and roommates had not visited except for their audition.</p>
<p>I agree with the others if you can make the trip you probably should. My son has been invited for a lesson/visit from the teacher at Curtis. He is definately going to make the trip down. Fortunately for us it’s only a 5 hour car trip.</p>
<p>I tend to agree with GH,given the cost of flying and prob a hotel, it may not be worth going early. I talked to my S about this, about the west coast schools he will prob apply to, and he didn’t want to make seperate flights, he said he could check the school our during the audition time, maybe go out for a couple of days if possible, given the cost and time. </p>
<p>Actually, if you still want to do seperate trips, maybe it would be more cost effective to do them after the audition (if you feel you need more time to see what it is like). Given how difficult it is to get into Juilliard or Curtis or most music schools, maybe it would be wise to wait until after getting admitted and/or see the deal. You could be rejected by Juilliard or not get enough aid to make it practical, and you would have had the expense of an extra trip…but if you do it after you are accepted and it looks doable, then you can check out the schools where you have been accepted rather then schools you may not be…</p>
<p>Having gone to school in NYC, with kids from all over the world, kids from rural areas an so forth, living in NYC is different but most kids seem to adjust to it pretty easily…plus given the way Juilliard is, a lot of the time will be spent at the school from everything I can tell, they tend to be long days with ensembles, lesssons, and a lot of practicing…but again, if you feel what you see at the audition isn’t enough, then do it after you are accepted, there is a month (April) to be able to do that, and it is likely you will find you only want to see a couple of schools anyway…and NYC and Curtis, if you are lucky enough to get into both, are close enough that it is pretty easy to arrange a trip to see both , saving money with 1 airfare:)</p>
<p>I’m with glassharmonica and musicprnt on this. Given the expense and time of a trip from California to visit more than one eastern school, I doubt if the trip is worth it. As well, NYC is much more attractice in autumn now than at the end of February, so your child won’t get a full picture. I have not heard of a student that has crossed Juilliard or Curtis off their application list after a pre-application visit (although I’m sure that does occasionally happen). For students at the Juilliard/Curtis level, the music is usually such a consuming and energizing focus that the non-musical aspects of the city and school are not as crucial for them as they are for your typical 18-year-old.</p>
<p>Violindad-
Juilliard has roughly a 94% rate of students deciding to go there after being admitted, and curtis is up there (the Juilliard number is from their admissions department, curtis based on what little I have heard)…:)</p>
<p>Thank you all, we are still undecided for the exact reasons you all mentioned. Son is not sure that he can take away one week out of his practice and academic work… He would like to visit Manhattan though, he likes big towns and loves Paris, but NY is different I guess. Ahhh, decisions, decisions… Sometimes, I’d like to have a crystal ball!</p>
<p>I really think these elite conservatories understand the huge financial commitment of the audition process. The real reason they hope to see you in advance is to be certain of your interest level in the school and to give them a chance to show you all of the school’s fine points. This can be accomplished in other ways than traveling there to take the tour. In fact, during audition week they provide all of those tours, realizing that most of the students wait to make a trip until the audition. A dialogue - paper trail of emails, questions, etc. with the admissions office and faculty will demonstrate the seriousness a student has about a school and it will give a clearer picture to the prospective student. If Juilliard visits your area, however, do try to attend that meeting. This way admissions can put a face to the name. I say stay home, practice, have a terrific prescreen tape, and make one exciting trip to New York when the time comes.</p>
<p>And Philly is different from Manhattan. At some point before he has to (fingers crossed) make a decision between the two schools, he gets a chance to get a good sense of life as a student at both schools.</p>
<p>This is a tough call. I don’t think the reason to visit is to see whether your son likes the schools or to decide if he can hack living in New York City. The reason to go is to play for faculty and make sure they are interested in having him in their studios. The OP’s son’s teachers didn’t say “see you at auditions”. They invited him to come to visit before auditions as a part of the application process. Without knowing who your son is or the teachers who invited him, it’s hard to say whether this could be a case of don’t bother to spend the money because he won’t get in no matter what, or your son is so great he doesn’t need to have a teacher holding a space for him in advance of the auditions.
My hunch is that it’s somewhere in the middle, in which case accepting the invitations, meeting with teachers, having the sample lessons they’ve offered, and solidifying his prospects in their studios would be worth the sacrifice of a few hours practice in the long term.</p>
<p>A comment from way back - My son DID visit Juilliard the year before he auditioned, but I don’t think anyone knew, remembered, or kept track. He did not meet his teacher prior to auditions, despite our best attempts to make contact. </p>
<p>Also, the Curtis and Juilliard auditions - at least for orchestral instruments - used to be on the same weekend, on purpose for accommodating folks who had to travel. I believe the other NYC schools were also adjacent, although my S didn’t audition there. We flew to Philly on Friday, auditioned at Curtis Sat. mid-day, took a train to NYC in the afternoon, met with the pianist Sat. evening, auditioned at Juilliard Sun. morning, and flew home Sun. evening.</p>
<p>My info is nearly a decade old now, so may not be valid. But I do think that when you come to auditions, that is the time to look around both cities. You can get a tour of Juilliard at the same time. Really, the “campus” isn’t much to see at either Juilliard or Curtis.</p>
<p>Stringkeymom’s point is valid. Only the OP and son can determine what the strategic advantage is to a pre-audition visit since we do not know the details of the communications between the schools and the OP, not to mention the real (as oppossed to our speculation) motives of the schools in offering visits. Speculating is always fun, but more for our own amusement. That being said, I think face time never hurts, not to mention maybe having the chance to play the organs on which he will be auditioning.</p>
<p>Hello- did you end up visiting? My DD and I toured in the spring of this year when we were in NYC for a different reason, and then my husband and DD flew up a couple of weekends ago for a spotlight visit. It was expensive, but worth it.</p>