<p>Still looking for info about Viterbo (in Wisconsin), if anyone can help. Found a few mentions in previous threads, but not much. Wondering if anyone has any first-hand knowledge from auditions, visits, attending, knowing someone who attends. My d has heard some good things, and website looks interesting, but too far away for pre-audition visit, so I’m hoping for cc insight!</p>
<p>BiGismama,</p>
<p>My Ss have a friend who will begin her junior year at Viterbo in MT. I have not heard much about the program....they admit a very small amount of students each year and I believe some of them are found through recruiting through various show choir competitions held throughout the midwest. I do know that this particular girl was offered a spot immediately after she auditioned. Not sure if this is the norm or they do this with all students who audtion.</p>
<p>My Ss' friend has time to be on newspaper and is also a cheerleader...so it's evident that there is spare time outside the BFA program.</p>
<p>The only other thing I can offer is that I have been on their campus...it is small, but quaint. LaCrosse is a clean and scenic city nestled in the bluffs and bordering the Mississippi River.....my youngest son is considering UW-LaCrosse, so we have been up there on a couple different visits.</p>
<p>Hope this helps....</p>
<p>SUE aka 5pants</p>
<p>SUE aka 5pants:</p>
<p>Thanks much for the info Sue, every bit helps, especially since we won't be able to get there to see the campus anytime soon. It looked very scenic from the pix I saw, and small urban area rather than rural is the direction D would prefer. Did you get the impression that there was much happenning in LaCrosse outside the college campuses? I believe I've read that there are 3 universities located there; did you get more of a college town or city feel?</p>
<p>Another school she's very interested in is Webster, so thanks for all the information you have provided previously regarding yours sons' experiences -- sounds like a great school!</p>
<p>-Barb</p>
<p>Barb,</p>
<p>LaCrosse is approx. 55,000 population. They have a lot to offer for a city this size, including a gorgeous performing arts center, and loads of things to do including Oktoberfest (I think they spell it like that) which is held next to the river. LaCrosse has a reputation of quite the college town in all aspects.</p>
<p>I believe that there are 3 different health care facilities/hospitals that also thrive in LaCrosse, including a satellite for Mayo Clinic. Of course these type of facilities can only benefit a community. Needless to say the city is impecibly maintained.</p>
<p>Come to think of it now, my guys do know someone else in Viterbo's program. Actually he is the boyfriend of a girl they go to school with at Webster. He is from Las Vegas and absolutely loves LaCrosse.</p>
<p>I'm glad I could be of some help. If you get down Webster's way be certain to contact my Ss....they would be more than happy to answer any questions.</p>
<p>Have a good one!!</p>
<p>SUE</p>
<p>SUE,</p>
<p>Thanks so much for the information on LaCrosse; great to hear about happy Viterbo students, D is very interested! Maybe we'll be planning a trip north this spring..... </p>
<p>-Barb</p>
<p>Barb-
My neighbor's S [visual arts/graphic arts major] is headed back for his 2nd year there and he LOVES it. They have said repeatedly that my D [looking at MT] should consider it from what they know of her[she wants a serious program in a "collegey"[her word not mine] environment.</p>
<p>I' ve spent considerable time in LaCrosse for business and kids' ski races, usually in the winter, and have found it to be a quaint college town for sure. The setting is beautiful as Sue says, with the bluffs and the river. Fall is especially breathtaking.</p>
<p>Something else to note, the Twin Cities of Minneapolis & St. Paul, MN are within 120 miles and those are metropolitan cities with all the cultural offerings that any other city has, and, since we are talking about a female, they DO have the Mall of America [LOL-I am stereotyping but I know my D will shrivel up and die if she can't go shopping once in a while].</p>
<p>If you want to hook up with our neighbor, pm me and I'll see what I can do.</p>
<p>Another ski race mom on the MT forum! Believersmom, I didn't know! Both my kids have been racers since they could walk, lol, but one has given it up and one still does it. So, you have to remember which one to say "break a leg" to.....
Susan</p>
<p>Ah yes, that is a challenge. D is sometimes racing AND performing in the same day, and S sleeps, eats and breaths ski racing like D does her arts. Keeps life interesting. Not to mention how I want to hurl everytime they are in the starting gate...can only imagine that I will be kneeling before the porcelain stool a lot during audition season.</p>
<p>But we digress from topic, sorry all...</p>
<p>I'll digress in one more post too....
Both my kids grew up ski racing AND doing performing arts. The older D continued to keep a foot in each all the way through senior year (but had to give up school musicals for ski team but did other performing arts). Younger D gave up her sports, including ski racing, in middle school. Many who know her in theater have no idea she was a ski racer, for instance. The ballet teacher never liked it, lol. My older D, while still very well rounded, is VERY passionate about ski racing and is now on her college's varsity ski team and is not doing as much in the arts but hopes to make the tap dance troupe by audition at her school this year. The other one now just eats/breathes theater. </p>
<p>Like you, my nerves are ratcheted way up at the start of every ski race. Not only am I aware of ski injuries, I have witnessed them at my kids' races. Last year, I was standing at the bottom of one of my D's collegiate races with the parents of a teammate and we looked up the hill at her D's run and she crashed, came down on a sled and was out the season, surgery, etc. I have been SO lucky that my kids have not been hurt racing (though I was injured skiing!). I know many parents might watch a race and hope their kid does well but I am looking up the hill and praying she does not get hurt. Last year, I traveled all the way to Idaho to see my D in the national collegiate ski championships, the biggest race of her life. She crashed near the top and my heart was pounding until I saw that she got up. It was disappointing but thankfully she was not hurt! Of course, on my way back home from the race, my other D was severely injured in a car crash but I don't think we tend to think of all the other ways to get hurt like we do when we are watching a ski race. By the way, yesterday we got Bode Miller's autograph for our D as he was here in our town. And let me tell you, that I was not as nervous AT the college auditions as I am at ski races. I was nervous about the outcome of the entire admissions process for my kids but not at the actual auditions. It is nothing like the fear of your kid getting hurt on the race course, or worse. Trust me. </p>
<p>Ok, back to our regularly scheduled discussion....
Susan</p>
<p>PS, I can relate to the "racing and performing in the same day". My older D even wrote about the many directions in her life on one of her college essays and she related how one day she was in a ski race on one side of the state, changed clothing in the car to travel 90 miles to All State Music auditions, followed by this or that performance. I can't tell you how many times she goes from a sport event to an arts event and the car is the changing room and the transformation from her athlete side to her arts side. Her essay got into her many sides, in fact. I really know what you are talking about here!</p>
<p>I was called back for Viterbo at the National Thespian Conference (for drama, not MT, because I ended up doing two monologues instead of a monologue and a song...the midwest gives me allergies!) and I had a looong discussion with...ack I can't remember his name, but he has dark hair and I'm pretty sure he was the head of the theatre department, anyway he was SO nice and that interview was one of the ones I enjoyed the most. He was very engaged and interested in what I had to say and the program seemed pretty impressive for an un-heard of program like that.</p>
<p>My S auditioned and was accepted into MT at Viterbo and although he chose to go to IWU instead he had a good impression of the school. Susan Rush, the head of MT is quite a character and she pretty much told S he had a spot after his audition. (They were taking 8 altogether). He got his letter a week later.</p>
<p>LaCrosse is in a beautiful area and is definitely more small city than rural. Viterbo has a reciprocity agreement with UW-LaCrosse so their students can attend their social events, use their library, etc. One point htat stuck out for S was that the school was 72% female! A plus in his book....</p>
<p>Hey Baymom!</p>
<p>Another Wisconsinite on CC, yeah!!! What great information about UW-LaCrosse's reciprocity agreement. D tho will not be happy about the 72% female pop...:o</p>
<p>believersmom - </p>
<p>I love finding more people from Wisconsin too! If I can be of any help from a Wisconsin perspective, let me know. We did the whole traveling thing the past two years and learned alot. Good luck to you and your D.</p>
<p>I dont know much about UW-Lacrosse, except that I had two incredible acting teachers at Interlochen, Dana McConnell and Walter Elder, who are on staff this year at UW-LaCrosse. I cannot emphasize how wonderful they are. Don't know if they teach just acting or what...is the MT program good?</p>
<p>aspiringactress1,</p>
<p>Not sure if that question is directed at me. BUT I will nibble. First of all, I wasn't clear with my postings...I apologize. My youngest son is not a theatre guy like his brothers...he is our math guy. He has been eyeing up UW-LaCrosse for a major in mathematics.</p>
<p>However, we did stop and look at the performing arts center when we toured...how could we not? We also picked up a brochure detailing the program. UW-LaCrosse has a BA & BS in Theatre Arts with concentrations in Performance, Design & Production, Management or General Emphasis. </p>
<p>For more info on UW-LaCrosse, here is the link: <a href="http://www.uwlax.edu/%5B/url%5D">http://www.uwlax.edu/</a>
UW-Lacrosse theatre program: <a href="http://www.uwlax.edu/theatre/%5B/url%5D">http://www.uwlax.edu/theatre/</a></p>
<p>Viterbo which is also located in the city of LaCrosse, not far from the UW campus offers a MT BFA.</p>
<p>SUE aka 5pants</p>
<p>My son is auditioning at Viterbo; the drawback is LaCrosse (beautiful but not much happening). And the nearest big town to LaCrosse is LaCrosse. The PROGRAM is pretty well-respected and its director is fabulously friendly and interesting. We'll see what he things/ they think. A friend's sister did her undergrad work there in pre-med and loved it. It's very, very small.</p>
<p>mamalot,</p>
<p>As I posted before my S goes to UW-LaCrosse...and he loves it there. Loves LaCrosse period. The city we live in is nearly identical to LaCrosse's population and believe me LaCrosse has much more to offer than our city. If interested I can give you a couple 'Facebook' names of current Viterbo for your S to contact. Let me know.</p>
<p>Mamalot, </p>
<pre><code> My H grew up in LaCrosse and it's a great place to go to school! UWL is also there and it's full of college fun: festivals, Octoberfest, riverfest, river rafting, you name it. It's a very family oriented town, so shopping and restaurants are good, nice hotels and it's not that far to Milwaukee or Minneapolis. They even have a little spot to ski! My H took classes at UWL and Viterbo as a HS senior and found them to be excellent. After visiting several college towns recently, LaCrosse is definately better than many!
</code></pre>
<p>mamalot-
When did you visit? That may have a lot to do with your impression of LaCrosse.
Also, the little "spot to ski" (I loved that!!! Seriously, not fifteen minutes ago I was at a meeting with a bunch of people who would be rolling on the ground to hear Mt. LaCrosse referred to that way and you have no idea how much I needed that chuckle tonight) is actually a kind of big deal in Wisconsin. They host USSA races there, major invitationals there and this coming weekend will host (as they always do) the WI State High School Ski Championship.</p>
<p>Dig a little deeper and I believe you will find there is a lot more happening there than you might have thought. :)</p>
<p>I think LaCross is a charming community. I was VERY impressed with Viterbro's theater web site.</p>