| My D and I came back from Philly about a week ago, and between my work (I'm a school teacher) and jet lag, I finally have the time to talk about our visit to U. of Arts. I want first of all to thank MichaelNKat, Sheerviolette and Broadwaywannabe for their invaluable help when I first joined this discussion board to getting the chance to meet with you Sheerviolette and have Broadwaywannabe take us around both on the tour, meet with us and see my D. visiting in on one of her classes and being SOOOOOO nice, introducing her to everyone, etc.
Our visit was magical. I had rented a car from JFK because we had been to visit my D's other schools she had been admitted to, and drove down to Philly. From the time we crossed the bridge, turned onto Broad St. and then finally saw those U of Arts flags, we were at home.
We stayed at the Doubletree, at MichaelNKat's suggestion, which was affordable because they gave us a hugh U of Arts discount, and my husband was part of their Honors program, so it was fabulous and was a perfect place of us to stay.
We met first with broadwaywannabe and sat in Starbucks enjoying her conversation, all the info we could ask her, and think of her. We SOO appreciated her setting aside some of her precious time to talk with us. We then met with Sheerviolette, who was also fantastic. You both represent U of Arts so well and they would be proud of how helpful you were to us. By that night D was set on going to U. of Arts, just because she really felt you both had given her an honest, straightforward view of the university.
That night we went to the opera. D had never been to an opera before, so it wasn't her favorite, but we loved the opera house itself.
The next day we first met with Charles Gilbert who was really nice to my D. He seemed genuinely interested in her and tried to convince her to come to U of Arts. He also introduced her to Patty Raine, the musical theater prof, and she was also really nice. They both invited her to visit their classes which she arranged to do. Then we went to see a dorm tour and got to see Pine and Furness which was great. We were impressed with how large the rooms were. Then we met with Broadwaywannabe for her tour which, of course, was fabulous. We got to see where the musical theater classes and dance classes take
place, the Terra Building, and she also showed us the Merriam Theater,
Anderson Hall, and some other parts of U of Arts. It was great. THat night we went to see the Neil Simon Dinner party show at the Black Box Theater in the basement of the Arts Bank Theater. There my D met Michael's D. She recognized my D from facebook and introduced her to all her friends. They were so nice to her..it was awesome. The show the students put on was fabulous. We were very impressed. As we saw the Neil Simon "Odd Couple" at the Walnut Theater the next night, we felt that although they were also fabulous, the students were not far behind. We came away that night very excited.
The next day D sat in on the musical theater class and loved it. The students were really nice to her and made her feel really comfortable. After that we had a long talk and she made her final decision to go to U of Arts!!!! She felt that this was the best place for her, and I agreed with her. So, we walked over to Hamilton Hall and paid her tuition deposit and housing deposit, and went back to the hotel. We left the next day to go home, exhausted and exhilarated. Thanks again to all of you who helped us. |