<p>Does anyone here think that the overall fit of the school itself - not just the quality of the MT program - is also a pretty valid basis on which to make your choice?</p>
<p>We feel that the school itself that D ended up with is about as perfect of a fit as there could be. It’s exactly the size of and type of school, in exactly the kind of town, with exactly the kind of student base, in which she will be very happy and will fit in. I am as sure as anyone can be, without a crystal ball, that she’ll be challenged but not overwhelmed. I’m sure after a couple weeks of the newness wears off that she’ll miss mama and maybe be a bit homesick but she knows and loves the town so much (who wouldn’t love Austin?? Hell I wish <em>I</em> was going there!) and her dearly beloved uncle, great aunt, and several cousins live there, as well as dear friends who graduated earlier and ended up going to the “other” school there. (that tiny little school with the cow as it’s mascot, lol). </p>
<p>I have always put the town itself as one of the least important factors as far as evaluating the school, but I think where it does matter is if it’s such a great town that the student will adjust to and love school and therefore have less chance of COMING BACK HOME and not finishing!!</p>
<p>I don’t know why it is but my son, and so many of his friends, and so many of my daughter’s friends who graduated before her, and so many of my friend’s kids, went off to someplace great…and came back home within a year. They weren’t happy up there, they weren’t ready for it somehow.</p>
<p>I really don’t want that, after all the work we put into getting her someplace, after all the work getting her ACT score up so she’d get a decent scholarship. I know that if they get settled in, get engaged in the goings on of the school and start to bond with other people there, that the chances they will stick out the whole time and not come back home, are much increased.</p>
<p>Of course maybe theater kids overall have more of that than other kids - because we know how it is in theater programs, how they tend to bond rather quickly - but having had one kid come back home, and not wanting to see that happen again, I was grateful to not have any doubts about whether my D would actually like it there. She flat out told me she didn’t want to move to certain states, and though the schools in those states which made her nice offers are <em>really</em> good programs, I was afraid that if I didn’t listen to what she was saying, she’d be unhappy and come home. What good is the program if she doesn’t stay at the school?</p>
<p>Some kids are perfectly ready to go to schools that are 7 states away and will finish up and do fine - my D, though she wants to be far enough away from Mom and Dad that they won’t know what she’s up to every minute, haha, knew herself well enough to know that she wasn’t ready to go THAT far away. Not just yet. Now, NYC itself would have been an exception because my gawd it’s NYC. (But we did not even apply to any of the NY schools because the research I did on them informed me that there wasn’t any way in hell we’d be able to afford them or get enough scholarship to make it happen, so we chose to focus on the schools that we knew there was a shot at being able to afford if she got in.) But anyway, except for that exception, the location did end up being a pretty big factor in her decision.</p>
<p>Ultimately the most important outcome for me, is that she finish up and get that degree no matter where no matter what. The most worthless degree is the one they never finish. To that end, the overall fit of the school - if it’s one where she is blissfully happy and loves her college experience - was also a factor. (Of course it had to also have a well regarded theater program or it wasn’t even on the list in the first place.)</p>