Hey all my daughter goes to Montclair and it is a fabulous program. When I read daughtersdreams’ daughter’s audition experience, my first thought was that they must have liked her to be writing all that stuff down about her. Seriously, if they knew right away she didn’t meet their standards, they would have checked “no” and stopped there, right? And I don’t know who was doing the auditioning but I wouldn’t read any more into it. Maybe they were trying to appear neutral. Maybe other stuff was going on, who knows. But agree that “warm and fuzzY audition” doesn’t = “good program” nor is the reverse true. I will say my daughter loves the faculty there and they are kind and supportive. There is a family feel within the program. As for the whole local thing, I live in New England now so my kid is an out-of-stater, but I grew up in NJ and though I applied to Montclair (45 years ago) it was the LAST place I wanted to go because I wanted OUT of NJ. So it’s kind of ironic my kid ended up there and I’m thrilled that she did! It’s been a great 4 years for her (she’s a senior) and I’m sad it’s soon ending. Also though a few that were originally in her class left, they did so for medical or financial reasons, not because they were unhappy there. One of her classmates was a transfer IN from CCM. And PS over 6000 kids live on campus and though I’m sure there are many who live in NJ and go home, MANY don’t. And NYC, very visible from campus, is your playground, though the MT kids are often busy with rehearsals. Bottom line, I’m sorry if your kid’s audition experience wasn’t her most comfortable, but if she gets in and has choices, don’t base your decision just on that. Go back and spend a day there, go to classes, meet more faculty, etc. It truly is a phenomenal program with fantastic facilities and opportunities, and a bargain to boot.