20 Things You Know If You Went To An Arts Boarding School

When you say ‘arts high school’ to the typical person they tend to think of movies like Fame, Center Stage, and that Disney Channel show Victorious. But that’s not really how it works. These are the things you know if you want to an arts boarding school!

1. You get used to being surrounded by a ridiculously diverse group of people.

Whether it’s people of different race, gender or sexuality everyone from your school has very different backgrounds and they come from all over the world. This means everyone is open to all.

2. It was super liberal.

Sometimes so liberal that the political debates would turn into everyone aggressively agreeing with each other.

3. You will spend most of your time in whatever building your department inhabits.

Be it the dance studios or the theatre, that place will become your second home.

4. There’s always music playing.

Yes the theatre kids do sometimes break into song in the dining hall… but it’s really more that you can almost always hear a violin or voice major practicing as you walk to academics.

5. Cliques are still a thing.

But just a little different. There’s the dancer clique and the visual artists who think they’re too cool for school and when you see a gaggle of students dressed in all black they’re not emo just theatre majors.

6. School spirit is expressed a little bit differently.

We had no mascot or pep rallies so performances, concerts, and art shows were where the masses would show up and be loud!

7. There were no jocks!

8. And as a side effect… no sports!

In fact most people didn’t follow professional sports or know anything about them. The hot topics were usually the newest ballets coming out or who was playing who in the revival of Spring Awakening on Broadway.

9. Casting caused some serious stress.

No matter how experienced you were it always was worrisome to see the rush of students heading towards the call boards.

10. Every grade had that one person you all knew was going to be famous someday.

11. You know that male dancers actually exist.

12. Yes, we do have real academics, no they’re not a joke.

While it is an art school that doesn’t mean that we got to sit around all day creating stuff. Just like everyone else our age we still had to take math and science and hand in essays on time.

13. Sleep = the most important thing.

But we don’t get any. With academic and art homework on top of rehearsals that can go until ten o’clock at night it can be nearly impossible to get to bed before midnight.

14. You’re dorm parents are basically your second set of parents.

They are the ones who hold your hand when you fail your first calculus test or fall onstage during a show, they let you use their stove to make tea

15. Living with all your best friends was great… most of the time.

While it’s awesome to have your best friend next door all the time things could get intense if there were arguments or conflicts within the dorm… let’s just say word travels fast in a small live-in community.

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16. Everyone has an amazing sense of personal style.

17. The musicians were always the hardest to find around campus.

because they were always in the dungeon that was the practice rooms.

18. There would always be people sewing in class.

Whether it was a dancer sewing pointe shoe ribbons or a visual artist hand-stitching lace to a final project the academic teachers just tended to roll with it.

19. The GSA was very active.

No one was in the closet and there was even an annual drag show put on by one of the guys’ dorms

20. But best of all it’s a totally unique experience.

And you wouldn’t trade it for the world! You created close bonds with amazing and brilliant artists who you know will someday be changing the world

Did you go to an arts boarding school!? Share your experience in the comments below!

This is a sponsored post. All opinions are my own!

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