My wife and I advised students in the past to make sure they picked a school with a senior showcase.  The problem is now there are numerous schools offering a NYC or LA showcases and the agents and casting directors are getting overwhelmed.  The result: the showcases are drawing less attention and less offers.

If you are going to a big name school: Carnegie Mellon, CCM, UMich, or Penn State, you may still get some great attention.  Otherwise, ask what opportunities beyond the showcase the university provides.  A school that provides guest masterclasses throughout the year instead of a flashy NYC trip may be a better deal for your career in the long run even though it may seem less attractive at first.

At the end of the day what you should be most interested in is whether or not the graduating seniors work.  If the school has a high percentage of working seniors upon graduation, they must be doing something right.  You can always pay to go to NYC and visit on your own.  As cool as it may sound to have a group trip with all of your senior buddies, you need to make sure you will be getting what you are going to school for: an education.  If that doesn’t include a senior year trip to NYC, so be it.  You will be living there soon enough and so will most of your friends.