Visit Campus
Tours of the campus are arranged on an individual basis. It works best if you tell us you are coming at least three days ahead of time, but there are other options. What we can show you, and the atmosphere on campus, changes according to the time of year. If you plan on visiting us, register for an available date and time.
Click here to schedule a tour.
You are more than welcome to visit the school at other times. It is a small campus and we have a self-guided tour brochure available from the admissions office—on a table outside the door. During Audition Week in February we hold tours (as well as meetings for parents). Thus, if you already know you want to audition at Peabody, the best time to visit is when you come for your audition.
The information below will help you plan your visit. There are instructions about coming to Peabody via Amtrak, MARC trains, or Light Rail linked to the page of driving directions.
When to Visit
For a small school, heavily focused on music, Peabody gets an amazing variety of people requesting tours. Some are simply visiting Baltimore, thinking that maybe someday it would be neat if they could go to a music conservatory. Others come with a specific agenda—to speak with a particular teacher, hear a concert, and then, maybe, spend the night in the dorm. In the middle are those who are looking into Arts and Sciences at Hopkins, wanting to know how they can keep music in their lives while digging into the mysteries of the universe. It's something of a balancing act for those of us in admissions. We want you to get to know Peabody when you visit, but we need to keep an appropriate distance so the students and teachers can have uninterrupted time to focus on their work. Here is a quick guide on what to expect:
Summer Tours
Summer visitors to Peabody will find the campus open. You can see the halls, facilities, and some architecture dating back to Abraham Lincoln's time. Mt. Vernon place is lovely, and you can extend your visit to include Harbor Place, the Walters Art Gallery (across the street) and the Johns Hopkins campus at Homewood. However, the faculty is traveling all over the world, and the students are gone. The place is not quite deserted, but it's hardly the bustling center of musical study we know it to be the rest of the year.
During the School Year
In addition to the facilities, you will get a sense of how the school feels when it is up and running. Music comes from every practice room, every studio window, and every hall. It's what we do. The rest is a bit tricky to explain. Our classes are small, so tours cannot visit classrooms, or (gasp!) private lessons. The nature of a tour also makes it difficult to come walking into a recital for a selection or two. Large ensemble rehearsals are open, though, and you will likely find people in the dining hall who share your interests. The campus is all in one enclosed block, so much can be learned by strolling about before or after the tour.
If you are visiting the school in conjunction with meeting a particular teacher (or visiting a friend who is a student here) you should make those arrangements on your own before setting up a tour. The admissions office does not schedule private lessons. Also, the dorms are typically full, so students wanting to stay overnight can make use of one of several nearby hotels. If you can't fit the tour into your other activities you can always stop by the admissions office for any additional information needed, and to pick up a self-guided tour brochure.
Audition Week
It's a great time for an applicant to be at Peabody and a horrible time for a casual sight-seeing visit. Audition Week is Presidents Day week (the third week in February). Audition Week offers some unique opportunities for those who already know they will be applying to Peabody for an on-campus audition. There are daily tours, and meetings set up for parents. Large ensemble rehearsals are open and there are master classes in several majors. Studio lessons and classes are not held during Audition Week, so some of our students make themselves available to answer questions and to help you get a sense of the school. Admissions is the hub of all the activity. We must concentrate on helping applicants navigate the audition process, so we have no time to give much attention to casual visitors.
We hope this information guides you in getting the most from your campus visit. If you are touring music schools in the summer, please schedule a tour. If you have already decided you want to apply to Peabody, it makes sense to learn about the school when you are here for your audition in February. And, of course, we are doing regular tours during the school year—the best time to visit if your current teacher has recommended that you contact one of our faculty for a lesson, or if you have arranged to visit a friend on campus.
