It’s time to start thinking about summer intensives, but their list of prospective programs reads like a cross-country tour. How can they make it to auditions in New York City, San Francisco, Houston, and Chicago—especially when the audition fee is just the tip of a financial iceberg that also includes plane fare and hotel rooms?

Dance training and a wealth of new experiences: International summer study can mean the best of both worlds. One of the central benefits of a summer intensive—being introduced to people and ideas you wouldn’t encounter at your home studio—expands even more in an overseas program.

Performing well in auditions is as much a mental challenge as it is a physical one, so cultivating a healthy mindset going in can make all the difference.

When deciding where to spend your summer, you may have one goal in mind: Which program is going to get me closest to the career path of my dreams? But the impact that summer study programs can have is wide-ranging—and sometimes surprising.

Whether you’re thinking of attending your first summer program or are a summer study veteran looking for a new challenge, there’s a wealth of options. How can you ensure an exciting and enriching experience?

Here’s how attending two summer dance intensives for adults has propelled my career forward.

There’s something uniquely crushing about summer intensive rejection. Perhaps it’s because it’s the first time many students have ever experienced this kind of rebuff. Or perhaps it’s simply hard to not think, If I can’t even get into the summer program, how am I ever going to be good enough to make it in dance?

Summer intensive auditions can turn dancers into a bundle of nerves. With so many decisions to make each step of the way, you might end up second-guessing every choice. Will breaking out four pirouettes, when the audition proctor only asked for a double, be well received, or will it be seen as disrespectful?