<p>It is always hard to tell what happened on an audition and about getting in. There are a number of factors that can cause you to be rejected from an audition,it is why others talk about the crap shoot nature of these auditions. In an audition, there is a panel, so for example the teacher that was encouraging might have given you a good rating on the audition feedback, but other teachers may have rated you lower, and hence not ‘making the grade’…the teacher in question may not have had slots in his studio open, and though you scored highly on the audition,no other teacher had room or showed a willingness to teach you… in an audition, two things come into play in other words, how highly the panel rates you and if a teacher or teachers check off they are willing to teach you (depends on the school, some schools admission comes first, then choosing a teacher). Either one will get you knocked out of contention for admission, it is the way it works. </p>
<p>Grades and such would only kill you in the case of schools like U Mich, Rice and some others, that require admissions to both the university and the music school and you need to pass both; unless you totally shanked senior year grades, at a straight music school (i.e where the audition is everything), grades and test scores generally won’t do anything for you, despite some myths I have heard out there. </p>
<p>It may be hard to get feedback. If in your position, I would talk to the teacher who was encouraging and see if he can find out more information. I would approach it like “based on your feedback and from my own impressions I thought the audition went well, but unfortunately I was rejected. The reason I am contacting you is to see if there is any way I can get feedback on my audition, the things that were felt to be weak or that i need to improve on as I move forward, to help me correct what is wrong as I move forward”. It makes it positive, rather then saying “why was I rejected? You seemed to feel I would get in” . If this teacher was positive on you, they might be willing to see what they can find out; from what I am led to believe, a student contacting the admissions office is unlikely to get any kind of feedback (YMMV), but a sympathetic teacher might be willing to help.</p>
<p>To be honest, I wish schools would tell teachers they shouldn’t be saying things like ‘I think you have a strong chance of getting in’ or worse “you are getting in”, it to me sets the kid up for a fall, because to be honest there is no way for an individual teacher to know that, unless they are the only one who decides who is admitted since they are all there is. The admissions process involves a lot of factors and I think it is cruel to get a student’s hope up like that, because it is not unlikely a scenario like happened here can occur.</p>