Acceptance

<p>Just a random question. How many piano performance majors (undergrad) do schools/conservatories accept each year? Thinking about Peabody and USC...</p>

<p>Every school varies ---call the school in question (it frequently even varies from year to year)</p>

<p>yes, of course i am aware of that... i was just wondering if it's in the 20s... or even up to 30. i know that juilliard accepts around 15.</p>

<p>No one can answer that question. The number of acceptances varies greatly from school to school and can also vary from year to year within a school. If a school got more pianists than they expected this year, they will accept fewer next year. Some teachers have bigger studios, others have smaller ones. Some only accept graduate students. It is an unanswerable question.</p>

<p>i can't tell you how many peabody accepted last year, but a recent figure I found out is that there are 11 freshmen piano major this year. Of course it can't tell anything, because there are people who chose to go somewhere else for different reasons and the # of people who do that probably varies quite a bit from year to year.</p>

<p>Wow, only 11 >_< Well, thanks thzxcyl.</p>

<p>It is not unusual for students to apply to several schools and to be accepted at three or more. Unless the school is at the very top, like Curtis and Juilliard, or unless they have a teacher who is very much in demand (e.g. Ellison on bass at Rice or Debost on flute at Oberln), their yield is likely to be less than 0.5 and may well be less than 0.33. Therefore, those 11 freshman piano majors at Peabody may have been the result of 30 or more offers, unless there are some superstar piano profs there that I don't know about.</p>

<p>The whole yield thing is so iffy. A couple of years ago, Eastman accepted 9 cellists with a target of getting 6. All 9 attended. Messed up their numbers for the following year and they accepted fewer.</p>

<p>Thzxcyl: how many of the pianists are doing a double degree program with Johns Hopkins? How has that been working out for you -- in terms of time to practice, balancing the work, getting from one place to the other? And who is your teacher? I understand that the piano department is "political" - is that right?</p>

<p>As far as I know, beside me, there is a sophomore doing piano performance & double degree in Hopkins. The double degree students are a very small group, and will probably get to know each other very well - at least right now I get to know other freshmen double degree students pretty well. As for the other questions, it's too early to ask me now, since the classes just started yesterday. But PM me later if you want to know more, I'll be happy to answer your question.</p>

<p>Seems like piano would be the easiest instrument to do a double degree with, as pianists don't have orchestra rehearsals for hours and hours a week.</p>

<p>It does seem like so! We pianists don't need to worry anything about orchestra rehearsals, but to compensate for that, we typically put much more time into practicing than the orchestral instruments. And for some school, including Peabody, pianists have large ensemble requirements as well, e.g. a few semesters of chorus >_< (definitely not a good thing for some one who does not like to sing at all...)</p>

<p>lol, it's good to hear from you thzxcyl. I'm interested in double degree at JHU+Peabody. Keep us updated. :)</p>

<p>At Eastman, all piano students are required to collaborate with two other students every semester. Thus, they need to set aside time for independent learning of the music, rehearsal with the student they are collaborating with, attending lessons with that student, attending studio class performances with that student, and formal performances.</p>

<p>thzxcyl, the chorus requirement certainly does make up for lack of orchestra time, and so might Eastman's collaboration requirement, but I do think it's true that serious string players practice every bit as much as pianists!
How well organized is the double degree program at Hopkins and Peabody? I'm contemplating applying there for transfer this year, as BU (where I currently am) is not a good place to do the double degree.</p>

<p>Okay, I'm in a rush, so i'll try to be brief. You can't describe the DD program using the word "organized" or "disorganized" because there is in fact no organization or even a program exists. It's more like a bunch of "weirdos" doing totally different things but somehow they want both a "normal" college degree and a BM. Nobody knows exactly what we are doing except ourselves. So it all depends on how well you organize your own classes, and it is definitely workable. Ask me more details, but for now I can't think of any specific things to say.</p>

<p>(by the way, I was thinking more of the winds/brass/etc. instruments when I say that a pianist practices more. I'm sure string players are as diligent as pianists! :-) )</p>