Applying to Bienen

I can’t believe I can’t figure this out. I am hoping one of you seasoned parents can help. When registering for an audition to Bienen, do you need to submit the Common App at the same time? In one place it states the audition registration deadline is December 1 and Common App,is January 1…but on their special audition registration portal it states that your prescreens will not be reviewed until your common application is received? My kid is also applying to Weinberg. How does this work?

Hello @DVmom18 - For sure give the school a call tomorrow for clarification, they are very helpful and responsive. In the meantime, remember that not all students seeking admission to Bienen will require prescreens, so that may be the source of the conflicting information you are seeing. If your student is a voice student, for example, I think you can assume that you’ll need to have the common app into NU at or before the deadline for submitting prescreen materials so that they can be evaluated together to determine if your student will be invited to audition. Does that help?

I have not verified this myself, but our D said she had to submit the common app before she could request an audition date. She was confident that was the case and the common app and supplements were ready, so she submitted all at once.

I’m sure you can confirm this understanding with a quick phone call.

This was my understanding too- that common app and the music supplement needed to all be submitted before you’d be invited to audition. My kid submitted music first since that was packaged and ready to go, but submitted the common app a week or so later. He is applying for VP and did require prescreens. And also applied to Weinberg I believe. I’d contact music admissions for questions and probably call. I’ve gotten inconsistent info e-mailing the main admissions office.

To me it looks like last year on the screening thread that Bienen did not actually schedule auditions until after the 1st of the year. Maybe someone who auditioned in the last year or two will have more info about actually scheduling an audition and how that works.

@MusakParent - I think you are correct about the timing of Bienen getting back about prescreens for voice. And it reminds me, more generally, that not much happens to move music applications forward during the various schools’ winter and spring breaks. If I’m remembering correctly, Bienen also announces admissions on the 4/1 date and this was a school that didn’t provide any hints along the way. We scrambled to get to an admitted students day and do some trial lessons there (another missed day of school) - but it was well worth it and all part of this unique experience.

My daughter emailed them the other week. She had submitted common app and filled out the Bienen form. When we were double checking things and saw the Dec 1 deadline for registering, it was confusing. Apparently registering is filling out the form and submitting prefered audition dates. Scheduling is what happens after they review your pre-screen and invite you end.

Looked back through my PMs and I’d guess Bienen notified about prescreens on January 7th or 8th, or right toward the beginning of winter quarter. My recollection is that we had all our preferred dates mapped out on a spreadsheet and D requested the first choice dates within minutes of getting the invitation to request dates (at all her schools). She had a narrow set of options that worked for all the schools she was applying to.

You should call Bienen to confirm this.

From the 2018 app process, what I remember is that my son sent in the two apps (common app and music-app) at different times - the music app deadline is earlier I believe. You will not be scheduled for an audition until both are completed. The music app deadline being earlier is the more important one, especially since you have to submit prescreen material with it.

Also, make sure you use the same email address for both apps (some people, like my son, did not, and it caused us grief because of last minute scheduling issues).

Good Luck.