<p>I think all you can take it as is that your ability is within the range - that it would be appropriate to audition there.</p>
<p>I'm just posting to follow up on the earlier thread about different policies and challenges in arranging sample lessons. Prescreening results came in and ds was given audition dates. Apparently, for the professor he wanted to study with (who earlier had not been willing to meet), that seemed to make a difference. The professor even went the extra mile to confer with ds about the audition date so he could be there. I think some faculty who are extremely busy and travel extensively simply might not have time to meet with prospective students unless/until they have passed prescreening and are scheduled for auditions.</p>
<p>This is one of the many things I wish I had known before getting into the thick of things.</p>
<p>S was offered a lesson immediately upon completion of his audition at one school in Dec. Took them up on it, and headed home 2 hours later than expected. </p>
<p>S was offered the opportunity to have a lesson when he returns to a school for an honors program interview next month. Will be taking them up on that as well.</p>
<p>Free lessons, at the request of the auditioning instructor have been the norm at his auditions so far. Don't know if that is "customary and usual", but is working for us.</p>
<p>Only once has my D been asked to pay for a sample lesson and that was at Oberlin! The whole sequence of events there was bizarre- we had scheduled a lesson with one teacher who confirmed the date and time with us, but who then made an error when she put it in her book, slotting it in for late evening when we would no longer have been in town! She tried to say that I was mistaken, but I always carry all of the relevant documentation with me and was able to produce the e-mails, proving that we were there on the right day and time. She did find another teacher who had some free time and told my D to come back at 1PM. D talked to her and tried to find out about available practice rooms and was told to "look around"- not very reassuring... She searched for an hour, but there was not an empty room anywhere in the building and when the time for the lesson came around the new teacher insisted on starting right in, not permitting any time at all for my D to warm up (which is really a very valuable tool for a teacher- a lot can be gleaned about voice quality and technique by listening to a student warm up). Just to make the day perfect, the teacher insisted on payment BEFORE a piece of music was even opened! Do I have to say that this didn't serve to pique my D's interest in the conservatory!! Nothing like this has ever happened, before or since, and, in fact, her experience 24 hours later at CIM was a 180 degree turn!</p>