Does anyone have experience with Bienen early decision? What’s the acceptance rate? Does ED increase chances of getting in, or does it depend on the studio? I can imagine a scenario where the teacher doesn’t want to accept a student early in the hopes that there will be better applicants with regular admission.
ED is not offered in Bienen, and is generally not an option at most music schools. I suggest you look at the music major forum, which is the best place for music admissions help. Music is a totally different path than liberal arts and that forum is very helpful! Good luck from mom of Bienen 2020 voice student!
Is this NU Bienen? They most certainly have ED.
And I would think that for “specialist” slots like music performance, schools would actually want to lock them up in ED rather than go through RD where if they want 3 kids for an instrument, they offer 9 and could end up with anywhere from 0-9 students.
My bad. Bienen does, but many (including Rice and Eastman) do not for performance degrees. There is not time review prescreen materials and schedule live campus auditions before Dec 1.
I (anecdotally) of a local student who got in to Bienen ED. I believe he had summer festival/camp experience with the studio professor, and that most likely helped. I also believe he was a very good student.
Songbirdmama ED is offered at Bienen. We were just there meeting with an admissions counselor.
Thanks for the advice to go to the music forum. I’m a newbie at posting.
Have you considered asking your question directly to Bienen admissions? I would think it might be a very studio specific response, but they should be able to give you a general idea of whether this path improves chances of admission.
Yes my son will be asking that question of the admissions counselor. We were the only family on the tour so we had a private meeting with admissions–very helpful.
The advantage of ED is you are auditioning early, so you aren’t competing against as many students, and so for example in theory you also are not competing to get into a studio with as many kids. I can’t speak from direct experience, but I think ED would be most helpful for a kid who is at the top of the audition scale, that would strongly pass a regular audition in any event, because that person would likely either already have a teacher who wants him, or impress a teacher who wants him into his studio. A more typical student likely would not have that advantage, teachers in general know the level of playing out there, they know the top tier from the next tier, so they likely would not take up a studio spot at that point unless they really thought the kid was exceptional, they would pass to see what came through the general audition before deciding on a kid like that (and again, this is just my opinion). So what you end up with is a kid willing to commit to Bienen, who is at the top of his/her playing, so the school grabs at the kid to make their music program strong, it is a win win…but again, this is going to be for top tier students, it won’t get a kid in IMO who would be a toss up in the general audition, it isn’t magic.
If one applies ED what happens with merit money? Is there any reason for the school to offer a significant package, since the student is already committed? Of course, Northwestern offers tiny merit anyway, so for Bienen the question may be moot. Any aid will be need based.
I had the same gut feeling as @musicprnt, and doubt that unless the applicant is a superior talent, it would not yield the same advantage as applying ED to the liberal arts college. But I was wrong once on this thread, so who knows? 
I’m not sure that many music kids do ED partly due to the issue above. If money is of no concern and northwestern is THE school then it’s fine. But music kids can get some pretty good merit scholarships (not to mention studio offers) so ED takes away your bargaining ability with other schools.
Another thing I would be careful with is the thought that teachers would want to lock in talent early as they may come out short. At top tier schools there is plenty of talent trying to get in. The school can pick and choose with little concern. So that goes back to musicprnt’s comment. These schools see top talent yearly. You would need to be tippy top to get an offer. Otherwise they would probably hold you just to see their other options. That’s not to say your kid won’t be of that talent level. But if your kid is - and is being told this - why not try a few other schools and maybe get half tuition or a full ride? Unless of course northwestern is THE school for your kid.
Nothing wrong with doing ED. Just wanted to mention some different perspectives on it.
Several of you have correctly pointed out that Bienen doesn’t give much merit aid (they’re the only school within NU that gives any) but don’t forget that NU meets 100% of need, so that could be a key point if you go ED. I know more than one kid who did just that for next fall.
As a point of note they’ve also changed their policy and for kids starting fall of 2016 that have institutional need NU meets 100% of need with no student loans.
This wasn’t what the OP asked, but is pertinent to the ED or SD question: Some kids have a clear idea of whom they want to study with, but we were surprised how much D’s opinions of schools and studios changed throughout the audition and application process. Perhaps if se would have had made extended visits to the schools on her list and taken many sample lessons in her junior year she would have been ready to consider ED. At least for my D, to have applied ED would have committed her to a school that turned out not to be her top choice in the end.
My D’s high school sends a good number of students to NU. I can’t speak to the talent/audition aspect, but based on the (very small) sample size of several years of high school students, the academic standards are a little looser for ED. I checked my notes from our tour last summer and the admissions rep alluded to how Bienen was looking more to ED than it had in the past. It was mentioned that ACT score of 27 was okay (the overall 50% range for NU is 31-34).
The academic standards for Bienen are generally looser, even SD. This is true for most music schools, as artistry is the driving force for admission.
This seems as good a place as any to piggyback on the original question, I hope that’s OK…when people say that Bienen does not give much merit aid (and I’ve seen that said many times here), how much is “not much?” What is the approx. average merit award they would likely offer to someone they really wanted, is it kosher to ask that here (if not, feel free to pm me)? I’m just trying to see if we should strike it from our list completely. We are not likely to qualify for much need based aid, but are not prepared to pay 70K/year or whatever.
When my son applied in 2009 $5,000 was probably the max. No idea what it is now.
Thanks @SpiritManager - $5K or even $10K doesn’t make much of a dent in Northwestern’s tuition.