@tripletmama great news about NY bass as well as SFCM. We are all rooting for your D. Wishing her a great audition trip in NYC.
All others with audition trips this weekend… Final push everyone. Light is now in our face at the end of the tunnel. Hang in there and best of luck with these final rounds. Wishing you and your kids great travels and even better auditions this weekend. All the best!!!
First music school acceptance for my son! This morning he woke up to a notice of admission to the U Michigan SMTD jazz studies program (or rather, I noticed a decision had been posted to his portal and then woke him up)! I posted yesterday that the guitar teacher sent him an email asking where he was at in the process and if he had any questions. It does indeed seem to have been their way of assessing whether my son was excited about the school or not. He is indeed excited and conveyed that in his email. We are quite happy!
@lkbux64 congrats on U Mich! Very exciting!
Fabulous news @lkbux64 ! Congrats to you and S!
@lkbux64 great news!!! What a way to wake up to the day!. Wonderful
Congrats @lkbux64! And great story @tripletmama - the world is indeed a small place.
We finally made it to Montreal. Super long delay in our outbound flight (mechanical) gave us heart attacks to make our connection in Boston. But, as “luck” would have it, our connection ended up being delayed as well. Finally made it in at midnight.
S is heading over to McGill this morning to see if there are any classes to sit in on and has a sample lesson this afternoon. He got an email late last night from the head of the percussion department introducing him to a 2nd year student. I know I really appreciate when they make that extra effort to connect potential students to current ones. S is happy to meet and get the lowdown on everything.
Still wrapping my head around this being our last trip together…it’s been great.
Congrats @lkbux64-how exciting!
And @tripletmama that sounds like a WONDERFUL dream! I know so many parents who are encouraging their kids to go away (in some cases, far, far away! Lol) but my dream would definitely be for both kids to stay close to home for college and beyond! Not going to happen with my daughter since the closest college is 4 hours away by car and she is still actively pursuing a gap year in Spain! Miss Independent has had her bags packed since about 10 years old! Haha. But I do have some hope with my 13 year old son (at least for now!) My son is a percussion player and gymnast so I suppose there is a chance they’d perform together on stage one day, either with him playing drums or flipping around as she sings. I guess I can dream too!
@Lendlees good luck at McGill. My daughter considered applying to Humber College in Toronto (only a 2 hour drive for us) but wasn’t quite what she was looking for when we visited. Although they had great pride in their program, I do remember them speaking highly of McGill as being the premier school in Canada for musicians, so very exciting for your son. And Montreal as a college home? How cool would that be?
My daughter received notice of a talent award at Columbia College Chicago so bringing the price tag down a little more, in addition to a generous academic award and invitation to their Honors Program, is definitely making that college even more appealing. The honors students get a floor in the new building which is beautiful and comes complete with an amazing fitness facility! Plus, she really loves Chicago so it would not surprise me if that one ends up in the Top 3.
She also received an email from CalArts telling her they were currently discussing her application, enjoyed her audition (she applied to the Experimental Pop program) and would love to schedule a phone call next week talk to her. Sounds promising, but I know they only admit about 20% of those who audition so we shall see. She was very happy and is in the midst of setting up that phone call.
Is it really March 1st? Let the madness begin…buckle up everyone!
Lendlees——— What a trip! So glad that you made it! One of my son’s last year’s high school band students who was accepted to USC, UCLA and U-Indiana (I can’t remember all but most schools) currently enrolls at McGill. It sounds like a very nice music school and community.
@lkbux64 congrats! 
@tripletmama Not surprised by your D impressing SFCM!
Congratulations @lkbux64 . V. exciting! UMich was also D’s first portal-updating, package-in-the-mail official music school admit. Followed by an admit to state flagship.
@Lendlees Good luck at McGill. I’m thinking about how fun it would be to do a long weekend audition trip to Montreal.
Has anyone else gotten a letter like this one from a school that hasn’t yet admitted your student?
Dear Pirate Kid,
Our admission committee is finalizing the review of your application for admission. This communication is simply to determine if you have already committed to attend another college or university through a binding Early Decision program.
Please click below if you need to withdraw your application:
YES - I want to withdraw my application. I have committed to attend another institution under a binding agreement or I am no longer interested. I understand that by withdrawing my application I will NOT receive an admissions decision by April 1.
If this does not apply to you, you do not need to respond to this email and you do not need to reiterate your interest.
Sincerely,
Admissions
@akapiratequeen – when I read your post 10 minutes ago the anwer to your question, was no. But now I can tell you that yes, my son received the EXACT same email from a school where he has not yet been admitted and, in fact, will not be auditioning at until Tuesday.
@akapiratequeen Yup, seems like a generic letter My son got one too. We had already written them a couple of weeks ago withdrawing his application from consideration.
@akapiratequeen (and @lkbux64) - my S’ college counselor sent out a very pointed email in December telling students that if they applied ED somewhere and have applied to other schools they NEED to let the other schools know to withdraw the application. I keep thinking that the music school world is small and they all discuss among themselves which students they will take (and maybe that’s true at the uber elite conservatories??), but an email like that sounds like they just want to know who is out of the running so they can balance their admissions.
Both S and I each had a great afternoon - his at McGill and mine shopping in Montreal. Tomorrow is audition day and head back down to the US.
Good luck to your son at McGill @Lendlees! Enjoy Montreal!
Anyone hear from CU Boulder College of Music, as the last auditions were on 2/16?
Thanks all, it seemed a little odd that they wouldn’t know he was interested when he just auditioned two weeks ago. But whatever.
We are paring down the (too large) list. My son didn’t go to his last audition; he did more research and felt it wasn’t a good fit.
He’s down to 7 schools that he would consider. He’s not been admitted to three of them but had excellent auditions at all of them so I suspect he’ll be admitted in the next couple of weeks. (Disclosure: he still has to write an essay for one of them and submit the app which is due today!)
I’m not sure how he’ll narrow it down. How are your kids narrowing their choices or do most of your kids have a top choice?
@Lendlees - I love it that your son is thinking out of the box and applying out of the U.S. So many kids just focus on the U.S. Glad to hear that you made it! Looking forward to hearing what happens.
@lkbux64 - Congrats on the Michigan admit!! Excellent school!!! You must be stoked.
Regarding the Berklee thing - our daughter has always known that it is very likely going to be out of reach - even though she loves it there. She was encouraged with a full ride to their summer program and $20k scholarship awarded to the full-time program - but $20k off $60k still leaves $40k. Unless she pulled a rabbit out of a hat (and she did try very hard to do that) - then it’s not a likely contender. They did ask for the CSS (as did SFCM) which I think are usually schools that do offer some financial aid but only if they are convinced that it’s really needed. And in our case with 3 in college next year and my hubby disabled - is real. She will find out about SFCM on March 15, Berklee and NEC on March 31 - and I’m not sure about the New School (anyone know when that decision will be released?.
Well - our daughter didn’t go for the free bass from the NYCB bassist (he said it was not fully carved and she is a bass snob). She went for one that is $350 for the weekend to rent and has the same look and feel as her one at home. We really can’t afford it but I’m hoping that it helps her put her best foot forward - so agreed to it. Last audition - thank God. I didn’t fly there with her to save on cost, she is staying with her brother…so that was my justification. I told her that she better spend time at the New School, set up a practice lesson (if at all possible) to justify the cost. She’s killing me! She will have to get a job when she returns to LA. She did promise me her gig $$ next week.
Anyone else eating Ramen Noodles to afford these audition tours? It really does seem like they favor those with financial means by requiring in person auditions all over the U.S… Doesn’t quite seem fair - but then again, maybe the colleges don’t care?
@sbjdorlo Good question. It’s been a fascinating process. In my S’s case, it has boiled down to program fit, chemistry, and money.
In early fall, he applied to seven schools. He withdrew from one after speaking with the studio head on the phone – he felt it wasn’t a good fit with his strengths and interests.
He ended up auditioning at six. Of those, he dropped one from the list after the audition because he saw problems with the program; dropped a second after being admitted because he got virtually no merit aid; and will probably drop a third, very expensive choice, unless he gets an enormous scholarship.
That leaves three top contenders. He’s been accepted to one and we are waiting to hear from the other two. If he gets into all of them with generous offers (a high-class problem, as my dad would say) he’ll have a tough choice to make. More likely, he won’t be admitted and get large scholarships from all three, which will narrow the field.