Congratulations @BassoonMom2019 – so excited for your D! And @UniversityMomOf2 so happy for all of your good news too, even if not official yet.
S found out he was admitted to WashU in St. Louis yesterday. They have a BM program and a jazz studies minor, but it’s a non-audition based program. He wants to go back and learn more about the music scene (have a guitar lesson, sit in on jazz band rehearsal). I thought we were done with traveling!
Although we are extrememy grateful that S has some great options, I can see that he is already feeling the weight of that decision. He does not have a clear number one choice and still needs to make the threshold decision he has been putting off for a long time–will studying music at a non-music school be enough for him?
Congrats to all those with new acceptances! Living vicariously here as we map out D’s process for senior year!
A couple of quick questions while folks are waiting: I haven’t seen much on this thread about Peabody or Cincinnati Conservatory or Bard Conservatory. (One or two mentions, but not a lot). Has anyone visited those places, and what were your takeaways? Also: what do you know about merit aid and financial aid at those schools?
Also: If anyone has a positive recommendation to pass on for voice faculty at those schools OR any other and wants to PM me, I’d love to have any names you can recommend. We are mapping out places to visit and potentially have a sample lesson and it’s nice to know if there is a particularly wonderful professor to home-in on for that request. (But please PM and don’t mention any names here!)
@BassoonMom2019 Congratulations!! Best of luck to all who are waiting-- I’m pouring all my positive thoughts into our community here and cheering on great news as it arrives!
I’m getting to the point where I feel like my knowledge could be dated, but when we looked at Bard the undergrads who get to pursue a performance degree are instrumentalists only. They have a 5 year BM/BA dual degree program (maybe required if you want a BM from Bard? I seem to recall hearing that all BM students at Bard are dual degree). At any rate, the conservatory has had some amazing names on the vocal faculty (Dawn Upshaw, Stephanie Blythe), but I don’t believe they teach undergrads. They did have a 4 year BA in classical voice, I believe, but not sure who the teachers were. But check on that, because, you know, we were touring it 3 years ago now, and things do change.
CCM is a highly regarded school for voice, but wasn’t on our list for other reasons. Definitely worth a look if your kid is looking for a more conservatory style experience.
@khill87 For CCM definitely highly regarded but I would ask alot of questions about performance opportunities. We got the impression that mainly graduate students get those opportunities. To be honest my D not looking there for undergraduate because we are local to Cincinnati (so I can give you information about campus and general area if you PM me). For graduate school definitely!
Congratulations @lkbux64! WUSTL is a great school and so hard to get into!
Re. looking at various factors in making a decision on a school: My son has come to realize that freedom to play what he wants is important. He’s now hesitant about a particular school because, though he really liked the teacher and spent two hours with him, it sounds like they sort of tell you what you’ll play/learn; whereas when he visited a different school, he got the impression he would have a lot more creative freedom to learn pieces that he wanted to do. That’s what he’s looking for, so I think from here on out, he’s going to be asking that question.
The only thing I know about CCM is that it was originally on my son’s list (before we realized that it would be best for him to stay very close to home) and that after sending a video to the cello professors there, one of them said he’d be happy to have my son in his studio, but he never followed up with a pre-screen or anything, so only impression is at least some of the professors are responsive.
@jacole My daughter is in her 4th year at CalArts in the acting program, and my nephew is a 2nd-year jazz drummer there. CalArts is a very unique school. The focus is on developing your own artistic voice. If your son is self-motivated and has a strong sense of who he is artistically he will thrive at calarts.
It is a drive from LA, but some kids think that the isolation is good for their art. Most kids have a car and drive into LA. It is a VERY small school located in a very sleepy suburb. Your son will get to know everyone, for better or worse, lol!
The music school is very avant-garde in its programming, but students are encouraged to follow their own beat. In contrast, my son is a USC Thornton pop music student and the curriculum there is very set and geared towards the industry. If your son is looking for a more industry-driven program, CalArts is not it. If he is looking to become a true artist with a unique voice, it is a great place.
Ugh! Nothing in the mail and nothing on the portal today. Thought we’d hear from one school today. And so we wait… At least it’s a fun weekend-St. Patty’s Day!
Ahhh-nothing all day! We thought we’d hear from 2 colleges. I did see a change on the Roosevelt CCPA portal asking for the $500 deposit so I assume she got in but not sure of any merit money and no official notice. My daughter is home and apparently decided to take a nap (how is that even possible?) so perhaps emails came while she was sleeping. I will shake her when I get home! Lol. CalArts implied that acceptances would be sporadic over the next few weeks (and not necessarily by major) but if the son of @jacole was notified (huge congrats by the way!) and he is also in the area of pop, I’m thinking she will either be a rejection or a waitlist for CalArts (with notification in April.) Bummer but they have a very low acceptance rate so she knew that was a long shot (both for acceptance and affordability) and doesn’t seem too concerned either way. What a long day! I can’t take much more of this!
But the day is still young. Admission depts seem to work on a college schedule…imagine that…meaning 6:00 or 8:00 pm is still the day. I remember for grad school my D got an acceptance around 5 or 6 in the “afternoon” of the last day with the money coming a few hours later. Jeez you’d think the emails were done by college students used to cramming and doing everything at the last possible moment…which I think they are! At least this is what I have imagined bc I can’t fathom an adult sending these emails at 8pm on a Friday…but a college student who said it would be done by 4:00 and got behind…sure…it makes perfect sense. Hang in there!
Happy Friday in March! Congratulations to everyone hearing good news! Hang in there… sometimes, masses of emails take a while to clear the servers. I am rooting for all your kiddos! If you do get less than good news, try to remember that “fit” is so important, and a big part of fit is your kid really wanting a program AND the program really wanting your kid.
We just got a financial aid notification and it’s almost 6:00 pm at the school lol. Gotten two emails from another school in the last hour but nothing about the award… just congrats and inviting to admitted student day. Still waiting on the official notice from the non-official we got emailed about yesterday.
Congrats @UniversityMomOf2! And everyone else who has heard. We are out of town and S is less than good about checking portals and emails, so all might have to wait until we get back on Sunday…if we even hear then. Patience, patience, patience…
Nada here in CA from SFCM. Our musician daughter has yet to hear from ANY of her schools. Was hoping to hear today. Patience is a virtue.
Bassist girl is getting ready to go to her prom tonight. I’m feeling very sad as she is in LA and we are in SF. I told her that I won’t give her any $$ for food next week if I don’t get some photos from the prom. She is going with an artist friend. Not sure how her significant other (out of high school) feels about that - but hopefully OK. I will see her next week (we have to sit down with her high school and her to come to an agreement on how she’s going to complete her senior year in good standing - she missed so many days due to auditions - and let me tell you, she milked that. (oh - I have to practice for the two days prior to it - can’t possibly go to school).
I’m missing my kids right now - and trying to figure out how to see all of them more next year. One is in South Carolina (at the other USC), one is in NYC (studying ballet), one is in LA (studying music) and one still lives at home - and she is the biggest pain in the butt right now. I know I’ll miss her but I am counting the days until she leaves (she might start pilot training as soon as May 13 this year (missing the last 2-3 week of high school). Yeah!!! Can’t be soon enough.
Is anyone else’s seniors being a pain in the butt? I know that it’s common for them to turn into Rottweiler’s the last part of their senior year (to facilitate separation) - but this one is surely, curses and generally thinks that anything and everything that we do is horrible. I’m so over it!!! (this is the pilot one). I saw this same behavior in our eldest who is an absolute pleasure now (she’s 20) - but just trying to make it to departure day for this one!
What the heck are these schools doing today??? Hit the send button already!!! (I haven’t checked the portal yet - I guess I’ll try that now).
My daughter received an email from CCPA at 5:16pm. She was very excited to be accepted with a nice scholarship! Still nothing from any others but we can breathe a little. Yay!
Ok - so I called SFCM. Although March 15 was the date that someone there said decisions would be released - that is for GRADUATE students. RJAM (Jazz) decisions will go out next week. At least I won’t be checking email all night. Not sure about classical (sorry - I didn’t ask about that).
