@mom2clarinetobsessedkid - As others have said, dual-credit courses, like AP’s, will not affect your kid’s status and chance for first-year scholarships. Many, if not most, college-bound kids bring in some college credits with them from high school.
When selecting schools, the studio is the most important consideration. However, it is useful to know how the school handles AP’s / dual credits. There has already been a long discussion on this thread about the benefits and dangers of taking a lot of AP/college credit courses in the senior year, but it’s also worth considering how the college handles them after the student is admitted. In some cases, the college will accept these credits and count them towards general education requirements. That’s fantastic! Almost like an extra scholarship. However, in my older D’s case, they were counted as elective credits. If she had wanted to do a single major and planned carefully, she might have been able to graduate a term early, but neither was the case. And in fact, the credits she brought in from high school had an unintended consequence. They maxed out the number of transfer credits the college allowed. So later when she wanted to take a class at a state school during the summer in order to complete an extra minor, it turned out to be pointless because the college would not accept the transfer.
I know it is very difficult to try and make sense of this process sometimes. You just don’t know, ultimately. S applied to 4 schools for grad school. He didn’t get past two prescreens to 2 schools (ones he considers the studio teachers friends even, lol) and then passed the prescreen to Curtis. He didn’t get into Curtis but did receive excellent feedback there. He has been wait listed at the 4th school where he has had excellent communications from the professor, and it is clear the professor wants to work with S–only 2 openings in the studio this year but 7 open up next year. S may be doing a gap year after graduating from college. Personally I think this would be great. I also think it would be great if he got off the waitlist and attended school 4. I’ve told him to just enjoy the rest of his senior year and not to sweat what is in the future for now. He’s a fantastic player and his future is bright–just like everyone’s here. Advice to those on the waitlist–hang in there! You never know. I do recommend putting a deposit down at another school and if the waitlist school comes through, make a decision then. We did this with our older son and he got into his top choice school with an incredible scholarship (acting). I haven’t posted much on the forum this year but have been lurking mightily…everyone has such wonderful and thoughtful comments and have not felt I needed to chime in too much. I did just want to share this, though.
I have a question on managing placement on a waitlist. S was waitlisted at UCLA which is one of his three top choices. He has not ranked those three choices in order – he waffles betwen the three. He has been admitted to his other two top choices. My initial inclination was that he should not reach out to confirm his continued interest until he is in a position to say that the school is his first choice and he would attend if they offered him a spot. I am now second guessing myself and wondering if he should be more proactive even though he ultimately may choose a different school.
@WestOfPCH so sorry to hear that. Are you waiting to hear from any others? Can’t recall if New School was on your list or not. Anyone hear anything from New School yet? I was hoping you’d get emails today!!
@lkbux64 I would have him reach out. Have him thank them for putting him on the waitlist and tell them he is very interested in attending. It is professional and won’t harm, it just keeps your options open.
Here joining the “still pending” club: waiting on Mannes, NYU, Julliard, Curtis, and Peabody, as well as USC/SFCM/NEC Financials, and NEC studio placement.
@tripletmama congrats on NEC - was your D accepted to the Jazz performance program?
My D got accepted for Jazz Performance and i’m mildly concerned how few girls are in the NEC jazz program so we’ll be keen to know if your D decides to join NEC.
My D only applied to Berklee and NEC - admitted to both. Berklee has created a new Institute of Gender Justice and Equity targeting ‘Jazz Without Patriarchy’ and my D is intrigued by that idea … NEC hasn’t made too many strides (yet) regarding gender equity in Jazz… but D knows NEC is the place to go to hone musical skills … so leaning towards NEC…
@FromSeattle001 My S has had a similar experience, although in reverse. He was one of a small number of male jazz vocalists at his four auditions. (He thought it was kind of cool that he sang with @DrummerDad18’s D at the Frost jam session because she is one of the only female drummers he’s met on this journey and they were both kind of playing against type.)
OMG! I was so enthralled reading all the posts while walking the dog that we got all the way home and when I realized I didn’t use any doggie bags, he’s usually at least a two bagger! Yikes! I need to take him for another walk before nasty messages start going around the neighborhood about not picking up after your dog.
Congratulations to all with such amazing news! Good luck to those still waiting and a huge thank you for those sharing their rejections. I know I really appreciate the shares because it can often seem like everyone is getting their top choices. Seeing how gracefully that you and your children have handled the rejection has softened the sting of the rejections she is expecting this week and will help those parents and kids coming behind us as well.
@sbjdorlo Thanks for the share. Number five was priceless and described D’s first two auditions! Thanks for the laugh! D enjoyed the guy calling the professor Dad! She had an audition like that!
My only complaint about the whole process is that I wish schools would inform kids that are a definite reject sooner rather than making them wait and wait. We’re still waiting on three schools; Indiana, Eastman and Mannes. We know one is a definite reject, the other probable; it will really stink if the third is a reject. At least we know it will be over by the end of the week.
Yes, @jazzboydad that was super cool! I loved the gender flipped combo and I didn’t even realize it was anything special until afterwards (which is obviously the goal).
And yes @FromSeattle001 it’s been our experience everywhere we’ve been that there are very few women instrumentalists in the jazz schools. USC had 1 or 2. Frost was the same. She’s one of 2 in her MSM pre-college group.
That’s part of why she selected schools that have contemporary musicians studying adjacent to their jazz programs (USC, Frost, Berklee, New School). Those programs are always more gender balanced, and it creates a more diverse pool of musicians to collaborate with and balances out the representation.
My daughter and wife actually went up to Berklee for the Open House event when they announced the Institute of Gender Justice and Equity. They said it was a very cool event and really gave them confidence that Berklee understands the issue and is committed to being part of the solution.
That’s obviously not the only factor that goes into a decision like this. But it’s great that your D has two great choices.
I have a fantasy that someday when they all graduate we could put together a hell of a combo populated just with kids from this forum lol. Maybe call it “Confidential Jazz”. Ok enough dad jokes for the night.
Oh and by the way, we lived in Seattle for 8 years. Technically Kirkland, but close enough
We loved it there and my kids want to move back when they are out of school.
So are there a number of you who’ve had kids admitted to schools but you’re still waiting on merit aid? My son has one school left where he’s been admitted but he hasn’t heard about scholarships. Hope it comes soon so he can begin to make a decision. Do your kids ever ask about scholarship awards if they haven’t heard anything?
@sunnysar great question lol. I think Mannes, COPA (college of performing arts), Parsons etc are all under different umbrellas of the New School. D is in COPA - school of jazz. It’s very confusing ?
@FromSeattle001 - Our daughter studied with Terri Lyn Carrington last summer in Berklee’s first Women’s Jazz Ensemble. She absolutely loved it! She is a big fan of Terri. I don’t think our daughter was that aware of the gender issues until she was around other female jazz musicians who shared their stories. Then - she had the lightbulb moment. Oh - so that’s what that is! She went back to her high school to find that she was the only female in the jazz department (the other female left) and then ran into a very sticky situation that she could not have handled had she not been educated. So, hats off to Berklee for taking the bull by the horns and supporting these girls wherever they might be in the U.S. I know that many gifted musicians find that Berklee is too big and a wide range of musicians - but our daughter found her “home” there. Not sure if that exists during the school year, but I hope it does and more importantly, that the program is well funded. Several of the female jazz musicians in her combo last summer got full tuition scholarships for this year including the pianist, trumpet player, and drummer. We are holding our breath for April 1 to find out how our daughter fares.
Regarding NEC - she really loves a bass instructor there (Cecil McBee) and the same at the New School (Linda Oh). When she auditioned at the New School a few weeks ago she was very happy to see that there was a class on Gender Equality in Jazz (it was cancelled due to snow the day she was there). But yes, it’s a big focus for our daughter and I suspect it will play a part in her decision-making.
@sbjdorlo — in fact, I wrote to the Conservatory admissions director at BW on Friday to ask when we might expect the financial aid package and then, of course, promptly received the merit award in the mail that afternoon! The director got right back to me also and told me financial aid packages had been sent out that day (should arrive tomorrow). I felt a little silly asking but the answer was very kind.
Good to know, @“Pikachu’s Mom”! I wouldn’t feel silly if I were you; it’s so important to have as much information as we can.
I reached out to my sons top choice today and the strings director got right back to me. My son got $8000 in a cello scholarship which I thought was not that much but he told me that that was the top cello scholarship at the school. He sounded very distraught about the idea that my son would probably not be going there because it was unaffordable. He encouraged me to reach out to financial aid, so that’s what I’m going to do next. I’m going to find out more about need-based aid. I guess some schools just give more music scholarship than others.
I think I will go ahead and reach out to his other top school tomorrow since that’s the one that we haven’t received any scholarship information from.
He actually got a financial aid package in the mail from a school we had totally written off, but it was a lot more than I thought. Not sure it’s affordable yet, but it’s worth looking at since it’s also a conservatory.
