I’m a lurker since January ?! But I want to thank all the posters before this application season is over. You guys made me realize we were not alone- from missing a lot of school days to being behind in AP Calc and flights being cancelled due to weather!
I thought I found this board too late. It made me nervous that my S only applied to a handful of schools. Did live auditions to 3 schools and each one was a plane ride away - UMich, Eastman, and MSM! Got accepted to all 3 for VP. Received Dean’s award from Eastman and President’s award from MSM. Got no merit from Umich but they said he was highly recommended for one and we could appeal. No need to because it is last on the list, right?
Now it’s decision time. The most expensive school (which is his 1st choice) turned out to be the cheapest. BUT STILL SO EXPENSIVE! Ugh… can’t even negotiate because no other schools offered more!
Congratulations to all for the admits and scholarships. And for those that didn’t get in this time around, good luck next year! Everyone has a different path/journey. Sometimes you have to take a detour to get to your destination!
@Mamager19 - Congratulations to your son for such amazing achievements! How exciting!
I have a question for you. How did you find out about the UMich merit? So far we have nothing from the music school, so I’m trying to figure out if no news means no merit or no news means it hasn’t come out yet.
My D was accepted to NYU and MSM!! We are over the moon!! Now the April Angst… The scholarship for NYU is wonderful. MSM is the number 1 pick, but the scholarship only covers 50%. The decision struggle is real, as 50% of MSM out of pocket is no joke!
So my son did not make MSM. It’s okay. I am still proud of him: 7 applications, 4 prescreenings, and 7 live auditions = 5 acceptances - all with music scholarships, and the schools that are part of universities also gave merit scholarships, and one wait list. Of course we are sad that the merit is not as much as we had hoped for at the beginning of all of this, but it is still a lot to be proud of! Now that we (almost) know what we are working with financially, s can begin weighing pros/cons and gut feelings and start to make his decision.
Welcome @meltedbutter, @RMSqueencat, @JazzMomLisa, @PianoMom88, @AsMother and @Mamager19 (and any other new folks that I might have missed) that have transitioned from lurker to poster over the last few days! This has been a great and supportive community over the past few months and it’s heartwarming to know that the community was bigger than I even realized. It is great to have you here as we are all approaching the finish line together!
@CaraCoMO Congrats on your son’s great track record! So much to be proud of!
@Mamager19 and everyone else entering April Angst — congratulations on your kids’ amazing choices, as well!
We are also finding that the struggle is real. Two schools where S was admitted, NYU and Berklee, came in at $60k/yr or above so they are off the list (neither were his top choices so that was an easy decision to make). That leaves four possibilities, ranging from our in-state option to three places where he got significant offers.
We’re appealing his top choice and trying to bring the numbers more into line, but even assuming we succeed, there’s more than a $17k year difference between that and his biggest offer. Is the dream school worth $70k more? It would be a big stretch, and there’s no way we could help fund his graduate work. Is he more likely to get funded for grad study with a degree from the dream school? The questions go on and on.
Everyone’s calculus is different, just like everyone’s kid is different. In our case, we’ve been surprised at S’s determination not to be a big fish in a small, richly funded pond. He started out feeling that could be fine, but the faculty and students he’s met on the audition trail have totally changed his mind. He told us that even though it will initially feel scary, he wants to be held to account so he’ll rise to the highest level — not something I expected to hear! So that enters the calculation as well.
CMU is a real option for me now! I just have to wait for financial aid information to be released. Because I’m paying for college myself (loans), I’m trying not to get too caught up in flights of fancy. It’s difficult because I really want to go to CMU and I strongly believe that the oboe professor there is exactly the sort of person I need to improve as quickly as possible, but I’m also flat broke and the college money that was saved up for me was kind of…stolen by a family member who wasn’t supposed to have the account, so I’m pretty much starting from nothing. Everything’s a journey!
@Lisabelle I see you posted this in quite a few other places as well. Please don’t do multiple posts of the same video. Pick one relevant thread or start your own if you’d like the share information.
@lkbux64 I didn’t lurk long before posting. I found this thread rather late in the process. My son applied to schools offering Audio Engineering degrees. Most were through the music schools. He is a classically trained pianist, so he got through some of the pre-auditions and was invited to a couple of interviews. He also wanted a rah-rah school, so he didn’t apply to Berklee, NYU, and other prominent music schools. That really limited his options. Unfortunately, waitlisted at one, denied by another, and now we wait on JSOM. I’m fairly certain that it’s a rejection. As I read through the threads, those that have been accepted have already received their letters. I think we might find out today. He is accepted at a few colleges in their Comp Sci programs (and a couple have Music Technology minors.) Those two majors and very much related, so a transfer from CS to Audio Eng/Sound Prod/Music Tech may be the route he takes. Congrats and good luck to all on your outstanding achievements.
I was away for a couple days and went through all the amazing posts this morning in one breath! Congratulations to all the new acceptances and amazing awards!
@RMSqueencat congrats on the acceptances. CS with a minor in music technology is probably a really good way to go! It seems like it would put him in an excellent position career-wise. My daughter is going the BA route for music performance (she’s in her first year at college), and the range of academic opportunities gives her new perspectives that are shaping how she thinks of music and career. Good luck to your son, and to you.
@oboeboy1917 - Congratulations on CMU! I have my fingers crossed for you. I hope that they will come through with financial support for you, and I hope that you have a decent back up if they don’t. If CMU doesn’t give you what you need, it sounds like your personal situation might make an appeal worthwhile.
@CaraCoMO - Sorry about MSM. It would have been exciting. But wow, what a great run your son has had. Congratulations and good luck with the decisions.
@RMSqueencat - Congratulations to your son. That’s a very interesting path through the application process. My D is going for performance but trying to decide what she might add on as a minor. She’s thinking about audio engineering.
@akapiratequeen - Older, non-music D would have wilted in the high-intensity colleges, my music D has applied to. However, in addition to working with teachers who can help her develop, my music D also is looking for a challenging peer group that will push her. Different kids find motivation and success in different environments.
So the deciding begins. We are lucky that one of D’s 4 top schools is now in the affordable column. Still waiting for merit info from another. The other two in her top pool are financial reaches (in momspeak that means unaffordable), but I think she is still thinking about them. We would need to appeal if she really wanted one of them, and I doubt they would come back with enough to be affordable. From my mom point of view, it’s a slam dunk. Take the money and run. But she’s invested a lot in the application and audition process, so she needs a little time to process the results before she decides.
@PercussionMama exactly this: “From my mom point of view, it’s a slam dunk… But she’s invested a lot in the application and audition process, so she needs a little time to process the results before she decides.” I was surprised S was willing to drop the two schools from his list as quickly as he did. (I think he was a little offended at the low offers, to be honest – rightly or wrongly, he didn’t feel like they wanted him as much.) He also had no problem retiring the largest offer, which felt too big-fish-small-pond to him (although from a parental/financial perspective, it was a dream come true). So here we are in the middle. The most interesting thing is the way he’s thinking about what he wants his own experience in college to be. This is extremely new behavior for my S, who has tended to take the path of least resistance up until now. It’s like I see him maturing before my eyes.
@CaraCoMO I’m looking forward to hearing how things evolve with your son’s decision-making. So much to be proud of! I just want to give you our story, which involved some serious challenges but ultimately resulted in a positive decision and pathway. As I think I have previously mentioned, my daughter had a very difficult senior high school year because of an instrument-related injury, and it completely changed her trajectory. Her choice was to do a gap year and re-prepare for conservatory auditions, or pursue a BA in violin performance. She chose the latter, and she currently is in her first year of college. Right now she is feeling very happy and productive and is getting lots of attention from professors. And she met a student pianist who she really likes playing with, which is great, and so important for string players. My best wishes to you and your son as you move forward with the next steps! It’s a very exciting time.
@RMSqueencat I would definitely consider pursuing the CS major / with music related minor. Audio Eng/Sound Prod/Music Tech are very common 2 year degrees (at least in our area) or minors added on to a different major.
@SuzeViolin has a great point about expanding a students perspective.
My D is a Music Business major with 2 minors - 1 being music production. She is learning so much and (I believe) will come out of college with such a broad education that she can take many paths from there. She is in a BM program and getting a solid performance education as well. She was originally only interested in Pop/Com schools but ended up in a Classical program at a school that also has a good Jazz program and she is able to take voice, guitar and piano lessons in either classical or jazz. There are also composition lessons available although she hasn’t found the time so far. She does occasionally take pop/rock voice lessons via Skype since that is all we feel she is missing from her offerings. She performs (pop/rock) so much for a young female vocalist… the lessons are just to make sure she’s staying on top of her technique to avoid injury as it is different from classical.
Also, her boyfriend did a 2 year program for Audio Eng/Sound Prod/Music Tech (so many names for similar studies) at our community college, is already getting part-time work in the field and has transferred to a 4 year college now. He was never interested in performance. It’s been great for him so far.
@oboeboy1917 - I’m agreeing with other posters here to make appeals on the aid offered and disclose the special circumstances you shared here. Do the schools have your completed FAFSA? Good luck!
Hi, @SpartanDrew I’m having a hard time figuring out how to DM you, but would love to talk about a Mannes.
Anyone else out there to talk to when deciding between Hartt and Mannes, where money is the biggest stumbling block to deciding?
I know it’s a personal decision but still having a hard time thinking of spending $35k per year more for dream school in nyc.
Will ask for more from Mannes, but no idea how likely that is.
@oboeboy1917, congratulations on your acceptances! You truly deserve to go to your chosen school. I hope that you advocate for yourself and explain your circumstances, to whatever degree you feel comfortable, and then surely they must respond in a way that makes it financially do-able. You have the backing and support of all of us here!!! Strength to you! And I’m so happy for the good news!