Lyoder2015——— You are awesome!!! And your brother and MAMA are awesome! Thank YOU very much for sharing your journey. I keep watching your success!
@Lyoder2051 and your other brother is great too!
@pdxtigermom haha thanks! Yup there is three of us 
Congrats @Lyoder2051 . Very impressive. Hope to listen to you play in a big hall one day. Wishing you and your brother much success. All the best
@HereWeGoAgain2018 that would be fun! Preferably in a duet or trio with your children :)!
@JeJeJe thanks so much for your kind words!!! and yes MAMA is awesome 
@Lyoder2051 - loved listening to your playing! What an amazing family that you have - and so interesting that you can trace lineage back to Chopin. Many people ask me why we have 2 kids that are into the Arts and since I’m adopted, it’s hard to know. I need to do Ancestry.com.
@Meryem Ouhirra - welcome! Sorry you didn’t find us earlier. It’s been a roller coaster ride for all of us, for sure! I hope that your son and my daughter will get to play together in Jazz at Berklee (she’s a double bassist - she was part of the Women’s Jazz Ensemble last summer if your son remembers that). She is so excited to be going there given her experience last summer as well!!! (I’m curious if he auditioned during the summer and then again given the recent discussion?). My daughter has a vibrophonist female friend that is at the Colburn High School program - not sure how big the vibrophonist world is.
Glad that Peabody results are in!!! And Michigan - shame on you!!! Get those packages out!!! Our friends are on the edge here!!!
@tripletmama haha well it isn’t direct ancestry unfortunately…more of the my teacher’s teacher’s teachers’ teacher was Chopin kind of thing And my family is, I will admit, quite unique. Well we have a piano on each floor of the house…so there is music basically 24/7 lol
@“Meryem Ouhirra” pleased to meet you. Your S has great choices! And you’re not too late to join the CC meetups that will undoubtedly happen now that so many of our kids will be at the same schools. Are you still in the decision phase, or will it definitely be Berklee? Keep us posted!
And @Lyoder2051 thank you for sharing your identity! I am enjoying your Instagram — what an extraordinary talent and story.
@AsMother not sure who that info was for — my S isn’t going to school in NYC — we live in NJ. In fact, we lived in Hoboken for years but were priced out. It’s a great town and super convenient by PATH but the costs are equivalent to Manhattan or Brooklyn Heights at this point. Jersey City is better and Newark better than that, but that’s a long ride for our students. According to my daughter, who graduated from NYU last year, the affordable choices include Harlem, Morningside Heights (near Columbia U), parts of the Bronx, parts of queens (Astoria still ok), and the following areas in Brooklyn: Prospect Lefferts, Bed Stuy, Bushwick, Greenpoint, parts of downtown Brooklyn, parts of Crown Heights/Prospect Heights. Expect 35-45 minutes on the subway if you want to live somewhere nice. She lived at the Parkside Q express stop, right next to Prospect Park, and adored it. Try to live near the express rather than a slow train like the F.
No real update here — waiting on an appeal — the time is dragging as usual, but we should know something soon. Hoping to have everything sorted by S’s spring break, which starts the 15th. We’re taking a celebratory trip to Scotland and will hopefully know what we’re celebrating by then!
@sssulliv …No info on Jacobs music awards yet. Letter said notification March 28-April 4 so I guess a couple more days. If you get nothing, do you think they notify you?
@akapiratequeen , I was responding to your response to someone else about housing options in Brooklyn and Harlem.
You recieved 71k ? How does that work? My son was admitted to Carnegie Mellon and he only received about 33k.
You are truly phenomenal!!! I am glad things are working out for you financially and we wish you much success!
Ok I am a mess with this, please help… That was meant for Lyoder2051 and I thought I replied to her comment and therefore she would be tagged?!
Also, I made a username -though not as cool as some others on here haha, but my posts appear under my actual name.
If you wish to tag some one you need to use the @username format. As you type your post start with @ and then type the letters of username and it will popup.
As for username vs real name I think you may be able to control this in your user profile page.
Welcome to CC.
@HereWeGoAgain2018 Thank you!! I did try to change the username by going to edit profile but saw no way of doing it. Maybe S can help with that later today… Feeling a bit like a dinosaur right now
@fluffpuff123 , It is based in your calculated EFC (Expected family contribution) assigned by FAFSA and CSS Profile. Carnegie Mellon meets 100% need.
@"Meryem Ouhirra” Lyoder2051 is a boy
All these $$ discussions are VERY misleading. You can’t compare your award to anyone else’s, unless you know their financial situation. In most schools, the majority of the award is based on need. Even merit awards can be “need informed”. That means the top applicant on instrument X may not have need so is not included in the pool of students competing for the music merit money. Top can mean top musically, or a combination of musical and academic merit. If you have no financial need, you can assume any money granted is based on pure merit.
@akapiratequeen pleased to meet you as well! Still deciding but I believe for S, it is down to Berklee Vs. Frost.
To offer some more insight, here is our situation: (3 choices, others ruled out including a full ride to UNT)
New School (3rd choice)- S never really made it to campus but likes a lot of what it has to offer; modest scholarship but still a big stretch; in that aspect equivalent to Berklee even with award.
Frost (2nd choice)- S (and I) loved the school and what it has to offer, strongest audition and professors really want him there; very generous scholarship; could go debt-free; S worried about the small size of the music school and the prospects for the future, not keen on the big University/ football experience or Miami as a place to be for four years.
Berklee (1st choice)- S believes this is the place for him in terms of curriculum, creative and diverse opportunities and fit. He feels identified in the Berklee vibe and community and really likes Boston; He also believes a Berklee education and network is most beneficial to his future success… BUT NO scholarship at all and this option means a good amount of loan even with the savings we have for his college education.
We appealed at Berklee FA and should hear back mid-April but quite honestly I do not expect anything will come out of that. I would love to see him go to his top choice but I am a bit concerned about him having to take a loan given the uncertainty of this career. I am trying, however, to let him lead the way and decide for himself of course. He has always been sensible in his decision making but I feel this is huge right now. In some way, it is passion vs reality… sigh
Any comments re. Berklee Vs. Frost are welcome. I would appreciate input, especially if you have been in a similar situation or/ and if you know more about the two programs. TIA