Traveling this week with D (rising senior, VP) to Boston to look at NEC and BoCo and do a sample lesson and tour at each. Any tips? (Mostly looking for tips about the schools themselves, but we’ll also gladly take your recommendations for nearby food & drink or brief sightseeing! I’ve been to Boston a number of times but it’s D’s first visit since she was a toddler).
Naturally, as soon as I posted about Michigan, D discovered that she got an email from them today while she was at school. No merit money for her. Fortunately, she has another top choice that is affordable, so this is not devastating news. But it is surprising. The prof reached out to her, so we thought she would get at least their minimum $1,500 welcome-to-our-studio award. In fact, the prof told her to keep in touch and let him know if she got any better offers–which now makes me laugh since any offer is better than $0. So, we’ll see what he says when she sends him the email. We have some financial resources, but we are far, far, far from being a full-pay family, so there’s no way we can even contemplate paying over $60k a year to send her to Michigan.
@PercussionMama I’m not entirely sure, but i think SMTD does all
the appeals en masse later in the month. DEFINITELY follow up with the proposed teacher. Good luck!
Thanks @coloraturadad! - Actually, that is super helpful even though my daughter has now received her own “Dear John” letter. Helps me understand the process. In her letter, there was no mention of being highly recommended or being considered for scholarships as additional funding becomes available. It feels a little bit like she was being led on to think that she might get something. Just goes to show what other parents have said - you have to take everything with a grain of salt until you see it in writing. Even if she would do an appeal, it’s hard to imagine that she would be willing to wait until the end of April as your daughter was forced to do.
@JazzMomLisa my son is a sax player, but he was talking about the new jazz trumpet hire at UNT in a positive and excited way. I am embarrassed to say, I don’t remember his name, but I remember seeing it on my FB feed.
I have not posted that much but I have been reading about everyones journeys to get into music school. I’ve been so impressed with the hard work and determination of all the candidates for music school/programs. You are all so accomplished and it has been a privilege to learn about the music world through this forum. My congrats to all the parents who have shared their stories and wisdom. We have been on a less rigorous path as my son is pursuing his dreams in Computer music. To that end after some bumps in the road, my son was accepted to Peabody for Computer music yesterday. I’d love to hear from anyone else whose child is in the Computer Music program. I do have a few questions and Peabody does not seem to have an accepted students day. Congrats to all!
We have really appreciated this Board! I am not sure how we would have made it through this process otherwise. It has been so wonderful to read everyone’s happy news, and we are right there with those of you who did not get all positive results!
S is down to two choices: UMich and CMU. He actually only applied to 4 schools and UMich and CMU were always his top two picks. I think he only applied to the other two schools to humor his parents…and he resisted all attempts to get him to consider any additional schools. I have had some remorse about that, but he has not.
So we are happy with his results especially considering he really only started taking classical voice lessons in September. (He spent many years focused on musical theater and then decided that it was not for him).
We are definitely feeling the squeeze of being in the middle financially! We have a ridiculously high for us EFC that is about one third of our combined gross income. There is absolutely no way we could ever afford to pay that amount under any circumstance.
UMich is a great option financially for us as it is instate, and he got some scholarship money as well. CMU not so much! He received a grant/scholarship combination of about $23,000 plus a small subsidized loan, leaving us with $49,000 to cover. We simply do not have the ability to do so. We could maybe cover one year… and that is about it. We would love for him to be able to make his decision based on which program feels like the best fit but that is not looking likely. Has anyone ever heard of a successful appeal at CMU? And if so, how would one go about doing so?
@Lendless - what you talk about was the feature of a NYTimes recent article. It makes a lot of sense! Find students who are like you and ask them for their experience at said college/conservatory.
Here’s the article if anyone is interested. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/26/well/family/skipping-the-college-tour.html
@khill87 - have a great time in Boston and I hope that the decision becomes clear.
@PercussionMama - sorry to hear about UMich but glad that they notified you. It’s crazy to give info. on April 31 like they did for @coloraturadad. Rude!
@Leao114 - congrats on the Peabody acceptance - what an interesting sounding major! Welcome.
@new2music - Congrats on the UMich and CMU acceptance. If he likes both equally - then I’d say go with UMich because of the $$ and save the appeal hassle. Let us know what happens.
can you PM me of the appeal process. My D got excepted to Mannes ( unofficial letter we got today, and it has only $6000 for merit.) I don’t know if we should wait for official letter with financial package, or try to appeal now. Also i have now idea how to do it.
@Lyoder2051 sorry for the mistake but congrats on julliard. As for Carnegie Mellon, my sons financial aid package was very confusing to me. On the top corner we have a box saying we have a financial need of 40,138. Does this mean we have to pay 40,138? We also have a box saying our projected remaining cost which is 35,703 but minus the gift aid/loans. It’s all very confusing to us, would appreciate if anyone could explain our situation.
@fluffpuff123 I dont think so…I think that is the amount the college things you “need” to be able to afford to attend.
@drummergirl and @JeJeJe Thank you for your thoughts. Much appreciated. @CaraCoMO Thanks so much for letting me know that there is a new jazz trumpet professor. Looks like they just announced it on 3/26. A little research and I figured out who it is! More food for thought…
@JazzMomLisa … My S (jazz drummer) had Peabody and Frost tied for his #2 choice for most of his process (with USC Thornton as his preferred #1) and did live auditions at both (which I joined him for), so I’m very familiar with both schools. I’d PM you, but can’t since you’re new here, so instead, here are some thoughts:
- There’s the obvious difference in setting between Peabody and Frost: (Baltimore v Miami, very urban vs suburban in a big metropolitan area, stand-alone but near the main university vs being in the heart of campus). For us, my S liked both for different reasons and could see himself going to school in either setting. I should add that while Peabody acts mostly as a stand-alone conservatory, they were actively encouraging candidates to consider taking required liberal arts classes at the main “Homewood” campus of Johns Hopkins, so like Frost, you enjoy the benefits of being a mostly autonomous music school within a larger university (though Peabody has more autonomy than Frost).
- The corollary to that is that the jazz scenes in Miami and Baltimore are also obviously different, with a much stronger latin jazz influence in Miami and more swing influence in Baltimore. Both schools play both/all jazz styles, but the influence is undeniable and palpable.
- The size of the program is notably different. Peabody is growing under Sean Jones, but will still cap at ~50 jazz students total. Frost is at least double that.
- That means with Peabody, the upside is that you’re getting VERY close personal attention with the jazz faculty, and not just the one that your assigned to or even the ones for your instrument; all the Peabody students get lots of exposure to Sean (they call him by his first name) and everyone else. If you love your faculty, it’s ideal. Plus, the smaller size means you’re definitely going to get playing time in ensembles.
- The advantage to the size at Frost is that there are TONS of ensembles to join of a greater variety, and you have a greater number of people to meet and gel with. Of course, it also means more competition within your particular instrument. You also have more than one professor on an instrument, so if you don’t gel with one instructor, there are others to try out.
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Frost has been among the top jazz schools for a while, whereas Peabody was founded in 2001 and was much smaller before Sean Jones was hired. And Peabody jazz went through some tough times recently, but there is a ton of positive buzz about the program now that Sean is there, and we heard from the Peabody Dean down through other staff members and the jazz faculty that there isa major commitment to getting the jazz program consistently mentioned among the best. . . . So it makes a difference if your child cares more about being part of something very well established (Frost) vs. being a bit of a pioneer at somewhere with tons of upside while still having the history and tradition of the being part of the country’s oldest conservatory.
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One thing that is undeniable is that the faculty at both schools is elite. Daversa, Dafnis Prieto, Sandy Berg – you gotta love that the Dean of Frost is a jazz guy – for starters. For Peabody – Sean Jones, Quincy Phillips, Warren Wolf – just to name a few. All are extremely well-connected. It really becomes a matter of digging into personality and teaching style of the people teaching the instrument you’re studying. And for trumpet specifically, you can’t go wrong with either Jones or Daversa.
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The most surprising difference – and particularly how my S ended up perceiving both schools – was in the audition experience. While both involved a 15 minute audition (as do most schools), those 15 minutes were VERY different.
- At Frost, he was 1-on-1 with Steven Rucker (the other drum professor besides Prieto) with no prior details on what to expect or play; it turned out to be Rucker playing pre-recorded backing tracks for S to play along with, and was the least realistic experience and most artificial experience he had throughout the audition process. That said, later the same day, he played in Frost’s audition jam session, which he loved and was the most realistic experience, but neither Rucker nor Prieto attended, so that bummed him out. So in the end, it all balanced out. That said, he didn’t have much direct, personalized interactions with the jazz faculty.
- At Peabody, the audition was 3 songs he was allowed to declare ahead of time, plus other unexpected songs that they did not warn him about. More importantly, he played live, and his bandmates during the audition were faculty members – Warren Wolf on bass(!) and Alex Brown on piano. Sean Jones ran the audition and most of the other jazz faculty, including both drum professors, were in the room observing. Much more discussion Very cool, interactive experience which gave him a good feel for the instructors and their style of playing in ways that he didn’t get from Frost.
Hope that helps. LMK if you have specific questions about Peabody v Frost, and I’d be happy to answer them.
@Leao114 … Congrats to your S on the Peabody acceptance!!
My S was accepted to Peabody as a jazz drummer, and we’ve spent a lot of time interacting with the staff and faculty there, so maybe I can help answer a question or two if it’s not specific to the Computer Music dept.
Financial aid packages: It seems that the information a lot of families are getting from their schools regarding their financial aid/merit aid packages is unclear, leaving many people feeling worried and unsettled, with questions about how much they would be required to pay, how much of the package is loans vs grants vs work-study, etc. In my experience, if a student or parent/guardian emails or calls the school’s financial aid office, the staff will be more than happy to explain your particular situation to you. They are busy, of course, so you might need to leave a message, and your student’s advisor will get back to you. It’s good to get information from other people on the board, but the bottom line is that you really need to know exactly what’s going on, and schools are very very eager to make sure you fully understand your/your child’s financial package. So don’t be shy to email or call them! It’s your right to do so, and really, they won’t give you a hard time. Just don’t give too much in the way of personal identifiers in the emails, that’s my opinion!
Just heard S was accepted into Peabody! He is traveling with school choir in Europe and just checked the portal. Can’t believe it took him that long to check but he must be having a great time to be so preoccupied as to not have checked before. One more to hear from…
Happy Anniversary, Journeyers! This thread began exactly one year ago today. Countless miles, laughs, tears, hopes and dreams later, we are on the verge of sending an amazing group of young musicians to outstanding programs where they will surely thrive. It’s taken more than 3,800 posts, not counting DMs and late night phone calls, but I couldn’t be more proud of the way we’ve supported each other and the goals we’ve accomplished.
Here’s to all on the journey, past, present and future. Can’t wait to see what happens next.
Deborah
AKAPirateQueen
Time for the next journey thread.
This thread has an addictive nature…
A few thoughts on Peabody with the caveat and disclaimer that I know absolutely NOTHING about Peabody lol. They actively recruited my D last year as well and I agree with @drummergirl that they have been working on being a relevant jazz program for quite some time. That being said, I would not put a lot of stock or faith into a newly hired teacher/faculty quite yet. It reminds me of Jacobs in 2017 when they hired Tierney Sutton for jazz voice. Big name and they touted everywhere that she was heading up the JV program at Jacobs. Seemed odd to me because she IS indeed a big name. We saw her last spring performing with her band at Birdland in NYC. We went up and spoke to her afterwards (bit of a large ego imo, apropos of nothing lol) and complimented her on her show and also spoke about what a giant “Get” she was for Indiana! She kind of rolled her eyes and said “Oh yeah. Well I’m never there. I’m pretty much always touring with my band”. About a month later I heard she left. I think she was there for less than a year and at that was never there. SO had my kid selected Jacobs because of her she would have had a major disappointment. And I know she did in fact conduct the auditions for the incoming group of jazz vocalists last year.
I’m not saying anything to discourage anyone from Peabody so please don’t get me wrong, BUT I would say look very carefully and make a solid and informed decision because this most likely will be your kid’s home for the next 4 years. If they are offering close to a full ride that’s one thing. But the absence of that feels risky to me and feels like these next couple of year’s incoming classes are somewhat of a guinea pig test group.
My two cents and again, Disclaimer that I truly know NOTHING about Peabody so I could be 100% off base but just some food for thought.