@tripletmama , I don’t believe Michigan STMD intention was to be rude. On the contrary, they waited to the last day to see if scholarship monies were going to be available for our situation and I’m truly grateful for their effort. Their intent was there but they have to deal with a scholarship budget to cover many variables.
The amount of merit scholarship provided by the music schools depends greatly on instrument/voice need for the upcoming years, demonstrated talent and in many cases "merit based, need. The available money will be shifted to those needs. Hypothetically, If your orchestra needs harpists and cellists, the money will go that year to harpists and cellists.
We had nothing to lose. My D had the most generous financial package offer from her first choice school, Oberlin, aside from the local conservatory. After Michigan’s communication requesting the chance for what in business is called the “last look” , we let them know x amount of merit scholarship (matching other merit awards from peer schools) would have us pull the trigger to Michigan. Michigan had a lower sticker price than Oberlin and if merit award was matched and the already grant money awarded would stay the same as originally offered, Michigan’s offer would have been substantially better than Oberlin’s for COA. Even though My D first choice was Oberlin, she didn’t mind attending Michigan if that would have been the case.
I hope this year’s and future applicants understand that by appealing awards you need to have a strong stomach and even though you might have the best intentions from a teacher to help you through the process, in some cases, it’s out of their hands.
@SpartanDrew raises a good point that was brought home yesterday to us. D reported one of the voice faculty at her school has decided to retire in June. Studio has several graduating seniors, 4 juniors, 5 sophomores, a few freshmen, and at least 1 first year MM. All are scrambling to figure out their next move. So while choosing a school based on interactions with a teacher is important, it should not be everything. If the ONLY reason you would attend is to work with that ONE teacher, it might be worth thinking hard as to whether the school is the right fit overall, “just in case”.
It is worth running a risk management scenario in your head - what if that teacher transferred, retired, etc., what would be the adjustment plan.
I am sure their intent is good. And they have made some great hires. It’s just a question of being confident in their follow through and longevity.
I was one of the original naysayers to this type of ‘journey’ thread cause I like things all organized and easy to access and was concerned that it might be too revealing for your kids blah blah BUT I think there’s not only a wonderful camaraderie here, there’s been a real free-flow of all sorts of helpful advice and information. I’m continually inspired by the talent and resilience of the musicians and the effort and love from their parents. Can’t wait to see where everyone lands - and enjoy the last couple months of high school too! The next four years go by so fast.
I wrote a journal thread to document steps as they occurred that I figured I would never go back and “clean up”. BassDad’s thread inspired me to make that thread. Then SpartanDrew made a journey thread which was much more collaborative and active, becoming more like a group project. And then this thread right here carried on with the journey idea into a full group project to document the thoughts of an entire season of thought that folks go through. It really can’t be said that anything is “off topic”, and it is all in this nice container, easily referred to by the next group. I am happy to see timelines of how things happen, so that the less informed, new person can see if they have major blind spots.
@coloraturadad It sounds like you were hoping SMTD would come down LOWER than the Oberlin price, which might have perturbed them a bit? Had you asked that they simply match your cost at the other school, perhaps they would have considered the request more assiduously. I have heard that certain schools want the student to WANT them for who they are, not just because they come out cheaper than the other contender. In other words, some schools want to hear “All things being equal, you are my first choice, but things are not equal because the other one is cheaper. Can you match their price?” Instead of “I will go to the cheapest one, what is your best offer?” Can anyone comment on this?
Re: accessing information in the “Journey” threads, I find it helpful to search by dates. So I read all about last year’s auditions last December, followed the March Madness journey in March, and now I am reading about the class of 2022’s April Angst. It has been said that the point of all memoir is to show that “we are not crazy and we are not alone” – collectively, that is what these threads have done for me. All hail @SpartanDrew and @GoForth for developing the concept, and here’s hoping some intrepid Class of 2024 parent will pick up the baton!
Agreed with @drummergirl and thank you for starting the Journeyline threads @GoForth! Your thread was invaluable to me and I know others as well. And yes last year the camaraderie on the one I started was amazing. I have easily 10 or more new friends as a result of it and speak to these people on a daily basis! And I love following your son and family @GoForth!
I will admit I got frustrated by those who dogged me and others about the thread last year. I’m glad they gave it a rest this year. If someone doesn’t want to follow the thread then don’t! And there is always the opportunity to start your own topic and ask questions. Or even ask right on the thread. And @GoForth’s point about getting dogged on a thread for asking a question that was “off topic” always felt intimidating to me and I felt shamed in a way so it had me often time avoid posting at all. But this journey is NOT for the faint of heart and it sure is nice to know you’re not alone in that process. Especially if any of you are like us where D was literally the only kid at her school doing anything like this with music auditions at a national level. Her guidance counselor thankfully was amazingly supportive, others not so much. And her music teachers were clueless!!!
On this “journa-versary” I want to offer my thanks to all of you! We couldn’t have survived this season without all of you. We had no idea what we were doing. And no guidance counselor at her high school had any experience with music school process. And here we are one year after my first posts and we’re experiencing our own lightweight level of April Angst. I still want to see a showcase concert featuring all of these kids in a few years. Confidential Live!
Thanks again, and I’ll try to pay it forward next year by helping the next crew the best I can.
@akapiratequeen akaDeborah! Can’t thank you enough for starting this novel. I’m hooked and can’t stop reading. Will be so interesting to see how it ends!
@Music2023 I agree. I think it’s important that financials be A factor, perhaps even an important factor, but shouldn’t be THE factor in selecting a program.
I’d also like to add my thanks to @akapiratequeen for starting this thread and to our Class of 2023 undergrad/2021 grad comrades who came together to support, cheer and console each other every step of the way. And a special thanks to those who took their journeys in prior years and who come back and share their wisdom with us. It has been a great experience traveling this road with you all and I agree with @DrummerDad18 that it would be so great to get these kids together to play at some point!
@highnotes2018 That wasn’t exactly what i said. For many people financials ARE the most important factor, that is just the reality. My question was, in asking for more money, is it considered more reasonable to ask a school to match your child’s current best offer? Or are schools okay with requests to BEAT the current offer?
@SpartanDrew The threads are wonderful and fluid just by their nature. Given that, it is understandable that a question may arise that isn’t exactly in that thread. I think that the Journey does cover that and part of that journey is asking questions as they arise in the fluidity.
My D comes from a very small HS band program. One that was killed in the 90’d due to the district cutting funds for the Arts. It took a young and motivated band director to come along and start it all again. He was a Punk Rock singer who got his teaching credential and while he had the paperwork he was much better in a pop setting. My D LOVES classical… which is way different that his jam. Although he is the one who originally gave her the French Horn. He started the marching band who could not compete because they did not have all of the necessary instruments … He started an advanced band… but because he lacked the appropriate Union membership she was unable to try out for All State or anything other than Districts. She was Principal Horn for all three times… except for this year when we were doing auditions. It was her drive to become good…and I had to help her because no one else had a clue how to go about it or what schools to apply to. It was indeed a long journey and I had help here reading old posts… researching colleges … that were good for brass… that might give $$… I was easier to navigate those waters because of you all. Even in the Polar vortex…ugh… and she will probably end up at Eastman if the appeal that you all suggested works out… so I applaud the fluidity… the ability to ask any question… because I had a lot of them and no one to answer them. Thanks
@Music2023 it is perfectly ok to ask them to match $$$
Only if the better offer comes from a school they consider to be equally or more competitive.
No, @Music2023 . We were asking to match the merit award. They had no idea neither they asked or cared what was the grant aid from Oberlin. And yes, if they would have matched the merit award which was consistent in amount to four other peer schools acceptances, my D would have attended Michigan. If you specifically check their appeal format, it is strictly construed for merit scholarship appeals. We just followed their approach, rules and their instructions (see my original post #3858).
BTW, we know of three other strong voice candidates accepted to Michigan that year who were in our same situation and none of them were awarded merit scholarships during their acceptances or their appeals. The money was simply not in voice that year at Michigan.
We were not hoping anything. Appeals are tall orders and most of them will be denied. Even for Oberlin and their generous package, it is still a big financial burden for us and my D almost ended up in our very good local conservatory. It took some major convincing from her Oberlin studio teacher after several conversations with us to change courses.
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Thanks for the clarification. I’m sure Oberlin is terrific for your daughter!
I really can’t tell you how thankful I am for the Journey thread (I relied greatly on this one and last year’s.) I considered some pretty expensive prep services, college consultant groups, etc. and none of that would have helped as much as this CC family right here. Most of those services seem geared to the families who want their kid at an Ivy League School (hey, for the right price we could have had our daughter on the Crew Team at Yale!) But nothing seemed geared to a kid following the challenging (and yes risky) college music path. Perhaps some of us should start a Music College Prep business to help pay those future college bills! I know some parent experts here who would be perfect and there is definitely demand out there (we’d just have to keep the future Journey threads hush, hush so business stays robust! lol) I am indebted to this group and especially to @GoForth and @SpartanDrew for creating a place for us to ask questions, get answers, debate topics, compare notes on colleges, cheer the great auditions and acceptances, laugh at the funny stories along the way and even cry during the disappointing moments of rejection or lack of funding. It wasn’t a journey of only telling the happy stories, but the frustrations and disappointments too. In other words, we kept it real! I definitely plan to pay it forward to next year’s group. I posted on another thread awhile back, a question unrelated to music. I was struck by the negatively, judgement and snobby attitude of some of the responses. I try to avoid toxic environments so this is where I found my home. Grab your wine glasses (I know they are beside you even before noon during decision time! lol) and raise them up for a toast to surviving this final month TOGETHER before decision day!
Having said that, it doesn’t feel very close to an end in my world. We have 5 acceptances in the bag with full financial info to consider (Loyola, College of Saint Rose, Berklee, Columbia College, Roosevelt CCPA) but are still waiting financial aid and/or merit packages from 3 schools (New School, City College, & CalArts) which we are expecting by the end of the week but could be delayed into next week. So my torture continues and I need your support more than ever!
@AmyIzzy - It never really ends.
Right there with you @AmyIzzy – we are on pins and needles waiting for the results of an appeal. If all goes well, I should be able to announce S’s decision early next week…but meanwhile, every minute is torture! S is busy with school, tae kwon do (testing for his second degree black belt – comes home black and blue and exhausted every night), and seeing friends. I’m the one counting the seconds here at home.