My D officially committed to Mannes!!!
Woohoo @pianomom74!!! Congratulations!!
Congratulations to everyone with new decisions! Especially congratulations @sbjdorlo on your S’s decision. After such a long and obstacle-filled road, it’s nice to know that he has found a school that values him.
We are still in decision-making mode. D thinks about it all the time and is stressed about choosing between such great options but is too busy to really tackle the decision making in a productive way. School 3 matched School 1’s scholarship offer, so this week she is deciding between those two although she knows that School 2 might still improve their offer.
Thank you all for the good wishes! I appreciate it very much!
@chollist, it definitely sounds like SFCM wants your son and being close to home sounds great to me!! Let us know how the meeting with f. aid goes. I’m excited for your son whatever he decides, and obviously have a special place in my heart for cellists. 
If my son had gone to SDSU, his teacher there is the principal cellist of the symphony and my son knows he would have learned a lot from him (he and my son’s longtime teacher are friends since they played together for many years). However, my son wanted to get out of town and I needed to let him make that decision himself. We’re so close to SDSU that it just didn’t seem like a big enough leap to independence for him even if he lived on campus. I respect that.
@akapiratequeen, well done to your son who finished his degree at 26! I was a late bloomer and finished my degree after 7 years at age 24. My son will be 24, just shy of 25, likely, when he graduates (Lord willing).
@sbjdorlo - Wow! Sounds like the stars lined up. It’s so great to have an instructor who believes in him and is already thinking about his future. Nothing better than that! And to have him 2 hours away is ideal.
@PAPDAD - congrats on the Eastmen decision. It’s funny how each year there seems to be a popular school on this board and looks like with the various Eastman logos, it’s the place to go this year.
@pianomom74 - congrats on Mannes! Are you the only Mannes parent? Seems that there was another one?
@lkbux64, @Lendless, @cholist - can’t wait to hear your musician decisions!
Now that auditions/college decision is done, our daughter is giging more in LA (I told her that if she wants to stay there this summer that she has to pay for half her rent - which isn’t going over well with her). She also has to focus to graduate. She got waaaaayyyy behind in Economics so has to play catch up. This combined with a severe case of senioritis is not fun to watch. She also has to pass PE. Oh boy.
Congratulations to everyone who has committed!
S is still deciding between two schools. We attended Accepted Students Days at Mannes and Boston Conservatory this past week. One seemed like a better overall fit (to me). S is still waiting on his teacher match at Mannes…
@pianomom74 - did your D get her match already? Congrats on committing to Mannes!
I’ll share more once S decides! Probably not until the last day or so of April based on his “system” of deciding…
Congratulations to everyone who has a decision!!
@sbjdorlo, sounds like Cal State Fullerton is truly excited to have your son!! And how wonderful that it is a well-funded opportunity with lots of performance options, and only two hours away. I know you’ll all enjoy his next steps!
@PAPDAD — what a warm welcome you all have already received; congratulations on a great decision!
@pianomom74 — Mannes sounds like such a vibrant community; congratulations!
D and I will travel to Appleton, WI tomorrow for class visits. This will give D more info on the type of classroom experience and fellow students she’ll find there. We still have three good options: Baldwin Wallace (cello primary), Lawrence (VP primary), and Luther, the BA option.
And, yes, both majors are still in the mix!!! I actually can wait; maybe I’ve been anticipating May remorse; don’t want to feel like the options weren’t explored as much as we could have!
CONGRATULATIONS to all of you who have made your decisions!
For those of you still anxiously waiting I can relate but I am thrilled to say my D has finally made her decision.
UCLA won her over in the end and I have to admit after our admitted student School of Music and Bruin day I knew it would be an opportunity she just couldn’t pass up.
Whew what a journey this has been. As my D told me yesterday, if you had asked her a year ago, she would never in a million years think she would have been in this position. Choosing between her top two schools. So many invaluable decisions that we made came from reading CC and I thank you all. I’m quietly following along all of your journeys, best of luck to all!
Congratulations on all those final decisions! What a wonderful read catching up has been after a few days away. Very happy for all of you and your kids.
Agreed!! Congrats @bayareamom2016 and can’t wait to hear @“Pikachu’s Mom” !
@tripletmama Thank you. So far i am only one for this year i think. 
@pianomom88 thank you. Yes we have, she was matched with her first choice. Who did he put as his choice if you don’t mind me to ask?
Drumroll…and the winner is…Loyola University New Orleans!!!
We had an interesting turn of events in the last few weeks. As I mentioned recently, my daughter went to the Accepted student overnight at Loyola University in New Orleans and absolutely fell in love. As we realized this was “THE ONE” we were torn because it’s so far away (18 hours by car and no direct flights from Buffalo) but she had such a positive experience, met so many great people (3 of which have been begging her to go so they can be roommates) loves their Popular/Commercial Music program, AND they gave her a very generous scholarship, so how could we NOT give our blessing?
She also did an overnight at Columbia Chicago and really liked the artsy vibe but felt the music program at Loyola was more in line with her goals and direction.
Obviously, New Orleans is a fabulous city to study music so that’s quite a bonus!
Although St. Rose had the lowest COA, Loyola gave her the biggest scholarship. My husband wasn’t sold at first because he felt we should push her towards St. Rose since it was cheaper, closer and would not involve extra travel costs. With that in mind, my daughter wrote an appeal to Loyola to see if she could get additional scholarship money to “sway” her dad more towards Loyola. And it worked! They responded in less than a week with additional scholarship money and said the committee really wants her and hoped the additional funds would allow her to commit. So that was icing on the cake and sealed the deal!
Throughout this journey, my daughter stuck with the “I like all the schools” attitude (and I think she truly was trying to keep an open mind.) However, I personally didn’t really place Loyola in the top 5, let alone the #1 spot (maybe because of our crazy audition visit which was supposed to be a 24 hour visit that turned into a stressful mere 3 hours on campus due to flight issues and missing our layover!) but just goes to show you how unpredictable this process is! We are beyond thrilled, especially seeing how excited she is. Loyola here we come!
Trying to get caught up here, hopefully I’m not missing anything major…
@sbjdorlo - Wow! Sounds like things worked out perfectly! You are very lucky to have your son so close. I’m probably the CC winner of “whose child will be farthest away for college?” Lucky me : (
@PAPDAD - congrats on Eastman! I’m honored to live so close to the most popular college choice here! Rochester will be a wonderful place for them to call home!
@pianomom74 - congrats on Mannes! How exciting!
@Bay Area Mom 2016 Congrats on UCLA! Sounds so perfect for your daughter! I remember messaging you early on in the process as we tried to compare potential college lists and we were both so nervous about where our girls (who sound so similar) would end up. And here we are! Cheers-we did it!
So excited for you both @AmyIzzy and we can celebrate in person next Saturday when our girls perform together at Young Arts in NYC! Nola is one of the truly great music cities, and it will no doubt both inspire her and give her great opportunities to perform. Great choice all around made even better with the late additional scholarship!
Thank you @DrummerDad18! I am definitely looking forward to seeing you next Saturday and celebrating (but hopefully we will be celebrating your daughter’s decision too by then?) I love how YoungArts just gave your daughter so many songs to learn in such a short time-just as she is in the midst of making a HUGE college decision. Just proves what an unique bunch of kids we have. The pressure and stress never ends and our kids somehow just get to business and make it all happen!
Congrats @AmyIzzy! And, never fear, you will not win the ‘child that is farthest away’…I can assure you! And congrats to our first (and maybe only?) Mannes parent @pianomom74!
@AmyIzzy, congratulations!! It seems like such a fantastic fit in so many ways!!
Congratulations Bay Area Mom 2016 and @pianomom74 on such great choices for your kids! So far you seem to be the only representatives of your schools.
Congratulations @AmyIzzy ! I love how your D went through the process with an open mind and was able to follow her heart and advocate for herself.
@Bay Area Mom 2016 - a big congrats on UCLA!! I’m not that surprised - just glad that it all worked out and she won’t be too far.
@AmyIzzy - so glad that your daughter found her fit. I love it when there is a surprise ending!!! I think I might win the distance prize (SF to Boston - but I believe there might be an overseas parent here, too). It might be nice for you to visit NOLA in the dead of a Buffalo winter !
I know the buzz is pretty much over here - but I still come back here to check.