@khill87 We did early action and were so glad we did. App was due in early Nov (no prescreen) and audition in early Dec. It was more of a back up but it was so nice to be accepted somewhere in December! (They accepted her on the spot!). It was a really nice ego boost too! And she got a very good scholarship there. Just made the decision harder when the money was much better there than the dream school where she also got in. But knowing she was in somewhere made all the waiting for prescreens and audition results much more tolerable. This was for classical vocal performance.
Congratulations to all the recent deciders!
@Compojazzmom I’m sure our Ss will meet since I can’t imagine there are more than about 50 first year undergrad music students at BoCo.
@khill87 S applied early action to the one school that offered it, none of the others did. As far as application stress and deadlines, there was only a one month difference between Early Action (Nov. 1) and the deadline for all the other schools (Dec. 1), so to get one done one month before wasn’t that hard. The best part was that he then was able to audition in mid-December and was informed of his acceptance within less than a week of the audition. That was a huge relief since the rest of the auditions weren’t until March with admissions decisions coming very late March. If he had to go that long without knowing that he had anything in the bag, it would have been even more stressful.
khill87——— My son actually did two EAs because two reasons…(1) Those two schools in his short list offered EA without pre-screening (2) Clearly, those two schools weren’t his top or top two choices. He did go to a live audition at Berklee to see Boston in early December (first time in Boston). Also, he did “recorded” audition for another “safe” private conservatory which my son knows well (using his pre-screening videos for other schools) so without traveling for a live audition in mid-November.
It was very good to get started early and get a few safe schools done completely because schools in later in the game were much more serious for my son so he wanted to focus on those schools in winter. And it was challenging to schedule many auditions in winter because we really needed to deal with his public high school about “absences” for live auditions. It worked out better for him to spread absences in both semesters, instead of all in second semester.
So, if there are a few “safe” schools in your daughter’s college list that offers EA, you may want to encourage her to get applications done extra early. And if those schools aren’t clearly her top or two top choices and “recorded” auditions are accepted, you may want to get those schools with “recorded” audition early, too because your daughter will be taking 5 AP classes next academic year (if I remember correctly).
We did not do E/A. What we did (and I would advise everyone to do) is to audition on the first available date at schools with rolling admissions. There are quite a few schools like that The applications were submitted at the normal times. She auditioned for Baldwin-Wallace in November and heard in early December. She applied to Crane in early December and heard by Xmas. It was great practice for latter auditions and it really helped lower her stress. In addition, very few people auditioned. She came VERY close to going to Crane.
If you are absolutely sure of a first choice AND the school has a higher admit rate for E/A (some but not all schools), then it might be a good idea. Ithaca advised against it because it could have a negative impact on financial aid.
I left y’all hanging last week on my bassoon son’s decision between Vanderbilt and UT.
He chose Vanderbilt last night!!!
We’re finally done with this agonizing process.
He’s happy. I’m thrilled.
I can’t thank everyone on this forum enough - you’ve been a godsend of knowledge and comfort during this insane process from beginning to end.
The Pirate Queen rules!
May all of our children flourish.
Yay – congrats @jadedhaven! Vanderbilt is an amazing school in a great city! And hang in there @meltedbutter – you are almost at the finish line!
@khill87 oh and we also decided in one case to cancel an audition because where she got in EA she would’ve chosen over that other school. So that saved us the audition fee and the hassle. She did do another audition at a school lower on her list than where she was already accepted just to give herself for more experience before her top choice auditions came up. I think that was a good idea too.
Finally, just over a year after stumbling into this crazy forum without a clue, I get to use the “change my picture” link!
It was down to the wire with a lot of “lead changes” between her top two choices, but in the end she listened to her heart and it told her where she belonged.
So it’s USC Thornton Popular Music program for my D!
If she had decided to stick with jazz, she would have been thrilled to join Frost. She loved their program and ensembles. They were super generous, and she really got a great vibe from all the faculty and kids she met there.
She cried as she wrote the note to the studio head there today, but when it was sent she felt confident in her decision.
In the end she just picked a different genre to focus on for her next chapter and was fortunate enough to have that option at a school she loved at first sight two years ago.
Thanks again to @astute12 @YertleTurtle and @Drummerdad1 for their invaluable feedback on the pop program.
Looking forward to meeting up with @lkbux64 and @PercussionMama and @MMRose during a parent’s weekend or performance next fall. What are we supposed to say now? Fight On? I’m still learning.
And of course, I have to especially thank @SpartanDrew and @AmyIzzy without whom I never, ever would have survived this insane process. They were the voice of reason, cheer-leading squad and Greek chorus depending on what the day needed. And of course @akapiratequeen for creating the warm and inviting journey thread we’ve called home for the last 13 months.
So what am I going to do with all my free time now?
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Yayyyyyyyy!!! @DrummerDad18 what a LOOOOOONG month this has been for all of us! Somebody slap me if I go through this again with next year’s group! Wasn’t last year enough already? GEEZ! I’m not sure I’ve ever felt more angsty than waiting for your darling daughter to DECIDE! But I also know that she will be a rock star (pun intended) wherever she goes. Thornton is damn lucky to snag her!
Roll on the rest of the decisions! Who’s left? @meltedbutter and anyone else?
Woohoo @DrummerDad18! So happy to have your D join the Thornton contingent! I look forward to getting together with you, @PercussionMama and @MMRose in LA! My son is going to orientation on 6/20-6/21. Anyone else going then?
@khill87, my son applied to one school ED and two schools EA. He did not get into his ED school but did get into the two EA schools. The EA schools were non-audition programs (U Michigan and U Richmond), but getting in did help in the process because he was able to drop extra “safety” schools off of his list that he might have applied to if he didn’t have those EA schools in his pocket. I also feel that if you’re applying to a number of schools, getting a couple of applications out of the way early is helpful to the overall process.
Congratulations @DrummerDad18! Great to see that icon change. Hope the jazz world doesn’t “lose” your D permanently but it’s great that she’s following her heart. (And there is so much overlap now—my S’ jazz choir did a killer version of Snarky Puppy’s “What about me?” a couple of years ago—Jazz? Rock? Pop?)
@jazzboydad not to worry, her favorite music is right on the line between the genres. Fusion is her thing, especially Snarky Puppy as they showcase 4 of the best drummers of their generation. In fact, she won a major drumming contest a few years ago with a cover of What About Me and Michael League actually reached out to her an invited her to sit in the studio while they recorded the first album from his side project Bokante. Super cool guy in addition to being one of the most original composers around.
So if your son wants to do some gigs in NYC over xmas break this year, you know who to call! I’m betting we could put together a great pick up band with CC kids from the tri-state area to make some extra $$ for school 
It’s going to be quite a CC contingent down in LA! Congrats @DrummerDad18! I just spoke today with another music mom whose daughter will also be at Thornton…so quite a talented group will be down there!
Congratulations @DrummerDad18 !! My D’s experience was similar to your D’s. It was tough sending the decline letters, but once they were sent, she was very excited with her choice. Looking forward to raising a glass with you, @lkbux64 , and @MMRose during Welcome Week. D also told me today that a friend of hers just got more money from Thornton, so he is going there too! Yay!
Still need to register for orientation but hoping to get into the 6/20-21 session if there are still slots. Keep in touch @lkbux64 .
OMG!!! YESSSSSS! Woohoo! Welcome to the Trojan fam @DrummerDad18 !!! It’s so funny-- just today my son told me he is so glad he is in the Pop program because he thinks he will learn more and stretch himself as a performer then if he had done straight jazz. The beauty of Thornton is that the kids can really do both and they get an amazing foundation in music. Can’t wait to see your DrummerDaughter on the Carson stage!
Congratulations @DrummerDad18 ! The Thornton contingent keeps on growing! It really would be fun for all of us to meet up during Welcome Week!
@khill87 - D did not do any EA, and we don’t really regret it. At the schools she was most interested in, either they didn’t offer an EA option for her studio or it didn’t seem useful. A couple of her safeties offered EA auditions in November, but she was SO busy in November doing her many pre-screen recordings and finishing apps, that a live audition at a safety school probably would have been an unwelcome distraction. However, I did learn some important things about timing.
First, the 12/1 prescreen deadline lined up with the general (non-music) EA deadline at some schools. This was significant because at some schools you need to essentially apply EA for priority consideration for academic scholarships. If your kid might be able to pull down an academic scholarship, this is really critical. At USC, the addition of the academic scholarship made all the difference for our family between being able or not able to attend (and also led to an fantastic match offer from another top-choice school in the April end game). It’s really worth paying attention to those academic priority deadlines even if won’t make a difference in your audition schedule.
Second, I was incredibly grateful that D started submitting her common apps in early to mid November because we discovered that after that there were still the music apps to submit which also took time to complete (ask the USC applicants about the video introduction they had to make about their plans for their college senior thesis). In some cases, you couldn’t open the music app until you had submitted the common app, so if she had waited on the common app, it could have created problems for her.
Good luck!
Not sure how to even explain this in a tiny white box, but after all the practicing and the trial lessons and the long drives and the auditions and the maturing and the dress shoes being forgotten in hotels and cousins’ homes all across the US, and then his number one hoped for teacher retiring (School A), his number two hoped for school, School B, not giving him any merit money, his number three teacher (School C, with a nice merit award) going on sabbatical and not telling DS until last week(!), thoughts of throwing everything out the window and taking a gap year in a faraway land, finally School B bumped the award once, and then a surprising second time, SIGNIFICANTLY, (did i mention this happened yesterday?), resulting in DS finally saying Yes to School B, B for BLUE as it turns out. Michigan SMTD Class of 2023!
@DrummerDad18 congrats on that very hard decision, I was in your shoes a week ago and my D loved Frost too. But once the decision was made she has never looked back! Your post was so on point to how I feel, everyone has been so incredibly helpful and insightful with well thought out advice.
@Lyoder2051 I’m beyond thrilled with your decision and simply can not believe my D will be at UCLA with you! I look forward to meeting you one day soon. Congratulations on the scholarship too!