Congrats to everyone on all of the decisions! Hopefully we can now just relax and enjoy all of the “lasts” that are coming our way in the next few weeks.
S decided on UMich last week but life has been such a crazy whirlwind of choir concerts, solo and ensemble, awards night etc that I am just now posting. He is very happy with his choice, as are we since we are in state. @Music2023 and @MomOD4 we are local so if you need any Ann Arbor tips or tricks please PM me!
Congratulations on all the wonderful decisions over the last month! As in past years, I really am impressed by the very thoughtful way in which each person found the right place for them. I’m also impressed with all the different unique logos you found for the same schools! 
There’s quite a lot of talent represented in this forum and quite a wide array of school choices, and each choice feels like the right one for the specific individual. It makes me confident in the future of music, which I am convinced is more important to the world than ever.
Looks like there are three of us. I haven’t posted too much as our son had a slightly different path as he will be studying computer music. Just made hotel reservations for Orientation Weekend. Looking forward to meeting everyone.
Owwww good reminder. For some schools NOW would be a good time to be making reservations for any orientations AND move-ins! At some schools move-in weekends can be particularly tight (and expensive).
@Leao114 . . . Woohoo!!! Congratulations to your son. We look forward to meeting you at Peabody in August.
SFCM finally got back to s today. He was accepted and offered a nice scholarship, but not nice enough. It was about the same as what Berklee offered him. It felt good and gave him validation, but still just not enough. They do seem to be willing to negotiate, but I doubt they can offer enough to make it happen for s. We will try and see what they say, but he is really loving the no debt plan he has now with UMKC and all of its positives. So now he had 6 out of 7 acceptances, which feels good.
@CaraCoMO The same thing happened to my son last week. Two days after committing to Michigan, BU called him off the waitlist. BU is super reachy reach for his instrument, he never thought he would get in but worked hard and wanted to do the audition anyway. We were shocked to get the call last week. He feels settled with his decision to go to Michigan, they were very good to him money-wise and all the teachers (solo and chamber music) have been really supportive. So he said no to BU. It just gave him such a boost of confidence to have such an unexpected and wonderful invitation. Now he can feel good that they took his audition seriously. A terrific end to a long arduous story!
I am sure your boy will blossom at KC. Congrats and have a fantastic summer.
@Music2023 Congratulations to your son! It sounds like Michigan will be great for him, but it definitely is validating to get off the waitlist and be accepted!
Hi gang! Just checking in to see how everything’s going. We’re in the midst of so many “lasts” for high school…last choir performance (he conducted!! Very cool), last jazz ensemble gig, last Wind ensemble, etc etc. I’m in a permanent state of “verklempt!”
That is AMAZING that your son got to conduct @akapiratequeen and I can totally relate! I have been emotionally overwhelmed these past few weeks with all these final concerts, award ceremonies and tonight is her final musical (The Drowsy Chaperone In the role of the Drowsy Chaperone) with her theatre group-possibly her final musical ever since she isn’t pursuing musical theatre in college. Not sure why we thought it was a good idea to have our kids 4 years apart but my son is graduating from 8th grade so adding to the emotion is all of his final events and graduation ceremony before he enters high school. Ugh. He does percussion (will start off in the Symphonic band in high school) and has a natural musical talent but he’s not as serious as my daughter and has already made it clear he won’t be pursuing a music major in college and prefers to stay local to save money on housing (he’s my practical kid!) so maybe the college search will be much easier next time around! I do think having him for at least another 4 years is helping me deal with my daughter being so far away in New Orleans. She is super independent and thrilled to go away but informed me that she was crying the other day because she will miss our dogs so much. Lol-what about your dad, brother and me? All these “lasts” are bittersweet but I am excited to see her enter this new chapter and can’t wait to see her continue her journey at the college-level! We were able to schedule a late orientation at Loyola in mid-August so we can do the drop-off/move-in at the same time which saved us on extra travel and scheduling challenges we would have had for the June orientation. I’m not looking forward to the 18 hour drive home where I will probably cry my eyes out. The veterans out there will have to give me coping advice! Hope everyone is enjoying (and emotionally surviving) the “lasts” with your kids!
We are done with all the “last’s” now—Graduation was last week. We were so so busy. We took a quick fun trip to CA, now we are home and everything has just stopped for a few weeks at least.
@akapiratequeen so cool that your son got to conduct his choir! My son also conducted a piece at his last school orchestra concert (full symphony) and it was like a little glimpse of his future. He looked like he belonged there. It was also a great learning experience for him. He hasn’t always gotten along well with his orchestra director. I think he has a new appreciation for the challenges of that job. I’m thankful he was given the opportunity and it was a highlight of the year for him.
Strangely, for his last choir piece at his last choir concert, my son played cello (with some other strings and piano). He said he sang too, at the end. His concert choir in particular this year was just outstanding. We will miss seeing those kids perform together.
I don’t know how I feel about it all. He’s our youngest so it’s really really been the last of everything. I don’t think it’s hit me at all.
We’re on to looking forward to firsts. Orientation is upcoming, his birthday, shopping for a new cello—he’s auditioned into college on a (good quality, but still…) rental we kept so long that we own it. We’ve put off a better instrument longer than we should have. He’s reviewing piano and theory for upcoming placement and proficiency tests as well and continuing voice lessons. And playing video games…
Also we are looking forward with some trepidation and some excitement to an empty nest. DH and I want a vacation this fall.
@Parentof2014grad I hear you – we will be empty nesters as well. My husband is quite ill, unfortunately, so the sense of change is much greater than it would have been otherwise. But I’m still focusing on both “lasts” and “firsts” as much as we can. The next few weeks are a blur of concerts, award ceremonies, prom, graduation party, grandparent visits…bittersweet. It’s been such a wonderful ride.
@AmyIzzy my kids are four and six years apart, 11 in all, so I feel ya! There’s no easy way to get through it, even though there is great joy in watching them fly.
I haven’t been on here for awhile - just wanted to say congrats to everyone - I love seeing the avatars!
Graduation was yesterday with a whirlwind of lasts leading up to it! (oh and a “first” performance at the Kennedy Center even if it was just in the Cappies Awards (theatre) pit orchestra). He also did an internship at his old elementary school and got to see what it’s like to teach strings to 4th graders. I don’t think he’ll be changing his major to music ed!
My son is going to JMU, which feels sort of anti-climactic, but there is a wonderful teacher, it’s cheap, there is money for grad school, and he was able to get a “new” 130 year old bass that he’s pretty excited about. And it’s a two hour drive so I can’t wait to see his first performance in the fall!
He’s going to work on his piano and orchestra audition music for the fall, do a one-week bass program, hopefully fine tune his practice techniques and endurance, and half-heartedly look for a job.
@akapiratequeen - thanks for posing the question! It’s fun hearing what everyone is up to. I am very very sorry to hear that your husband is very ill 
We too, had a whirlwind of events “last” events - graduation, concerts, etc. We will take him to college orientation in a couple of weeks. In the meantime, he is practicing his sax, working on his piano for class placement, and having fun playing drums with his rock band. I will miss him so much when he leaves, but I will definitely not miss the drums, lol! His fifteen year old brother is really going to miss him.
One nice development with UMKC is that they formally announced that Adam Larson will be teaching jazz saxophone in the fall! My s learned unofficially back in March that this was happening, and it was definitely a factor in his final decision. He is super excited about the opportunity to study with him.
One more school concert then it’s full steam ahead with musical theater rehearsals. Our local musical theater has a program where the professionals stage a show and then mentor high schoolers. Kid has done it twice before and loved it - plus this time it’s West Side Story, a percussionists dream score. In the meantime we are headed to Boyer orientation next weekend - figure husband needs to check out the school as well. Turns out three of his cousins went there! (granted his family is from Philly…but still!)
As we only have one kid, we are going straight to being empty nesters. Just like you @CaraCoMO I will NOT miss the drums, timpani, marimba etc. but will miss the kid terribly. Our way of dealing with missing the kid is to move. So add packing up and moving ourselves along with moving the kid - we have a very busy August ahead of us.
@akapiratequeen - sending good vibes for your husband.
@akapiratequeen, I am so sorry to hear that your husband is ill.
My son had his last concert with his high school jazz choir last night. He has been singing in the choir since freshman year and also played guitar in the rhythm section for his senior year. One of my 8th grade sons joined the choir as the drummer for this past year and my other 8th grade son was just accepted into the choir for next year. Well, last night’s concert included the new members of the choir so for the first time ever, all 3 of my sons were in the same concert. To make it even more special, the three of them performed a song together. I will treasure that memory forever!
@eh1234 Congrats on James Madison! My S was also accepted into their music school (excuse me if we’ve already spoke about that…since May 1st everything is a blur!) and we loved it there. Don’t feel like it’s anti-climactic.It’s a beautiful campus and the professors were all so amazing at their open house. Every single one of them spoke, which I thought was very impressive compared to some of the other campus visits we had. It’s a hidden gem. I would have been very comfortable sending my S there, but we were OOS so the numbers didn’t really work in our favor (although they came up with two separate $5K scholarships at the end, after offering nothing before that). I hope your S enjoys JMU as much as I think he will!
@akapiratequeen Hoping for a speedy recovery and healthy road ahead for your husband. Regarding conducting, I can say that my S also had an opportunity to do this and it was amazing! His choir sang at the NHS induction, but the choir director wasn’t available so instead of cancelling, she asked my S to do it! It truly brought tears to my eyes and I knew then that we made the right decision in letting him pursue a musical path!!! It felt so right watching him up there…you could just see his love for vocal performance. He just registered for his Fall classes at Frost, and he’s so pumped to have almost all music classes. It’s a dream come true for him!
@eh1234 JMU is a terrific choice for bass! I have a friend who went there. @akapiratequeen Sorry to hear about your husband, I hope he gets better soon.
@eh1234, I hope you and your son feel great about JMU! It sounds like such a wonderful situation! I would be thrilled for all those perks.
It’s actually very similar to my son’s situation. He will be attending Cal State Fullerton as a cello performance major. He got a full-tuition scholarship and he will be able to borrow a very, very nice old cello. The teacher there is so excited to have him and has offered all sorts of perks for him. I think it’s great to be wanted!
He also has $7500 in outside scholarships, so we will pay very little for him to attend and he won’t have any debt. It’s only 1 1/2 hours from home which is so important to us given his health issues. I couldn’t be happier for him and I really feel like this was a fantastic choice! We’re so proud of him for even making this attempt at finishing school.
Probably the biggest downside is that the bureaucracy is heavy at Fullerton and we’ve had to send multiple emails and make phone calls to get problems cleared up on so many fronts as a transfer student. If I was not helping my son (because this is what I do for a living), there’s no way he could navigate everything. We’ve definitely worked as a team.
@akapiratequeen, I’m so sorry to hear about your husband… I can’t imagine the emotions you are having right now. Virtual hugs and prayers coming your way.