Is there a disadvantage to choosing a NYC audition date for Frost instead of auditioning on-site? It’s so much easier to get to NYC than Miami, but if it doesn’t reflect well then we will get on a plane for sure!
Hey everyone! IN case you missed it Mezzo’sMama posted this year’s prescreen thread! Be sure to send her a PM with all of the details she requests so she can start posting results. I am excited to watch everyone’s journey this year without the stress of it! Haha! Good luck to everyone!
http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/2108045-2019-pre-screen-thread.html#latest
This was one of my favorite threads (along with acceptances of course) to follow with last year’s group. Really looking forward to getting this process over with 
Yes, me too! Very exciting! Kid has 2 auditions officially scheduled but I’m going to hold ours until he hears on a couple more (crossing fingers).
He got a 11th hour application in to Eastman yesterday after me realizing it was $50 more to apply after Nov 1. It’s nice to have all the paperwork in order to do quick plug in. One of his previous essays worked for a personal statement fortunately. He’s struggling with the “Why school X” essays and feel like they all say the same thing. But he’s often picking them for the list for the same reasons! He has 2 more prescreens to plug in. Our flagship requires special editing - they are super fussy. 2 more common apps to finish up. And then a couple niggly extras (like a theater scholarship essay). I need to edit some old videos for art supplements (like we can submit one to Oberlin on the college side). Sluggish music teacher did get Nov 1 recs in, but he’s getting a final list of the Dec recs due soon. He has a letter now, so it should be easy now for him to crank through the rest of those.
Final list - 10 schools. He is threatening to apply to 1 extra super reach not happening on money alone but whatever!
That one is totally on him. That would be a BA program so if he’s willing to write a couple extra essays (shocking at this point, I can’t believe he’s still applying), fine by me.
@MusakParent , those “Why School X” essays bedeviled my son last year too. He usually researched the school’s web site, then wrote about an interesting program he saw on there. Good luck!
Yes! It occurred to me it’s a good life skill to quickly research something and be able to at least somewhat competently talk about positive assets of that thing. Serve well for job interviews, collaboration opportunities, etc right!?
We visited UChicago last year and the newish grad who did our info session was hilarious. She was giving info about the application and admissions process. She said “And when you are working on your Why Chicago essay, make sure you fully replace ‘Brown’ with the ‘University of Chicago’. Let your parents read it kids.” LOL. Keeping it real.
First audition is done. Yay! My daughter auditioned for the Jazz and Contemporary vocal program at Roosevelt (CCPA) last week. It went very well and she received very positive feedback. They definitely hinted that they would be happy to have her, which was very nice. They don’t usually audition this early but knew we would be in town and accommodated this by videotaping it for the full panel at a later time. She took a vocal performance class and the students were extremely welcoming. She really liked the school but is keeping an open mind since she has 8 others on the list.
We also did the Open House at Columbia College. it was impressive to see their presentations, participate in the tours and listen to the music groups. Columbia College does a portfolio submission, not a live audition, so she plans to finish that up this weekend along with the Miami Frost and CalArts prescreens.
We have the Loyola New Orleans audition on 11/10, College of St. Rose 11/17 and Berklee tentatively scheduled for 12/8. She is going in with pretty strong preparation for the audition and good academics but her test scores are only average. After taking both tests twice with a minimal bump the second time, decided to only send the ACT scores since she scored a bit higher on it than the SAT. Thankfully, many of the colleges on her list are test-optional or don’t weigh the ACT/SAT heavily. As many experienced CC parents of music kids say, it usually all comes down to the audition so not going to stress about it.
@MusakParent-I was laughing at the comments from your UChicago tour guide! Watching my daughter get these last minute short answer questions done, I definitely see her doing some copying and pasting from other applications and I always insist I read them over before she submits for that very reason! But, hey, I call that being resourceful-why reinvent the wheel, right? Lol.
It does feel like it’s getting real for all of us. Practice your breathing exercises and good luck!
@MusakParent It’s $50 more for Eastman after 11/1? Whoops…missed THAT memo! He doesn’t have his prescreen done yet so can’t be helped. I guess. We’ll be banging up against that 12/1 deadline.
And @AmyIzzy – you’re “our” first audition! Such great news for your D! Thank you for sharing! My S will feel better when he has one under his belt, I think. Can’t wait to hear about the others.
Onward and upward, friends!
Ugh the details @akapiratequeen ! We barely caught that Eastman memo I tell you. $50 is a big hit! That is a lot of coffee and wine right there which is what keeping us trucking right now.
And hooray @AmyIzzy ! I thought CCPA was so fantastic when we visited but it did not resonate with my kid at all for some reason. I actually had him talk to jazz admissions there when he was still pondering direction, I probably should have had him talk to VP folks too. We know a couple MT students there in heaven. I’d give my left arm to live in that dorm for a year. So fun! Good luck!
Sending off CMU’s prescreen today and possibly NU’s common app. Oh I cannot wait to be done with the electronic paper pushing end of this!
Congrats @AmyIzzy That is wonderful news. Still never got our butts to Roosevelt but can’t seem to get any other applications done anyway, so… hopefully today. Valpo visit is tomorrow. If it’s a no-go then we can skip a pre-screen.
How was the visit @UniversityMomOf2 ?
Anyone else have a first time voter at their house today!? Very exciting step to adulthood!
Kid has ONE more prescreen to get in. That one requires special editing. He has a few writing things hanging yet. Final total is 11 schools, 10 auditioned. One is already making homeschool related complaints so that one may be a no go. LOL. If an ACT score at your 75%+ and a dual enrollment transcript with a 4.0 and 5 references including a college prof isn’t enough for you, well, one less audition to schedule and good bye. We will see.
We are heading to Lawrence for EA auditions this Saturday. Kid is feeling positive about it so I guess I should too. He knows a couple other current music students there and has had very positive contact with admissions. We will see. He is in tech for a theater production so it’s going to be very quick turn around. I have a travel humidifier being shipped from Amazon, thanks for that suggestion whoever made it. We got flu shots last week and have been dosing elderberry liberally. No getting sick people!
@MusakParent 11 schools, wow! We are pushing to do seven! That’s very exciting. How many would you say are reaches, safeties etc. And have you posted on the Auditions thread yet? Send a PM to @“Mezzo’sMama” with audition dates so she can put them in the thread, it’s super helpful to future classes!
And…good luck to kid at Lawrence! Very exciting. My S is doing a regional for Lawrence here in NY so would be very interested to hear about the campus experience. His first audition is Dec. 1 in Boston, the same day the prescreens are due, and I am getting pretty nervous. But he needs to get through the all-states this week before buckling down to practice.
In fact, I was hassling him about not practicing, but between all these in-school and outside ensembles he’s playing every day for at least a couple of hours. He just told me that he played one of his audition pieces for a visiting master class teacher, who said he sounded “a lot better than he did in high school.” So he is feeling pretty confident and I should probably relax before I transfer my jitters to him!
Jeez, I will be glad when this is over. Still to do – one essay, two prescreens, and then it’s off to the races.
Well, 7 of 11 required prescreen. So those all feel reachy to me. I was hoping he’d have the choice of like 5-7 schools to audition at. I’m glad we’re getting one out of the way now. Lawrence EA offers will be out before the holidays so if he gets into Lawrence, some may drop of the list and he may focus on reaches if he’s invited to those. The one non-audition is just a crazy academic/financial reach where he’d focus on composition with a BA. 5 or 6 just seem reachy for anyone. We’re hoping for merit as well.
Honestly, when we started we had 4 nice programs in mind that are both within 5 hours of home. If those 4 got done, I’d be happy being done anytime he was. Well, he is just very excited about more reachy options and has kept at the essays longer than I thought he would for sure. He knows they may not work out financially even if he gets in. I have been heavy on the secretarial/spread sheet end of it but the essays have been a lot on top of other stuff he has going on.
I have to say our flagship U is going on the parental favorite list. He got in with honors (so he may be eligible for merit money - which is very minimal there for undergrads). And yesterday they sent mail saying all his dual enrollment classes transfer for credit! That would make it so much easier for him to do a BM/BA (leaning towards theater) if he wanted! That one does require a prescreen so crossing fingers he gets through on that one.
My kid is not practicing nearly enough either. Sigh. I will definitely report back on Lawrence! We have visited before. I like it quite a bit! Appleton is a nice mid size community.
Another one awaiting your report about Lawrence, @MusakParent. Can do this over PM, if you’d be more comfortable. I feel like it might be a good fit for my kid, and have heard positive things, but we have no personal connections, and won’t make it there before auditions next year, I’m sure. Good luck with auditions!!!
Sure @mom2clarinetobsessedkid ! I’ll report back here but I do try not to reveal too much on the public boards with the view numbers. LOL. I am happy to PM anytime with other parents in the trenches! Some parents here have given me excellent information and support via PM!
I will take good parent notes this weekend! I’m excited. But also slightly alarmed that we don’t have the schedule for the day yet!?
Our daughter is really not moving very quickly on the college app front… She has only filled out one application. I don’t live in the same town as her and I’m on college tours with our other daughter, so getting a little nervous for her. But then again, it is her future - and it really seems as if she only has eyes for one place. I know that everyone said last year that their musician minds were many times changed from auditions, which makes sense. Trying to encourage her to remain open. But more than colleges, she is gigging more so she is focused on cities - she now says only: Boston and New York - oh boy! This is going to be a nail-biter to get her pre-screens in. I did a spreadsheet with all the requirements which I hope she has glanced at. I suppose I should be grateful for a shorter list than most. She loves her current instructor and is gigging a lot - so if she can’t make one of her short list - maybe she’ll wait it out for a year. We’ll see. Trying not to stress too much for her. As they say, it usually works out for the best. I still wish that she had done EA to her top choice - as the wait would be over sooner and if that didn’t work out, she could move on to Plan B.
Glad to see all of your musicians solidifying audition plans. And @AmyIzzy - great to already have an audition under her belt - with great feedback to boot! Congrats.
Hang in there @tripletmama. I know of a few parents who have been in your shoes. For one, everything fell into place with the student’s top choice and it worked out. For another, a gap year ended up being the best choice, allowing for a year of saving money, gigging and a bit more time to buckle down and get more serious. And for yet another, it turned out that college just wasn’t the best route and other creative and career paths were pursued, which worked out pretty well and saved the parents lots of money.
@MusakParent & @UniversityMomOf2 Yes CCPA is a great option for my daughter. And wow-those dorms! Talk about luxury living and breathtaking views!
I’m excited to announce that my daughter received her first acceptance from Columbia College Chicago with a nice Dean’s scholarship. They don’t do live auditions but she just submitted her portfolio (videos of originals and covers & recording of originals) so they told us they may offer more money for talent after they review it (but they don’t announce those until February.) She was also invited into the Honors Program which was nice. Feels GREAT to have one under the belt!
This weekend she auditions at Loyola New Orleans and next weekend is College of St. Rose. They just confirmed her EA audition at Berklee on 12/8.
She does have a much lighter school and activity schedule than last year which has been very helpful, but she just got the lead in her school musical so hopefully she can balance everything ok.
Can’t wait to hear all your updates! Keep them coming!
Congrats to your D @AmyIzzy!! So great to have a good option under your belt prior to audition season. We were happy for the same thing this time last year. I can’t wait to see everyone’s acceptances start rolling in!
@AmyIzzy , enjoy your trip to NOLA! We have a front coming through tomorrow so will be in the 40s/50s: on the cool side for us. Feel free to PM me if you have any NOLA questions.
Sounds like a true jazz musician @tripletmama - love that she’s putting herself out there! I remember @Stacjp (mother of jazz bassist) advising here that the key to success in jazz is finding opportunities to play with as many different people in as many different situations as you can. And it will definitely help her in the jazz jam portion of the audition at some schools.