One of the schools we toured (Boyer @ Temple) the professor told my kid if he wanted any merit aid, he had to audition in person. Not sure that’s common, but we took it to heart and will be traveling to Philly in January.
@Lendlees As a fellow percussion parent, I feel your pain. My D had to submit prescreens for only 4 of her various schools, but for those 4 schools she had to upload 17 different music videos + 3 personal intro videos. It was a lot of work! She’s taking an audio projects class this semester and was going to use real mics for her prescreens, but the time pressure was so demanding, that she had to record whenever she could and just didn’t have time to go get the school mics, set them up, and then return them. She ended up using a small mic that she plugged into her iPhone.
@tripletmama, D applied at 12 schools - too many to list here and 2 or 4 too many in terms of workload and application fees. I’m also too superstitious to list all of them until more of the audition scheduling has shaken out. I’ve posted BU and USC auditions on the prescreen thread. So many schools, but we wanted her to have a “balanced portfolio,” including reach schools, probable admits, and financial safeties. She definitely has some favorites (so do I), but all of the schools on the list have something we really liked and that will work for her. So now that all her apps are in, I have a lot of peace of mind knowing that something will be there for her. I just hope that there will be an alignment of her favorite schools with the ones she is admitted to and the ones we can afford.
@PercussionMama - Welcome! Maybe we will see you at some of the auditions…and yes, the video uploading was crazy. Congrats on the BU audition - we are still waiting to hear. Very competitive - they told my S that they have something like 80 applicants, they invite 20 and take 8. Crazy stats.
My kid only applied to 7 schools - we had to draw the line as far as in person auditions, so he was going to do a couple more as video auditions, but decided against it.
Well, kid’s got good news/bad news on his EA school. He was accepted with extremely generous merit but the music end turned out not quite as hoped. We’ve had a number of strange interactions and inconsistent info with this school that does make me wonder. Anyway - I don’t want to put much out there on that, anyone who is interested welcome to PM me for more details. I’m happy to share merit info too (I think he got the max award on that). I’m looking forward to unpacking this with a couple music teachers! Kid is a little shaken but I think will be fine, especially after reconnecting with his teacher. His teacher launched another student to this program a couple years ago and we kind of know a number of other students who launched here from this regional vocal ensemble he does.
Still waiting on all prescreens here! Getting some good news on a couple of those would be helpful!
@MusakParent Sorry I can’t PM yet. Would you mind sharing the school? Just curious. Also, anyone have any info on EA at Frost?
@highnotes2018 I will PM you later when I am not on a mobile device! That is a program with small numbers auditioning EA. I have mentioned it on this thread. We were just reminded by a couple friends who got disappointing news this week that schools may be extra sensitive to yield during these early rounds. I think there may be karma at work! I hate to go into too much detail when it still a good viable back up option for him, but I’m sure once a plan settles I will share more publicity in the spring! The financial offer really is fabulous and came in right in line with our flagship U.
We are also waiting on Frost EA! Last I heard by the end of December.
@MusakParent PM’d you!
@Lendlees, Fingers crossed for your S’s prescreen at BU. I had no idea how competitive it is. BU waives the prescreen for BUTI alum, so D did not have to do one there.
@highnotes2018 It is always difficult to say how many auditions are too many as people have different “pain thresholds”…lol. However if your D passes all 9 or even 7 or 8, she’s in a pretty good position. I think it would be rare to pass so many and not get offers. Worst case scenario, she only passes 3 or 4 or 5. Then go to all! But if she passes 8 or 9, you may need to check who takes video auditions. For schools that are lower on the list, she (or you) may want to contact the school about her interest but explain it would be difficult financially and/or time-wise (too much school missed) to do a live audition. Even if it explains explicitly how to do the video submissions, you may want to have some contact with the school to let them know of her true interest in the program but hardship in attending the live audition. Then she can submit a video audition. My D has been accepted with scholarship off video submissions…and I’ve seen others on here do the same. Good luck!
Thanks! That’s all good advice.
Exhaustion can be a real issue. If you look at threads from previous years, you will see discussions in February when students and/or parents (but generally the students) will start dropping auditions due to exhaustion. We were not strategic just lucky. So maybe some others can comment on their “strategies” to get through auditions. Some people get one or two lower level ones out of the way to get the jitters out…and do top schools more in the middle…with lower priority schools later so they can be dropped if acceptances are received. But you don’t always have control. I assume most have thought this through…but I hadn’t…we just waited for the invites and said YES SIR! I guess we thought my D was lucky to be invited. We did change one in the end when I realized the schedule was…dumb.
We didn’t get a lot of choices about audition dates. We did one EA and dropped one scheduled for January, leaving the most important ones bunched up between the end of January and mid-February. Hopefully he’ll keep his energy for that long!
I had a calendar where I plotted out all the possible dates and then strategically grouped the ones that were within 2 hour drive of each other. Luckily enough the max my kid will do is 7 - which I grouped in 2 -2 weekend chunks and then the last one in March. Since they are all pretty far away from us, I figure they will be kind and give us our first choice dates. Ignorant, I know, but hopefully all the same.
Audition fatigue is a real thing. We dropped one in the NY area at the very end and were glad we did. Submitted recorded videos and D was accepted still. But not a top choice school for her so we felt fine about dropping.
@Lendlees , schools are usually pretty good in confirming your first choice dates. We did not have any problems in our schedule during my D audition process two years ago. We were able to manage one local audition, paired six auditions in three trips and one sent by video. In general, the schools are very cooperative assisting you out. They know its a tedious process.
We have a well crafted calendar of matching schools and travel. Now we just need the schools to help out (assuming pre-screens work out). Only some of them asked for preferred dates for auditions in the applications
But auditions haven’t even started yet and I’m already exhausted! LOL.
He has 6 auditions scheduled (passed the only prescreen today!!) between Jan 18 and Feb 18. He really likes the last school scheduled - but he likes all the other ones, too. Better not be any fatigue! It’s in a 2, 1, 1, 2 schedule. One weekend free with other things he’s got going on during that time. One audition left to schedule, but from what we have received, they do it as needed on request! Everyone has a list of his auditions so they know when he isn’t available!
So I know many of us are sweating out the waiting for ED, EA or prescreen results, and I went back to see when these started to come in last year. Turns out @bridgenail @BearHouse @SpartanDrew @vistajay and the rest of the group were ripping their hair out right about now. Some of the prescreens didn’t report back until January, and in many cases, the rejections or deferrals came first – a kick in the teeth for one and all. Yet, skimming ahead, their kids all got great admits. Just have to keep the faith – and, if possible, think about something else! Great advice from Bridgenail last year at this time:
"In checking these comments it only reminds me:
- How tough this process is for parents. You have no control. And even if it’s smooth sailing now at some point you usually suffer a little or a lot as you watch your child’s ups and downs, powerless to help them to realize a dream.
- How resilient the kids are. They seem to suffer less imho. Or bounce back more quickly. I think they know based on years with peers that they have a shot and won’t quit even with setbacks. I think this is a necessary skill for the future. So they are practicing living the dream so to speak.
It is an interesting experience (when you aren’t in pain). I gained a lot of respect for my D during the process (but not so much for myself lol). Their resilience will carry them through the bumps of college. I think the journey only really makes sense after it’s done."