Oberlin released their Jazz Studies list today, for regional auditions (I think the onsite audition list came out on Monday)
This thread accumulates fast so I am playing catch up. (I actually started writing this 12/13 but never finished reading to post) Welcome to all the new parents.
Wanted to say congrats (again?) on UMich to @musakparent re post #713 and congrats-ish on your EA due to the situation. I will have to PM you.
@DrummerDad18 congrats on the Berklee audition and being able to meet up with a fellow posting family. That is nice I’m sure.
@ikbux64 my S is also applying Illinois. So completely annoyed with that application. It was virtually a carbon copy of the CommonApp but of course you had to pay to apply. Thankfully the essay was so similar to his music essay for Baldwin Wallace that he was able to just tweak and shorten it a bit and was done. Got to the music supplement on accptd and hit the short answer questions at 11:00 pm on 12/15 and quit. He had FINALLY got his two applications requiring pre-screen done and all other apps in with supplements. He recorded and recorded for days but was incredibly unhappy with his results. I’m incredibly unhappy with how he set up in a weird angle. But what’s done is done. Still need to finish that by the end of the month. I am sorry about your NW ED news. Good news will be coming (probably before I even get to the last page of this thread.)
@pdxtigermom congratulations on the UMich invite but I’m very sorry about the CalTech rejection. Those stats are PHENOMENAL so they are really losing out.
@bassoonmom2019 I a, sorry Rice didn’t work out but I am sure there will be some great options coming up.
Congratulations on Berklee acceptance and Eastman invite @akapiratequeen. I am so happy for you and S. Same for you @DrummerDad18 and @AmyIzzy on your Berklee acceptances. @compojazzmom congrats on Berklee and Lawrence.
@percussionmama congrats on Rice audition and @highnotes2018 on NYU and Maryland
Only to page 59/62 and the invites and acceptances are rolling in, so to anyone not tagged congratulations to all of you and your talented kids.
We ended up applying at 8 much to the chagrin of DS. One still needs to finish music application. Anyone who has read my posts knows the conflicting information from his 3 music teachers has been frustrating at best. Latest is that he applied to too many schools. Since he is music ed his admission requirements aren’t quite as tough where he has applied, for the most part. He didn’t apply to the big name programs that many of you have. We opted to save them for grad school. Some are BA safeties either for finances or ease of admission. 2 schools required pre-screens. He is flat out refusing (now) to do 8 auditions. One school he has zero desire to even look at (thanks to teacher criticism) but he got admission notification yesterday and on the portal today found he got max academic scholarship and an additional endowed scholarship amount (but no idea what for). His audition would be purely for scholarship money.
Also yesterday he got a package from a school he has visited and is interested in. It required a pre-screen. We got it in under the wire last Saturday and Monday they contacted us through acceptd that there was no audio. I triple checked it so when I logged in to respond there was an additional message saying they got it working. I was shocked at fast turn around but it isn’t one of the big schools. Yesterday he got a package congratulating him on getting in and giving him top scholarship (aside from the full ride). In that package there was a second letter congratulating him on acceptance into the music program with a music ed major and saying nothing about in person audition. Double checking the website, music majors and anyone interested in music scholarship have to audition on campus, or by video if you are willing to forego the top music scholarship, and that invitations to audition would go out after they went through pre-screens so I am perplexed. Going to have to contact. Since he is actually interested in the school he needs to do the audition for the music scholarship. Today he got a separate invitation to apply for an endowed scholarship up to full tuition for certain career areas or interests but it doesn’t apply to him (even though it could if he specialized further) so it’s a no-go on that one.
Local financial safety accepted him with their top scholarship and invited him to apply for their honors scholar program. The audition there will be his first and is just for a music scholarship. He wants to skip that one too but it’s local and first so a good way to get the nerves out before his preferred schools.
Lastly he applied EA to a school that the music department prefers you do that so your acceptance is in before auditions. Also a top scholarship (aside from full tuition) and he was recommended to the honors scholars program there which is pretty rigorous. But he wants to drop that one. So frustrating.
Waiting for Jan 15 for St. Olaf pre-screen notifications to go out. They sent a quick email saying they got the recommendation from his private teacher. That would be his last audition even though it’s a top choice school which is concerning. It’s also on a performance weekend and he’s playing the only piccolo part on one piece and the solo on another so can’t be missing. Hopefully we can get a Friday audition if invited so he can be back here for Saturday night performance. Have Baldwin-Wallace confirmed but now he’s saying he wants to drop it. That is one I don’t think he should drop period but it’s ultimately his decision. Also waiting on Lawrence date confirmation and need to finish state flagship application.
Thanks for the kind words @UniversityMomOf2 — much appreciated. And wow, you and S have been busy!! So many admits and scholarships already, that’s amazing. So happy for you and S!
With so many choices, perhaps you can negotiate an audition schedule. My S wanted to drop one school but we agreed he could only do it if he a) passed his prescreens and b) got the EA. He did and we did. Now down to six. I suspect we may drop 1-2 others depending on what comes in. S wants to drop all but his top three but financially, that’s not happening.
Still: too many choices is a high-class problem! May we all soon share it!!
Thanks for the advice @akapiratequeen. You have been great through our whole late start journey. He and I have been trying to come up with some plan of what to drop, if anything. Once I get some clarification from the perplexing school he actually wants to attend, we may find that he doesn’t need to audition. They may say he isn’t in the running for the full scholarship and has already been admitted to major and may only want a video audition for lesser scholarship. At least it’s only 70 miles and our requested day is a school holiday. St. Olaf may not invite him. We will know Jan. 15. Our local is also a school holiday and good for getting nerves out. If he had his choice he would do 4 auditions.
I’m fine with him dropping one of the 8. Would HATE for him to drop the conservatory since he is now considering double majoring in performance at top choice school if he gets in. One is a CSS Profile school with great need based aid along with a BIG academic scholarship. He knows his main reluctance is he hasn’t visited these two so he may love them. Once the holidays are over, we get clarification from one and find out about St. Olaf we can decide what, if anything to drop. So we will be anywhere from 4-7. Four straight weekends of single auditions within driving distance, 2 school holidays in between. One unknown. But midwestern weather? Wondering if I should be booking flights.
@UniversityMomof2 I don’t understand how your son has been receiving acceptances and scholarships if he hasn’t done the auditions yet? What am i missing?
@music2023 In no particular order:
School 1 is a non-audition program… only auditions for music scholarship. Got admitted to school with merit scholarship. Needs to audition for music scholarship.
School 2 requests EA application to have admission to college before auditions to music program. Admitted to college with merit scholarship and has audition scheduled for entrance to music major.
School 3 Must be accepted to university before audition will be scheduled. Accepted with merit scholarship and endowed scholarship. Don’t even know if he did the music supplement since I told him he could drop that one. If he did we will be getting follow up info for audition according to website.
School 4 requires a pre-screen. We submitted a video. Accepted to school with merit scholarship. Separate letter accepted him to music program. Not sure how that happened. Will have to audition for music scholarship unless they feel he isn’t a candidate for that but I can’t see accepting him and not giving him a chance to audition for the music scholarship. His portal and mailed packet both welcome hm to his music major. We need to follow up for some clarification.
@gram22 - thanks for the answer on NEC. I appreciate it. It’s so annoying about NEC. So - they let you know on Jan. 8 and the audition would be on Feb. 3 for which she would have to fly . Boy boy boy. It just seems very inflexible to have ONE audition date. Do you know if they are flexible on it or not? IF she passes pre-screens (which is a big if) - then she would have to get the red eye from LA to Boston - and go into it with little to no sleep. (she has a Berklee audition in LA on Feb. 2). Now I know what the parents were talking about last year. This is not for the faint of heart!
So - on a positive note - our daughter played a Christmas party gig tonight with a jazz pianist she just met at another gig a few days before. They just had this instant musical chemistry. I love listening to them play. Some of the attendees at the party thought they were brother and sister since they just had that “thing” going on. I guess music is a language and some people just play better together. Turns out that they both love and listen to Theolonius Monk a lot - and they both were at Berklee last summer together (although they weren’t in the same ensemble). He and his friend got the $30k a year scholarship which is what our daughter is aiming for in her next audition. That would still leave $12k a year plus housing. Everyone I’ve talked to said that it’s much cheaper to live off campus - but I’m sure it’s still not that cheap in that area of Boston. Does anyone know what is a typical budget? I’ve heard a $1000 a month for rent - but what about 2 sharing a room? I’m sure that college students want their own room - but in a dorm they have to share. So - seems reasonable to me 
The full “college experience” includes navigating living with a roommate in the same room. I’m sure there are kids that do it. Funnily enough, this pianist is also applying to the New School. (and USC). I think our daughter now regrets not having applied to USC because she heard that audition is king and GPA doesn’t matter so much - but I have also heard that USC requires a 3.0 gpa which she doesn’t have. She also regrets not applying to UCLA’s new jazz program. But her mentor from the Monk Institute said that he would recommend her to a “bridge” program - if she goes to a program at LA City College (never heard of it) - they will give her free tuition there and then after a year (if she does well), then she can transfer into UCLA with a full tuition scholarship. So - I guess that’s her “Plan B” if the scholarships don’t get to the level to be workable at the places she is applying. The good part would be that she would likely have lots of time to gig in LA - which in the end, is very valuable.
I want to share something that I learned at one of her gig’s this past week. She was asked to the gig by a very talented sax player that she met at Berklee this past summer. The sax player goes to a university in Portland - not known for their music program - yet, this young woman is probably one of the most proficient jazz sax players I have heard in a long time. She is being mentored by a jazz piano teacher at the University. She said that she has improved greatly over the past 4 years. The take away for me is that you don’t need to go to a well-known music school to “make it” and get to the level of a professional. This woman is very excited because she is opening for her mentor at Smalls in in NYC in a few days. Learning her story just showed me that going to a well-known conservatory is not the only path to greatness. It’s finding a mentor and working your butt off.
Good luck everyone - and congrats on all the wonderful acceptances. It’s moving so fast that it’s hard to keep up! Can’t wait to see where everyone ends up.
@UniversityMomOf2 , Thanks for your kind words, and congratulations to you and your S. Such a great string of admits and scholarships! My D applied to (too) many schools because we weren’t sure where she would pass her prescreens and above all, we wanted to make sure that when we come to the end of the road she will have a school that will want her enough to make it financially possible. Now that she has had good news about her prescreens, we will decide which auditions she will be able to take and which schools she will let go.
@tripletmama , Regarding USC, a percussion prof there essentially told us that the profs have total control over the admissions decisions for their studios as long as the student meets USC’s minimum academic standard/GPA.
Thanks for the story about the jazz sax player. It reminds me of what my D’s teacher said when we were starting to think about schools. He estimated that success depended something like 50% on the student’s work ethic, 35% the teacher, and 15% other things (peers, environment, luck). These are just numbers he was throwing out, but his point is well taken. The name on the school is not nearly as important as the kid’s own hard work and a good teacher.
I am a prospective Bachelor of Music in Piano performance major: Passed pre-screen for UCLA, New School, and San Francisco Conservatory. Didn’t pass Colburn; very unhappy about that one; its close to home and completely free so it would have been awesome-though very unlikely-to get in. Still waiting for Julliard, Curtis, Peabody, and USC Thornton-anyone know when Julliard/Curtis/Thornton release decisions for piano?
Congrats @UniversityMomOf2, @PercussionMama and others I might have missed for the admits & scholarships. This is brightening my day! Thanks for all the good news sharing and occasional not so good news too. There is always another option and what is meant to be will eventually happen.
@tripletmama you are absolutely right. School name does not matter at the end of the day as long as the student works with the right mentor and has the right basis and motivation to work from. Let’s not forget that the classical world has blind auditions so it is even possible that a kid prodigy not even in college could potentially land a job.
As for the jazz world, as little as I know about it, seems like networking and chemistry is what is needed the most and your D seems to be doing a great job at it! Natural talent and character always gets one far in chosen field no matter what. Since you mentioned Monk as one of your daughter’s inspirations, he for example did not even manage to graduate from high school… Not a single day in conservatory…
Keep up the good spirits and I’m sure good things will happen very soon.
@tripletmama could you tell me more about this bridge program? Is it only available to CA residents. Sounds like a great fall back for getting into UCLA. I was pretty confident with son’s academics there but didn’t apply for a variety of other reasons. I would love to have been able to send him there. Sounds like a great option even though it’s too late for us. It sounds similar to things I’ve seen For other types of programs elsewhere.
Re: the Bridge program. Is this what they were referring to? https://www.lacitycollege.edu/Resources-Services/Transfer-Center/Guaranteed-Admission-Programs Apparently several UCs offer guaranteed admission to students who attend California community colleges and meet specified other requirements. UCLA doesn’t participate,however. And I don’t know that they would guarantee a specific major.
However, I believe that all the UC’s offer priority to transfer students who come out of the community college system. UCLA says they give transfer priority consideration to students from CCs and other UCs. Again, not sure if this applies to competitive majors.
http://www.admission.ucla.edu/prospect/Adm_tr/tradms.htm
@MMRose thanks for those links.
@Lyoder2051 I know nothing about Juilliard or Curtis but didn’t USC already send live audition invitations a while ago? I might be wrong since my son is a string player and piano may have a different date. Fingers crossed for you!
Heard from Frost today. Karen Kerr. D invited to audition on 1/18. Not a bad time to be in Miami!
Congrats @highnotes2018 ! Remind me, is your D VP? Also, did she apply early to NYU or in the regular group? We’re still waiting to hear from Steinhardt…
Wow @highnotes2018! Congrats! That’s really weird that she would send an email out on a Sunday…Was your D an EA application? Frost seems to be doing things differently this year. Last year all of the EA kids got audition invitations end of November into the first week of December. The rest of the RD pool all heard on 12/29 which was the Friday after Christmas. My guess is you will all hear this coming Friday so don’t panic if your kid is one that applied and hasn’t heard.
Yes - she was an EA applicant. Got notice (like almost everyone else) that she would be considered for regular admission. Then got the email this morning.