@akapiratequeen. My D is a Soprano VP major. She applied regular admission to NYU. Heard from NYU-Steinhardt on 12/10 for her audition on 1/12.
That’s great @highnotes2018! My guess is everyone will hear by Friday. They may stagger notifications starting with EA kids first.
UniversityMomof2 - she heard about the UCLA Bridge program from JB Dyas from the Monk Institute. I still can’t believe that she didn’t apply to UCLA - it drives me to distraction that she has applied to so few places - but she is stubborn and knows what she wants and has a somewhat biased views of school based on other’s opinions. I’m more open minded - likely since the college I ended up at wasn’t even on my radar. I had my heart set on Duke - and then while visiting Duke happened to drop off a student from our area to Wake Forest. When I saw the Wake Forest campus and took a tour, I fell in love. Does that still happen in this day and age? I guess I had hoped that our daughter would visit Oberlin and fall in love (that’s where I’ve secretly hoped she would go - maybe because they meet financial need? Maybe because of how it’s been described? But I have to remember that this is their journey and we are just along for the ride (and at the end of the day to write a check which is hopefully a smallish amount).
Speaking of which - what do you all think is a reasonable amount for a musician to borrow for college/conservatory? The rule of thumb on FB pages like “Paying for College” etc is their first year’s salary. (laughing my you know what off - since who knows what a musician will be able to make their first year??? I know that most just want to cover their rent and their food - if they are lucky). Seems precarious to borrow much at all. How much of a gamble should musicians make? Our aviator can very safely assume that she will be making $60k her first year out of school at a regional airline - but a musician? Can any of you seasoned musician parents comment?
I see that several performance majors have heard from USC. Have any composition majors? And if someone doesn’t pass pre-screen, do the schools send a “thank you but no thank you” email? Or do they just leave you hanging?
Thanks!
@tripletmama - we do have youtube video Psw1RrwRl-Q which outlines one drummers income over 5 years.
Hi everyone! I’ve been on a different thread but this one seems great too! My D is a Popular Commercial Vocal artist who is also interested in Songwriting and wants to be a Musical Therapist one day. She was recently admitted to Loyola New Orleans for Pop Comm and Belmont for Songwriting. She’s received audition invites for USC 2/10 Pop Comm, UCLA for Musicology 1/26 and Miami for a combo of MADE, CAM and Music Therapy with an audition 1/27 all in LA. Just got the news from Miami today…that whole process was weird to say the least.
It’s so nice to go through this with you all!
Love this: “…a good audition will cure the sick but not raise the dead”!
@tripletmama : NEC was flexible about rescheduling my S’ violin audition to later in Feb. I just called the person on the email, and he was very helpful in getting it rescheduled. However, this would depend on the faculty availability as well I guess. Good luck !
These updates are coming in fast so I will just give a collective congrats to those getting audition notices and great merit offers! It’s all very exciting. And if there are a few rejections in the mix, consider it a helpful way to reduce your travel costs and audition schedule. It’s stressful, but try to be positive!
@tripletmama my philosophy is that any debt is risky and I do agree that the path to success does not have to involve a big name, big pricetag college. So just keep that in mind when all offers are in and you and your daughter need to make a final decision. A few years ago, my daughter insisted that NYU was the ONLY school for her (this was when she planned to study musical theatre.) I tried to have the money/debt chat with her but she insisted that going to NYU would ensure the best connections which would lead to the best, most lucrative jobs to help pay off her debt. Fast forward to present time and, while she still doesn’t fully “get” the reality of college costs, she is much more mature and realizes (thanks to older friends who are experienced with the college journey) that it’s not the school as much it is your relationship with mentors, your personal drive, your ability to make connections, etc. that will lead to gigs, success, and a positive career path. And she’d like to start a career with as little debt as possible. My personal goal is that she leaves with no more than $20K in debt (and that’s with us taking some on ourselves.) When she realized the low probability of decent money from NYU Clive Davis, she took it off her list without one regret. Talk about a shift! I was pleasantly surprised and proud of her. Some parents are able to or willing to take on the full debt themselves, but if you expect your child to pay for some of it, it doesn’t hurt to discuss it now so they understand they have some skin in the game and that the final decision will impact their pocketbook too.
Wishing you all a wonderful holiday season!
@“Bay Area Mom 2016” What did you think of Belmont? My son got in there for Guitar, but wants to go to UCS or Berklee (which he got, but no scholarship). I loved Belmont, and Nashville seems like a sort of mecca for a working musicians.
@dsinha We haven’t seen it yet but my older daughters friend goes there and another to Vanderbilt and they thought My D would Love it. I also think it sounds like a great location and the kids in the Curb School take classes at Columbia recording studio which sounds amazing. My D is also applying to USC, Miami, UCLA and still on the fence about Berklee. We have heard so many mixed messages about Berklee, from parents of students… if they give you a scholarship then you will be in the best classes with the best teachers etc. and then from students who are there or who have been there that they absolutely love it and thrived.
For what it’s worth. I have an older daughter who auditioned as a BFA Theatre major to University of Michigan SMTD, UCLA, USC, Boston University, NYU, Chapman and Fordham. The last 3 were her safety and the first was her top choice. She got into her safety’s and was waitlisted for SMTD. It was a wild ride. We flew to Michigan and met with the Dean and head of theatre, my daughter begged, she felt like she was so close. We had additional letters sent, calls were made from alumni all in her favor. My D even wrote an play about why they should admit her. I could write a book it was insane and all in one month. On acceptance day she chose NYU but was so unhappy. Then the Monday after acceptance day UMich called her and said they had a spot for her! We scrambled and got our deposit back from NYU. She’s a junior at UMich and thriving, it’s been the best experience ever and she learned a valuable lesson.
I’m telling you this so that you can feel some sort of comfort in knowing that if you S or D is really passionate about one particular school then it might be worth reaching out to the school again. I should probably be writing this closer to March when we start to hear back but I wanted to give you all some hope for those that might already be receiving no’s. Especially those of you who want SMTD for Music, it’s that good of a school. All the faculty are just people like us. What have you got to lose? Go for it!
@ Bay Area Mom 2016 - Wish it was possible to click Agree + Like + Helpful on your post!!! So true and so timely! Thank you very much!!!
What a great story, BayAreaMom!
Congrats @highnotes2018 on your Frost invite.
@tripletmama, yes that does still happen. Son’s best friend ended up with that. She went with a friend for her friends visit at a Wesleyan college. She fel, in love and that’s where she went. Her friend on the other hand is at St. Olaf for theater and math double major. At least son will know someone if he ends up there because they were in band/pit together despite age difference, and did ensemble contests together since they had same private teacher for flute.
Congrats @BayAreaMom2016. Quite impressive list of schools. Always wished my son would look at music therapy. The way he talks about it sometimes seems like a good match but he wants to teach and become a better performer (which is why he is now thinking of double major in performance if he gets into top choice school. The flute professor there suggested it when they met.)
No ide what to borrow but don’t want my loan payments higher than my mortgage especially coming up on a cut in income ?
Great story @BayAreaMom2018. Your D is at UofM with a friend’s son and I’m amazed at the talent that comes out of that program. And yes, being persistent is important. Remember that universities rankings are based on graduation levels etc. So, they really want motivated students who WANT to go there.
My S has been maintaining correspondence with his top choice school percussion department head (asking questions, interviewing him for a research paper and generally indicating his desire to go to that school) ever since we toured before his Junior year of HS. Not to discount the importance of the auction (and application), but all things being equal, we are hoping this relationship will tip things in his favor come decision time.
For those looking at Belmont I can say that when D was in Grammy Camp there, they spent their entire day every day at Columbia studios. It is an amazing facility! If Curb kids take classes there then that’s huge in my opinion.
Congrats to all of your kids getting audition invitations, acceptances, scholarships the works. And Happy Holidays to everyone as well! So nice having both kids home from college. 
Question re: missing senior year classes for auditions. It is a given that all of our kids will have to miss some school to attend auditions. But my son has asked if it would be okay for him to stay in Los Angeles in between his UCLA (2/2) and USC (2/9) auditions. We live in NY and he is afraid that the exhaustion he will feel from flying from LA to NY on Sunday, 2/3 and back to LA on Thursday 2/7, will adversely impact his USC audition and USC is probably his top choice at this point. If we do seriously consider this, we would have him talk to his teachers about assignments for the week and make sure that he keeps up with his work while away. Would love to hear any thoughts on this.
@ibux64 having gone through this before I would say it depends on your school but our public school has specifically asked us to call in our kids sick rather than take a week off since they don’t get funding. He can talk to his specific teachers if he is close to them but other than that I would suggest he gets assignments from classmates. Hard decision I know.
@lkbux64 - IMHO, absolutely makes sense. This is the way to go to maximize audition performance. I can’t even imagine how tired and jet lagged your S would be if he had to fly back and forth twice in such close proximity. Even if he was to come back he would still be missing some days of school in the middle anyways. How many days of classes would he be allowed to miss as per his school’s policy? Time to stretch it to the max!