@lkbux64 Looks like both our kids are auditioning for Jazz Guitar on the same days at UCLA and USC. We have the additional challenge of having SFCM scheduled on the same weekend as UCLA 
imho, I’d spend the week in LA. It’ll also give your so a good opportunity to spend quality time in LA and see how he likes living there.
@Lyoder2051: Dont beat yourself up over Colburn - it’s on the same level as Curtis (though less well known maybe ?). About USC : They should already have sent out prescreen results - last year (2017-18) my son received it on 12/15. Peabody wasn’t a prescreen (for violin) and was received on 12/18. Didn’t apply to Juilliard or Curtis, but I believe J sends out prescreen results well into January.
Hello @lkbux64 and @dsinha – as a native Angeleno who used to do the LA-NY flight regularly for work, I definitely recommend spending the week in SoCal if you can swing it with the school schedule. Those flights make for long days in cramped quarters even if you’re flying non-stop.
On top of that, this town is obviously big, and in different ways that big cities in the Northeast are… As I like to say somewhat tongue-in-cheek, LA is an awesome place to live but I wouldn’t want to visit there. USC and UCLA are both great schools with amazing stuff going on nearby, but they are in different parts of town. Not sure how familiar you are with it. They aren’t far apart geographically (in fact, they’re among the two closest big schools you’ll find anywhere in the country), but count on a 45-60 drive between the two. Lots to see and lots of cool neighborhoods between the two. And then there’s the beach and the beach cities just south of LAX (Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach, and Redondo Beach), which is an awesome place to spend time at any time of year), particularly when it’s snowing in most other parts of the country.
Happy to offer suggestions/recommendations on lodging, dining, and places to check out while you’re here to get a good feel for what college life would be like at either/both school. (FWIW, I actually work at another university in LA, and my son is a high school senior, so you’d be getting Gen-X and Gen-Z perspectives). Feel free to PM me if you’d like.
@lkbux64 : Fresh from last years audition experience, my S pretty much missed 50% of school in Jan and Feb 2017 because of the audition schedule. Make sure your son communicates with school teachers to let them know why he’s not going to be in school. My S wasn’t the best at this and suffered greatly as a result - to the point that he dropped out of AP Stats (he had all his math covered by then). He then had to explain this to all the non-conservatory schools including USC and UCLA which was nerve wracking. However, both accepted his explanation and he was admitted to both schools. Also his final semester grades were pretty bad, but they said that as long as there were no D’s he’d be fine (and he took them at their word - one A, one B and a bunch of C’s. I can LOL now, but last year we had nightmares).
About spending 2/1-2/9 in LA, if there are any schools offering regional auditions in LA, try to (re)schedule it in between there, for ex. BU, NYU offer regionals and you can try to do it in LA (they’re reasonably flexible and try to accommodate you if they have the time).
Also, while in LA, there is the problem of practice rooms : where and when is your son going to practice ? What worked for us very well was to check with the hotel we stayed at for a banquet room that would be available after normal business hours. My son would start practice at around 9 PM (when the room became available) and go on until 1 AM or later (teenagers don’t have a problem with that !). The banquet room being on its own level would never disturb any other guests. The room was available at no charge, and there was never any competition for the room. We tipped hotel staff generously for letting us use their facilities. [We did this pretty much everywhere - in LA, Boston, Evanston, Oberlin].
I haven’t posted on this thread because my son is an unconventional transfer student, but I’ve been reading it with interest (and have posted plenty elsewhere).
My son’s been playing cello for 15+ years, and is applying as a cello performance major. He has major health issues, so he’s decided to focus on schools close by (So Cal/West Coast). He also struggles academically and didn’t want an intensely competitive program, so all pre-screen schools came off the list.
His ultimate goal is to be a cello teacher rather than a musician, but he wants a performance degree to help him become a better musician.
He’s been admitted to 6 schools, but he still needs to audition/send in his audition to 4 of them. He has to wait to see if he’s admitted into the BM programs and then if he gets scholarship, so I imagine we won’t know anything until March/April.
Of the few schools he’s visited, he liked Chapman and Cal State Fullerton’s cello profs the best, but there are quite a few profs he won’t meet until audition day. I have a feeling that all the farther away schools won’t really make his final list unless the closer ones are totally unaffordable.
He’s scheduled for 7 in-person auditions but they’re doable since they’re spread out over about 5 weekends.
I would love to see him at SDSU, Fullerton, Chapman, Cal Baptist, Concordia or ASU (but I’m pretty sure ASU is totally unaffordable-no WUE for music) because they’re all close (ASU is close to my eldest son).
We shall see!
My son is still waiting to hear from USC for composition.
I have a question about regional auditions. My son applied for Carnegie Mellon as a viola performance major. They don’t have prescreens but offer regional auditions or recorded auditions. Should we go to LA for a regional audition or just submit a recorded audition? What’s the benefit of a regional audition?
A regional audition usually is a recorded audition under controlled conditions. Much like a real audition, you get about 15 minutes to perform your repertoire - one shot, no retakes. That probably makes it better than a recorded submission, which could be the best of (and normally is) multiple takes.
re. CMU specifically, my S (violin) submitted a recording and was accepted on that basis. He did not go there (not his top choice for music), but that is something that definitely worked. Also, note that at CMU, if accepted, students do not have the privilege of taking classes in say, computer science, or some other field (at least, that’s what we were told).
Good Luck.
How far are you from LA? A live audition (on-site) is always best, but not worth it if the school is low on your list and travel is expensive. A regional audition is better than a recording, both for the reason @gram22 states and because there is simply always better energy with a real audience as opposed to a camera and tripod. But there are so many variables–how competitive is your student in terms of his chances of acceptance? How important to him is this school, etc.
@glassharmonica and others, do you think it telegraphs to the school that they are less important if you don’t do a live audition, especially if they are (theoretically) drivable? Struggling with an audition schedule that includes three consecutive 4-8 hour (one way) drives when I am the only available driver in the family.
We met with the Frost rep at a performing arts college fair at the Javits Center in NYC, and she said there was absolutely no difference between an on-site audition and choosing their NYC audition date in March. She said the school realizes that travel can be a financial hardship so there is no disadvantage to choosing not to travel to Miami for the auditions.
Anyone else still waiting to hear from Frost for M.A.D.E. auditions?
My daughter applied to the Frost MADE/CAM program for regular admission (not EA) and has not heard yet. They told us late December so we are hoping to hear on or before Friday or Monday at the latest. This would jive with email notices for students doing regular admission last year. So I’m not pressing the panic button unless it’s after January 1st and we still don’t hear : )
@AmyIzzy Yeah 
just a bit impatient here given the number of auditions to coordinate. We’re from SF so Frost is a bit of a hike, and I’m hoping they’ll give enough advance notice.
@glassharmonica : About the regional auditions - my son did three (Peabody (SF), BU (LA), Oberlin (SF)), and in all of them, there was no audience. I assume you mean a live audience for an on-site audition. Logistics wise, the Peabody audition was the worst - they used a high school in SF, which had no warm up rooms, a barely functional piano and a noisy school activity going on next door. BU had their audition at a recording studio in Colburn (LA) and Oberlin did it at the SF Conservatory. I believe thought that the person running the audition in each case may have been on the teaching staff at each school, as the Peabody person did compliment my S on his playing and gave some advice on faculty choice.
@akapiratequeen : I think that while the faculty would prefer to hear a live audition, most colleges indicate that a regional audition is not discounted. Also some schools even allow submission of a video recording of the required rep instead of a regional audition. Also, the department is somewhat flexible on allowing you to change a live-audition to a regional audition (BU allowed a switch). I believe that it is dependent on how many recordings they have scheduled for a regional - so it’s not too late to ask. Good Luck !
@dsinha I don’t blame you for wanting to get your travel in order coming from such a distance and knowing that last minute booking is always much more expensive. We are coming from Buffalo, NY so a pretty short, direct flight but would like to book soon before prices go up. She requested February 8th, so we have some breathing room but not much.
I am hearing from many people that they don’t give much merit money for the MADE program, as opposed to Jazz or Classical. My daughter is aware of that but, for now, wants to stick with MADE/CAM (she put Jazz as a 2nd choice) but the price tag is too steep for us without merit assistance so I guess Frost may not be a realistic choice if she sticks with that path. First step is getting that prescreen letter, though! Don’t want to get ahead of ourselves. Good luck!
I’ve started to work on the travel schedule. I joke that my second full time job is now my D’s private secretary and travel coordinator. After reviewing various blogs, it seemed appropriate to narrow down where we would go for a live audition. So I broached the subject with my D. Yikes! All the stress of the past few months came out in one moment. Anyone else going through this?
@amyizzy My son did the same thing. The MADE/CAM program is what fit’s him best given his career hopes as a studio guitarist/songwriter. He applied for Jazz as 2nd choice. He doesn’t quite see himself playing guitar at a jazz club, or a cocktail lounge for a living
Oh my gosh @highnotes2018! Thanks for the laugh. YES! I told DD she had to pass the school musical orchestra on to another student (only one flute). As soon as they go back after break there is practice everyday after school for 5 hours and then her whole weekend is taken up with the shows… You would think I asked her to give up her Phone…
For those interested St. Olaf now lists January 20 as the date for pre-screen audition results.