“He is not looking for academic challenges outside of music.”
@eh1234 this also describes my son! Lol.
@lkbux64 to answer your question on decision notification, go back on the thread for acceptances for this past year’s kids. I think the date of notification for the schools tends to be very close from year to year.
Hey everyone, long time no posts for us. Son (Trumpet Performance) has been busy finalizing and submitting all his applications. Current plan is live auditions at 6 schools (6th just added after lesson with professor).
He has had lessons with 5 of the 6 professors already and working on a lesson the day before his audition with the 6th. He has really enjoyed every professor so far and the feedback has been very positive (but trying hard not to read too much into that at this point). Curious as to others experiences based on feedback from lessons with the professors. Did positive feedback “We very much look forward to your audition” and “I think you would fit in very well here” turn into positive results? I know they can’t come out and say you’re in until after an official audition or at least I assume that to be the case.
The only thing I’m sure of at this point is that I’m a nervous wreck over this all and he is taking everything very much in stride. 
Anyway looking forward to the journey over the next few months, should be fun.
@lkbux64 in addition, you can check with each school. Some do rolling admissions. Others release on a date or a week. And at many auditions they generally communicate this … sometimes vaguely (it’s perfectly OK to ask directly). Note that with rolling admissions some students can be held until the end. My D’s UG rolled their admissions. So if you did an earlier date you would find out in about 3 weeks if you were accepted (however the money offers came at the very end). I’m not sure if students were rejected then (I think so). But I know some were held to see the rest of the pool…so they got no decision in that first round. It can indicate talent a bit but could also simply mean that they have a lot of your “type/instrument” and want to see other candidates before making an offer.
@akapiratequeen - call again. At both my D’s schools, music admin was often students…only so reliable. It may still be break with skeleton staffing too…so I’d just call again later Monday and ask again. You should get an acceptance or rejection. I would not read a “no response” as a rejection. I’d think it’s an oversight.
It sometimes hard to call and you worry about being “that” parent…but my attitude is that it is a lot of time and money so a quick call with a direct question isn’t a big deal. My D did not get a response on one of her pre-screens (we had requested an earlier date after submission). I remember worrying and fretting over the air fare. Finally I just called and they were helpful and understanding. They gave me the results over the phone (even if it had been the dreaded no…at least we could move on). So don’t be afraid to call and ask if necessary.
And…when my D had the last audition slot in the day at one school, she showed up and they told her she could keep her spot or go a little early as there had been a few cancellations. So if you have been told that an audition day is full, you could politely inquire about the possibility of taking a cancelled spot and how that would work. They may not allow it ( maybe they do a tight schedule assuming cancellations)…but you can always ask…just in case…
Thanks @Lendlees, @SpartanDrew and @bridgenail! From last year’s thread it looks like UMich will send decisions by end of February and the rest of the schools (USC, UCLA, NYU, Peabody, New School) towards the end of March.
@txsker imo good comments are always good. I would take the professors at their word…meaning your S is a fit for the program…a reason to be confident. Still he has to audition and be judged against the pool. And you never know what internal needs/politics are going on. But it’s definitely a reason to be positive and optimistic during auditions…that’s what you should focus on now…every. single. positive. Then wait for the results. After auditions you’ll have more than enough time to second guess it all.
(And yes, positive comments often but NOT always bring good results … but I didn’t say that). Good luck!
@bridgenail Thanks! First audition in 3 weeks from today!
Re full tuition scholarship: at our state u, it is fees that cost a lot, not tuition. Then add room and board.
http://www.mass.edu/osfa/programs/adamstable.asp Note tuition is, say, $1700 while total charges, including fees but not room and board,is $15k.
@akapiratequeen and @katzherder Thanks for the advice. I’m taking S out today for some time just us. I think I will broach the subject at the end of a nice mother son day. Also he just went for a run to clear his head so hopefully he’s in a better head space. (He ran cross country and track in school but gave them up this year because the time commitment made things impossible with the college process. I’m glad he is still trying to run occasionally for his physical and mental health.)
@compmom the scholarships are at private liberal arts colleges so we are looking at 40-50k or more per year. He has already gotten large scholarships so these would fill the gap but that’s still $15k or more a year difference. Over 4 years that is a HUGE amount to not at least try for.
@parentof2014grad thanks for the reminder about potential additional costs for honors colleges. I know they are different everywhere but I will check them out. One honors college, when I read him the description, I didn’t even finish and he said yes he wanted to do it. For him it’s more about it taking care of his gen eds. He took a lot of AP courses for that reason partially, but now says he doesn’t know if he will take all the tests. I think if we sit down and examine each one we can make some more informed choices but he doesn’t want to try. So ^^ about talking to him today.
Oddly, one of the application deadlines for a full tuition scholarship long passed but he still got a personal invite by mail and email so I’m wondering if they wanted a bigger applicant pool or what??♀️
I’m so happy everyone is getting such positive results. I know there will be the occasional rejection for us all but overall good vibes. Now on to figuring out travel plans. I’ve really dropped the ball on this one.
Congrats to everyone on all the positive prescreen results!
For those of you considering Honors College programs, dig deep into how they handle AP courses. We discovered some schools that had some very quirky restrictions on AP credits. One school said that in order to participate in the honors program you basicly lose all AP credits! They wanted you to take the courses at their school to earn the honors distinction. This was a deal breaker for my daughter. Another school only counted the AP credits towards 200 level courses so the student would basically have to retake the same material that was taught in the AP class. This did not make sense to us. Be careful when evaluating honors programs.
I always traveled with my student for auditions. I can remember so many learning lessons being experienced on these trips. Unexpected things almost always happen during these trips and you may have an opportunity to teach your young adult how to handle a particular situation when they are traveling alone. Things that I have experienced are flight delays and negotiating with the airline, rude airline gate employees when traveling with musical instruments, illness while traveling, getting lost, being approached by agressive homeless people, finding oneself in a not so safe part of town, the list goes on. This past weekend we learned about driving up a steep mountain incline in a manual transmission. Had she been alone she may have thought her car was about to break down. I don’t regret traveling with my studnts for auditions. Each one had many learning lessons. These weekends are stressful and they may need your support. Even if it is just to provide meals and a sounding board.
Hello, all! Thank you for posting all your stories.
My daughter will audition Jan 14-March? for VP (soprano) and cello. I have some Airbnb arranged and work absences for two of the trips; still arranging a few more.
I’m worried about health and audition fatigue! We’re also auditioning for music scholarships to cut down on cost, and I feel the later ones might offer more aid—I guess we’ll see!
Looking forward to seeing who will be where on this list. Maybe we’ll be in the same waiting areas!
Lawrence on Feb 2; Baldwin Wallace Feb 9.
Best of luck to all!
Congratulations to all with positive prescreening results! Wishing you and your kids all the best in the auditions.
To those who suggested that our daughter just audition in Boston for Berklee - that would seem to make sense - however, she is very attached to having her own drummer and pianist play with her which is possible in LA. The bass is not a solo instrument so it usually doesn’t play alone. She needs to check into all of that to see how that works. Her first audition for Berklee in the summer was with her summer ensemble members so that was ideal. I have no idea how that works - she will need to figure it out - along with the conflict of schedule. To be honest, whenever I call and inquire about schedules, etc. I feel silly. I honestly feel that this should be our kids thing to do. Of course, that means that things might not get done efficiently, in which case I turn into a nag. (have you called x,y,z place?).
I see the value in going with her to the audition. She is fairly independent and has learned a lot this year (she lives in a room in LA) but sometimes it’s hard to help her troubleshoot things (e.g. broken down car, etc) over the phone. It’s honestly been very stressful. We’ve had to jump in the car a few times with her in the ER.
So - thanks for your input on that. It will give me an excuse to drop in our son’s ballet class in NYC unannounced :-). I haven’t seen him dance in more than a year! He’s home right now and I tried to talk him into doing a Master Class over Christmas - but he just slept the whole time! LOL
Congrats to all the pre-screen positive results! We will get through this! Oh - and my daughter is submitting her New School application tonight. Thank goodness!!!
One of the tests in a jazz bass audition is that the drummer (maybe the professor of bass playing the drums) will intentionally drag or rush and see how the bassist reacts and keeps the time. There is a whole art form for how to pull a drummer back on track.
@GoForth - very interesting! My daughter usually just turns around and scowls at the drummer but I would imagine there are better ways to deal with it
When S auditioned at Frost, the bass professor did this. S knew of this phenomenon before hand, but after the Frost audition session for S, the prof explicitly explained how to draw the drummer in (musically) for each case - drag or rush. I do not know the musical details myself. At the Frost audition jam, of course, you would play with the other auditioners in a group, and they can have various attributes to play with maybe a piano playing odd, excessive reharmonizations you are not in agreement with.
Lots of Frost applicants this year! Good luck to you all. Last year we had a good number as well, though for a number of unrelated reasons everyone chose elsewhere. It’s a great school though. I recommend a Jai Alai at the Rathskeller while your kiddo auditions.
Or my favorite sangria at the Rat at Frost! Enjoy that beautiful campus all of you Frost families! My D heads there to visit a JV freshman friend on Friday and I’m jealous…
Heard from NYU Steinhardt this morning – S passed the prescreen for music ed/jazz. Audition is 2/9 – luckily, not a long trip from NJ.
That’s all of them, now it’s on to the show!
@akapiratequeen – woohoo – great news re: NYU! My S will be on the lookout for his NYU prescreen result which hopefully will be coming soon.