@lkbux64 let me know when you get a date, maybe we can meet for coffee. I’ll be fresh off three other auditions…on second thought, maybe some wine!
Congrats @akapiratequeen! That’s awesome. Hoping we hear from NYU soon too. Gotta book that flight from the West Coast before fares go up . . .
@akapiratequeen Hey, congratulations to the DS on NYU 
Thanks! @WestOfPCH keep us posted when you are coming to town!
@akapiratequeen would love to have coffee (or wine) – will let you know if S gets an audition date!
Does anyone know when Northwestern will release prescreen results for vocal performance? I think auditions are mid February.
Consensus on Northwestern seems to be that they will notify today or tomorrow.
@diglass thanks for the info regarding AP testing and honors colleges. I know his interest at one school was because it would knock out ALL geneds through their program and it wasn’t just sitting in a bunch of classes repeating work he’s already learned. Others we will have to look into and even for that one, what will they do with his AP credits.
Congrats on the additional pre-screen results for all. I look at the growing list in the pre-screen thread and it’s impressive. You have very talented kids.
Saw his music teacher recommendation from his private teacher and was crushed. Don’t think I was supposed to be able to see it but it’s on his portal. I thought it was harsh. One comment I felt was irrelevant but the glass half empty part of me said it could be taken negatively. Although she made a few positive remarks I felt it was mostly negative. Told S about it and he wasn’t at all concerned. He said it’s factual. He said she already told him the things she had to say so it wasn’t blind siding him like I thought it would. He pointed out the positive things and said those were important and he said the negative remarks shouldn’t hurt him and if they did he doesn’t want to go to those schools. I guess I read it way more negatively than he did. But the question is, with one somewhat negative recommendation from someone who has known him 5 months and one glowing recommendation from someone who has known him 4 years, which will weigh more heavily and could it keep him from getting past pre-screen? Hopefully his accomplishments will speak for themselves. He’s going to do the essay for the full tuition scholarship since he saw how much of a difference it makes. Glad for that.
@UniversityMom0f2 - how heartbreaking! These kids have it hard enough during audition season than to have a bitter teacher write crap about them. I’m so sorry. The good news is that your son isn’t worried about it - so I wouldn’t worry either! It is what it is. It took our daughter’s private music teacher a month to finally write her recommendation - and others haven’t at all. I think that a recommendation (positives and negatives) is better than none. And to be honest, I think if a recommendation doesn’t include some areas to improve - it’s perceived as BS. So - the reader will definitely believe the positives in that reference. So - look at it that way. Some people are negative by nature.
That’s great that he’s going to do the essay for the scholarship! He’s in a good space which is good.
OK - now - I want to know how you see the recommendation? I’m going to check my daughter’s portals to see…
Feb. 2 and 3 seems to be a very popular day. My daughter has 3 auditions for these dates - two on the West Coast and one on the East Coast. I put her in charge of sorting it out. Wish me luck! Does anyone know if the New School ever does auditions earlier than the end of Feb? Trying to hit two East Coast ones in the same week.
@tripletmama Not sure if New School offers bassists the same audition dates/times as drummers, but if so, here’s what is still showing as available on New School’s Accepted scheduling page for Feb & Mar:
Feb 23 & 24
Feb 25 & 27
Mar 1-4
Mar 6 & 9
Hope there’s a day that works for you.
@UniversityMomOf2 I’m sorry you have to deal with a less-than-positive reference letter. Some teachers are tougher than others and she may think it’s glowing compared to others she writes (and it may be.) I feel like the reference letters can be very subjective. It’s one thing if all his letters were really negative, but it sounds like that one just shows a critical lens/voice and will likely be seen that way while his other letters probably balance that out. I didn’t think we could view the letters. I think my daughter had to check a box saying the letters would not be shared with her/would be kept confidential. Perhaps he selected an option which allows him to see it? While reference letters are important in speaking to the character and talent of the student, I still think (and hear) that the audition is king so just keep that in mind. You are lucky his academics are very strong so that can only help in terms of extra money and recruitment from certain schools.
@tripletmama I hope the scheduling works out so she can avoid major conflicts and travel headaches. We have our New School audition paired around the time of her City College audition so we chose the last possible option on their list-March 7th. It your daughter ends up with a date close to that, we will definitely have to meet up for a drink to celebrate an end to audition season (those will be my daughter’s final auditions.)
So exciting to hear about all these prescreen victories. Next goal: slay those auditions! My daughter has one this Saturday for CalArts. The audition info is very general and open-ended so she is not sure exactly what to expect. I get the sense that the interview/discussion might be just as important as the music part. She is pretty comfortable with interviews (her theater background is definitely paying off) and her passions definitely shine when discussing music-related topics, so I think she will be fine. Should be interesting.
I guess I was wrong… anyone hear directly from Bienen yet? My S applied on composition and piano.
I called NU - said it would be “next week”. Ugh
@tripletmama and @AmyIzzy Thank you for the words of encouragement. It helps to have outside perspective. I am sending you both virtual drinks of choice.
You are correct that we are not supposed to be able to see it. We checked off the FERPA for all the schools on the commonapp. But one of the schools that pulled its music supplement into the commonapp asked for a teacher evaluation and music resume. We attached both (lucky we had that paper one.) For a couple weeks it kept showing those two items were missing on the portal and then when you clicked on the links it gave you a form to fill out. I sent the pdf of the paper form to his private teacher as well as a link to it’s “page” on the portal. She just clicked the link and filled it in. So now if I click the link I see what she wrote. At the same time (actually a day before) I had contacted The school about the missing items and they got back to me saying they weren’t in the appropriate place and moved them to where they should be. Something about how it transferred in from commonapp. I don’t know how she as actually in his portal. I thought she was just getting a link to his form. But it’s there. A design flaw I guess.
I hope scheduling works out for everyone. I’m still trying to remember to make travel arrangements. I’m terrible. Shows how fried my brain is with all this.
Pit practice until 6:30 started yesterday. S literally plays for under 5 minutes the whole show. There just really isn’t music for his instrument. At least he can get homework done at rehearsals. Filled out a course change form today to switch from AP Econ to regular. It’s replacing last semestsr’s government requirement. He decided all the other AP classs were enough workload with audition seasonand he didn’t want more. He gave a brief explanation that it was due to his need to do so much traveling and he said “ah… music major” so I guess it want his first time at the rodeo.
Here’s hoping all the Bienen hopefuls get good news soon.
@WestofPCH - thanks for the dates. She just passed her New School pre-screens yesterday so I saw the dates online so I called NEC to see if we can move that one from Feb. 3 to the end of Feb. The person on the phone said “not likely” but to email the NEC Jazz scheduler which she did asking for anything between Feb. 23 and March 8. NEC said they were swamped with emails regarding scheduling so not to expect to hear right away. Two West to East Coast trips in the space of a few weeks will not be fun - but might be necessary. Luckily LA to Boston fares right now are only $99 - but then there is bass rentals, transport, etc. I used to play the piccolo in high school so this is all new to me! LOL Maybe it’s just me but I find it rigid to give students ONLY ONE DAY to audition?? It’s all a big jigsaw puzzle with this one piece hanging out there. Luckily Berklee opened up another date in LA so if she has to fly to Boston, that one will be the following week. Oh boy. What fun.
For all of you waiting for Northwestern and NYU - hopefully the wait is worth it. I hope you hear soon.
@UniversityMomOf2 that virtual drink is much appreciated! I’ll take a bottle of Moscato-thanks! Lol. Good luck and keep us posted!
@tripletmama I hope the audition schedules come to together and conflicts are minimized. How lucky am I that my daughter’s instrument of choice is voice? No rentals or transports required-thank goodness! I feel for all of you who have to worry about that stuff on top of all the other stress and costs.
@tripletmama and any other bass players auditioning in Boston area. My D has a currently unused decent bass which we can lend. One less thing to worry about for all fellow double bass families. Said bass will be [hopefully] sold eventually but for now its doing nothing collecting dust so feel free to reach out.
All the best with all this scheduling and logistics nightmare. Let’s hope winter travel conditions don’t make it any more complicated for us all.
@tripletmama congrats to D on the NEC prescreen! WATCH our kids just killing it {{{{happy dance}}}}
@AmyIzzy Moscato it is!
@HereWeGoAgain2018 that is an incredibly generous offer! It doesn’t apply to us but I just wanted to give you a virtual hand shake for being so helpful to those who need it.