@Propinquity4444 my daughter has not written thank you emails to the panels for her auditions. She did have a few professors email her as a follow-up saying they enjoyed her audition and she immediately responded in kind. Although it would certainly be a nice touch to send a note of thanks, my guess is that these professors are bombarded with emails on various topics, so such gestures might be overlooked. My daughter did get a voice lesson at a college which we expected to pay for but were turned down, so we sent him a nice gift basket with Buffalo-related goodies as a gesture of thanks.
S is at FMES at All-State but the school he auditioned at Monday called him early this morning to tell him his music scholarship amount. I still wish I could figure out that school portal. We can’t find anything on it. Not even his acceptance.
Waiting on a pre-screen result supposed to be released tomorrow. On pins and needles. Don’t know how much more I can handle lol. Glad he is occupied for the next few days.
@BayAreaMom2016 I would love to see that packed car. I am praying your D won’t have to lug equipment. That’s insane.
Hmm, if a student doesn’t get an email from a professor following an audition, is that a sign that they had an unsuccessful audition? Or does it just mean that some professors don’t do that? Just trying to keep expectations realistic.
@eh1234 S didn’t receive anything personal from Berklee, but was admitted. So I wouldn’t worry. So far, he’s only received emails from people he already knows from private lessons or visits to the school.
@eh1234 Not at all! It’s not the norm to get any feedback and most don’t hear from the school until decision time. In my daughter’s case, one school she heard from has been actively recruiting her and have been fabulous about these personal touches, so I’m guessing they are just good at marketing strategies, not to discount that they seemed very sincere. It is definitely working to sway her a bit, I must say. And the other had a follow up question (wanted her to send recording samples) and added a nice comment about the audition. So don’t worry, it’s not common at all : )
@BayAreaMom2016 I really hope they have a piano and amps at both auditions. That’s ridiculous. UCLA? Seriously?
@tripletmama I’d definitely put my foot down on taking a week off from school to prepare. Lol-nice try kid!
My daughter is the lead in her school musical and it’s tech week so it’s been stress mania. She conveniently came down with a viral infection so this, in addition to prepping for the Frost audition, is so much more fun with a sore throat. Ugh, great timing!
Best of luck to all with last minute prescreens and upcoming audition trips!
Thanks for the responses! I need to stop trying to read the tea leaves over here.
Hope your daughter feels better soon, @AmyIzzy
Fridays and weekends mean a fresh round of auditions and audition reports! Good luck out there, everyone! May your instruments (and students!) be in good working order, may the audition panels be welcoming and duly impressed, and may weather/ modes of transportation/ hotels, etc. be unusually cooperative! You’ve got this! :-bd
Hitting the road for Ithaca (4 hours) today; weather looks cooperative, a few flurries but nothing like last weekend’s storm. Staying in a two-bedroom B&B so S can get in a last bit of practice tonight. Received a nice letter outlining the details of the event: registration 8:30-9:30 am (there’s a handy parking map), introduction and concert at 9:30, “faculty meetings” at 10 (not sure what this is), then auditions start at 11. S has a performance audition (15 minutes) followed by a sight reading test (10 minutes). The program seems to end around 1pm.
We’re staying in town an extra night to check out the area as this is one of S’s top choices. Interestingly, his teacher told him to keep it “loose and open” with interviewers rather than emphasizing that this is a top choice. He also said not to worry about listing other places he was applying if asked. Not sure if he was just building S’s confidence (if so, I’ll take it!) but he told him he’s going to be a strong audition and should wait to see all offers. S walked out of his lesson last night feeling great, hopefully he’ll bring it over the next few weeks!
My kid’s first audition is not until Feb 2. Good luck to all auditioning this weekend! I have been lurking but unable to post much as of late!
My kid did record his songs again this week. Someone recommended to us for singers to have a back up recording available on a flash drive just in case a cold sets in, travel delay, etc. Which seems really wise - thought I’d throw that out there. Both wise to have it and wise to have that as a goal to be solid with the music, etc. We used professional sound equipment this time and ugh, I have HUGE regrets about the quality of the prescreens kid sent out now. Oh well - he has 5 auditions (6 with his EA), seems like a good number.
Good luck everyone this weekend. At least the weather gods are smiling (and it should stay pretty nice for the next few days as we West Coasters are having a lovely break in the weather). Your kids will do great and are lucky to have such involved, caring parents. My S got his first acceptance yesterday (with scholarship!) so the hard work does pay off!
@akapiratequeen - great idea to stay an extra day - see if your S can spend time in the music building to see how the students are interacting and such. We are doing that for my S’ top choice in March - but actually the opposite by coming in a day early so he can take a lesson and shadow a student. (also gives us flexibility in case the weather gods get angry)
Congrats @Lendlees and S on the admission/scholarship! Great to hear good outcomes! And good luck to all – here’s to our kids finding their perfect school (and us parents getting to relax)!
And a big THANK YOU to the folks who suggested applying to one or more backup places in a state U arts & science program, both to have an affordable option and to have an alternative if S decides not to go the conservatory route (not likely but possible). S received his acceptance to Rutgers College of Arts & Science today. He’s agnostic but his dad and I are thrilled to have something in the books that we can afford without debt!
@akapiratequeen - as a Rutgers College alum, I am proud to be the first on this board to congratulate you on your son’s acceptance! RU Rah Rah!
@akapiratequeen Congrats - My son has that same acceptance! (except it’s OOS for us) It’s the only non-audition BA I could find that seemed like it might work.
@eh1234 Go Knights! We also know several kids who have started in A&S and transferred to the music school after freshman year.
As if there wasn’t enough to be stressed about in this whole process, the FAA just announced they were putting a ground stop in place in some NY airports due to low staffing. I hope all that are traveling this weekend for auditions are unaffected. I am really starting to worry about my son being able to get to his auditions in Michigan and Los Angeles next week.
@eh1234 yes, it is best not to try to read the tea leaves. It gets tough now bc some students do start hearing from teachers…and others don’t. If your kid (or others reading this thread) are not that is common. You can’t read into it (even though you will). You have to remember every school, dept and teacher handles audition season differently. Some communicate and some don’t. There are plenty of stories of students getting positive feedback from a faculty member and then not getting an offer. So it is best to take the positives as a positive (but not an offer until received IN WRITING from admissions…not a teacher). Take the no-feedback situations as normal. For VP, your audition can be 5 or 6 minutes in front of a mute panel with no follow-up until the offer. This would be standard. Anything better than that is nice…but you still have to wait.
Note that a conversation that often comes up is the impact of the positive feedback and personal touches in swaying students…maybe TOO early. Some are of the mindset that you go with the teacher that “wants” you. Others have argued that you should take a more “clinical” approach and wait through the whole process and evaluate each offer/teacher slowly. When my D got an offer early (rolling admissions with a studio offer), I did try to persuade my D to skip her last audition (mainly due to my dwindling checkbook). She insisted on finishing what she had started. I felt like she knew where she was going so what was the point. In hindsight, there were reasons to continue (mainly we didn’t have the final financials…but I knew the one school was affordable). I can’t say what was right or wrong. It is certainly fine to eliminate schools near the end. Still an early offer and teacher’s persuasion has an impact.
I thought the impact was nothing but GOOD…increased confidence, ability to drop some auditions etc. However, after reading discussions of more “clinical” approaches to the process, it did make me think that I could have been more thoughtful and patient. So something to chew on during your next audition. Will you be thoughtful and patient or just happy to have it over?
Thanks for the thoughtful advice, @bridgenail.
I should point out that son is not worried about any of this - he just shows up and plays. I am certainly not going to mention any of my musings or attempts at reading the tea leaves to him, and I suspect that he will finish out all of his auditions and be happy if he gets an offer from any school at all.
I won’t even go to the auditions with him because he doesn’t need my nervous energy. DH is the designated parent for this process.
@akapiratequeen & @eh1234 congratulations on the Rutgers news! Way to go into the new round of auditions.
Good luck to all with this weekend’s auditions. All the best!