@Busy_Momma - my son arrived at USC on Saturday, They were tours offered at 11 and 3:30 as well as the theory test offered four times. So he did both of those and then my husband and I did the tour as we arrived on Sunday (while he had his audition). The tour was primarily just of the music area of campus. They were also morning and afternoon info sessions by the financial aid office and a panel of current students answering any/all questions. So kind of a choose your own adventure as to how much you wanted to participate. Luckily, his audition was at 10:50 AM so we are able to leave shortly after lunch.
So here is a dilemma. My husband and I were out of town celebrating our wedding anniversary, and my father was meant to take my son to Boston Conservatory last weekend from DC. But due to the weather up there, all flights in and out of Boston from here were canceled. My son canceled his audition spot and looked for the next availability. It is this coming Sunday from 5 to 6 PM. That’s it…And we will be on a plane to another audition. So he has to bite the bullet and call them, but does anyone have any experience with Boston Conservatory doing auditions outside of an assigned time? Other schools have been flexible when we had a conflict. And Boston Conservatory doesn’t do a day of other activities like tours and panels etc. so it’s not like he would be missing any of that anyway. He is reticent to send a video as he does much better in person.
@tripletmama Colburn didn’t let me past prescreens… I have to admit that at first I was quite sad as Colburn had been one of my top choices-but I’ve heard that Colburn’s prescreens are super tough- also another of my friends who applied wasn’t let through prescreens there either, and she is really good so we were wondering, if perhaps given that only 1 teacher had studio openings, maybe he simply let through the people he new from festivals/his own students (colburn usually accepts very few students, 1 grad and 1 undegrad were accepted last year). From people I have talked to, some of which who have studied there, Colburn can unfortunately be quite political (though this may be just my excuse for failing to pass pre-screens).
SFCM was awesome- though the school is in a somewhat seedy district (though it is close to all the big cultural events), I really liked the more “personal” and accessible feel it gave me, compared to some of the more starchy and cold conservatories I have been in. Not so sure about the facilities-the piano they gave me to warm up on wasn’t all that fantastic, though the performing piano was a reasonably good steinway and sons.Thing to note-After piano auditions (not sure about other instruments) they have a group interview; however the name is somewhat misleading; the students ask more questions about the teachers/school than the teachers do about the students. So have some good questions prepared (I hadn’t read the website well and missed this part of application process so had to improvise on the spot ;)).
In terms of my other auditions, I’m doing Peabody, NEC, Mannes, NYU, and USC, (hopefully Curtis) so pretty busy schedule :). If your child applied to Curtis, another friend told me that the prescreens for piano aren’t to hard there (although then again that specific friend got accepted to NEC full scholarship as well as Julliard, so don’t know if I would trust her word on that lol), as they like to audition a lot, so I wouldn’t worry about it to much :).
Tripletmama——My son will have a live audition at SFCM / RJAM on 2/2-2/3. Your daughter even wouldn’t need to arrange a bass or amp. SFCM provides those rhythm section instruments / equipments and food (Sunday lunch)! It starts on Saturday at 4PM. It has two kinds of activities on Saturday, Master Class (for current students) and a concert rehearsal. Both sounds like observations for applicants. Sunday is live auditions by group assignments (it doesn’t say if auditions are like a jam session kind), dorm tours and a side x side concert (7-9PM). So, it is a 1-1/2day long event with some break time.
@Lyoder2051 - we know Colburn well. Our daughter applied to the classical Academy two years ago - passed pre-screens with an amazing video (took about 30 takes 
). We flew to LA from SC with her bass (not easy) and in 5 minutes it was all over. They took no basses that year. Our daughter moved to LA anyway and studied in the Colburn community school and then moved over to jazz. She practices at Colburn every night so knows a lot of the students. It is a very tough school to get into - but a nice environment. Our daughter’s good friend is auditioning on violin this year…
@Lyoder2051 and @JeJeJe - thanks so much for the low down on SFCM. Our daughter lives in LA and we live in SF (long story) so it’ll be very convenient for us. It will be the only audition tour that I will go to - so I’m looking forward to that. She’ll drive up from LA with her bass. JeJeJe - let me know what you think of the school after you go there on 2/2-2/3.
Tripletmama——I heard that MSM Jazz Arts took only 5 freshmen total in ‘18-‘19. 50% of 100+/- jazz arts are graduate students. So it is extremely selective for freshmen to get accepted. Even passing prescreening, I guess, majority of them don’t get accepted… SFCM / RJAM is very small (25-ish total for only freshmen and sohpmore because it is RJAM’s 2nd year) but is still growing by 10-15 new students every year. SFCM / RJAM is still new to jazz studies but has potentials to be a really good jazz program within a few years. Because SFCM / RJAM invites parents / families for the audition weekend, I plan to attend (only this time). I will give you some feedback after this weekend.
@UniversityMomOf2, good luck on Friday’s audition, interview and theory test! ?
@JeJeJe My son’s auditioning for RJAM on 2/23-24. Would really appreciate a note on the auditions after you’ve gone through the process, either here or PM as you desire. Good luck!
Congrats on the acceptance to Jacobs @leejay22!! Hoping for good news as well after the audition on 1/12.
@mperrine sorry your O’Hare flight was cancelled. I hadn’t heard anything on the news but it’s such a frequent occurrence I don’t tend to hear unless it’s a huge number of flights. Hubby had troubles getting home but the delay was due to where he was coming from on the East Coast.
@chollist thanks for the luck. Hopefully son will do ok. I feel he is so unprepared. When he was practicing today I was like “what on earth are you playing”. His new music for his new honor band. Um, worry about auditions first…
My son got an email from Berklee about his decision but then when he went into the portal to retrieve his decision there was nothing there. Anyone else having this problem? Any suggestions as to how to find out tonight what happened. Probably have to wait to call the school in the morning but just thought I would ask. EA application
@Leao114 – def call them. DD’s opened up a pdf (I think it was a pdf) of a letter. took a few seconds to load and while it was doing that it was a blank page.
Off we go, into the wild blue yonder! Hitting the road (in the frigid cold) for Eastman today followed by Syracuse tomorrow. After that, the heavy lifting will be done: four schools down and the remaining two are day trips.
Wishing everyone easy travel, great bonding time, and spectacular success in their auditions this weekend. Can’t wait to hear all about them!
My son starts his audition trek today too! First stop Ann Arbor, Michigan, where, last I checked it was -17 degrees! The university is currently closed through tomorrow morning at 7:00 am but his 10:00 am audition is still on. Then, on to Los Angeles for a week of significantly better weather!
Good luck to all on their travels and auditions this weekend!
Good luck in all travels and auditions next couple days. Safety over all. Please take care
It did come through this morning unfortunately he did not get in.
@Leao114 – sorry about the Berklee decision. My S was not admitted to his ED school either. It stung for a few days, but he’s back up and moving forward. These kids will all face some rejection. It’s the nature of the beast. I’m sure it will all work out just fine and he’ll end up in a place that is great for him.
@Ikbux64 We don’t have the luck since my son’s audition at Michigan is supposed to be today. Our flight to Detroit was cancelled and we rescheduled our flight directly to Austin today. I already bought everything-scarves, mittens, hats, hand warmers, etc.
@pdxtigermom Oh no! That’s awful. There is so much stress in this process already. The last thing any of us needs are weather disruptions. Is Michigan working with you to reschedule your son’s audition?
@Ikbux64 I contacted school and changed our live audition to recorded audition. Both my son and I were secretly relieved about the cancellation since the flight was at 6 am and we’ve never been to a place this cold. People at school told me to bring all our skiing outfits! He’s already lost interest in the school.