@leejay22 - good luck with the trip, maybe we’ll see each other on Sunday. We are dashing out fairly quickly to catch our flight home that afternoon.
We are escaping the next round of ‘snowpocalype’ predicted for Friday here in PNW (5 - 10" of snow predicted). Heading to Boston tomorrow early for BU and then straight to Cleveland for CIM. I am happy to have a day off in between so S and I will do some exploring in Cleveland. Hoping we can make it home on Sunday…
Good luck to everyone else traveling this weekend!
@JeJeJe I didn’t mean to imply that you would be anything less than honesty. I spent a lot of time in this process trying to figure out what individual schools are looking for. In treating this as a strategy challenge initially, it took me a while to circle back to the conclusion that a school denial based on information from us that reflects who we are as a family and conditions to admission that we can live with is not practically different than an acceptance based on information that implies more stretch than our situation will allow. Neither results in a real opportunity for my D. There is comfort and empowerment in getting to the point of being able to say “I can guess what you want to hear, but I’m still going to give you the non-strategic, candid answer – if that results in us losing, so be it, we likely wouldn’t have been able to make use of the “win” anyway.” I just wanted to pass along the comfort I found in that realization that I was slow to come to, but you were way ahead of me.
MeritHopeful———Thank you! I know what you mean. And I feel much more comfortable being just honest and let it be. I get discouraged sometime when I think about $$$$$…But I shouldn’t pass my negative feel (of just a few seconds) to my son. I do like your comment on people who may choose (D)! Thank you!
Choosing (D) is like saying “I don’t like money” and/or “I’m not good at multiple choice questions.”
Replying to myself, I found the article. I did not join any of these forums even though I knew they existed in theory because I was worried about information overload. I skimmed through the article. Good sound advice. My son doesn’t know 100 tunes. At this point I don’t know that it’s conducive to show him this article. It may just stress him out more. He applied to 4 top jazz schools and 3 more local and affordable options. If he doesn’t get a “big” scholarship, then he won’t be going to one of the top schools. We cannot afford it. He has been accepted to Berklee, but the merit alone is not enough for us. Still waiting to hear about financial aid. He has 2 auditions down and 5 to go.
I meant to add in the previous post, that I didn’t join the forum earlier because I was worried about the information overload and second guessing myself and my son’s ability. I recently joined at the suggestion of someone in a FB group on paying for college. I have skimmed through some of the posts, but no way I can go back to the beginning. There is comfort in reading about other families going through similar challenges and situations. I am torn between feeling like I have invested so much (time, emotions, and money) into this journey that I want to help my son as much as possible and the feeling that at a certain point it just isn’t worth it and I have to draw the line somewhere. Like the idea of a big fish in a small pond or small fish in a big pond, each scenario brings it advantages and disadvantages.
Miami Frost audition is tomorrow! Arrived in Orlando where my sister lives and driving to Miami this afternoon. Anyone who auditioned for MADE/CAM have any last minute advice? If she can somehow snag an audition room tomorrow, she’d feel like she hit the lottery, but sounds nearly impossible! She seems pretty calm and collected, maybe because she gets to present her own music and will be in her comfort zone. Personally, I’m a little nervous (she’s always strong with her vocals but her piano playing is the part that requires practice and concentration) but I’m looking at this one as a true reach school in terms of academics and the chance of decent money (so far no evidence a MADE/CAM student ever got talent money) even if she gets in. She’s aware of our financial limitations so I think that motivates her to try to knock it out of the park but she is keeping an open mind and sees positives in every school she applied to so if this doesn’t work out, she won’t be devastated. I know we will see @DrummerDad18. Remind me who else will be there? Good luck to all auditioning this weekend!
Another weekend, another round of good luck to all! I just realized that my son will be finished with this part in 10 days! And then I expect that time will stand still while we wait for the last four results and financials.
He travels tomorrow to audition at another in-state option on Saturday. He had so many delays, snow days, cancelled evening rehearsals, etc. last week that this “normal” week has been kicking his butt and he’s barely had time to practice at home (he was at school for 13 hours yesterday). I’m actually making him stay home tomorrow to sleep in and practice even though he probably won’t head down to JMU until mid afternoon.
In addition to getting two music acceptances this week, his mid-year grades were somehow good without any apparent school-related effort on his part - huge relief because he was toying with his first C about 10 days ago (he’s hoping for some academic merit).
@AmyIzzy, @eh1234 and others hitting the road, GOOD LUCK this weekend! Break those legs and crush those auditions! And of course, keep us posted.
My S has the NYU music ed audition on Saturday, all ten minutes of it. Instructions say to arrive ten minutes early to warm up (no guaranteed practice rooms), play/talk for ten minutes, and out. Quite a change from last week’s marathons. Luckily it’s local and his dad will take him. So far NYU has been the hardest to reach/showed the least enthusiasm about this whole process, and it’s correspondingly at the bottom of S’s list. He was in favor of dropping it for awhile, but has recently decided to view it as a way of honing his skills and prepping for the next (and last) audition day.
The last one will be at Rutgers Mason Gross on 2/16. Rutgers has more of a traditional schedule for the audition day, and he’s already visited twice: he attended a music open house and then returned for a shadow day with a senior performance major. He’s been extremely impressed by the program and the quality of the players, and – because the Rutgers program is competitive and would be a very affordable option – seems more stressed about this audition than the NYU one.
@CaraCoMO, it sounds like we are very much on the same track, and may even have been at some of the same auditions! My S also plays tenor sax. I have found CC to be a godsend as this is my first experience with a music kid, but there’s no doubt the process is overwhelming. I hit the wall about a week ago – another parent called it “mile 20 in a 26-mile race” – so I feel your pain! And I also struggle with the big fish/small fish question, mostly because I want him to feel happy and challenged without undue stress. It helps that my guy is pretty laid back and feels he would be equally happy at several of the places he’s seen. Like you, we did a couple of top-tier schools and a few that seem like more of an easy match, with one backup non-audition BA. And like your S, mine got into Berklee but would be hesitant to take on that much debt.
I wish you and you S all the best in the process. and know he will land somewhere wonderful. Can’t wait to get through the next six weeks!
@AmyIzzy , if I recollect from 2 years ago, Miami Frost practice rooms are available for auditioning students first come first serve. Rooms are available until late. I believe my D practiced with the pianist around 6:30 pm the night before audition. Good luck tomorrow!
Good luck everyone! @DrummerDad18 we will be at USC Saturday (tour,panel,theory) and audition Sunday afternoon! Hope you and @AmyIzzy can meet up in Miami.
FYI We’re having the same problem at USC that we encountered at Frost and UCLA, no keyboard in room. USC does have a piano and Frost ended up having a mini keyboard.
@akapiratequeen I almost typed that I’m looking forward to hearing about the Rutgers audition and then I remembered that both of our kids will be there the same day! My son currently knows very little about the program and hasn’t seemed too interested so far, but one of the bass faculty reached out to him to do a trial lesson on audition day so he’s looking forward to that. I have no idea how competitive it is for his instrument. Seems like a great in-state option for you.
His last audition is at Temple next week and that sounds like it might be an “in and out” kind of thing. He has an assigned warm up time and place (only 20 minutes), followed by a 9:30 audition. I hope there’s more to it but that’s all the info we have right now. I can’t remember - has anyone done a Boyer audition this year?
@akapiratequeen thank you for the words of encouragement, I need them. I like your description of the 20 mile wall of the marathon. Sounds about right. And yes, I forgot, we also did a local BA application at the state school where my husband works, just in case. 1/2 tuition, but sadly not a good jazz department. Good luck on upcoming auditions! We have a break this weekend and then the final stretch.
@CaraCoMO - Welcome! If you scroll back a few days you will see that I hit the 20 mile mark a week ago and it was only my daughter’s first audition! :(( I have another going through the college process (she’s going to be a pilot) so my 20 mile mark was early. This is not for the faint of heart. What other music schools is your son auditioning at? Our daughter is a jazz bassist and she has NO safeties. (yet another reason why I hit the 20 mile mark early).
Our daughter is getting together with one of your son’s tonight I think (she is in LA) - if any of your kids are in LA, let me know. She knows the music scene in LA - or at the very least, the good, free practice rooms in the area. She has a “bye” this weekend so she’s fairly free. I’ve heard that LA is having beautiful weather this week - so that’s good! - and I’m sure Miami B-) is as well! Rutgers - not so sure.
Amd yes, one of my stress relievers is to get my glasses out and find some cute emoji’s. @akapiratequeen - I love that there is a pirate one for you! :ar!
@tripletmama I loled at your emojis. I’m working at home today and decided it would relieve stress to “konmari” my toiletries for some reason. Went through the bathrooms and dumped everything on the floor of my office. It looks like a landfill. The cats think I’m insane!
KonMari-ing toiletries can be VERY therapeutic! ? Good call, @akapiratequeen! Beginning to feel like one of you even though we’re still doing Jr. year tours and lessons. My D forgot to pack her dress shoes, so it was off to Target early this morning for black flats and a travel umbrella. (Torrential rain where we are today.) My husband started to grumble, but I assured him that such last minute wardrobe runs are par for the course. Good luck this weekend, everyone!
@tripletmama I think I saw your earlier post and it helped me feel not so alone on this. He already auditioned at SFCM and Berklee (accepted), he will audition at New School, MSM, UNT, Univ.MO KC Conservatory, and U.of Kansas.
Everyone that is traveling to auditions - here’s a hack for finding a practice room. There was one time that my S tried to practice the violin in our hotel room (in Seattle) and was promptly shut down by security because of a complaint from a neighbor, and this was at about 7 PM.
To avoid that, every time we’ve traveled for an audition, we talk to the hotel front desk staff to see if they have an area that is secluded and relatively quiet. In our experience, they’ve always obliged and have found us a ball room or other conference room that is not in use at the time. One time in Evanston, we were given a whole restaurant that had closed for the day. This has worked out great for us and I hope you guys can try it out if you need to.
The only time that I made a reservation for a practice room was at a hotel near Eastman. They would only allow 1 hour slots for practice, so more of a warm up room. We ended up not going because my S decided not to audition there since he had been already accepted at a few other places by then.
I’m telling my daughter she can play on the street if no rooms are available and maybe even make a few bucks under the pretense of busking… Weather permitting of course!
She has a “bye” this weekend so she’s fairly free. I’ve heard that LA is having beautiful weather this week - so that’s good! - and I’m sure Miami B-) is as well! Rutgers - not so sure. 