Not sure what YMV means but just want to reassure folks that you can get in without writing thank you’s. The audition/interview is the thing.
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Well this just made my day !! Glad something I said “paid it forward” as I got soooo much helpful info on here. Super tickled to hear that your daughter started sending cards because of what I said last year!! <3 Thanks for saying Thanks 
Much appreciated. So, my background is in Human Resources Management and when I interviewed someone and received a Thank you card… it would send them to the “special” pile… BEFORE I even reviewed their credentials. So going by that premise, I would always advise people who were going TO an interview to make sure they send a Thank you note. Just applied the same to auditions and college interviews where my son would ASK me to make a Thank you card… imparting “saying thanks” stuck with him, though he did whine about have to handwrite the notes. ( I have Cricuit… will cut out nice clarinet to put on front of card 
) This included interviews with Admissions Counselors.
I am confident that it made a different for his acceptances cause if his grades alone were anything to go by, he wouldn’t have made it into some of the schools where you had to be accepted academically first BEFORE your auditions. We tried to stay away from those but there were a few and as my son blurted out in one of his interviews, which the AC still talks about to this day, “I can play. I just suck at Math”. He got in!
And @stringbird my son’s clarinet teacher here at home who also happens to be the clarinet instructor at the University of Delaware, which we live 5 mins away from (so that fell to the bottom of the totem pole on his list despite really liking his instructor ) told him that between the sample lessons and the actual audition, the instructor wants to see if you’ve improved, taken their advice to heart… pretty much “Are you teachable”. So those comments like “That is coming along nicely” are VERY much an indication that they’re comparing it to the first time she played. So almost definitely that is why… not maybe. All is not lost at all !!! Comments like that IMHO are a good thing. Might even be a GREAT thing!
So, Thanks again for the Thanks. My work here is done;)… though I’m not going anywhere. Brings to mind one of my favorite songs… which goes something like this (you’d think if it were my favorite song, I’d remember the words I’ve been working for 14 hours so am a bit loopy) Anyhoo… " If I can help somebody, as I pass along, if I can cheer somebody, with a word or a song, If I can do my duty, as a good man ought, Then my living, shall not be in vain" (…or something like that) . … OK… that’s a little DEEP for CC tonight but I just felt like singing 
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Carnegie Mellon is an excellent school with an excellent music program! My daughter did not apply but her former (cello) teacher was pushing her to. My daughter has a cello friend that she met playing at a NYS program who is going there now and loves it. My Daughter was concerned that her SAT scores weren’t high enough and they’d say no.
Yes, it is. My daughter was in tears. A senior, hasn’t seen half her class in a year, feels they don’t have any fun, didn’t have a prom last year, aren’t going to have one this year, no pictures. Add to that this waiting game and the stress of it all. I feel for her and all the seniors. So sad.
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My daughter hand wrote her own Thank you cards. Very nice touch.
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This is not about auditions. I’m new to the process for music majors. We’ve gotten acceptances from the admissions offices and academic merit info but no financial aid packages yet. Most schools have told us they award music merit in March. Will the schools send those financial aid packages after the music scholarships have been decided?
I’m guessing every school does it differently. My son auditioned on 02/14/2020. Prior to that he had had a lesson and visit, along with an interview with an Admissions Counselor sometime late December or the beginning of January… can’t remember. Anyhoo, his "official " acceptance letter was dated February 24th (it was already spotted on the portal before receipt in the mail and the Music department head had already let it slip that he was in!) included a paragraph about the MUSIC scholarship and gift he received specifically from the Music School. In this letter, it also stated that he would be receiving a full financial aid package later, which came FROM the financial aid department, a few weeks later. This included grants from the university, loan info etc AND the Music Scholarship already received. Then on March 23, he received an email that he was chosen as a recipient of the Music Enhancement Award. This email came from the Music School, with an official letter dated March 25th from Admissions informing him of this award. He signed his acceptance letter on April 30th and received another scholarship enhancement to the enhancement on June 5th via email, with an official email/letter from Admissions on June 9th. So you see, it can vary vastly between universities as how they do things, but that gives you some idea of the timeline.
Now for a point of reference in how different things/ timeframes can be between Universities, his first acceptance was to WVU. He received a Congratulations email from the College of Creative Arts on 11/13/19, with info about scheduling his audition BEFORE he even knew he was accepted - Official acceptance date was 11/09/19 and the letter and flag were delivered about two weeks later with a full financial aid package with a note that if awarded, Music Scholarship info will be sent separately. That separate award didn’t come until MUCH later. Audition was 02/08/20, acceptance letter from the College of Creative Arts email received on 02/11 with a note saying that Music Scholarship if awarded will come later. It did… MUCH later, like after he had already declined his acceptance.
There were all kinds of different variations between the 15 or so Music Schools he had applied to. VERY different!!! Said all that to say… Hard to Tell. COVID might even make a difference in how they’re notifying now. So…
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It really depends on schools. Some music schools, especially within university may stack music scholarships and financial aids on academic scholarship. Some schools adjust scholarships / aids if they offer academic and/or music scholarship. All of my son’s acceptances came with complete financial packages together that included academic / talent scholarships plus federal student loans which is considered as financial aids. I think that amount of talent / music scholarships are decided after all applicants’ auditions are done unless early action acceptances. At conservatories, I heard that all judges in each program / instrument rank all applicants at auditions, then financial department decides what to offer. By April 1st, all schools that accepted your son will send you a complete financial package. Then you and your son have an entire April to decide. You can appeal schools if you think that financial packages aren’t going to work for your family.
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Thank you.
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This is also not so related to the tours & auditions etc. But as most of the auditions are done and decisions are far out, I like some parents’ advice of “getting prepared”. We have put together a spreadsheet of comparison, which include the following elements:
COA
School Reputation
Voice Teacher
Overall Program Design
Program Size / compatibility
Location
Affiliation with post-graduation as well as in-school music programs /employment opportunities
Anything to add? Or any specific insight regarding any one of those elements? I think they should be weighted differently in importance as well. I am always on the over-analyzing side and hope this spreadsheet can facilitate the student decision-making process. We do get a lot of extra time on hand right now…
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Great idea! On my kid’s list:
- as part of COA, likelihood of graduating in 4 years
- flexibility to add or change majors
- reputation of school and/or strength of alumni network, academically and arts-wise - needs to be directly related to cost
- funding/financial stability of school and program
- “how much does the school want you” - this was correctly used by my older kid to choose a tiny liberal arts school no one in my state has ever heard of, and it’s the best decision she’s ever made. IMO, it’s the best way to determine “fit.”
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I really really like your last point… It is such a balance to a cold and rational spreadsheet… So true too
Sooooo much YES on this one!!! Add to all of the above… things that were on my kid’s list when it came down to the top two or three… and the answers for the top one .
Will your instrument/voice instructor go to bat for you? - He absolutely did !!. He sent an email asking… if I go out there and advocate for you, will you click the accept button? Literally.
If I say YES, will you put in a good word to make it financially feasible? - OK, TBH, that was MY deal. And with many emails floating back and forth, his package/music scholarship went up significantly between the first letter and the last.
If I need to talk about schedule, grades, etc etc, how accessible ARE the instructors? Advisors? - They absolutely are !! ALL the instructors… seriously give credence to the old adage… “here, you’re not just a number” !
How/where/when can I get an internship? What affiliations does the department have with outside businesses in my field? - Not there yet, but he talked to enough students who were placed/assisted with internships through the department.
What DOES the instructor do, outside of teaching? - He’s a principal with the PSO & spends his Summer at a Aria International Music Festival and Guest Lecturer @ Interlochen. The PSO sold my kid It’s best to learn from people who are doing what you want to do .
Is there a “Gig List” ? - this was pretty important to my son - but of course COVID messed that up 
But the city of Pittsburgh regularly sends info to the Music department (they hired someone dedicated to taking care of said list) to play for events, weddings, whatever… So, a part-time job doing what you love!! Win Win
And this clinched the deal - Can I do two majors in 4 years ?? !! YES, we’ll make up special codes for you in the registrar’s office. Did I mention AH-MA-ZING advisor? 
AND we’ll credit you the required Core classes all with music classes… i.e. Acoustics for Science, Computer for Musicians count as Math etc.
Good luck to your kids making the decision. Oh and for you…Join the parents’ page for your kid’s top three. You’d be amazed what you can find out there. How IS the parents page? IS there a parents page? Helpful or catty?
IF I think of more, will be back. This weekend last year was his last audition. Well, it wasn’t his last but he cancelled Temple and Hartt after his Duquesne audition, if I remember correctly. He said he KNEW they wouldn’t be able to top that. We were both burnt out by that time anyway.
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@RachelParent, you may want to add a calculated Net Cost to your family which would be COA minus school grants, school scholarships, and any third-party grants / scholarships (unless those are already considered in your current interpretation of COA).
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For some, I would add access to quality academics. For others that is not relevant.
The point about a school that “wants you” is interesting. Some kids love that, and some kids are turned off. It can certainly help with merit aid.
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Yes that’s my current interpretation, ie. the out of pocket expense. Thanks for the reminder 
Also, what’s the common rejection process? Do kids get notified right away say if he or she didn’t pass the 2nd round audition? I understand that the pre-screening results are generally out right away before the next round.
It’s been another exciting Saturday here in the stringbird household.
On the slightly stressful side, my daughter had two “open houses” to attend (for UTK and for FSU) and an interview scheduled (UTK). These had overlapping schedules, of course. To top that off, partway through one of the UTK sessions, the power went out. (We had an ice storm here.) My daughter had to reschedule the interview and was completely unable to join any of the FSU sessions. Hope they don’t take attendance.
On the happy side, last night my daughter received her first music program acceptance! - to University of Arizona’s Fred Fox School of Music. She had such a wide smile on her face! Then this afternoon, she received another acceptance, to App State’s Hayes School of Music. Hooray!
This week we will find out about FSU, I think. I suspect she did not make the cut at St. Olaf, seems like in the past they have let the music kids know around the same time as EDII decisions come out, so we should have heard last week. As for the other schools, we hurry up and wait.
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I’m trying to make dinner and read CC at the same time. This is not working very well. 
I just wanted to say, our spreadsheet ended up with some very eclectic items on it. I put several items I thought were important - school size, town size, COA, endowment, viola professors. Then I followed someone’s advice on here and asked my daughter what SHE wanted on the sheet. She asked for information I wouldn’t have expected - whether they have faculty that specialize in her particular other (academic) interest, what the cafeteria food was like, what the food in town was like, and whether she would be able to participate in her particular, rather specialized, volunteer activity while attending the school. It was so interesting to see what was important to her! With that said, the spreadsheet has morphed over time. Not everything that was important to her then has stayed on the sheet. And that’s okay.
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Don’t forget social/ dating opportunities. That matters a lot to young people…as it should.
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