Class of 2025 Undergrad/Class of 2023 Grad: The Tours, the Auditions, the Journey

Has anyone on here who sent in video after December 1 for Belmont’s music program received music merit info?

hey does anyone know how competitive the Blair School of Music’s prescreenings were, and how much of an indicator it is for actual admission if u pass prescreening? also same for Bienen (Northwestern). I passed both I was just curious

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congrats! what did pieces did you play for your auditions?

Blair’s most competitive majors are composition and voice, with violin and percussion close behind. I think around 20-30% pass the prescreen in those areas to my knowledge, although it’s been even a touch lower the last couple of years. (Not sure about this year, with auditions being online and all, but I’d assume it’s only become more competitive as applications will no doubt have risen across Vanderbilt’s schools.)

The overall acceptance rate is 15-20% but voice, comp, violin, percussion, and a few others are single digit acceptance rates to my knowledge (offset by some woodwind/brass areas that are 30-40%). So, I don’t know the figures of what percent get admitted once they’ve passed the prescreen, but the odds do go up a bit. It’s become unbelievably competitive in the last 5 years, that’s for sure!

Congratulations to your daughter!!! That is awesome that she got 2 yes votes!

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I’m curious about this as well. My son passed the prescreen for both Vanderbilt and Northwestern. Had an interview with Northwestern Friday and has Vanderbilt this Saturday.

Shared that CMU interview was an hour and Northwestern was 10 minutes . A couple of questions about him and the repitore he planned and the rest was about their program.

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That should say played not planned

Got it thanks. Update I got into Blair officially!! :,)

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Hi thanks! I played Prokofiev Violin Concerto No. 2 (1st mvt), Bach Sonata No. 1 Adagio & Presto, Paganini Caprice #14, and Beethoven Spring Sonata. For Vandy I only had to do Bach and Prokofiev. I got into Blair yesterday! Best day ever!

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Hey that’s great news, congrats to him!

Congratulations!! That’s wonderful news!!!

I know several have mentioned their kiddos have had the interview with Northwestern. My son was not asked to play - they shared that he had a beautiful audition and then talked with him about their dual degree program. After they had sent him information from the oboe instructor along with information about the studio. They encouraged him to email with any additional questions.

Maybe I am reading too much into this but I wonder why he wasn’t asked to play. Even in the email they sent they shared he would not be asked to play

Yep, imho, definitely trying to read too much into this.

Every Feb., people do analysis paralysis on what any comment/no comment/talking/not talking/playing/not playing…omg I think I saw a “side eye”. What in the world does it mean??? You’ll never know. You’ll just need to wait with everyone else for the results.

He submitted his audition. They interviewed him. So he’s being considered. No playing required during the interview (seems to be their policy so don’t take it personally).

I don’t think that there will be much more that you can “wring” out of this. I am sorry that it’s creating anxiety. It IS a hard time. You can also contact the Music Admissions and ask them directly (why no playing?). I’m sure that they would be happy to answer you…and then you can put your mind at ease.

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Thanks so much for this reply! It helped !

Hi everyone! I hope you will consider PM’ing me with your (or your child’s!) prescreen passes and with your acceptances. That way we can keep a record for future students to browse to get an idea of when results come out. Don’t forget to include your instrument or voice and the date you found out. Thanks!

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Could you possibly PM me? I’m new here (and not sure how to do that) but I’d love to share my information!

PM sent! It will show as a little green notification on the upper left side of your user pic at the top of the site.

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When we toured last March with my daughter, I remember them telling our group that oboe players would not have a pre-screen. Of course, this was their standard process before Covid. Perhaps his recorded pre-screen was his only audition! Best of luck! I hope this helps.

Soooo very true !! Oh the Side eye… :rofl: :stuck_out_tongue: Whatever does that mean ?? Thanks for the chuckle and the memories. Last year at this time, the analyzing was brutal and epic for sure !! And then we waited… And tried to occupy ourselves while waiting so as to not go crazy.

Enjoy the ride folks… it’s almost over !! Try not to overanalyze cause that side eye could mean one thing with on adjudicator and a totally different thing with another… What was THAT I just heard? Ohhh what was THAT I just heard? One being a OHhh… did I hear a flat note kinda side eye and the other side eye… OHHHHH… that was a FABULOUSLY executed glissando I just heard! Same side eye… different results :stuck_out_tongue: So, try to avoid reading into any side eye or anything else cause, as @bridgenail calls it, you could get analysis paralysis. Good one. :wink:

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Vanderbilt and Northwestern interviews were magnificent.

Northwestern followed up with an email about their oboe studio and S followed up with several questions. It seems they need oboes this year (:blush:).

Waiting for email from Vanderbilt. Then S will ask his questions.

No over analyzing other than tuners that neither school gives music scholarships. If anyone has information or can direct me I’d appreciate it.

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