You’re all so kind to take time for questions. If you have any knowledge about this: My son has received a letter of recommendation that is really quite stellar from the director of his music school, which we did not have back when he applied EA. He also did not know he could submit a resume at some of the schools. Is it ever appropriate to add materials to the portal after the deadline? I can’t find any guideline about that.
Inexperienced parent question…. When an acceptance comes, does it come with a statement of what specific professor is offering space in their studio? Or do you just get an acceptance and then have to reach out and figure all that out after?
I know some applications asked for a professor preference but others did not and in any case my daughter doesn’t know anyone in the first place.
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It varies by school. At Oberlin, the studio assignment comes with the acceptance letter. At other schools my S22 was accepted to, the assignment comes later in the process, after the student commits and in some cases close to the start of the fall semester.
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Same. All we know is what we can read or listen to/watch online. My son has heard of some of the professors, but doesn’t actually know of any particular instructor he’d do well with. I don’t think he was required to indicate anyone on apps, fortunately.
On submitting a music resume or new letter of recommendation - I would call the school (music admissions) and see if it would be helpful and can be done. I would guess any materials submitted appropriately before the audition would be helpful to the panel. All panels are different…but my understanding (which could be wrong) is that each panel member does have some basic information on each candidate as they listen. Panelists may differ on how they use it…but it should be available in some way.
As for teacher assignments @Baribassmom already answered it. She’s closer to the process and knows best. Every school is different.
I bring it up bc my D and I really stumbled around on this. She did one sample lesson bc we found out late that you were suppose to (oops). She did only one bc we were both so exhausted by then…and it was too late (during auditions)…that we just had to forget it to survive. My D met her teacher the first time the first week of school! Now with zoom, this would not be necessary.
My D wasn’t really able to vocalize what she wanted. But she did email with her teacher (teacher reached out to her at this school) and liked what she said. She also liked the program…so it wasn’t all about the teacher. She also knew someone at the school that felt the teacher would be a great fit for my D’s personality. So….that was the extent of it.
I just want to assure all that not everyone knows what they are doing 100% and it can still work. You do have some time now to have your kid think about teachers, teaching styles that work for them and learn more about teacher and their work (I think many use YouTube…but I’m not up-to-date on this). Or they can wait for acceptance. After acceptance, they can take lessons, ask questions and check with current students too. But if it still feels a bit fuzzy, you won’t be alone. Just do your best. Others may have more relevant comments on researching teachers.
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My son had a number of sample lessons, all via Zoom, prior to auditions. He also had samples at some schools that don’t have conservatories(LACs with strong music). He has only paid for one, and that was at Blair, which has a standard policy/rate for all sample lessons. He didn’t pass pre-screening, but learned from the lesson, so it was still worthwhile!
Ironically, he did pass pre-screening at the school(Oberlin) where the professor said he could do a sample for a lot of money, we said yes, but nothings been scheduled yet! I suspect at this point they may be in a black-out period but my son will reach out again
[quote=“BeverlyWest, post:500, topic:3615633”]
All but one school is what I would describe as “far flung” for us.
[/quote] This is true for us as well.
Yes, but we will have more questions 
.
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Ask away! That’s why we hang out here! 
We found the lesson thing to be a little bit of a mixed bag. The Oberlin professor (who my S22 is now studying with and LOVES) waived the fees for two lessons (one before he auditioned and one after he was accepted) because my S had done a summer intensive in which the professor was an instructor- no idea why, he’s just a very nice person.
A prof at a different school charged my S even though on their website and in the info session they stated that they do not charge for trial lessons!
So, it’s really a teacher by teacher decision. BTW, Oberlin is now on their “Winter Term”, so the teacher may be more available than prior to the semester break. Winter Term has limited classes, if any, because it’s a month of individual projects that can take place anywhere, on or off campus.
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Thanks. The winter term thing occurs at a number of places my son applied, and is pretty interesting. I thought teacher availability would be better, didn’t know if there would be a black-out period with auditions the last week in January.
I’m going to let the letter go, after thinking about it more. There are two schools he could send it to, and at one them, he had to call quite recently for a different reason. The other is Miami, and in that process is well underway. He’s used the letter for Denver and will still be able to send it to Columbia Chicago and The New School.
He’s thinking of cutting that last one, because he absorbed my message of “why add another expensive school to your list”? Now, I’m feeling a little sad that I suggested he cut something cool. I lived in NY, and I took him to visit for the first time last year and loved it. For a sentimental moment I searched CUNY music schools. 
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Funny story - Eastman wanted her to send physical copies of her music and a completed form - this had to be done before they would schedule the audition. We busted out our rarely used printer, couldn’t get it to work. So we went to our local FedEx store and spent a funny half hour printing all these pages (with many issues), taping and hole punching them, filling out the form and then we decided while we were there to just send it via fedex which we have no experience with so the poor worker had to help us every step of the way (after having to help with everything else). That package is arriving at Eastman today so hopefully we will have their date soon so I can get that travel scheduled.
No one else has asked for this - is this common? Maybe the others just have you bring it when you come ? Has anyone else run into this? I’m just hoping we don’t have to do it again. LOL.
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My son just got an email saying he passed his Vocal Prescreen at Bienen (northwestern). Audition scheduled for February 11th! 
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Congrats! S22 has a good friend there who is a first year voice major and another who got in ED for fall '23. Seems like an excellent program!
Toi toi toi!
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Congratulations! That’s so exciting.
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Congratulations!! My soprano DD also heard back today!! Do you know how many they pass versus how many they accept?
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We have not encountered a request to bring music, but I would hypothesize that this might not be uncommon for VP auditions versus classical instrumentalists.
If you pull up the audition required repertoire for any woodwind instrument at Eastman for example, the list is very specific. I would venture to say that in those auditions, the audition panel knows each of those pieces intimately. They have probably taught these same etudes and concertos to dozens of students over the years.
Voice majors and others have a much broader repertoire from which to choose. I would guess the panel wants to make sure they are familiar with your daughter’s selection, or if not can follow with the hard copy.
Eastman right. I remember we were in the same situation and I was at staples with my son trying to get the paper copies ready. It was such a hustle. We also mailed with FedEx and I remember my son calling Eastman and checking if it arrived on time. we never had any other school wanting paper documents.
Good luck.
This is only our second of three prescreens passed and will be our second (of three possible) auditions. I am very new to this whole process but I would also love to know the odds once one passes the prescreen. My son is a tenor and applying to for VP/dual degree program. He auditioned at Frost in Dec for contemporary voice and we are still waiting to hear from Blair.
This whole process requires so much perseverance and hard work. It feels great just to be invited to audition. These kids (and of course parents) deserve gold medals 
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@anotheroboemom I think you’re probably right. Also these copies were probably meant for the accompanist as they had to be 2 sided and hole punched. But it seems like every school would require that. Who knows!!
@Doransa this is so funny - I’m glad I’m not the only one. Printing and mailing something should not be so stressful but we are firmly in 2023 here and rarely do these things anymore!
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We just mailed a paper scholarship application that had to be hand written in black pen. 
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