first time poster on this thread, but sounds like we have similar tenors - we got our yes to prescreen at Northwestern last night and my son too is trying to figure out singing/academic schools. good luck to your guy!
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I agree with you, completely nerve wracking!
D has applied to 12 schools- 8 yes, 1 no, waiting on 3… this may be excessive, but we figured that this process is so competitive, she will need a lot of money and she is after all ‘just a soprano’!
Outside of the “big 12”, she has been admitted to her 2 safety schools, both with good merit and talent packages. She could be happy at either of these as well.
So fingers crossed that mild weather and good health continue through audition season!
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Wow, that’s a lot of schools! Congrats on all the yeses already. Are those music schools? I didn’t know you could audition early enough for decisions before January.
Knowledge that’s not useful to us now, but nonetheless we learned, is that EA does not necessarily mean we’ll get an early answer when auditions are involved. Most on his list did not have audition dates any earlier than January. It was so much faster for his buddy who applied to Wharton and has heard already, even though he applied after my son applied to Frost.
All impressive schools! Nice work completing all their requirements and applying to these institutions.
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Wow! Not sure we could handle 12 applications! My son applied to 4 TN state schools and 3 conservatories. He really wants a standalone conservatory to focus only on music, but the cost is probably beyond our reach, so the state schools are an important backup. So far, he has acceptances to 3 state schools but still has to audition for the music programs. We didn’t apply to university programs at competitive schools because he has ADHD and uneven academics in everything but music. He passed the pre-screens for Mannes and Boston Conservatory, and we’re still waiting on word from Eastman. I’m hoping piano just hasn’t been settled yet and he’ll get good news like your daughter did!
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When my D auditioned 4 years ago as a soprano (she is now a mezzo) she was told at every school it is about 10% acceptance. It depends on how many audition and the reality is that there are alot of sopranos. I am pretty sure when she visited Bienen those were the numbers given to her - something like 400 apply, 100 get auditions maybe 40 get in (or something along that ratio for most school). Congrats on prescreen past and best of luck on auditions!
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I’m torn about a couple of virtual tours and would like to know what you all think.
Since we can only travel 1x to a select number of schools, I’m hoping the audition trips themselves will demonstrate interest. I wish there were a way to tell our top schools how much of a huge financial decision it is to choose to audition in person. With Miami already making their decisions, I hope traveling 3K+ miles has shown our commitment. (I can’t imagine them keeping track of the FA seminar I did online. 
)
Anyway, for our others, we still have time to do something to show serious interest.
- Do you think this is important to add to his applications?
- Do you think virtual tours are the main way to do this? Are there others?
- Doesn’t it make sense to do virtual tours later, once a kid is admitted, instead of investing time and getting excited now about programs he might not be admitted to? What is the value at this point; I may be missing something.
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This is why I was confused at Miami. The whole school is 700 students. With 150+ applicants there on EA day alone, their 40% acceptance rate didn’t make sense, because I imagined way more than 500 students would apply (to the whole music school, not just one instrument). It’s possible my math is WAY wrong. I was good at math in high school, but those days are woefully long past.
ETA: This 40% number comes from the internet, which is known to be a totally infallible source. 
@philmad pointed out that Frost did say anywhere from 10% - 45% of those present would be admitted, depending on their instrument. It sounds like sopranos are quite competitive.
I was just reading an MT thread where they quoted an old post suggesting 25 to 30 programs was a good target to apply to. My heart just skipped a beat. Oh dear god.
MT is very different, they take 20-30 kids a class with an applicant pool of over 1000 kids a year. They are told to apply to at least 20 schools with a mix of safety, targets and reach.
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Wow, that is so much work. I respect those kids for going through that process to do what they love. I have a degree in theater, and man it was different back then.
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My S21 is at a BFA acting program, he applied to over 20 schools, it was crazy, and so subjective.
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I saw that!
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Amazing work. I think I would have found that exciting, actually, as a HS senior. My son is very different than me, and with this process he’s stopping at half that number. I know (now) that MT is a whole other thing.
ETA: Thinking back a thousand years, my degree is a BA. You could decide at any point that you wanted to study acting, but it was not at that rigorous level. Through our program, we made valuable connections–that was the key value.
The yesses and the no are only for auditions! D applied only to music schools and conservatories- of the 12, 4 are within selective universities.
Fortunately, she applied and auditioned early for her 2 safety schools and they sent acceptances in December. As I wrote, these are viable options should the “big 12” or the money not work out.
Each of our children will end up in the perfect place for them, even if they don’t immediately understand that.
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This is only my opinion…but showing interest through virtual visits is more for academic studies (mainly LACs). At big Us, it seem to be based on GPA and test scores. Of course, if you are on the edge academically…maybe it’s worth it. I don’t know.
I do know that in music, the audition is KING. The teachers that vote for you and/or invite you into a studio will most likely have little interest if you did a virtual visit or not.
There may be some schools admission people who track that. So at some schools…maybe it matters…a little. My D did very little of showing interest (not knowing that she should). But “we” spent time studying the music requirements and doing pre-screens on time. We flew there and spent money on a hotel. We showed up to the audition day. And my D was “locked and loaded” for the audition. Sometimes it took 5 min, sometimes 10 plus. And of course, her music resume and background would indicate that she’s a serious candidate (along with the ability to sing in 3 or 4 foreign languages, dress accordingly, with a little flair, have her music ready as requested, be able to interact accordingly with accompanists and the panelists, and answer the few questions thrown her way). Then go take a theory test. Who cares if she did a virtual tour of the campus? Most schools we were only able to visit one time.
Honestly, what more can they want to demonstrate interest? Maybe the bills from the trip?
That’s a bit flippant…but seriously I would not worry about the “stuff” people do outside of the music world. And, if your kid wants to do a virtual tour…fine. Otherwise I would’t worry about it. The panel will not…imho.
If there is ever anything relevant to his music background, I always think that is fine to add. Most music kids do have various awards so it’s probably not necessary if it’s a school award but maybe state or national would be worthwhile.
And most music students on this site seem to apply to 6 to 8 schools (maybe get rejected to one or two during pre-screens). MT is a totally different animal. My D also did that. With MT, there are unified auditions in Chicago, NY and LA, I believe. My D went to Chicago and was able to audition with multiple schools in a few days…still she didn’t do the large number recommended as she was doing VP too.
I hope that helps.
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I agree. I know it might be hard to get there, but I believe this strongly.
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I wish it had worked out this way, but because of the audition schedules, my kid is doing the reverse. One of his favorite schools (and a very hard one) was first, and his super safety school is scheduled last. Ah well, maybe at his next audition, he’ll have a more relaxed experience than the first, and he can enjoy seeing more possibilities. I wonder if his faves will change.
Also, he will see a very different range of campuses. Having seen Miami as his only example of a college campus, he’s in for an exciting journey. 
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Exactly. Having done most of the things you mention (perhaps not a resume for those who did not require it), I feel like that should be more than sufficient. I just want to be sure that after preparing all those things, and spending resources and hope and effort, we’re not missing some small thing we didn’t know about. Miami is the only one I saw whose materials mentioned it as important, and that it would be considered, but that was for the whole U, not Frost. They say it’s a holistic review even for musicians, and in that case my only worry is we need FA.