I have to say that I’m not completely sure how my D is doing with her grad school applications. Have not heard much except that a couple requests for sample lessons have gone unanswered. I think she is preparing for prescreens with her accompanist friend. I guess I’ll find out more as the deadlines creep closer!
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Percussion kid has actually narrowed down grad school choices! Wide variety of schools - US, Canada, Norway(!) and the Netherlands. Not sure how the latter ones handle auditions for international students…guessing Zoom?
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So exciting!!
I’m from the Netherlands but, unfortunately, know nothing about the audition process. I’m sure you could contact a prof or the admissions office and find out.
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Luckily enough grad school means it’s his job to figure this stuff out. We just get to sit back and be supportive… (and visit!)
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My kid flew to the Netherlands to interview. COVID may have changed the way things are done or made virtual more common. My kid wanted to visit the city and get a feel for the school in person. Also went to Canada and CA.
I was not involved much other than financial discussions, which were moot because they were funded.
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Hi everyone. My son got his audition date at Berklee, and we confirmed it, never realizing it was the same day as Miami’s one on-campus-required date for those invited to audition there. He had not been invited to Miami yet, but it would have been good for us to notice this ahead of time, and we didn’t. Just now, he got his invitation from Miami. I guess we will be contacting Berklee to try to move our time. (Should we say we have another audition?)
Hi, BeverlyWest! I’d think you could explain to both schools if need be, and arrange an alternate day for whichever does not work. Even the one-day audition days usually have some caveat that allows other arrangements so you might even start with Miami’s office first.
My older son is a violist and we went through the process three years ago! You are so right about the Viola World - it’s the best!! My younger son is cellist and applying now for Fall 2023. If you need any advice about viola studies let me know! My son decided on Shepherd (Rice) and loves it so much.
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Hearing a lot of good things about Rice lately. Kids we know are choosing it for undergraduate programs over NEC and Juilliard. What’s the secret sauce in your opinion?
D23 liked the size and orchestra/ensemble focus when we visited. Very collaborative.
The symphony orchestra is fabulous - some say better even than the Houston Symphony. Because Shepherd is housed in Rice, it is definitely a “university” program - and very rigorous (the music program has a large academic component and they’re required to take classes from three distribution lists outside of the music school as well). Everything is just very high quality. We sat in on orchestra and/or solo and chamber classes in each school my son auditioned at and SSM was the best as far as student levels. The teachers are also amazing and really invested in their students. As well, they have very good financial aid, which was important for us (my son did not even bother applying to NEC and Juilliard as they are not known to have good financial aid). Rice in general is amazing and my son is very happy there.
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Any other early applicants to Blair here anxiously waiting on pre-screens? It says by the 15th but I was hoping it might be early just because of travel. But also–is no news bad news? It says you’ll be contacted for an audition. I’m not sure if that means you WON’T be contacted if you don’t pass. I’m trying not to be an overthinker…
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I think they have a “release” date for decisions so you will probably hear the 15th. They will let your applicant know either way.
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Thank you! This is so helpful! Now I can tell her—you will not hear until the 15th either way. That takes some of the pressure off. <3
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D23 is applying RD, about to submit her application. Had a sample lesson with the Blair professor, liked her. One of the schools she is excited about.
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Hi there. I’m brand new to this and have a question about the tours and audition journey. At least three of the schools my kid is applying to hold auditions on the same day. I assume this is happening for other families applying to the same or similar schools. What do you do? Thanks for any thoughts. (If there’s a better thread, I’m happy to move this.)
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The schools generally will adjust, at least in our experience. Others can chime in.
If your son passes prescreens, how many auditions would there be at this point? We got it down to 4 and that was quite enough, but they all involved travel.
I think 5 or 6, but not all will be in person, because we can’t do all that traveling. We’re heading to Miami and Boston in a couple weeks. Depending on prescreens, we would also have one school on 1/21 and three schools on 1/28, spread out over the country of course!
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Do the schools offer any alternate dates? My recollection (from 4 years ago) was that there was usually a choice of dates.
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My kid several years ago ended up with 6 in person auditions also spread out all over the country. I believe he had a few on the same day or weekend and was able to contact the program to schedule an alternate weekend. At least in years past, the non negotiable ones were Juilliard and Curtis which were back to back on the same weekend! I remember thinking at the start of applications that he was applying to such a terrifyingly small number of schools. And later thinking, how is he going to get everywhere and still perform well and stay sane and healthy? It all works out in the end! Good luck, everyone!
There are audition dates overlaps with some schools, true, and this is just looking at the first round. D23 also has state events and concerto competitions that will conflict with the possible audition schedule. I guess we will worry about it when she advances to the next round. Usually school list gets shorter for almost everyone.
We now only have four audition dates confirmed, with schools that waived or did not require prescreening and those are scheduled pretty wide apart, luckily.
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