Yes, my son wanted to apply to NEC, but he didn’t have all the repertoire down for the pre-screen in time. We had a traumatic summer (my nephew, whom he was very close to, passed away), and he just wasn’t able to pull it all together to apply to NEC or Julliard (a reach for sure, but one never knows). We toured NEC and really liked it though.
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Congratulations to your son! I hope the excitement of the process kept/keeps him thinking about things other than illness. Good luck with the audition cycle!
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Congratulations on your great news so far (including getting into Crane!).
If you haven’t heard, it’s likely you’re still in the running. I believe a lot of schools are somewhat delayed and getting the news out as fast as they can.
Good luck!
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Yes. Berklee is a good school, but it’s not necessarily the right school. It all depends on the student’s instrument and focus. For my daughter, NEC was the top choice among the Boston schools. However, she has consistently heard from her music friends that NEC typically gives very little money, so she didn’t bother applying.
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keep masking and if she can get the booster highly recommend. My D got booster when it came out in fall along with 2 of her roommates. The other roommate did not and got COVID. My D and her other roommates did NOT get Covid during that close contact. Of course no guarantee but at this point you need to set up as many barriers as possible.
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Does anyone here have experience with the Schulich School of Music at McGill in Montreal? We weren’t really thinking about sending our son to another country, but it’s really not so far away, and I’m wondering if it’s worth applying to (deadline is in in 3 days, and we can use his prescreen video as a recorded audition, so there’s no need to travel). I’m especially interested in prospects for financial aid and the culture of the school (my son is a strong performer and knows a lot of theory, etc, but is weaker in non-music academic areas).
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That was the runner up school for my kid for UG. Great department, very reasonably priced - small scholarship, that isn’t guaranteed for all 4 years - but the low price overall made it very attractive. Kid is actually applying there for his MM.
I’ve heard that the non-music classes aren’t too rigorous so your son should be OK.
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I thought it was violin performance for quite some time…
Thanks for the insight. He really just wants to focus on music in a friendly atmosphere. Finding an affordable conservatory that’s not tied to a super competitive liberal arts university is a challenge. It looks like Schulich is pretty self-contained, but I don’t know much about it. He has ADHD, which will be a challenge wherever he goes, but he’s most successful when he’s focused on music classes.
Here is a link from a few years back tracking some of the scholarship awards. It may be helpful if you haven’t seen it already.
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That is a LOT of auditions. Since he is so clearly successful, have you considered dropping some of what look like safety schools? Or adding more virtuals?
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My son auditioned at a state school with a good music program and great local rep this weekend and it was heartwarming to see overrepresentation, the oppositie of what I griped about earlier in this thread but it was also telling that there really isn’t a pipeline issue that the schools with underrpresentation claim. They really just don’t care that much to make a change without sacrificing quality/lowering standards. Oh well.
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So how many live auditions is “the norm”? I have no idea… D has 7 live, 3 virtual/recorded and waiting on 1 last decision. January 20th to March 3rd will be very busy!
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The answer is… it depends. When my kid auditioned several years ago, he and his cohorts were advised to narrow down to 6-8 schools, with 2-3 safeties, 2-3 matches and 2 reaches.
Reaches were easy to identify, usually Juilliard, Curtis and Colburn.
Safeties and matches can vary a lot based on the student, instrument and need for merit. A program that might be a relatively easy admission for a violinist might be more difficult for a clarinetist if there is a renowned clarinet professor.
With respect to merit, there is so much variability and in my opinion randomness to the scholarship offers. At least it feels random on the parent/student end.
Mine auditioned at 6 schools, accepted at 5. Merit offers varied from $5k to full scholarship. Same kid, same audition rep.
We went with the plan of fitting in as many auditions as possible without compromising health or quality by burning out. A bit of a whirlwind, but an amazing ride!
There is no correct number of auditions…prepare and enjoy each one, show off your talent and hard work! The world needs these amazing musicians!
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We got the dreaded “no” today, from Yale. So we have 3 auditions scheduled, one we still haven’t heard from. The one remaining is Curtis. If she gets an audition there it will take a miracle to make the scheduling work. I hope 3 is enough! Looking back she probably should have applied to more programs but we were worried about how to possibly make to all these places, from both a schedule and budget perspective. Also I spent about $700 in application fees on the 5 she applied to, which was rough.
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My son applied to McGill as a music major a few years ago, although he eventually chose to go elsewhere.
What is interesting about McGill is that they have different tuition structures for different degrees and as I recall Music is one of the least expensive.
Per their tuition chart, a bachelor of music is 31k Canadian dollars which is equivalent to 23k US dollars. Room and board runs about 12.6k US dollars and is said to be significantly less if the student moves off campus to an apartment and cooks for themselves.
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Thanks for the information. We’ve been so involved with other auditions that I haven’t had time to really research McGill. The cost looks like a lot less than the US schools, and it has a good reputation. Definitely worth considering!
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Good luck!
I just sent you a DM. Let me know if you have trouble accessing it.
I’m sorry to hear that. Mine has been rejected from four schools so far, but does have three auditions (waiting on a fourth).
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Well for both of our sakes I hope 3-4 is enough! What a time this is…
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