My son was also deferred EA from Miami this year. He is also a high stat kid 4.0/4.6, 35 act, Eagle scout, awards and honors etc. so it’s a mystery how the whole process works!
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Thank you for your advice about the letter and admissions. In the end, I want to give it a good shot, but nothing I’d call extraordinary. We have so many other schools to work on.
What does NMF mean? My understanding is that grades don’t matter as much for the music school, but my kid is good on that front. He’s a little above UM’s published student averages. He’s got a 3.95 UW, no tests submitted. He’s bilingual, multiple AP Spanish classes, AP Music Theory, etc.
I have a question for you about CU Denver, if you don’t mind. I know your son is still considering other schools. Are you submitting for housing just in case? Do you need to accept your offer of admission to do that?
My daughter was accepted to the Singer/Songwriter program and is very interested in attending, but we have several other schools still to hear from. I’m a little concerned about the housing situation because there doesn’t seem to be a lot of it. It’s definitely the most commuter oriented school we are looking at, and I don’t know quite what to think about that yet. She is going for the open house this weekend. I’m hoping that will help us get a better picture. We haven’t been able to visit because we are from quite a long way away.
NMF = National Merit Finalist
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Congratulations about the singer/songwriter program! I’m so excited to hear about another student considering CU. It looks pretty cool, but we haven’t seen it either, and I’m looking forward to trip soon to see what it’s really like.
This is what I learned about housing: You need to log in and accept their offer of admission, but it is non-binding. Then, you apply for the housing. If your kid decides on a different school, you officially withdraw. I assume we’ll have to be very careful about that and do it on time to be able to accept at another school by May 1.
This is what I’ve heard from the school, but I can’t confirm 100%. I’m going to do it as soon as we get a darn login. He still doesn’t have his.
I wonder if they have other overlapping schools. My son is still applying to UNT, Loyola, C0lumbia Chicago, UArts, The New School, and our state U.
I was not keen on accepting offers of admission when my D was still undecided. It is a mental thing. Accepting an offer is such a big deal. I wanted it to be binding even if just in our minds. 
But I understand your worry about housing.
I totally agree! Just afraid about that one dorm. 
But I fear we’ll do something wrong and get penalized at the school he chooses if it’s not CU.
My understanding is that he can commit to Denver and choose housing. If he then wants to choose a different school, he can withdraw from Denver and accept the other school.
That’s how it works with waitlists. Students are strongly encouraged to choose a school from their acceptances but everyone knows that many also choose to be on waitlists. If they get off the waitlist for a school they want, then they withdraw from the school they accepted. They often lose their deposit, however – and of course they can’t commit to more than one school at any one time.
Please research this yourself, though – just to make sure!
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Ditto to the above. Really…you won’t be hunted down if you make a change. Just do all in good faith and follow the rules as best you can…and get your housing!
And…concerning EA rejections…yes, so many high stat kids…so few EA acceptances…therein lies the problem. I doubt that there is one “old” parent here whose kid hasn’t gone to a selective music school and thought…oh crap…bc most kids have a bit of a “comeuppance”. Musically and academically brillant peers…when your little buddle of joy is only musically and academically gifted. Don’t want to be a downer…just to point out…be patient…the right program is out there if you got passed prescreens (an accomplishment!!)…and if you work hard, gifted is more than enough.
EDIT: Just thought maybe this comment was a bit harsh or negative. I have no special knowledge of Miami…so I’m just guessing and could be totally wrong. Maybe some studios just don’t do that…idk.
BUT I do know that at my D’s school there were National Merit students that were working professionally in music in high school (I remember one scoring films)…they were brilliant…so I just thought I’d mention that the competition can be high…but it is still a small percent even at selective schools (my D got in and she wasn’t “brilliant”).
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Okay, my question will reveal that I am obviously not an arts parent. But, toi, toi, toi…how is it pronounced? Is this like the French word for you (twa, twa, twa)? Or is it more like (toy, toy, toy)? Or…? Youtube was singularly unhelpful.
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I’m glad to see another possible CU Denver student here too. There isn’t a lot of talk about it. What I have seen is positive, but I’m interested to hear about others’ experiences.
The housing info is very helpful, thank you. We may end up doing that if she really likes the school this weekend.
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Toy, toy, toy.
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Thank you! Toi, toi, toi to your kid, and all the others going through this process!
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None that overlap. I have been looking at Loyola as a last minute addition because there’s a lot I think she would like, but I think we’re probably going to put a stop to the madness and not apply anywhere else. There aren’t very many popular music songwriting programs out there, so her music school list is short. I have a classical music background, but I find that my own experience with college auditions and music school has not been all that helpful in building her list for popular music programs. (I wish I had found this forum earlier!) Just to complicate things, she is also applying to drama schools. She is really torn between her two great loves.
What is your son’s instrument? Is he looking primarily at more contemporary programs?
We were just talking about this yesterday! In the theater, we always said break a leg, so we all wondered. Wikipedia said it might come from spitting to ward off bad luck, in which case it would not be the French way. It would be more like tsk, tsk. It looked Greek or Latin to me.
ETA: I missed the answer already posted above. 
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In the percussion world we say “Break a mallet”. 
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My kid has actually broken so many drum sticks over the past 12 years. Most recently, one he was using to play cowbell. Thankfully, he was playing an outdoor venue, because it went flying twenty feet into the bushes.
And if I recall correctly, @BeverlyWest’s son is relatively new to the “competitive music world” So I think the fact that he did so well on his prescreens at some very competitive schools is a very good sign.
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I’m at the same point…one more school, or end the madness? If you haven’t read the threads here about contemporary programs, I would do that before making your final decision (probably today or tomorrow).
My kid plays guitar as his primary instrument, and he’s going for Jazz Studies and/or “contemporary” depending on the school. At CU Denver, it’s simply called guitar performance. One reason that school looks appealing is that there’s so much collaboration and student-driven performance. He plays 7 instruments and finds great joy in writing music by improvising together with others. It seems to be a very different format than the Jazz Studies program at a Miami or UNT. Another he’s looked at is Belmont, which comes highly recommended by a few parents here.
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