I would call admissions and as @MMRose said, talk to someone who is not a student. Not sure whether you would call college admissions or someone in the music department but it would be good to get an audition scheduled.
I want him to call, so tonight I’ll tell him about that reality (who’s answering the phone) and try to get the info out of him.
We talked above about how I should not be the one to call admissions. Is that right? I probably need to get him to call again. He might grumble about that. Lol.
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That’s what my current student has done. I will say my kid does have the privlege of having a primary music teacher on faculty at a big university (that has been really enlightening) and an older sibling who went through the process. Early in the process she had a couple sample lessons where she said she was still deciding,
I actually really like @Momeila resonse too, especially with a long list. But my first kid did gain some insight with teachers with longer engagement so especially if you have a reasinably confident kid that would take a spontaeous conversation on school merits/choice well I think it’s totally fine to reveal more.
I do think these conversations affected my oldest both at a safety and at a reach. I didnt care about the reach, but the safer option hurt. But at the end of the day this is why you cast a wider net and it worked out great! And they weren’t wrong. He did get a financial offer lower than we expected that neither could hvae approached. But earlier in the process we were trying to quantify what was worth paying more for because we did have some financial flexibility. He had 2 faculty members if different schools say do your undergrad on the cheap if possible and that left an impact,
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I agree with @bridgenail that in some cases this question could play against you at a safety. I think D received a weak financial offer from a safety for this reason. Fortunately she didn’t end up needing this safety, so it worked out, but…
At peer schools, professors can use this information in different ways. In April when D was trying to decide among schools, she received some recruiting calls. One professor used knowledge of her other schools to make a case for his program. (Didn’t work. She went to the other school. 
)
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Honestly, given the date situation and since this is just a scheduling issue, I think it would be okay as a parent to call.
In full disclosure, my son was not able to make any phone calls during his application season (very strict HS phone policy) so I made some calls like these and it turned out fine, even though most would say it isn’t ideal.
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In the case of Columbia Chicago, I might actually call. I can imagine myself saying “My son is busy and asked me to call” !!
I mean, he’s at school! Seems fair.
My son is checking out CU Denver this weekend as well. He got in, but has his audition on Friday and then doing the tour/MEIS day.
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Oh, were you the lady who I might have spoken to when getting coffee from the van outside? There was a mom that spoke a language that sounded Russian or German I wish I had checked the forum when I was there too!
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Cool! I’m so happy to hear about others considering this program. What’s his emphasis? My son sent recorded audition materials for guitar. We can’t visit until later, because he has visits already at other schools over the next few weekends. I’m eager to hear what it’s like.
I also wish the teachers would rather ask these questions to the parents… how wide a net to cast, teacher vs school, scholarship opportunities, region, audition expenses, realistic admission possibility etc etc… so many factors go into these that involve more than just the student’s views… and I wouldn’t put the teen on the spot to “read the room” and provide an answer that doesn’t impact their chances.
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Wow quite a few of us were sitting on those waiting areas in Blair not knowing… my son was auditioning for piano in the afternoon but we were hanging out in the morning watching the wind and strings kids go in and out.
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Thank you. I missed this comment in the thread. I appreciate it.
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We will be at UCLA and USC (piano audition) this weekend if anyone else plans to be there Sat-Sun AM…
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Too bad we all didn’t know or we could have introduced ourselves!
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Our son received an acceptance from Berklee today, but the scholarship offer is not as generous as we had hoped. We were told to fill out the College Board form, but I don’t know that that will yield any additional help. Does anyone here have experience with Berklee financial aid? I don’t see how we can afford to send him unless there is substantially more aid coming.
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Which college board form?
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The CSS Profile form. He turned in the FAFSA, but apparently they require both.
Well, that could go either way. The CSS Profile asks much more in depth questions, so they could determine that you need more (or unfortunately) need less than FAFSA shows.
Do they have any special circumstances that you might qualify for?
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