My D completed her (vocal) audition at NEC, and was happy with the experience. She felt welcomed, and good about her performance. A professor she had a lesson with four years ago waved at her and another prof she admires smiled at her. (Yeah, I’m counting those gestures as welcoming). She had gotten in at NEC for UG although it was not an affordable option.
As she did not pass prescreens at two other schools where she’d applied, she applied to DePaul and (late) to Indiana (Jacobs).
I’m hoping she’ll be able to do a sample lesson as there is no possibility to do an audition at Indiana (they’ll use her prescreens only). I’m not sure about DePaul.
So I’d say three applications (for Voice MM) is not enough. But that was her choice. We’ll see what happens.
Thanks! I think that my daughter will appreciate that! She isn’t bad at it, but sometimes nerves can make the task harder when they start counting down from 10 before you start.
My son (oboe performance major) has completed 3 of his 8 auditions and so far so good.
The first was local, at the Chicago College of the Performing Arts and could not have gone better. He has relationships with all of the oboe faculty there so his first audition experience was pretty stress free.
The second was at Colburn and I was nervous sending him to LA alone however Colburn has a relationship with the Omni Hotel which sits on the same plaza. They allow minors auditioning at Colburn to stay unaccompanied and offer a 15% discount. He really liked the school and had a very positive experience overall. Of the dozen or so oboe students auditioning only three were undergrads. Two undergrad candidates, my son included, along with several grad candidates, were asked to return to meet with faculty one on one. He was given the impression that Colburn may only be accepting graduate students in the oboe studio this year and was told he would be waitlisted. I know that they do not have oboe instructor committed beyond 2024 and that may be the rational for waitlisting the undergrads. In a response to my sons thank you email his status seemed a bit more ambiguous so hoping for a positive outcome. I guess we’ll have to wait until April 1 for a definitive.
His third audition was virtual, with UC Boulder, and went extremely well. I appreciated that they made every attempt to replicate an in person experience with a full day of scheduled sessions to orient student to the university, music school, and studio. The professor responded immediately to his thank you email and invited my him to have a one on one ZOOM call later in the day, he asked where else he was applying and he made a hard pitch for his studio. My son loves the positive and collaborative feel of this studio.
It seems my concerns regarding taking on this process so soon after his stoke and just two months out from chemo were unwarranted. He is in remission from all of his autoimmune diseases and is one clear MRI away from from being declared 100% recovered from his stroke. He is managing his meds, using a meditation app to manage stress, and seems to just be enjoying the process.
Feb 18th & 19th he has Oberlin and CIM back to back. CIM is the only school where he has not had a trial lesson and is the school he has had the least engagement with so he will have a lot of ground to cover there. Due to the logistics I will be accompanying him. I will also be accompanying him to NY for his Juilliard audition which is on July 27th. He has decided to submit recordings for his SFCM audition and his final audition will be at Jacobs in March.
I cannot stress enough how important it is to send a thank you email immediately following the audition. With each of his three completed auditions he has received a response within an hour after sending a thank you.
Good luck to you all and to your children. I have been following along on your journeys.
I didn’t even occur to us to send thank you’s after auditions…Admissions still went well but there was no communication after auditions other than yes or no. I have a feeling that even now, knowing that others write thank you’s, my kid would still not do them. I think it’s okay either way.
You’re right about CU Denver. We can afford it, but with nothing leftover for him to do anything else, whereas with a couple of the programs we looked at it would be even less. It was just me thinking that might be good to have. He’s happy, so he’s done. He still wants to follow through with all his auditions.
Has anyone auditioned at UNT? I’m trying to decide if S can go on his own, but I don’t have any of the materials they probably sent him about parent activities.
Great to hear your update @1OboeMom, and that your son is having such a positive audition tour so far. Sounds like he will have some great options! We too looked at Colburn when mine was applying, they seem in general to have some turnover with oboe faculty. Not necessarily a bad thing, but the unpredictability can be challenging.
Cheering for him…
Congrats to your son! We did the undergraduate piano audition circuit about 6 years ago now with our son. He auditioned and was accepted at all three schools you mention but hubby and I split up the travel so I can only tell you about Eastman. I found the whole experience very supportive of the kids, much more “you got this!” then “you are lucky you are here and many of you won’t make it” which we got from some other true conservatories where he auditioned and was also accepted. That atmosphere I think played into his choice to ultimately attend Eastman. Two things I would say and others on this forum can agree/disagree based on their experience: one, they pulled the kids aside for a theory test on audition day but told them it’s for placement purposes only, so don’t stress, just be prepared; two, Eastman is pricey but they do have merit money available and we appealed his original offer which was ultimately raised and made the school one of his most affordable. It’s a vibrant school with a strong piano program…but dress warmly!! Hope this helps…!
We had a great weekend in Denver and loved Lamont School of music! Definitely exceeded expectations. Super warm community on a gorgeous campus with top notch spaces. Their music building is amazing!
Students in NOLA said they make money gigging. That would be perfect! If he wants to travel or something like that, he will save up. That’s the main thing I can think of us wanting some “extra” money for, but he’s getting a clear idea of what he wants right now.
As I remember it, there were some information sessions parents could attend, as well as performances and some refreshments for parents as well, but I don’t think it was anything you couldn’t miss. I recall the info session I attended being more geared to music Ed. Message me if you have any questions. I’ll actually be in Denton next weekend for my son’s next choir concert.
Thanks so much for the information on Eastman. I’m glad to hear it’s a supportive atmosphere. My son was really rattled by an unfriendly vibe at one of the state schools he auditioned at this weekend, and it affected his performance. The other state school had a positive vibe, and that was his best audition so far. Eastman is definitely a favored school on his list, and we used to live in Rochester years ago, so we know the town, and we’re prepared for the cold! My son has a strong background in theory, so the test should be fine. Do you remember if your son just played the prepared pieces or if they asked for scales, etc? Also,was there an interview?
If I recall they asked him to start with a piece of his choice then they stopped him and chose the next pieces, but I don’t recall if they asked for scales/arpeggios. There was what was called a “group interview”. The faculty/admissions person had an assigned list of kids in a group of maybe 8(?), so not sure if that is more or less stressful than an individual interview? Remember this was several years ago and may have changed, but that was his experience.
