Class of 2027 Undergrad/Class of 2025 Grad: The Tours, the Auditions, the Journey

You might be fine. NYC will be 100% fine…Im in CT and we are getting rain Thursday…and Rochester precipitated looks light…they are prepared for the weather! Wishing you luck and safe travels!

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Agree with @Shellg weather here in NYC will be absolutely fine and in Rochester they are used to a little snow and ice. If you are not make sure you take an Uber or cab rather than drive but up there people are not bothered by anything less than feet of snow!

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I’m sure they’re excited about his talent and skill, and they’re eager for him to choose their program. At the same time, they may be aware that they’re a safety school for some music students, and they’re trying to gauge whether he’ll seriously consider them. If both are true, then an honest call telling them that you’re sincere in your consideration of their school, but that you’re waiting for all the decisions to come through so you can weigh everything, should go a long way. I hope they extend this for you. Even though it’s an amazing offer that is a testament to his skill, it must be frustrating that they’ve done it this way.

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You may want to reach out to music admissions with your concerns. I would keep it pretty basic…just a “what if”. That may damp down the anxiety that bad weather brings…and let you know what will happen if a flight is cancelled.

Even if NYC is fine, I would be concerned about the ricochet effect. We are a hub and expecting 20 inches of snow. Mpls can move snow but if the wind is bad, flights may be cancelled. Also other airports may shut down.

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Any chance they could fly today? I’m with you @Pianomom1. All of us in warm weather areas experience more panic with weather issues. :grimacing:

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Trivia: At my son’s university, incoming students to the college of music have the highest average SAT scores of any college at the university, including the school of engineering. My son has commented that his fellow students are very smart and that you aren’t going to survive music school unless you are. Music is not an easy major.

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To follow up on a long-ago conversation, that shift in power after a student has been admitted is definitely happening with Loyola. They’ve emailed to praise us for raising such a great student, and they’ve sent emails about why they’re a great school for our kid. He got a box of swag, including an umbrella, stickers, and confetti that is now stuck in our living room molding. LOL. I’d love to get the financial aid package, too. :slight_smile: That’s going to be a big deciding factor.

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That reminds me of how people often think the kickers or quarterbacks are the smartest football players but the offensive linesmen do the best on the test that the NFL gives when they are scouting!

I have never heard music called an “easy” major. Anyone in doubt should look at a music theory textbook.

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Eek. Thank you for this information as my son was totally expecting to have rehearsal at Curtis. Time to write all your tempo markings and rit. into the music!

I agree that it takes a lot of intelligence to be successful in a music program, but I do think we have to be careful in equating intelligence with high standardized test scores or even high GPAs. My son has a disability and doesn’t look great on paper using those measures. However, he is musically gifted and is a whiz with music theory and other music subjects. I know he has the potential to succeed in a music program if he gets appropriate support. There’s a reason why many conservatories don’t weight academic records and test scores as heavily as artistic achievement. Some kids are just wired differently and can be highly accomplished in some areas and not in others.

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Thanks to everyone who replied about the weather. I think my husband was freaking out over a forecast that might not have been accurate. It sounds like NY won’t be where the worst of this is hitting. We used to live in Rochester, so we know they can handle a little ice. I just hope the bad weather elsewhere doesn’t interfere with the schedule.

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S applied to University of Memphis for jazz studies on 2/16, so please :crossed_fingers: for us that he gets a virtual audition before 3/1. That would make him eligible for scholarships. It was a tight turnaround he’s asking them for, so we’re unsure if it’ll happen. He emailed that night and hasn’t heard back. Do you think he should try to call? I know he doesn’t want to be impatient, after applying so late in the game.

ETA: I have to stop kicking myself for how I’m going about supporting this process. I should have asked him to apply there over a month ago. We’re doing our best!

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I absolutely agree with you. My musician son sometimes struggles academically. But I’ve never doubted his intelligence. Standardized tests measure a kind of intelligence I think, but they certainly aren’t the whole picture. I do find it interesting though that college level musicians as a group also generally strong academically.

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I remember as far back as kindergarten having to work with my kid’s teachers around his need to move. That doesn’t fit easily into a traditional classroom setup. We took him out of public middle school and put him in a 100% outdoor school where they built shelters and hiked 6 miles a day. He loved it!

There are many kinds of intelligence, and I think they all exist to some degree in each of us. I see in my child some qualities that are crucial for musicians, and I’m sure each of our kids possess some of these or others like them. For example, he’s a team player, always focused on being on time and fully present, ready and able to learn something new (even a whole new instrument) quickly and under pressure. These qualities have been recognized by his teachers, but they would not show up in an SAT score.

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My son would have loved that outdoor middle school! Sometimes I wish I could go back and make different decisions about his education, but we just didn’t have the means for Waldorf or similar local options.

I wish that about some things, too. I think it’s the nature of being a parent that we have things we would have done differently. I’m feeling that big time about this college application process. We didn’t have the means for most of the private schools in our city either, but this one was in its first year, so we were like a practice class and it was less expensive.

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What do we know about decision release dates for music schools? At large universities, are those decisions released on the academic decisions schedule? Schools like Thornton at USC, Blair at Vanderbilt, Shepherd at Rice, Bienen at NU, Steinhardt at NYU, Hugh Hodgson at UGA, etc.

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Hi- Of the schools, you mentioned my son applied to USC and NYY. My understanding is that USC Thornton is end of March. My son is going to the NYY audition the first wk in March. I think they will release decisions by the first of April. Did your son audition at NYU?

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That’s awesome! One of the reasons we homeschooled was movement for one of my children - I have memories of math problems being done while my daughter was walking around the short kiddie table. As long as the work was good, I didn’t care where she was!

Oberlin said March 15th, I think

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Granted it was 4 years ago, but I recall that my son and his cohort had all of their offers by the last week in March.
March will seem like a very long month for everyone! Time to find fun distractions…mine learned to bake bread, fooled around with different genres of music, took up running.

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