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

How did it go? :heart:

Our child has had a very similar experience. Positive verbals from 2 schools that are definitely top three choices. This was back at in January! The lack of communication from the other top choice school now has our brains spinning; does this mean it’s a “No”? Is it a just a part of the process? Should our student reach out to express high interest in the one school (studio) that hasn’t reached out after auditions?
None will not be affordable without substantial merit scholarships. I worry about the heart-break of getting accepted with little to no financial support.
Not-so-patiently awaiting results. :wink:

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This month of waiting is so very difficult! Communication from the school after the audition and before official acceptance is variable and program dependent. Absolutely normal to hear nothing from a program during this time and have an acceptance. With our experience several years ago, no communication was actually the most common scenario. I think of 5 acceptances, my kid had only heard from one professor ahead of time.
Hang in there!

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The two schools where mine got loose “We would love you to come here” comments he got acceptance letters at the normal date. The one school where the professor said “You are accepted” the letter was in the portal the following Monday WAY ahead of acceptances. Important to note that my son had an existing relationship with this professor. The wait is hard!!!

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We supported our kid in “going for it”, but he knows that many of the schools he auditioning for will require big scholarships, and he knows those are rare. That doesn’t negate the pain of such a decision, but at least he has some real expectations.

Applying to colleges is such a weird process: you have to research and get excited about places that it turns out you can’t go. I think expectations are important and do help, even though there will be heartbreak.

Our situation is simply going to narrow his list and point the way. Our EFC is 22,500. We don’t have the kind of income/savings for schools that are offering a 30K scholarship against a 75K cost of attendance.

Berklee is a case in point. Both his private guitar teacher and the music director of his school are Berklee grads, so he had heard a lot about it and was super excited at first. He would probably love it, and he would do well there, but he knows scholarships that are big enough for us are not typical. He has four friends who’ve gotten admitted to Berklee and couldn’t go because of cost. So, he has realistic expectations.

It is disappointing, of course, and he doesn’t share his big emotions right away, but I have to say he’s been really pragmatic about two of his acceptances that offered $20 - 30 in scholarships, leaving a 45K COA each. One financial aid letter suggested his parents take a $37K per year private loan. We are just not going to do that, so he said, “Welp, I’m not going there!” and went on with his day.

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It is so important to have these discussions. He sounds very mature. You sound like an amazing parent for not negating the inevitable heartbreak…it’s real!

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Thank you. But believe me, I still dread it. My post made me sound a lot more emotionally stable than I am. :crazy_face:

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Hey everyone D did Juilliard today and she’s very happy with herself. That’s all I can ask. Now we’re off for a walk in the freezing cold to see Central Park. Tomorrow we head to our last stop, Curtis. I can see the end in sight :blush:

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Congratulations!! D had her Curtis audition on Sunday. We are headed to Juilliard in the morning -Last stop on this wild 3 week audition tour!
Curtis was lovely, beautiful building and very kind admissions staff. Toi toi toi!

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Wonderful news! It’s absolutely the best when they feel good about themselves and their audition performances.

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My grad student won’t let me accompany her to the auditions themselves. She’s happy for me to travel with her but I otherwise occupy myself during the actual audition. So when she was at Curtis Sunday, I was viewing the Liberty bell and independence Hall. I thought Curtis was very nice from the outside!! Glad to hear you also thought it was nice. Lol. I also thought that whole part of the city was very nice. I had never been to Philly and I would like to visit again!

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I love Philly! So glad you had a nice time there !

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The Rittenhouse square neighborhood is really lovely! The main building’s interior was beautiful and it was so fascinating to read all of the historical documents about the founding of Curtis that were on display.

I imagine that my now 17 year old also won’t allow me near during the actual audition once the grad school tour time comes! Hopefully she will let me be her travel companion as you are for your child!

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Yes it was very different when she was 17, I was with her every step of the way. LOTS of growing up occurs over the 4 years of undergrad. We have had a lot of fun with all the traveling, we don’t get that much time together anymore so I have loved every second of it and I’m sad it’s over now. Hopefully your girl will also let you tag along !!

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I love it too! Such a nice city. I’ll be honest, I pictured it like in Rocky (the part where he lived). :crazy_face:

Hopefully your daughter will get accepted there and then you will have many more opportunities to visit!

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@Beverly West quite a few years back, finances guided our decisions- totally. My husband had had a stroke. We could not afford any of the conservatories my kid got into, in the end, and they went to an excellent university… (This was for composition, but there were a lot of instrumentalists there).

With direct entry to a PhD program with a master’s along the way, everything worked out, and kids in grad schools come from so many very different schools. The instrumentalists all seem to be happily working.

Just a note of encouragement from the future!

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I’m so sorry to hear about your husband’s stroke, and I hope that he is well. Also, I’m very happy to hear that college worked out well for your kid, and that they’re entering a PhD program. I appreciate the news from the future, because when you’re in a situation it can seem so epic and uncertain. Several months ago, our family was enduring a traumatic health problem of my husband’s, at the same time S was doing his applications. We had to leave his dad very sick when we went to Miami for his first-ever audition. :frowning: It gave us all a lot of perspective, and S is very appreciative and excited about going to a college from his list that we can afford.

ETA: My H is almost fully recovered. At the same time that burden has been lifted for my son, he’s also gained a lot of confidence in auditioning. It’s amazing how the two have gone hand in hand. The process started out pretty dire, and he was pleased coming home from Texas.

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@Beverly West my kid finished PhD last year :slight_smile: So that’s what I meant by a voice from the future!

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Even further in the future than I thought! :smiley:

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