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

College Majors Music Major
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Fair point - I do not have to travel with her. I’m not sure exactly what we will do there. I will go on at least some of the trips with her because I want to (just for fun). I will also be helping her pay for the trips as she has been so busy this semester with competitions, grad school applications, opera rehearsals, etc, she has not been working much so her money is tight. So I will also be helping with the arrangements so I can try to keep costs down. LOL.

A couple of the places - Rochester and Philly - are hard to fly to from Cincinnati, so she may have to drive. I may go on those trips so I can help split up the driving with her. We shall see. Once we have these darn prescreen results!!!

If she was going to Europe I wouldn’t be going - she went to Austria over the summer and those plane tickets were crazy expensive. No way I would double up on that unnecessarily!

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We are in the same place as you @sssulliv - kid applying to grad school all over the place (including Canada and Europe) and wanting to help him out as much as possible. But we are on different coasts, so he’s probably on his own, although a couple of places it might be fun to meet up and buy him dinner. Fun fact - he also applied to Miami of Ohio and boy did they throw enormous $$ his way…

Good luck to your daughter! Maybe they will both meet up at Rice (assuming my kid gets an audition invitation).

(If she goes to Curtis, I have lots of good restaurant recommendations given our four years of visiting Philly.)

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Such an exciting time to be waiting on prescreen results and anticipating travel. Agree with @dasanistrumpet that your daughter will likely hear about most (if not all) prescreens in January which makes it a tight turnaround for making travel arrangements. When my son auditioned a few years ago (undergrad) I used the time in December to map out his dates and research flights/trains etc. It helped me focus my nervous energy! I too went on the assumption that he would pass all prescreens. Each school will list the audition dates, and we found that those with multiple dates were very accommodating of requests for a specific date. He was able to complete 2 in the same weekend as the grand finale. Highly recommend planning arrival the day before the audition (minimize the potential disaster of a weather delay) Looking back, it was such a crazy time! And my kid did all of his travel by himself (his choice) and either stayed in the dorm with a friend or I was able to book Airbnb. Whatever keeps your kid the calmest and let’s them focus on preparing and playing their best auditions!
Best of luck!

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I’m doing the same with this waiting period–trying to map out how the travel would work if he gets past prescreenings at all his schools–but it makes me nervous, because it just doesn’t. We would have to change the laws of physics. :smiley:

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If he gets past all the pre-screenings, you could prioritize in-person auditions for schools where he might have questions about the culture and would want to be on-campus to experience it himself.

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My D also applied for VP at Eastman! Maybe they’ll share an audition date. From what I’ve seen on last year’s Journey threads, prescreen results began to come out Dec 13-on with some schools providing results before the holidays and others going into January. So…not long. My D only applied to three (amazing) programs(!) We’ll see what happens. Good luck to your D!

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What a whirlwind two weeks you must have had!

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He’s a cellist, which makes UNCG interesting because of the unparalleled cello music special collections in the library - he actually used a piece at the audition that he had previously had to ask them for.

@futuremusicedmajor He is not interested in music education; he is interested in performance and also loves musicology. He likes the liberal arts/conservatory mix at places like Lawrence. He also enjoys statistics, abstract math and traditional humanities. UNCG actually seemed very geared toward Music Ed.

Out of curiosity, if he gets through pre-screenings, has anyone had to travel to prescreening with a cello? Buying three airline tickets(him, one parent, cello) could eat into the college budget quite quickly… We’ve never flown with the cello before. I haven’t flown in the pandemic, he did, once, to visit Lawrence last year but was able to borrow a cello from a friend’s cello studio in Wisconsin.

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My D went through grad VP school auditions in 2015 so my info may be dated. But here are a few comments.

Time frame - prescreen results, audition dates - pretty much the same as UG. Decision time is earlier however.

Curtis is late (if it hasn’t changed). Early March. It is also a two night stay in most cases. IMO (which could be wrong), they audition a lot of students for very few spots. The only prescreen my D did not pass was Juilliard. She then passed Curtis. Still, almost all my D’s friends got an audition at Curtis and all were out in the first round. They had to book a room for two nights. Luckily they all stayed together. Still it felt a little “icky” as we heard they accepted one VP grad that year. It is hard to pass on Curtis. And I don’t want to sound negative…but just be aware. She had great auditions everywhere…but that one didn’t feel so good.

My D passed all prescreen (except Juilliard). Note that many of her soprano friends who got all acceptance for UG, did get a few declines from prescreen for grad school. My D (a mezzo) did better. Her guy friends did pretty well too. I really don’t think it was talent as much as “need”. The good thing for grad school is you can wait a year and try later. It’s actually not a bad idea…but my D wanted to go straight through.

In grad school auditions, I felt “need” played more of a role than in UG. In UG, if you were talented, you would get an offer (and probably many). For grad school, I felt (and could be wrong) that the needs of the upcoming operas and program played a larger role in acceptances and money. My D did get a rejection where she knew a teacher. The teacher indicated that her voice type was not in high need.

I did go to one audition with my D in NYC (MSM). Otherwise she did the rest on her own (Curtis with friends). She told me that she did want the support in NYC which surprised me as she had been there before on her own….but it sounded fun. After the audition, she pulled out a list of shops that she wanted to visit to buy her final recital gown (with my money). I felt “had” but enjoyed it anyway.

She did decide to submit a recorded audition for Boston University. I can’t remember why she applied there…but it became low on the totem pole. She did explain to them it wasn’t in her budget to go to Boston. She did get accepted there in that way…but no money…and never negotiated.

And she did drop one school that was a safety after her first acceptance with decent money. The money was more scattered for grad school. She got one very good deal, a few decent deals and one NO money. For UG, her offers were very similar.

So that’s what I can remember. I don’t remember being as stressed as in UG as she and her teacher were doing it. I do however remember being stressed at the end when she was accepted to one high interest school with OK money but still expensive…then she couldn’t get the teacher she wanted…so she dropped that school. Whew…those were a few sleepless nights…

Enjoy. Somehow it all works out…even with a lot of twists and turns…

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We drove for auditions and, in the winter, that seemed preferable (no delays to worry about, only driving weather!). The only place my D flew was NEC but she auditioned for only voice there (voice and cello everywhere else).

This past summer was her first time flying with a cello (to a summer music festival).

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@bridgenail
Wow that is great info - thank you so much!!

We are definitely aware the odds are very slight for Curtis. For undergrad she auditioned for CCM which had a very low acceptance rate and did not get in, so she has experienced that. Although if they only admit 1 person that’s really rough.

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How was the flight, and which airline? I’ve heard some horror stories!

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It looks like cello central has some advice for flying with a cello.

Or…can you rent or borrow one at your destinations? Maybe the admissions office has some advice with this?

Can I Fly with a Cello? - Cello Central

Edited to add – it looks like some airlines might not even let you purchase a seat for the cello :frowning:

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Delta - direct flight to Miami from Minneapolis. Yes, I had also. The tips you can find online are invaluable (The 2017 Guide to flying with a cello | by Gregory Beaver | Lot 49: Music, Teaching, Life).

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It was all fine. She went by herself.

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So glad! Thanks for the tips!

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flying to Philly should be ok - there is a direct flight. Rochester she will have to connect. Our D is on the East Coast and when she flies back home to Cincy she goes through DC, Charlotte or Detroit with usually no issues.
Best of luck on the next round!

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Had my older son go back through his emails: his first audition notification was Dec. 13 (Rice) and his last was Jan. 8 (Northwestern). So people should start hearing soon and over the next few weeks!

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I’ve been wondering about a flight case… we did fly with buying a seat for the cello once and it was very chaotic as no one really knew how it worked, including ticket agents.

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Yes, we had heard that Delta did a good job, and, indeed, it was a good experience (on a direct flight). No idea about other airlines.

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