<p>I would like to hear of your experiences visiting music programs in the summer. We are taking one trip during my d's spring break, but if we want to go to a different area, we would have to do it in the summer, probably August. Have you been able to meet faculty, schedule sample lessons, get the feel of the place in summertime? We're thinking specifically of Eastman, McGill, Fredonia and Crane. I'm not sure it would be worth the considerable expense if we can't get really see the programs in action. Your thoughts?</p>
<p>Call the schools and ask. Some schools have summer programs and at least some of their staff is there in the summers. Many applied instrumental and voice faculty have other summer jobs...at summer music programs, festivals or camps. You may want to check the availability of the applied faculty if this is a primary reason for your trip. </p>
<p>We visited several programs during the summer prior to son's junior year of high school. We met NONE of the applied faculty as all had other obligations. BUT we were able to talk to a music adcom, see the facilities, and meet a few students. For each school DS was seriously considering in that bunch, we made another visit so that DS could hear an ensemble and take a lesson with the teacher. But for us, these visits were either somewhat local to us...or were combined with a family vacation.</p>
<p>Dear Sopranomom92 -- I'm getting ready to post a long piece about our experience with school visits. I agree with what Thumper1 has to say -- schools have different schedules and some simply don't work during breaks (summer or spring). Indiana and UNT are among the few in my experience that do have summer programs -- also even if a school runs during the summer, your student's speciality, i.e. music education, may be not be functioning during that time period. Another consideration -- one of the most valuable things we did during our visits was audit masters classes -- as many as possible. These give you an idea of the caliber of student and the caliber of teaching. If you can't attend masters classes, I would hold off and schedule a trip when you can get that value.</p>
<p>I'll echo thumper. You're probably not going to find applied faculty, but it can be a good time to see the facilities, environs. You may get lucky, as some of the larger institutions may have summer undergrad classes in certain disciplines like music ed, elementary theory or "in service" teacher seminars or week long workshops where you may get a chance to speak with some discipline specific faculty.</p>
<p>You won't get a feel of the student population or an "active" campus.</p>
<p>Prior similar threads: <a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/356138-any-good-choices-summer-visit.html?highlight=summer+visits#post4275352%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/356138-any-good-choices-summer-visit.html?highlight=summer+visits#post4275352</a>
<a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/334339-taking-practice-preview-lessons-before-applying-conservatories.html?highlight=summer+visits%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/334339-taking-practice-preview-lessons-before-applying-conservatories.html?highlight=summer+visits</a></p>
<p>We visited a few schools last summer. It was hit or miss if faculty was around. It did let us see the schools and their facilities, and to get the sales pitch.</p>
<p>We visited several schools last summer. Many had voice faculty available for sample lessons. Others did not. In all cases, we called a minimum of a few weeks ahead to see if anyone could meet with us. We scheduled most visits with 3 weeks to 1 month notice.</p>
<p>We saw voice faculty over the summer, in no particular order, at Oberlin, Lawrence, Carnegie-Mellon, Vanderbilt, Peabody, and Texas Christian U, to name a few. Gettysburg College, Oklahoma City U, Rice U, and Southern Methodist U, and several other smaller, less known colleges did not have voice faculty available over the summer (at least during the times we were available).</p>
<p>We were in ALL cases, voice faculty or not, able to meet with music admissions or other music administration people for tours and/or information sessions. At most of the schools, we were also able to meet with music students who remained on campus and could show us around.</p>
<p>My son was (is) only interested in schools where he can get both a liberal arts education (BA) and a Bachelor of Music, so we did not visit some of the most well-renowned music schools.</p>
<p>There is another fairly recent post on this site that asks whether it's okay for parents to coordinate these meetings. It seemed to me that most of the responders on that thread thought it was inappropriate for the parent to make the arrangements. I can tell you that I made most of the arrangements for the summer visits. They took tons of coordinating in order to make my work schedule and my son's summer schedule fit with rental car and air travel arrangements, general campus tours and info sessions, music facility tours and info sessions, lunch at the dining halls when available, etc. In no case did we run into any sort of negativity or hint of distaste because I was making the plans instead of him. Everybody seemed to understand the reason that I was doing the scheduling, and everybody was most pleasant and welcoming and accommodating. I did precede all emails or phone calls with a brief explanation of why I was the one calling or writing. And everybody was like, "of course you are, that makes perfect sense." Truly, my son is very capable and very mature, but this sort of coordinating would likely be way over his head! And, as I said, it had to fit in with my work schedule, which is not a routine schedule and not well-known to him.</p>
<p>We knew it was a good idea to see the campuses he wanted to attend while students were in session, but since he was a prospective music major (like all of you reading this site), we weren't really worried about that because we knew we would be coming back to the schools later in the year for auditions! We just made sure to include an extra day in all college audition schedules in order to see more of the campus while students were there. Everything worked out very well for us. If we had to do it all over again, we wouldn’t change a thing. It was much more convenient for us to visit during the summer. And it was no problem adding an extra day to his audition schedule during the school year.</p>
<p>Good luck planning your summer visits!</p>
<p>I absolutely agree with SimpleLife about parents taking over the emailing and logistical tasks. If a kid is taking several AP classes, participating in school shows, taking and preparing for two hours of music lessons per week, heading up a couple of organizations, preparing for SAT's, participating in All State and maintaining a decent GPA, they don't have time to manage the emails, changes in schedules, etc. It's more important that they take care of their music business, then this administrivia, particularly if the plan is to see more than just a few schools. </p>
<p>I stand on the importance of auditing masters classes while you visit the schools. For us it was the best way of tasting the school's culture and understanding the caliber of students and teachers, as well as the quality of interaction among all.</p>
<p>Thank you so much for these responses. Special thanks to KeyofH and SimpleLife. There is way too much stress on my D right now with AP's, rehearsals, lessons, practice, church choir, etc., to add emailing schools and faculty to her plate. With my D's permission, I just may take on those tasks myself. And we may schedule a visit in the summer, since it seems that many of you felt it was worth it. Thanks again!......."administriva" What a great word!!</p>
<p>Dear sopranomom92 -- please just make that you schedule a time when someone's there to talk with you. Have a wonderful time!</p>
<p>One thing we did that was VERY helpful....we got one of those large desk calendars...and DS wrote in every music obligation he knew about (youth orchestra, lessons, chamber group, band rehearsals/concerts at school, auditions for music festivals and competitions, the SATs, the school pit band rehearsals, school vacations...you name it). It was important to have THOSE things written down...especially when the audition schedules needed to be coordinated. Also, it would have been impossible to make any kind of visitation schedule without all of that information. </p>
<p>At some point during his senior year, he added his audition dates and times...and ALL of the deadlines for applications and financial aid. </p>
<p>Because we used a LARGE calendar, it was easy to read and easy to use. AND we could look at the whole month and KNOW how crazy the month was going to be.</p>
<p>In our case, we spread out college visits and lessons starting the April of DS's sophomore year of high school. He visited 14 schools and had trial lessons with the 7 teachers at the places to which he finally applied. I will say...some of these lessons were held the weekend of the auditions because those schools had that policy. </p>
<p>I handled some of the logistics in terms of sitting down with DS and figuring out when we could be where...and how we were going to get there. BUT he was the one to write all of the emails. Nothing was responded to without first checking with the parents (husband and me). I suppose we could have eliminated that step by sending those emails ourselves...but one thing DS did was cultivate some nice email dialogues with these teachers and that was a good thing too. However, I would say..do what works for your family.</p>
<p>The bottom line...be organized.</p>
<p><adds large="" calendar="" to="" list="" of="" things="" pick="" up="" at="" staples="" on="" way="" home="" from="" work="" today=""></adds></p>
<p>For this entire project we set up everything in an excel workbook. I set up my own pert chart type calendar on one worksheet with audition dates, exams, other deadlines etc. Different things were colored coded as to status. On another worksheet I kept tabs on tuition costs, R&B, and was able to project costs for four years, using a 10% inflation factor. We used another worksheet to do an analysis of audition requirements and to find common requirements and we used still another worksheet to analyze essay requirements to identify ways that one essay would meet requirements for multiple schools. Still another worksheet was used for a summer to do list. Still another worksheet was used to list user names and passwords and a last worksheet helped us keep track of what was sent to which to school, to whom, and whether we received an acknowledgement of receipt. At one point we were considering 13 schools so it was really necessary to get organized and keep organized.</p>
<p>See entry below.</p>
<p>For this entire project we set up everything on multiple worksheets in an excel workbook. To keep track of due dates and avoid scheduling conflicts I set up my own pert chart type calendar on one worksheet showing audition dates, exams, shows, other deadlines etc. Different things were colored coded as to status. On another worksheet I kept tabs on tuition costs and R&B. Excel allowed me to project costs for four years, using a 10% inflation factor. We used two different worksheets to analyze audition and essay requirements -- trying find ways that the same music or essay could meet the requirements of multiple schools. Still another worksheet was used for a summer to do list. Still another worksheet was used to list electronic application user names and passwords and a last worksheet helped us keep track of what was sent to which to school, to whom, and whether we received an acknowledgement of receipt. At one point we were considering 13 schools -- so it was really necessary to get organized and keep organized. The workbook served us very well.</p>
<p>We thought of putting all the audition info and other "stuff" on the computer...but decided against this. First...we worried about computer failure (even though we back everything up) AND to be honest, it was a LOT easier to see it all on that BIG desk calendar. BUT do what works for you. JUST make sure you keep the info updated.</p>
<p>Thumper1 -- computer failure is the least of my problems. I worry about brain failure and my ability to keep track of those paper critters. I'm glad it worked out for you and for me!</p>