As most of us have entered the waiting period in this whole process, a question popped into my head.
Is there any benefit to contacting a school, teacher, financial aid office, etc. during this lull just to keep you name in their ear and reinforce that you’re interested as they make final decisions regarding admission and/or merit aid? On the flip side, would it be a bad thing to do?
Do any of you seasoned veterans have any experience/advice on this?
On another post, I just said to consider contacting the school. Haha. In this case, I would just wait. IF they contact YOU (waitlist etc), then by all means contact them back! The flood gates have opened! Otherwise you are stuck waiting…
But I’m only one person, so maybe others have experiences in contacting schools successfully during the looong wait.
I agree - unless contacted first, just wait - hard as that is. Definitely express honest interest if offered a waitlist spot and continue to check in in that circumstance until you hear a definite Yay or Nay.
Having said that, I don’t remember your offspring’s instrument or emphasis (jazz, classical, etc). Things could vary by area and maybe others will weigh in. My experience is strings, mostly conservatory entries. Many of those teachers take off for spring break during the school breaks and aren’t even at the school to be contacted. Unless you’ve had a previous contact of some length or really great “trial” lesson, I wouldn’t assume that a teacher would even remember any given student from an audition and an email contact. The Admissions Office will be quite busy getting notifications ready - I would not contact them.
Best of luck. This is a very hard time - I always thought harder for me as MOM than for the kids.
I wouldn’t contact them unless there was a specific question, the admissions office during this time are going to be bogged down. I don’t think calling would do much, and it could potentially irritate them (or not). If you kid did a sample lesson with a teacher there, or they otherwise had some kind of contact with the teacher, sending the teacher a note saying how much they enjoyed the lesson or whatnot and showing interest wouldn’t hurt, though. Sending notes to a teacher you auditioned for (or teachers, where there is a panel) likely won’t do anything unless somehow the teacher(s) noted the student in some way, at some programs they may see 10’s of students at least, so it is unlikely in this case to remember a student, as @momofadult said.
This is a hard time, I remember it well, the auditions likely done, now just the wait. It can be a hard couple of weeks, my big advice is to try and not dwell on it (I know, hah), and also to keep in mind for most students, they tend to dwell on the negative and, at least in my experience, most end up pleasantly surprised at their choices. The other thing I have learned in this process (which is ongoing, my S’s next stop, grad school admissions next year!) is that for the kids that truly want this, have worked at it, who care enough to do what they need to do to even audition, they will do okay, whichever program they get into, whichever teacher, they will find their way. It might not be in music in the end, they will likely hit bumps in the road (with my S, it is down to a couple of times a month lol), but this whole process has changed them, I can pretty much promise you that, and keep that in mind with the fretting on the magic word, then the decision where to go, makes life a lot easier:)
Good feedback from all of you - thanks. It’s a little bit different with an oboist as the community is SO small that, yes, all the teachers remembered my daughter from sample lessons from as far as a 11 months prior to the audition.
But all your responses are helpful though. I’m not sure why this even crossed my mind. Thanks again.
The only situation that contacting them would be appropriate, would be if you have a competing offer with a deadline. Once you have that leverage it’s not inappropriate to contact the schools and let them know you have competing offers, but are still holding out for them. Especially once we pass the March 15th threshold.
Waiting is so hard. But I agree with others. You just have to wait. And remember that as musicprnt said most students will end up quite happy. And even if they are disappointed sometimes it all works out for the best. And remember our kids are always looking to us for how to respond and deal with these things. So model being relaxed and confident and be prepared to model handling any disappointment with poise and resilience.