<p>I am so curious..lol, my son got the NICEST rejection from curtis..they told him to reapply next sept, because they were torn..and only had 1 spot. I think that was an AMAZING rejection..he said..mom! forget it!! haha</p>
<p>My S got a similar letter 5 years ago. The same teacher taught at both Curtis and Juilliard; S got in at Juilliard, so S asked him about it. The teacher explained that he weighed S for both schools, and because S is also a composer, he felt that S would be happier at Juilliard. (Didn’t say it, but the idea was, why offer him a place at both schools and reject someone else for one of those spots?) But he kind of left it open that if S was more interested in Curtis, they could talk. S agreed with the teacher that Juilliard was the better fit.</p>
<p>My take on it is that Curtis must have two form rejection letters – “Thanks but no thanks” and “Close but not quite.” (Although I’ve never actually seen the first one.) Teachers can decide who gets which letter, based on whether they think the kid might have a chance at a second go-round. We did find all our interactions with Curtis to be quite pleasant. Congratulations to your son! He must have had a great audition.</p>
<p>Thanks for the reply…I told my son it had to be the nicest rejection he’s ever had in his life…lol. The fact that they suggest he reapply next year when there may be an opening for him, was cool!! </p>
<p>He said…mom…I was still rejected…let it go, haha…but still:)</p>
<p>This is interesting. I always have felt that certain admissions departments really consider the fit of the student to the school, whether or not the student is being accepted to a similar school, etc. The conservatory world is pretty small and I like to think it’s not all cynicism and back bitiing! To know that your kid was treated as an individual is really nice. Inside feedback my son got after rejection from MSM was similar: you fit better at NEC. After a year we can see that he really does. Not very many students get more than just a form rejection to ease them through the process!</p>
<p>Congratulations on Julliard!</p>
<p>Haha, maybe their letters seem ‘nice’ because the applicant might have been already expecting a rejection before hand. (This IS the Western world’s most selective institution of higher education, after all) ‘We encourage you to apply next year’ is a pretty commonly used line at many places in my experience.</p>
<p>Compare that to say another school - where the student may have thought s/he was safely in, but then gets a shock when the rejection comes in. Recall the kind of “WHAT THE !@%^#!@^%&” tantrum that the kid who was denied by Emerson (I think?) threw in the YouTube video that was posted here last month.</p>
<p>This is indeed the case at many schools–especially those where there’s considerable faculty overlap. This year we had several instances of “not a fit here but I’ll teach her at X” or the other way around. It is indeed not as severely cutthroat as it may appear–many such faculty teach at different schools because each institution has its own unique character and they are interested in working with different kinds of students. </p>
<p>We also have several different letters based on how far the applicant goes in the process (some audition live, others are stopped at prescreening). In many cases an applicant not admitted to the Conservatory would, based on their overall profile, make an excellent contribution to the College’s Music Program–an academic unit in the 4-year curriculum that’s separate from the Conservatory–and so we put in a plug for the College in general, and for the opportunities still available to study music. Each year a sizable number of students apply to both the College and the Conservatory, are not admitted to both, but end up attending the College anyway. </p>
<p>In addition, each year we typically send out 4-5 very personalized letters along the lines of papegena’s–especially for voice. Encouragement to reaudition is given very sparingly, and you should indeed feel “special” at being given that kind of individualized feedback. I’d be very surprised if Curtis regularly encouraged each of its applicants–even finalists–to reapply.</p>
<p>stephmin–could you find the link to that clip again?</p>
<p>papagena - it sounds like the best possible rejection letter anyone could receive and it displays how tough a decision it was for them - be very proud and don’t “forget it”, lol!</p>
<p>Papengena:</p>
<p>I mirror what others have said, that rejection letter from curtis is not standard,not from what I have heard.It sounds like your child did really well and was simply caught in a numbers game, rather then being ‘deficient’ per se. Put it this way, from what I know of Curtis a ‘close call’ from there is worth more then acceptance at more then a few other conservatories, so it isn’t a negative, plus I suspect that if they reaudition next year and play as well, they may be given priority for any open spots.</p>