<p>LOS: I am not an expert on violin (or anything it seems) and also don’t want to add to your burden, but you might want to look at The University of Texas at Austin. We were very impressed with the music program, and Anne Akiko Myers, who spent her early years training at the Colburn School, is now teaching there. It is not as tough an academic admit as USC, but it is becoming a tougher music admit. In case you are unsure of your career goals, a large, “full service” music school and university might be a good place to start, if you don’t mind the large size. We met a student who spoke very highly of their Arabic language studies program, also. Austin is a great town and there certainly is a lot of school spirit there, maybe more than USC!
Again, I encourage you to discuss things with your teacher.</p>
<p>Those are all generally well respected programs on violin (I cannot talk about UCLA or CSULB,know nothing about them), some of them would be considered ‘top tier’ by many (in the realm of Juilliard, et al) others maybe have less “general recognition” but are strong programs and could be argued may be better then the ‘top tier’ schools (I am talking common perception here, not saying these reflect reality). Some of them are definitely a more competitive admit then others, based on what I have seen and heard of admissions, but all of them that I am familiar with are tough admits, especially on violin. </p>
<p>What I will say is of the schools I am familiar with, none of them could be considered a ‘safety’ school and all of them are difficult to get into, which means the playing level is going to be high at any of them and I doubt, from a teaching standpoint, you will get ‘stuck’ or feel ‘stuck’. </p>
<p>Despite her claims to the contrary, Clrn8mom is pretty wise, and her recommendation of UT Austin is not a bad one, they have a respected music program (his grumpiness, my S, will even admit that) and if they have Anne Akiko Meyers there, that is a plus (I have a lot of respect for her, unlike a lot of people in the music world, she seems to know the reality of the music world and isn’t stuck in the 19th century IMO, which would be a big plus in terms of training and guiding a student). </p>
<p>Knowing that you are on the violin and the way that world works, probably the best source of advice is going to be your teacher, because where you get in is going to be about how well you play the violin on the audition, where you stand compared to the other kids applying and such. If your teacher feels you are up there with the best, then the odds are you would get into a higher percentage of schools you apply to, so you might not need as many, if he feels you are more a potential type, it may be wise to apply to more places.There is no science to this, and as so many have pointed out, even for really well prepared students it is a crapshoot, so there is no real way to predict anything.</p>
<p>Have you talked to your teacher about this,and what did he say? That should give you the biggest clue, and please, please, don’t listen to what other people, even students, say, don’t listen to anyone who tells you things like “you are so good, you can get in anywhere” or “oh, you won that competition or this honor? Guaranteed you get into the top schools” (I have heard these things, hence bringing them up), that is chaff that should be ignored. </p>
<p>Now for some general advice, tailored to your needs/worries, culled from reading and life experience and such of those who have been there:</p>
<p>1)For your target list, send an e-mail to the schools and ask how many slots they will have open on violin for that year, and make sure to ask if that is UG or combined grad/undergrad (some schools break those out, some say let’s say 30 without breaking it up) and also either ask or look up the acceptance rate. Don’t let the relatively large number fool you, for 30 slots you might have more then 10 times that prescreening, maybe 150 auditioning or so…). That will help a lot, if a program only will have 15 slots for both UG and grad, might not be worth applying especially if the school is low down on your list…</p>
<p>2)Talk to your teacher</p>
<p>3)Have you put together your audition rep and been practicing it, even if the teacher is not directly working on it? Auditions are going to be in the winter of 2012, which is about 6 months away. You might have enough rep to audition, but is it all in audition ready form? Are the pieces tightened up to full audition level, or did you play them well enough for a teacher at some point? If you haven’t,I highly recommend that you work with your teacher to put together specific rep that meets requirements of the schools you might apply to and work on tightening that up. Conventional wisdom on best practices for auditions seems to be to have the rep put together and ready by spring of junior year, so that the teacher and student can spend the next 8 months or so tweaking it, nuancing it, whatever. </p>
<p>4)Having your teacher at USC is an advantage, though obviously it is no guarantee you will get in there since you will be auditioning for a lot more then him. Still, having a teacher inside makes it a bit easier, because </p>
<p>-Unless your teacher has no openings (which he would hopefully tell you!) you already have a teacher who will work with you, which at many schools if a teacher doesn’t say they would be willing to teach you, you don’t get in (don’t know about USC)</p>
<p>-Your teacher will be familiar with what the faculty who will be on the audition panel will be looking for, what technical issues are deal breakers or makers, musical things they want to see, etc. That is a big help, there tends to be ‘cultures’ around schools, some of them are hawks on technical stuff in certain areas, others of them are looking for musical stuff</p>
<p>I answer to your original question, I like violindads response a lot, if schools use pre-screens it may be wise to apply for an audition at a lot of schools, then see who you pass the first cut with and figure out a list from there. The pre screen is a pretty nice tool, it tells you that you aren’t wasting your time, that they felt you had the potential to get in and all it costs you is making up a pre-screen dvd or cd. You can always not audition for a school that allows you to audition as far as I can tell.</p>