omg, this so much, my older S broke a finger two days before a regional band audition playing basketball in gym! The drama and indigity was terrible. He was able to pull through and got into the orchestra, not sure how he did it but he did. My flutists are very very careful with their hands!
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Totally agree. Thus, he has lots of decisions to make. He would choose voice over flute.
Giving up sports will be hard for him. To lessen the blow, perhaps some options for intramurals from time to time or a nice gym where he can continue to lift would be a nice compromise.
Lawrence is on the list. He will say its too close to home (within 3 hours). But we will tour it.
Or he would need a school that lets non music majors take lessons and participate in choirs.
Sorry wrong thread!
So…my kid is a total esports geek - treasurer of the esports club, competes often (which balancing that with music performance means he has no time for anything else). He also scored high on the ACT which gave him a lot of merit $$. So @2plustrio you are not alone. Waiting to see what our kid decides to do post-undergrad as he truly loves both music and esports. Maybe a marrying of the two? Who knows.
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If he majors in something else, and wants lessons and performance, he might want to avoid some schools that have BM programs (with exceptions, and Lawrence might be one) The Ivies and “little Ivies” (Tufts, Williams, Amherst, Wesleyan, Middlebury etc.) would be good choices, though reaches of course. Harvard, for one, funds lessons and also gives credit for lessons and certain performance activities (but you find your own teacher).
I know of a kid at Lawrence who is a BM and physics double degree and also runs XC. It is doable but not easy. My son is soccer goalie/ percussionist and I feel lucky we made it this far with no hand injuries. He did fracture his nose last year, though, and will not be playing soccer in college due to waning interest, concerns over time management, and fear of injury.
And just wanted to add — SLACs LOVE football players. That could be a real plus for admissions.
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Congratulations to your son on his ACT. He should be very proud of himself and understand that it was not a mistake!
When thinking about esports, his athletic interests, his musical interests, and your original lists, these are some of the schools that bubbled to the surface. And with the latest ACT score, I think that strengthens his chances for a TE scholarship, too.
Shenandoah has D3 football and no-tackle intramural football, a varsity esports team, it’s by the Appalachians and national forests so it has outdoor opportunities. I’d take a closer look.
SUNY Purchase has no-tackle intramural football, varsity esports, great music industry connections, and is an easy ride to NYC for all the options that has.
U. of North Texas: D1 football, intramural no-tackle football, varsity esports, club rugby. It appears as though many scholarship recipients would be eligible for an out-of-state tuition waiver, and with that ACT score, I’d be pretty surprised if your son didn’t get some money from UNT. It’s not far from some lakes and a state park, and it shouldn’t be too bad to get flights back home.
Oklahoma City: No-tackle intramural football, varsity esports.
Here are two of my sources on esports:
- Top 25 esports programs (includes the U. of North Texas)
- Colleges with varsity esports programs (includes Shenandoah, SUNY Purchase, and yes, UNT, as well as Oklahoma City)
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Yes. Shenandoah has been on the list for those reasons.
You are correct that I had been focusing on TE/Fachex schools. I am not naive to think that a 35 on the ACT somehow means that my son is some brilliant scholar because he isn’t. I am still very realistic about his chances of getting into a school that is both a fit for him and a fit for our wallet.
I know my sons application is going to look different than others. He is strong musically. Vocal bass, takes private voice lessons, 8 years of musicals, good at flute but not tippy top, taught himself some basic guitar, voice teacher has thrown in some piano. He’s in 2 ec choirs outside of school as well.
He was academically pushed ahead in math 2 years and hit a wall in precalc and struggled. Hes taken only a few honors (what our school calls accelerated) and only 1 AP class. He won’t have the high rigor of course selection as I have let him take band and choir as electives and there wasnt much else that fits around those. For example, Im letting him take a study hall this year and he’s chosen Autos as an elective next year because hes genuinely interested in learning more about how cars work.
He is athletic, a multi sport player. Hes good and dependable. He will choose music over playing D2 or D3 football. However, a school that has good school spirit and intramural options may be important to him. Esports, I guess hes decently ranked in some games. Hes had about a million views on social media for the gaming videos he has created.
Right now my kids potential college choices are a bit all over the place. But the recent ACT score was unexpected and throws a bit different options out there perhaps. College app season is coming up and its all so confusing!
,
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My son is at UNT. He had about 3.6UW gpa and almost 1400SAT (if my memory serves) and got a large academic scholarship, small music scholarship. Either of those comes with an OOS tuition waiver. It’s a great value.
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A new parent jumping in here!
This struck a chord with me. Identifying the safeties is where we are at this late date, because we didn’t know until we got into it how some universities that are academic and financial safeties might have music schools that take 1 or 2 out of 10 applicants. So, essentially they’re not really safeties.
We are working on expanding our list, and it’s hard to find out how competitive or selective the music programs are. For example, Loyola New Orleans is one of our favorites, but I don’t know if it’s super difficult to get into their music program, even though the university itself is a great match for my kid’s grades and scores. I just looked at Lawrence, and like many websites theirs says “world class!” and I don’t know if that translates to “we don’t take many applicants”.
Do you (or anyone) have advice on how to find the music safeties? Finding out price is relatively easy.
You may want to start your own thread, but @compmom is a great resource on music programs and may have some advice. My first guess, though, would be to ask your kid’s music teacher as they know your kid’s skillset and are probably familiar with a number of music programs.
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I responded on the other thread.
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I’m looking at our list, and I can see that my kid is already exhausted just thinking about all the auditions it will require. Now that we have our list, it’s like a map of the country–major cities everywhere! So, some of these will need to be virtual, and at least that is easier than traveling.
This is such a personal decision! My D did sample lessons at maybe 8, applied to 6, but by audition times, decided to only audition at 4 as she had gotten in (early action) to a couple programs she liked better than what was later on the list of auditions. I actually recommend having maybe one lesser-priority warmup audition, and then making sure any not as desirable schools be at the end, so you can drop them if it is just too much!
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Thanks for your reply. We’re actually required to be in person for his first audition, and it’s at a selective school that’s high on his list. I totally agree about the later ones, and I’m trying to line them up so that he might have some answers before doing them all. It’s so complex, but I know it will work out.
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Thank you so much for sharing all of this. My kid is going to audition soon for the jazz program. I can’t find out anything about how big the program is. It’s weird, I can’t find a number of music students anywhere, let alone the number applicants. Do you know what we might expect on audition day? His only other audition thus far has been at a school with a huge number of applicants on audition day. It was intense, and there wasn’t time for parents to meet faculty. Thanks for anything you can share.
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Before I respond, I assume you are referring to Loyola New Orleans? I know I had a few other suggestions too so just want to be sure. Thanks!
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Oh, yes!
Ok so I’m not sure how many jazz students there are but music is a popular major and minor there and they have around 4000 total students I believe. They have a solid, reputable music program but not competitive on the level of USC or University of Miami Frost or other top tier schools with stiff competition and few seats.
I saw this on the U.S. News Ratings:
Based on 59 evaluation factors, Loyola University New Orleans music program ranks #129 Music School (out of 1476; top 10%) in USA and The Third Best Music School in Louisiana. Major competitors for this college are Florida State University in Tallahassee and University of Houston.
Loyola New Orleans jazz:
#6 jazz studies in south
#31 jazz studies in US
When my daughter auditioned for the popular/commercial music program, we had major flight issues (mechanical trouble led to missing layover flight and we had to stay over in NC and had to change her audition time to later in the day, missed the open house part-ugh!) They could not have been more understanding and helpful when we called to let them know our situation. When my daughter arrived, they gave her time to breathe and were very positive and reassuring during her audition. When she was taking the music theory placement test, music faculty came and talked to me, complimented her audition and told me some of the positives of doing music at a smaller LAC (one said that if a student is having an issue with attendance, they reach out personally to be sure all is ok, things like that.) I’m sure the jazz audition will be laid back and causal so he shouldn’t be too nervous. So prep the materials they tell him do and be confident and have fun, especially with any improv. Let me know if you have any other questions. My daughter is a junior (she took a year off last year) and loves the school, the music program, her professors and the city!
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I should also add that she did an accepted student weekend at LoyNo and that’s what sealed the deal. She didn’t want to pick a school where she was the top music student, wanted to be at place she’d be pushed and have other students to look up to and strive in a higher direction of that makes sense. So she’s definitely looked at as a strong, talented student there but there are many of high caliber students and she feels challenged.