Help!questions about precollege!

College Majors Music Major
1

<p>I am an international student from China.My major is voice and my range is bass.I really want to get in Juilliard pre or MSN pre.However I have few questions here.
1.Now I am in senior 2 and My plan is to apply Juilliard pre for my senior 3 life.Then when I finish my one year lesson.I can apply for ivy league. Will precollege like Juilliard or MSN benefit my application toward ivy league?or only juilliard?
2.And because I am in senior 2 and just gonna spend 1 year in pre .Will my chinese high school will still retain my status as a student?If it does ,That means I have to take another 2 exams during my senior 3 year for my diploma of Chinese high school.
3.Actually my teacher suggested me that sing a aria from opera to replace the first song that you ask(a song from Italian Anthology) .so my chance gonna increase because aria is harder that art song.Is it allowed?
4.how hard is the competition of audition part in voice major? Is it gonna like 20 people over 1 spot?
5.What is the specific bound of Sightseeing, Ear Training,and Basic Musicology?Will sightseeing test contains 3 sharps 3 flats or others?Should I write down the notes of Chords that you give me or I just have to hum it?</p>

<p>Sorry for taking you some time.Thank you very much for answeing my question.It will help me a lot.Because news of precollege is really little in China. Best wishes. :)</p>

2

<ol>
<li><p>Participation in a prestigious precollege program like Juilliard’s will usually be viewed favourably by colleges. Beware, however, that Ivy League colleges want evidence of a genuine interest in one’s extra-curricular activities and can often detect students that have engaged in activities primarily for resume-building. As well, participation in a program like Juilliard precollege requires a substantial amount of time which could otherwise be devoted to other activities; your present facility with English would have to improve substantially before top tier liberal arts colleges like the Ivies would consider you a serious candidate for admission; in other words, your time might be better spent getting involved in activities which will more rapidly improve your command of the English language.</p></li>
<li><p>I doubt that many (if any) people here would know whether or not your Chinese school will retain your status. You should ask your Chinese school that question. Perhaps I misunderstood your question. My apologies if that is the case.</p></li>
<li><p>The usual advice is that you should follow the audition repertoire requirements closely. At the precollege level, the auditioning panel will usually be more impressed with a skillful and artistic rendition of a song from the Italian Anthology than with a performance of a post-Baroque opera aria. The strategy of a precollege applicant attempting an opera aria usually backfires (i.e. the student believes that they will gain an advantage by attempting difficult repertoire, but in fact, it reduces their chances).</p></li>
<li><p>The competition for vocalists will be intense. As a bass, you will face much less competition than female voices, but you must still be at a very high standard to be considered.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>Best of luck in your future studies.</p>

3

<p>Thanks a lotttt!:)</p>

4

<p>I am not clear on your situation. Are you planning on moving to NYC for a year, to do vocal performance in a conservatory preparatory program (Juilliard or MSN) so that you can get into an Ivy League college? Would you finish Chinese high school from a distance?</p>

<p>MSN is a great school, by the way (as is Juilliard, of course).</p>

<p>Can you go to high school in NYC and learn better English, while also going to a preparatory program for music? There is a a private high school for kids who are in performing arts and/or professionals. You could also homeschool, do classes online, or take community college classes, if these options are legal for you.</p>

<p>I know a few students who have moved to NYC to study music, but they do it because they love music. It seems very extreme to do this to improve chances for Ivy League admission. Stay home and finish high school, maybe, and apply, and also know that there are many, many great colleges in the U.S. besides Ivies. Isn’t there a good preparatory program for you nearer your home?</p>

<p>Have you considered conservatory? Someone willing to make such changes and sacrifices for music might be looking at conservatories or music schools w/in universities. Also, look into double degree programs such as Harvard/NEC, Tufts/NEC, and Oberlin, for BA and BM or BA and MM programs.</p>

5

<p>I am a little confused here, when you say you are a senior, do you mean you are a senior right now, or will be next fall? The auditions for pre college happen in late april/may and would be for next fall (fall of 2012), which if you are a senior right now means you wouldn’t be eligible.</p>

<p>As far as a pre college program helping someone get into an Ivy league school, there are a number of kids in those programs who believe that, who have worked to get in there because their parents believe that…how much actual help it gives you, I don’t know. A number of kids each year in the pre college programs do go to Ivy league schools (or ivy Caliber), but it is hard to tell how much influence being in pre college had, since these kids also tend to be academic superstars, the kind of kids with 4.0 GPA’s, SAT’s 2200+, etc, etc… there is a claim that Ivy schools look for kids with musical background, to build up their music programs, but what little evidence I have seen isn’t clear…I suspect personally that being in one of these programs has some weight, as do other big EC’s, but isn’t going to give all that much weight over other things colleges weigh (my opinion, obviously).</p>

<p>Couple of points for you:</p>

<p>-The pre college programs tend not to take kids that late (it happens, of course), most kids who get in there get in before their junior year (I am not sure about voice), probably the typical student is there 9th grade on…so doing it for senior year would be problematic.</p>

<p>-The admit for voice is tough, though a Bass might be easier then let’s say sopranos (from what I have heard, I am not familiar with voice particularly), they don’t admit a lot for voice, the whole program has maybe a dozen kids or so at MSM or Juilliard from what I know…and they probably get a lot of kids applying. </p>

<p>-Both of them also require English competency at some level, and if you are unsure of your english, that may be a problem.</p>

<p>-As a vocal student, too, they have requirements I suspect in terms of being able to sing music in various languages (just my guess, I don’t know voice very well).</p>

<p>I have to agree with violindad, I think trying to go to MSM or Juilliard pre college to try and increase your chances to get into an ivy league school may not work the way you think it will. The fact that you want to go there for your senior year only will probably raise red flags (the kids who get in their late in high school in my experience are serious music students looking to go into music). I think an Ivy league admissions officer seeing a kid who went to Juilliard or MSM senior year only and then is intending to get into their school to study something else will be likely to see it as violindad did, going there simply to build a resume and they don’t like that. Put it this way, the kids who are at Juilliard and MSM pre college who are there for that reason, generally go there for many years, and have achieved a high level of competency and such, so at the very least it looks like they seriously were into music (some are, some aren’t). </p>

<p>Personally, I would say work on your English and work on your academics in your school, maybe continue your vocal studies there, if there are competitions enter them, that in the end I suspect will work better then trying to get into either of those pre college programs; not only is it very difficult, to say the least, I don’t think it will give you that much of a boost given your circumstances.</p>

6

<p>Furtwangler123 - it might be helpful to us if you let us know what you think Juilliard Pre-College is. I get the impression you might think it is an academic program which is equivalent to, or replaces, a year of high school. It is not an academic performing arts high school program - which do exist - schools like Interlochen, Walnut Hill, Idyllwild. Instead it is just extra hours a week of an intense music program - taken in addition to a student’s regular high school education.</p>

7

<p>My interpretation of the OP’s situation is that “senior 2” is equivalent to “sophomore” and “senior 3”, which is when the target enrollment in precollege would be is “junior year.”</p>

<p>To the OP: I would not recommend changing the type of materials requested for the audition. Even if what you are suggesting is considered more difficult, they want to hear you perform something on that list.</p>

8

<p>I agree with the others that one year of the Juilliard pre-college program is not a wise choice as a stepping stone toward acceptance at an Ivy League school, if that is your intention.</p>

<p>If you do audition, most arias would not be a good choice for a young singer, particularly a bass, because that voice type develops the slowest of all. If you were to sing an aria that is really suited to a more mature voice, the judges are far more likely to penalize you than reward you for that choice. You want material that plays to your strengths, not something that is likely to point out your shortcomings relative to the professionals and graduate students whom the judges have heard singing arias. You do not want to risk injury to your voice by singing something for which you are not yet ready. Stick to the recommended repertoire. They have good reasons for not including arias on their list of audition requirements at the pre-college level.</p>

9

<p>Thanks a lot for all of you.I have to you the situation that I faced.
The voice major is only available for student who are 14-18 and the audition in May,2012 is my last chance to get in.
Well,I think my English may not be a serious problem.I already got a pretty good TOEFL score and apply the ACT exam in Octorber and December.And Sat2 in March ,AP in May.I have to say that I prepare for these exams since I get into high school. :slight_smile:
Juilliard is always my dream.And because I do not want to study music as my major in college.Pre college becomes my best choice.And because study music and prepare for audition will undeniably take my lots of time.So,for me,it must be worthwhile to pay efforts on it.That is why I ask about will it becomes easy to apply to Ivy league. :)</p>

10

<p>Spirit Manager asked a good question. Do you think that pre-college is a residential, full-time school program? It is not. There are schools in the U.S., also mentioned by Spirit Manager, that would be appropriate for that purpose: Walnut Hill in Massachusetts, Interlochen, Idyllwild. These are boarding schools where you live, and also by audition.</p>

<p>Conservatory preparatory (precollege) programs are a few hours a week, and students go to their regular schools. There is a professional children’s school in NYC, that is private, but it does not have dorms.</p>

<p>I am repeating a lot of what other posters have said, just so you will notice again.</p>

<p>With the English skills demonstrated in your writing, I think you would have a hard time at an Ivy league school here in America. As you know, academics in college require a lot of writing. You know best, of course, but just a caution. As someone else said, working on your English would be very valuable considering the ambitions that you have.</p>

11

<p>Have you considered applying to American Prep schools (academic) for your senior year and then doing a pre-college program on your weekends? There are many prep schools around NYC and Boston through which you could possibly do this.</p>

12

<p>furtwangler123: I think that your English language skills are probably good enough for admission to Juilliard pre-college and to Juilliard itself, but you may face difficulty gaining admission to a school that academically is on the same level as the Ivies since they will want very strong writing skills.</p>