<p>Grizzy,</p>
<p>If the school accepts both live and recorded auditions, I would suggest using the format that they specify for the standard recorded auditions. A few schools insist on live auditions. If she plans to audition at one of them, she should ask the school about what they have done in the past when illness or weather has intervened.</p>
<p>Scheduled 10, ended up figuring out what kind of school I wanted part way through, canceled four of the auditions. Six was a good number. I didn’t get burned out by the end of it all, and I had plenty of options to choose from.</p>
<p>We did 5. Had planned for 6 but dropped one early. D was only open to two schools so we should have dropped everything else but I was concerned about having offers with which to negotiate. Hindsight being 20/20, just auditioning at the two schools she was open to would have been fine. Her first choice was the early action school which had auditions early December and notified us of acceptance immediately so that really should have prompted me to drop some other trips and save some money. I’m such a worrywart.</p>
<p>Thank you to all for your comments.</p>
<p>Sounds like 4 to 6 is the average. I just can’t see her doing much more, but I too, have the concern about wanting my daughter to have “offers with which to negotiate” so I am inclined to suggest she audition at a couple more schools just in case…to broaden the chances of scholarship opportunities.</p>
<p>What was the strategy for all of you? Did you choose one of the later audition dates for your top choice schools?</p>
<p>How many auditions did it take you until you felt really comfortable with that process? Or were they all the same?</p>
<p>Actually, one of my daughter’s top choices (and the school she wound up attending) was her very first audition. She applied to ten schools with the intention of withdrawing some of those applications based on the results of that first audition. When she got that first acceptance in December, that allowed her to drop a couple of schools that had been included as something close to safeties (although we knew there is no such thing when an audition is involved) as well as a couple of others that were further down the list.</p>
<p>We also hoped that the remaining ones would provide some negotiating room. As it turned out, she was accepted at two of the others. One provided no financial aid at all and the other made pretty much the same offer as the school that accepted her in December, so we did not get the leverage we had hoped for.</p>
<p>Her other top choice was her next-to-last audition. That was entirely due to the fact that the only day on which that school held double bass auditions was in early March, near the end of audition season.</p>
<p>As far as the process was concerned, no two were quite alike. It is not a matter of repeating the same process until it becomes familiar, rather learning to handle whatever they decide to throw your way.</p>
<p>At one school, she played for a grad student running a video camera (which was disappointing since we traveled several hours and stayed over at a hotel so she could do a live audition there rather than a much closer regional audition.) At another, there was a department recital and a lengthy Q&A session with the teachers the night before. One felt like a road rally in miniature inside a building - she was given a map and lots of pieces of paper with appointments for a theory test, a sight singing test, her warm-up room, her audition and some information sessions and had to run all over the building with her bass to get to them all at the appropriate times, and there were literally hundreds of others doing the same thing with different schedules.</p>
<p>The shortest took just under an hour from the time she arrived until the time we left (that was the one taped by the grad student). The longest, the one with the recital and Q&A, took that evening and all of the next day due to the possibility of a callback round that turned out not to be needed.</p>
<p>Thanks for taking the time to share all of this information. I can say that I really had no idea it could be such an involved ordeal. Yes, I did know that they would be interviewing her, and giving a theory test on audition day, but I guess I never pictured it going more than a few hours. We’ll be prepared for whatever comes her way. Thanks to all of you.</p>
<p>I think that is a good solid approach for her to apply to all of the schools she is potentially interested in and, like many of you, perhaps drop an audition or two once good news starts to come her way. For this reason, maybe its a good plan to go ahead and plan for the auditions at her top choices early on, rather than later? </p>
<p>How soon after auditions did everyone begin to hear acceptances and if applicable, talent awards? Do most schools just notify you that you’re in (the music program) and then any music scholarships are revealed later?</p>
<p>Two of her auditions were pretty quick. The other three were much more involved because the schools planned other activities (theory tests, information sessions, department recitals, etc…) into the schedule. Usually you know in advance whether it is going to be a couple of hours or a much longer commitment.</p>
<p>When she auditions is very dependent on whether her pieces are ready to go in the November/December time frame. Some students really benefit from an extra couple of months of practice.</p>
<p>Acceptances for early auditions tend to come fast, as in anything from being told you have been accepted on the spot to a letter in the mail a few weeks later. Of course, that is not the only possible outcome and sometimes a decision is deferred until the school has held later rounds of auditions. Decisions from the regular auditions can take a lot longer if the school sends them out in a big batch around the start of April (or even mid-April as some are know to do.) </p>
<p>Details for both of the music scholarships my daughter was offered came with the acceptance letter. I have heard of cases where they arrived up to several weeks later, however. Another instance of every school having a slightly different procedure.</p>
<p>Response time varied, from just over a week after the audition to just before April 1. For many of the schools, scholarship info came in the same package/email as the acceptance, but in one case, there was a four month lag between the acceptance and the [generous] scholarship.</p>
<p>Grizzy, There’s a great thread on here that can provide you very detailed info on audition experiences at specific schools. Everything from what people were wearing to if the school served donuts while you waited your turn. To answer your question about scheduling auditions, my D scheduled her first choice school as her early action school in December. She was the first audition of the day. We knew that day she was accepted so it was a great thrill. You will hear from many on CC that it is a good strategy to get some auditions under your belt before tackling your first choice. Our strategy was to get the first choice done before bad weather or illness became a factor. I had read a lot about the potential struggles with air travel, snow storms, illness, etc. And I also recognized that I had more possibilities to reschedule if something happened that we couldn’t get to the early action audition. Audition schedules can last from two days to 8 minutes. We were at NEC for 8 minutes. We had two days of scheduled activities at Oberlin. It all depends on what the school offers for parents and students in terms of tours, seminars, testing, receptions and entertainment. Some do a lot and some do none of that. The earlier thread I mentioned gives you a lot of that type of info.</p>
<p>Grizzy: Most of the more competitive schools tend to notify you about acceptance just prior to the April 1 deadline (e.g. Juilliard, Colburn, CIM, NEC, Shepherd). I believe that Jacobs has rolling admissions (perhaps because they are such a huge school). At two of S’s auditions, he was informed of acceptance on the day of the audition (in one case at a meeting with faculty and in another by an email that was sent to an old email address that a faculty member had collected at a summer program a couple of years prior). At another two of S’s auditions, though formal acceptance did not come until just prior to April 1, the first requested teacher asked to meet with S later in the day privately; it appeared that the teachers met with no one else and so we took the meeting request as a positive sign (and, in fact, S was later admitted). </p>
<p>My experience has been that, in general, the less competitive the program, the sooner you will tend to be notified of acceptance (and there certainly are many exceptions to this). </p>
<p>Some programs send the financial information at the same time as the acceptance. Juilliard gave us the longest wait between acceptance and financial info (about 10 days, but we live outside the US and received the financial info via post, so it would probably be sooner in the US). The two schools that gave acceptance on the audition day, also gave the scholarship info then (although not in writing). </p>
<p>Given how much schools vary, I would be inclined to contact each school if their website and application info do not indicate when they notify about acceptance. </p>
<p>Be prepared to occasionally wait longer than promised! Many things can go wrong in the admissions decisions at a school thereby delaying dissemination of decisions. As well, even when the decision is communicated within the promised timeframe, the wait can seem interminable (another reason to go for a pre-Christmas audition or two).</p>
<p>What if you can’t afford to travel to audition for schools? </p>
<p>I’m a junior and I desperately want to major in music education, but I don’t think I will be able to travel and audition for many of the schools I want to attend. And even though I play piano, saxophone and percussion, I am mediocre on all of them and I don’t think I’ll be ready to audition in the fall. My main “instrument” is voice, but I’ve only had musical theatre vocal training, not classical.</p>
<p>Can you wait a year before going into the music program if you get accepted at a school or do you have to go in right away?</p>
<p>My son did nine total - five were live (in state only) and four were by DVD (out of state)</p>
<p>My senior year of high school I did: Ithaca, Purchase, Fredonia, Potstam, USF, FSU, Eastman, and MSM.
After my sophomore year of college I decided to leave my program and did: Boston conservatory, University of the Arts, U Buffalo, UCF, Fredonia, Hartt, Pace, and 2 others that I can’t recall. The first round I did with my mother, the second round I did solo.</p>
<p>I applied to 9, I auditioned at 6. The farthest one was 8 hours (Potsdam), the closest was 20 minutes (Boston.)</p>
<p>Also… I had a friend who was strong both musically and academically, and he was auditioning for music ed with voice. He applied to 12 schools. Everyone thought he would get into all of them. He was only offered 5 auditions, and only got accepted to 2. The music world is crazy. Do more, rather than less.</p>
<ol>
<li> The farthest was 8 hours and the closest 45mins- 1 hour away.</li>
</ol>
<p>My sister is going to do 9 live auditions and also send 2 on tape</p>
<p>7 programs total. Passed 5 prescreens and subsequently auditioned live for each, auditioned for one more that didn’t require a prescreen, and submitted one portfolio. My first admissions notification is on March 1st. Fingers crossed!</p>
<p>D originally was planning on 6 but after she was accepted at the first school early action she was able to withdraw from one and save the travel time/expense. So the final number is 5 live auditions - 2 down and 3 more to go, as of today. Two of the remaining 3 are schools where she passed a prescreen and one of those 2 schools is currently her first choice.</p>
<p>6 altogether</p>
<p>4 live, farthest being san francisco. (all regional auditions) and 2 on DVD</p>
<p>D will complete 8 live auditions. She has 2 left. 2 were regional and 2 required air travel, but one school paid for her ticket and meals. The last 4 were consecutive weekends, which has been rather grueling. Almost done!</p>