Currently, I am an 8th-grade boy in MA. I don’t need full FA but I need some support. My parents can pay up to 20k a year.
Grades and Stats:
-GPA: 3.9/4
All A’s or A+ and 2 A-
-SSAT Score: 84 Overall
-I have also gotten ranked Top 1% of all the people who took the AMC 8. I have gotten Top 3 in my school district.
-I have also led my school’s Science Olympiad team back in NY to 2nd place in a highly competitive school area (Top 200 schools)
-My recommendations were pretty good since all my teachers like me, and my essays were all personal and they were all what I truly believe in.
Sports:
-Top 20 swimmer in NY state
-Top 5 swimmer in NY state for some time
-Top swimmer in a Gold Medal Swim Club (15th ranked swim team in the country)
-Stopped swimming competitively but swimming recreationally (Swim Instructor Volunteer at a local YMCA)
Music:
-Masterclass with Midori 2023
-Vivaldi Extravaganza (playing with a full orchestra for the piece Autumn) 2023
-1st Prize for the International Music Competition “Brussels and London” Grand Prize Virtuoso (Invited to play at the Centre of Fine Arts In Brussels and had the chance to play at the Royal Albert Hall in London) 2023
-1st Place for the American Protégé International Concerto Competition (Playing at Carnegie Hall) 2023
-Honorable mention in the Euterpe Music Awards (Berlin) 2023
-2nd place in the Young Maestro International Competition 2023
-Winner Of The National Artists Competition 2021
-Winner Of The Metropolitan Youth Orchestra Of New York Concerto Competition 2020
-2nd Place In Young Maestro International Competition 2022
-2nd Place In New York Virtuoso International Competition 2021
-Assistant Concert Master For The Metropolitan Youth Orchestra Of New York (Strings and Concert Orchestra) 2020-2022
-Got into Mannes School Of Music in 5th grade
-Teacher is a pretty famous violin teacher
There’s more but here are some of the relevant ones. I have been playing violin for 4-5 years now.
Wow hmm
Maybe emphasize that all this is due to ur own self initiative. You independently pursued all this. No one helped you. No one pushed you. Its all you.
Or maybe it wasnt?
Your application is really a sales pitch. You gotta sell them that you are valuable to them. That you will offer them a future alum who will advocate for the school, faithfully push their agendas and donate alot. Like alot.
Oh all right. Thanks for the advice. I’ve done everything in the application process by myself and I’ve done all the studying by myself. I’ll try to emphasize this next year when I apply again. Thanks again!
Did you reach out to the music director? If not, I would do that next round. Also, look into their swimming program to see how competitive you can be if you are willing to swim again. If you think that is something to offer, contact the coaches.
Goodluck you will be alright.
My parting challenge to you. Ur still WL. Maybe get bold. Call/email admissions and state ur case. You call them. Not your parents. ( of course get your parents blessing/permission).
Email them. Etc. Repeat that ur valuable. Get yourself on their mind.
Maybe they think you might want to continue studying with your famous teacher in NYC and they don’t want to deal with getting you there and back? Deerfield and Milton aren’t exactly super musical schools, are they? I know Exeter and Andover both have lots of great talent there, so they might be more inclined. Or maybe they feel BS isn’t a fit with all the hardcore academics and no time to practice? Just spitballing here… have you thought about Curtis? and don’t forget, Yale is free for musicians when you get to that age.
Did you submit videos of yourself playing challenging repertoire very well? That’s a necessity when applying with music as one of your main “hooks” for admission. What stands out to me is that in my estimation, nobody who has played violin for just four or five years could have been advanced or great enough to win a bunch of truly significant competitions, especially ones from a few years ago, when you only would have been playing for two or three years. Not possible, even for a future great soloist. So, without videos, your honesty might have been in question, I’m sorry to say.
Deerfield is excellent for music. Check out the Deerfield Academy site on YouTube, and you will see lots of wonderful recent recordings of the school’s musicians.
Make sure you send the schools you apply to videos of yourself performing.
I wonder if you talk about contributing to the “community” in your essay, or do you just talk about personal achievements? I didn’t see you listing much “volunteer” work except YMCA. Otherwise I can’t see any reason you got WL at those schools.
Curtis is a bit too far from MA and when I talked to the Music directors and the people from the admission team, they told me I could take virtual lessons with her and I could go back to NYC once a month. Some of my teacher’s other students are in Andover and Exeter and have enough time to practice. I have attended Julliard for 2 years form 6th and 8th grade and dropped out to go to MSM to study under my teacher (Elizabeth Faidley)
I have submitted some videos to the schools. I sent it to both the admission team and the Music Directors. I also sent videos of me playing for my first year. During my first year playing I got into Mannes School Of Music.
Peddie may be a very good fit. The swim program and the orchestra are both points of emphasis, with top notch facilities. The only downside is that Saturday classes would prevent you from continuing any pre-college music programs. But Peddie still routinely places violinists in collegiate Violin Performance programs.
There were a couple of elite musicians in DS’ class at George School. Both commuted to Philadelphia on SEPTA for lessons. No Saturday classes, good swimming program as,well.
Trains go to NYC from the same station, so that remains an option too.
They have an unusual schedule – not sure if it would make this easier or harder but my sense is that it gives students more flexibility, so if it’s of interest, check out that angle.