<p>This is a silly question, but looking at the master lists it seems most of the students got into multiple schools, that would be great of course but then trying to make a decision then would be painful. It would definitely rely on the packages/scholarships you get but if i got into all the schools I wanted to i would be torn so many different ways....anyone have thoughts/experiences on this? thanks</p>
<p>A lot of us posted our experiences with audition results and choices in this thread:
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/897086-things-we-learned-music-application-process.html?highlight=things+learned[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/897086-things-we-learned-music-application-process.html?highlight=things+learned</a></p>
<p>I think if people have multiple good choices intuition has to come into play, in addition to money, studio teacher, and performance opportunites.</p>
<p>words are funny… it will come down to tuition and intuition</p>
<p>The “Making the Decision” heading here <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/901390-2010-collective-experience.html?highlight=2010[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/901390-2010-collective-experience.html?highlight=2010</a> also has additional obervations.</p>
<p>Going through the audition process will give you insights into how the school is run and how comfortable/uncomfortable the environment feels to you. My son ended up changing the ranking of conservatories he was interested in based on the auditions.</p>
<p>Also, remember that if you get into multiple conservatories, you will be in a stronger position to lobby for merit aid.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>Between the time you apply and when acceptances come (which is usually about four months from Dec. 1 to Apr. 1), you will probably gain a lot of information about the schools. Much of this information will, of course, come from the time you spend at the school during auditions, but you will also gain information from many other sources during that time. All of this information will make the decisions easier.</p>
<p>If you have had the opportunity to do college visits in advance of applications, then you will not likely have to apply to as many schools, as you will have the chance to rule some out based on your trial lessons and your feel for the campus. For some, the cost of both a pre-application visit and the audition visit is prohibitive due to distance, so the initial visit occurrs at the audition. </p>
<p>S withdrew two applications prior to auditions based on positive experiences at schools he auditioned at (i.e. liked the school and had the impression that the school liked him back!). </p>
<p>Responding to the OP’s title question: “Is it likely to get into multiple school you audition for?”:</p>
<p>No one can answer that without hearing you and knowing a good deal about the schools you are applying to (i.e. specifics about studio size and turnover and calibre of applicants on your particular instrument). For some students asking your title question, the answer is a definite “no” and for others a definite “yes.” If you apply to schools like Curtis, Colburn, and Juilliard and you are merely the best in your school (but not in your district or state), then your chances are very slim. At those same schools, if you are the absolute best in the US, then you still have no guarantees (on some instruments there might be an intake of only 1 or 2 and those spots might be taken by someone from Korea, Britain, Japan, China or Canada), but as long as you apply to a few other schools, you will probably have multiple admissions.</p>
<p>I don’t think the decision is all that painful, because, as others have already mentioned, you will begin to have clear favorites through the visit and audition phase. You can even eliminate some schools right at this juncture.</p>
<p>The problem comes for students who have selected too many very selective conservatories, and haven’t had a proper talent assessment. If you know you are at least “in the running”, then you may or may not have a number of choices. Many students have multiple choices. And if they do, there are so many clear differences between schools that most students know they would prefer choice A to choice B or C, for example, if admission is offered at all three.</p>
<p>And for many with multiple acceptances, it does come down which school is most affordable. I think that is just the hard, cold reality these days.</p>
<p>It is no different than the decisions made by other students who have safety, match and reach schools and then get multiple acceptances. The choices are weighed by the individual’s own value factors for fit and finances. Only now fit includes the instructors.</p>
<p>Money.
Teacher.
Money.
Fit with program.
Money.
Family factors e.g. location.
Money.</p>
<p>…I would rank the money in the number two spot as well. 
Lots of potential students worry about opportunities to perform. Let me tell you, if they are paying your tuition, more than likely they want you there as a performer. Money is a great indicator(in more than one way) of opportunity.</p>
<p>Stradmom has it right on!</p>
<p>Hello all! (this is my first time and my first post here)
I have one question… if a student is accepted to let’s say, both Juilliard and Curtis, does that mean he/she would be the only person who the Jyard and Curtis faculty accepts, or are there other students considered or “in line”? so if the student picks, let’s say Curtis instead of Juilliard, would there be another student who qualifies for Juilliard that has a chance to admit there?</p>
<p>That would be terrific to be accepted to both schools. All schools, music and otherwise, admit more students than they actually will see on campus that fall. They do this assuming some percentage will get accepted to multiple schools, and base their numbers on a combination of history, the current economy and other factors. </p>
<p>Perhaps violadad or bassdad or another experienced forum member can comment on how this applies to instrumentalists like oboe, piccolo, etc., where there are fewer parts needed. Do music schools have waitlists?</p>
<p>Yes, music schools have waitlists. As Snowflake points out, schools may accept twice the number of, let’s say oboe players, as they need, because not every student a school accepts will choose to attend. They also may place students on waitlists INSTEAD of accepting more instrumentalists as places, and do go to their waitlists if/when accepted students don’t choose to attend. Usually schools will not accept or waitlist students that they don’t believe are qualified for their program. I believe its often the case that there are more qualified musicians than slots, which is a bummer. And, as applicants, you can never predict really how this is going o work. For Oberlin jazz, e.g., no acccepted jazz bass players chose to attend last year. Thus, no freshman bass players last year. This year, however, Oberlin adjusted their acceptances, and there are a good number of first year bassists. Music schools are always working their overall number of instrumentalists based on the total, so no class year is ever the same.</p>
<p>As SnowflakeVT says, schools typically accept more students than they have places for because they know that not all accepted students will matriculate for a variety of reasons. Many applicants wind up with more than one acceptance and have a decision to make. Others may not get as much financial aid as they had hoped for, or may have a change of heart about going into a performance program at all.</p>
<p>Many music schools do have wait lists, some implemented in a formal manner and some more informally. Schools like Curtis and Juilliard are in the position of having very high yield rates and of being able to find highly-qualified students who would be willing to transfer in on short notice. For example, I have heard of a case where an international student who had been accepted to Curtis found out that they could not leave their home country at the last possible moment. Even though the start of the semester was only a few days away, one of the teachers who also happened to teach at Temple asked their top student there to transfer into Curtis and the vacancy was filled in a matter of hours. (I suspect that Temple, although a fine music school, was not able to attract a replacement as quickly.)</p>
<p>Different schools have a variety of ways of trying to smooth out the process so that they do not wind up with either too few or too many of a particular instrument, but even so it does not always work out. Some use rolling admissions and throttle back on the acceptances as the year plays out. Some have early auditions in hopes of securing at least some commitments early on in the admissions cycle. Some maintain formal waiting lists in the same manner that a non-music school might and send out a second wave of acceptances after May 1 when student decisions are due.</p>
<p>Even so, things sometimes do not work out the way a school expects. If a school that has a yield rate in the more typical 25% to 40% range accepts four oboes in hopes of getting one or two, and it turns out that all four matriculate that year, then they may not accept any the following year. This is one of the reasons that auditioned programs are never a sure thing and that it is important for the student to find out how many spots really are available in the particular instrument and particular year in which they apply to a school of interest.</p>
<p>thank you all for the fast and informative replies!</p>
<p>I know for certain that Curtis has only one opening for my instrument this year. If more than one person is accepted, and a few more waitlisted, then how does Curtis choose that one person to attend? how would an accepted student know that he/she can’t attend because another accepted student has taken the slot?</p>
<p>That is interesting, the take I had on music school admissions is that they send acceptances to the kids who could fill the slots on the instruments in question, which means the teacher was willing to teach them, and that they wait list the other kids. I knew that ‘academic’ programs did this, but I didn’t know that they did it with music school admissions. And that raises a question, what happens to a kid who gets an acceptance letter from the school, puts down a deposit, has told other schools no thanks, and then they tell them “sorry, Charlie, we don’t have space for you” if they goofed and accepted too many?</p>
<p>xoj, if Curtis accepts you, you can attend. They WILL NOT renege on their acceptance, whether or not there are other students accepted on that instrument who choose to attend. As Bassdad mentioned earlier, they will then adjust their acceptances on that instrument moving forward. No worries there: accepted means ACCEPTED!</p>
<p>Curtis is a special case. They have a total of something like 40 openings per year for the whole school and have the luxury of a very high yield rate. When they decide which of the applicants they want for a particular opening, they speak to that applicant either in person (I have heard stories of a small number of acceptances offered on audition day) or by telephone. In many cases, the deal is done at that point and everyone else gets a rejection letter. If the accepted student wants more time to decide, they probably send out rejection letters to almost everyone else and keep the next one or two top candidates on hold until a decision is made. Most students in that position do not complain. I do not believe that Curtis is in the habit of having more acceptances outstanding than they have spaces to fill. </p>
<p>Sometimes something unexpected happens and a student who was accepted and had agreed to attend cannot do so. They handle that on a case-by-case basis because it is a rare event.</p>
<p>When you are dealing with several hundred acceptances, or a yield rate of well under 50% (i.e. most other music schools), these methods will not work beyond the top few students who are getting the big-ticket scholarship offers.</p>
<p>musicprnt,</p>
<p>My understanding is that different schools have different processes. Many do as you describe - first come up with a list of students that the teachers are willing to admit, then come up with a target number of enrollments and send out the number of acceptances that they believe will get that number to send in deposits. This is an inexact science, although the results usually come out pretty close to the desired numbers. A college may also choose to err on the cautious side and maintain a waiting list from which they typically issue a small number of additional acceptances in May and June. At many schools, the odds are not all that great if you get placed on a waiting list. Some schools even do a “courtesy” wait listing of students that they have no intention of accepting but do not want to offend if, for example, they have legacy status.</p>
<p>I have never heard of a school rescinding an offer of admission for the sort of reason you mention other than one case in which a large number of students who were supposed to receive rejection letters got sent acceptances due to a clerical error. I have heard of schools rescinding offers because of issues that were the fault of the applicant (sending in an audition tape played by someone else, or flunking out of high school in senior year for example).</p>