<p>I have been hearing conflicting reports of whether that is a formality or an impossibility. The student who wants to switch is a friend of the family and has compelling reasons (both educational and financial) why she needs to change. Does anyone have any experience with this? Any info at all would be very helpful.</p>
<p>By "spring 2008" I'm assuming you mean that the student was offered mid-year acceptance only?</p>
<p>If that's the case, I would think that "converting" would be difficult, akin to "converting" a rejection to a spot on the waiting list.</p>
<p>That being said, it certainly would not hurt to try. A letter to the Dean of Admissions explaining the circumstances in detail would probably be in order.</p>
<p>I hate to say this, but if the situation was so bad that she can't be a midyear, then she would have appealed the day she got the decision. At this point, she really does not have much bargaining room. She could still try, but she would have had more pull had she appealed a month ago.</p>
<p>Of course she communicated immediately upon receiving her acceptance, in as far as that was possible with unreturned phone calls and emails. After auditioning for the school in general, she had been invited to compete by further audition for a full tuition chamber music scholarship. She was eventually told that she was the runner up. At least one source indicated it was no big deal to change spring to fall and another who was in a position of authority said that they would advocate for the change if & when the time came. Brandeis was reticent to explain the criteria behind the spring admission and by reticent I mean they never really did until after I started this thread. We now understand it to be a form of deferral. That was hard to infer: I know the student well as well as others who have been accepted. It wasn't clear to me that this student was an inferior candidate when compared to most acceptees. She was accepted outright at every other school with merit money. Luckily, she had established a very good rapport with another school she would love to attend and that school was very patient & understanding about waiting until she could find out what was going on. (They actually sweetened the financial pot in competition for this student’s attendance) In the meantime, the first choice candidate declined to come to Brandeis and I know another candidate whose family is far from rich who turned down this same scholarship last year. Full tuition and inclusion in a special music group at Brandeis are enticing, but, I guess, much declined. Our friend is very happy not to have the financial pressure to attend Brandeis.
In the interest of building a strong viable student chamber group they might need to rethink their audition procedures. I have heard that some years they don’t manage to have a full quartet. A professional musician to whom I described this scenario suggested that Brandeis hold the competition after the admissions decisions have been made to avoid inviting ineligible auditionees.</p>