Is this a good sign?

My name is Rachel, I just had my audition at Oberlin yesterday, and I thought it went pretty good! I play percussion, and it was so relaxed and chill. I got there a day early to register and was the only one to do so out of the percussionists on the list that weekend. I met the professor right away and he took me
and my mom with him to see his percussion group rehearse, which was awesome. Then, some of the current percussionists in the studio took me out for pizza and the conservatory paid for it!! I got a chance to really ask them questions and find out how the audition will work. I got along very well with them. The actual audition was virtually a lesson rather than an audition and everything was really on a personal level. I decided to email the professor afterwards as a follow up to thank him for letting me sit in on their rehearsal, the pizza, and how I enjoyed his perspectives on my playing. He responded that he “really enjoyed working with me” and that he “looks forward to seeing me again.” Is this a good sign? I have a month yet until I receive the decision letter and really needed to get this off my chest. I’ve been thinking about it ever since and I just can’t get it off my mind. Any opinions appreciated or if you experienced something similar, I would love to hear it as well!

I wouldn’t put too much stock in the other kids buying pizza and putting it on the school’s tab, that may not mean much. The professor’s words are encouraging, but keep in mind that a lot of things depend on you getting admitted…if you played for a panel of teachers (I don’t know how many percussion teachers there are), it would take the panel saying you are admissable (on the other hand, if the professor was the only one deciding, that might be more positive).

I think you should take it more as a positive that you felt the audition went well rather than taking too much from the professors words. He could have truly enjoyed working with you, and when he said “I look forward to seeing you again”, it may be in the context of you as an admitted student, but it also could be generic, so I would be careful of putting too much hope on that or assuming much from that.

Put it this way, over the years I have seen plenty of cases on here where kids were told by panels they enjoyed it, where professors said things like “I look forward to seeing you”, and it doesn’t necessarily pan out. Like I said, I think the fact that you seemed to go through the audition at ease and felt you did well is probably the most positive thing IMO:). It does sound positive, but to keep sane don’t put too much weight on what happened, keep the perspective that admissions are a weird thing, the ones you thought were great might turn out to be no gos, and the one you thought you tanked might turn into gold, you never know:).

Thank you so much for you advice! It was just one-on-one with the professor, he’s the only person that is the head of the studio. It was all informal really, and I included the whole pizza thing so readers could get a feel as to how relaxed and chilled-out the atmosphere of the studio was :). He more so worked with me on my pieces and gave constructive criticism to see how I would respond and change my playing! Thank you again for the help, it is greatly appreciated.

That does sound as if it was a positive experience. Take it as that. Having the studio take prospective students for a meet and greet/question period is something that is done… My son is a percussion major and he participated on both sides of that. Good luck!!!

Well I hope they put you out of your misery soon and let you know your admissions decision. A similar kind of thing happened with my D at one of her auditions, but it appears we won’t find out the admissions decision until March, and the waiting is frustrating … I’ve read accounts on collegeconfidential of people being called and told their admissions decision just days after the audition, but I guess that’s not too typical.

I don’t remember exactly how Oberlin works - someone else in CC land probably knows. Is the Admissions Dept for the college involved, not just the Conservatory? I think the system in the past (and maybe still) is that a decision is made by the College Admissions after reviewing your grades, stats, etc in coordination with whatever the conservatory says following the audition. If this is still the case, you are likely to be waiting with everyone else for the April decision.

I do remember ( a number of years ago) that Oberlin was particularly friendly with strings applicants at audition time - very nice meetings, personal attention, etc. One of mine was accepted there and received nice recruitment materials after the decisions came out. Although very flattering, the spot was declined. Schools like Oberlin are looking at “yield” and the Conservatory numbers are included in that yield. They have an incentive to treat their applicants very well that some of the other conservatories don’t have.

As others have said, be very careful of reading too much into an audition experience. It is not uncommon at all for instructors to be friendly and say things like “Thank you for coming to play for me.” or “I hope to see you again.” when they have no intention of admitting the student. I am not suggesting this is true in your case, as obviously, no one can know. Just a suggestion that’s it is best to move forward and remember simply that Oberlin was a positive experience.

Best of luck to you!

Unless the student is applying for the double degree program, the Oberlin College admissions office plays no part in the admission of a student to Oberlin Conservatory.

We were at Oberlin this past weekend as well. I had a brief conversation with the admissions officer and she told me that they’re targeting March 25th for notifications. She said she believes they’ll have a new system this year of email notifications directing you to go to their school portal for details. I believe the Conservatory and College make independent decisions for their applicants. She did tell me that 30% of the Conservatory students dual-major with the college. The Conservatory yield is a little over 40%, so they accept about twice as many applicants for the spots they have in the studios.

FWIW, I thought they do a really nice job at Oberlin with auditions. At least for the jazz group (which was Friday), it was very laid back and friendly.