<p>My son will be a senior in high school this fall and applying to music schools for jazz performance. I was wondering if anyone can tell me if it is very difficult to get thru the prescreening process for top University's and how many saxophones are accepted on average. Some schools that he is interested in are USC Thornton, NYU and University of Mich and University of Miami. Also, are any of these schools known for giving out a lot of scholarship money?</p>
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<p>Happy to discuss privately my son who is jazz bass applied to 3 of those schools and has several sax playing friend who also went through the process</p>
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<p>Shenandoah University in Virginia. It’s a small, little-known conservatory, but the instrumental faculty is absolutely fantastic - especially for saxophone (the jazz and classical sax teachers were recent hires). The admissions process should not be too difficult if he is a decent player, and they’re known for giving out good amounts of scholarship money as well. </p>
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<p>jazzysax1- congratulations on having a HS senior. I totally understand your fears/concerns. I remember feeling the same way with our son who was a Jazz Double Bass player. I had no idea how good a musician he was or what his prospects were for any of the schools he was applying to. For us what helped was talking to teachers from our son’s prep program who had helped other students through the conservatory application process. Although none of them would say outright-your son will get pass the prescreen. They all had enough experience to know that our son would at least be admitted to some places.</p>
<p>Keep in mind that academics counts for admission to NYU. NYU is not known for giving a lot of scholarship money and even when they do their tuition is so high that the scholarship money just brings the tuition into the range of what other schools tuition is. </p>
<p>My son was an RA at Litchfield and his roommate, another RA, was a sax player at Thorton. The roommate was very happy at Thorton and my son said he was a strong player. </p>
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<p>Jazz sax, what state do you live in?
I ask because if you live in Michigan, UMich meets full need. Even if you have no need, the in-state tuition is a steal 
and the jazz improv program fab…
If you don’t live in Michigan, aid is much more of a crap shoot and really depends on your specific circumstances…but at the end of the day, even full pay would be likely cheaper than NYU.</p>
<p>With USC and Miami, which are (like nyu) privates, we have heard of/seen very generous packages. I believe both meet need. But at the same time, their full tuition is among the top in terms of cost. So at the end of the day, a generous-sounding scholarship does not mean the net cost of attending the school is actually any more doable than others.</p>
<p>So the best strategy is to apply to them all, and then compare packages at the end of the process, having first had a conversation with your son that communicates financial contribution thresholds and having a firm agreement in place that fiscal viability will trump preference in the end if need be ;)</p>
<p>With respect to academic grades, I should mention that with all else being equal, stats will factor into Michigan and USC in addition to (and statistically even moreso) than NYU. This may be true of Miami as well, but during our application cycle a few years back, we were more conscious of USC and UMich in terms of academic rigor.</p>
<p>Since it moved to the common app, Michigan’s overall academic admitted profile has gotten even more tippy top. At the same time, “on paper” the school of music will accept students who fall below the academic university’s mid range if talent trumps…but in reality, there is a lot of competition from academically high-stat kids for the spot. </p>
<p>Strong academics, however, will never trump talent and musicality. I personally know a jazz sax player who had 35 on his ACT and a 3.95 unweighted GPA from a g/t school that was rigorous who didn’t get into Michigan. That particular kid is still gigging out more than most, which some find ironic, but I suspect at the time his lack of regional recognition/high level private instruction etc. made him less competitive despite his stellar stats.</p>
<p>On the plus side, in the case of Michigan, my son was blessed to receive a beefy academic merit scholarship as well as a music merit scholarship, so ended up with a nice package. And at the time, we had no clue where he’d fall in the spectrum of talent…on the surface, I might have put him a titch behind the friend who didn’t get in. But in retrospect, I now see the differences in the development trajectory that I could not divine back then.</p>
<p>So, guessing where your son will fall in terms of chances within the talent pool is a little bit like reading goat entrails…messy, smelly even, and you don’t want to go there because predictions are wholly unreliable Let the process unfold and just be sure to have a good gap year or non-musical safety lined up ;)</p>
<p>Best wishes on your journey.</p>
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<p>Thanks for all the great advice! We live in Florida so the out of state tuition for Michigan would be high if he didn’t receive any scholarship. I’ve heard that they do not give a lot of money to out of state applicants and I also have heard that saxophone is a tough instrument to get money for given that there are so many sax players applying. I know FSU has a great music department, but have heard literally nothing about their jazz department, but I think that would be our safety financially if he can get in. He has a 3.7 unweighted GPA and a 1900 SAT. I like idea of applying and letting him know upfront that a school will be off the table if the finances don’t work out. Just the applications alone cost a lot of money and traveling to the schools if he gets the audition will cost a lot.
Stressful several months ahead. </p>
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