<p>I agree with both Bass and Violadad. However, there are certainly students at Juilliard Precollege who play at a high level and yet have no intention of pursuing music performance in college. These student do typically end up at high-level universities and colleges. For the most part, they are not doing music only as a resume-enhancer. They love music, but they are not pursuing a musical career.</p>
<p>Note that the Juilliard website says “those who show the potential to pursue a professional career in music,” and not “those who intend to pursue a professional career in music.” I did not mean to imply that the program should be open only to future music majors, just to say that those who are accepted are already playing at a pretty high level and that it is a substantial commitment in time, effort and money. Not the sort of thing you would add to an already busy schedule if the objective is to diversify the portfolio. To even get close to that level of playing or singing, the student would already have been doing enough musically for it to count as a strong extracurricular activity when applying to schools as a non-music major. If the objective were to show maximum interest and commitment in the area of music, that would be a different story.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the information.
My Ds are very interested in music and have been learning from the age of 5. Though they are not thinking of a music major, music will be a part of their life forever, in one form or other. However they have set their hearts and minds on a top college as well and coming from a very highly competitive school district their grades and test scores alone is not going to be enough. At least that is the feeling I get looking at they resumes of graduating seniors. That being the case music is the one area where they might excel if they put in the time and effort. However wether one needs Julliard pre college level or just being in regional/All state orchestra’s should do is the question I keep asking myself.</p>
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<p>Regional and All-State orchestras are not really all that prestigious and are not very likely to be a tipping factor at a highly selective school. They get hundreds if not thousands of applications from students playing at that level. If your daughters happen to play an under-represented instrument that the school really needs, there could be some advantage provided that the music department has some pull with the admissions office.</p>
<p>On the other hand, even a credential like the Juilliard pre-college program may not have a great deal of influence if the school does not have enough places in their ensembles for the performance majors that they already have on a specific instrument or voice part.</p>
<p>Your daughters need to identify something that the schools of interest need or want very badly and then make an ironclad case for how they would provide it.</p>
<p>My daughters play violin/Flute and you are right BassDad, probably there are hundreds of students playing these instruments. I do know of one student from our school district who went for music composition at Julliard and also had excellent academic records and sports(!) and made it to all three - Harvard, Yale and Princeton for a science major. He also won many music composition awards. So in his case I don’t think Harvard or Princeton picked him because they needed someone with music composition experience. It simply showed how diverse his talents are and it made him unique among the hundred applicants that come from this area.
Also how can you predict what a school would wants 4 or 5 years from now.</p>
<p>Ah, I hadn’t realized that they were not even in high school yet. It is nearly impossible to predict what a school will want or need in four or five years. A lot can change in that time. Violin and flute are two of the most common instruments out there. Flute is particularly tough because an orchestra needs only a few of them. I will bet that top schools receive hundreds of applications from violin and flute players each year, but only a handful from composers at anywhere near the level of the young man that you mention.</p>
<p>Music is not all that frequently a tipping factor for a non-music major at a school that has a strong music program. It can be part of an overall picture, like that composer had, but it would have to be at a very high level indeed for your daughters to stand out on instruments like flute and violin. Composition is a bit different in any event, because there are relatively fewer composers than flutists or violinists at that age and composition is somewhat easier than an instrument to combine with other pursuits. Flute and violin students competitive for the Juilliard pre-college program are spending hours a day every day on practice. Flute and violin students who are winning meaningful competitions are doing very little else and are often home schooled so that they have even more time to concentrate on music. </p>
<p>Composers may work that hard as well, but they have more options as to when it can be done. They can set aside an entire day for composing if that is what fits their schedule. Instrumentalists cannot skip a couple of days of practice and then make up for it by putting in eight or ten straight hours on a Sunday. They will hurt themselves if they try to play that much in one day, so they have to practice in smaller chunks and keep at it. That does not leave a lot of time for things like group sports and any other extracurricular activities that also require a big time commitment nearly every day.</p>
<p>Trying to tailor their activities at a young age to appeal to a small circle of schools four or five years down the road is a risky strategy. As you say yourself, how can you know what the schools are going to want that year. Good grades and test scores, a history of community service and evidence of passion and leadership in an area that interests your daughters will certainly be on the list. Beyond that, they are taking a leap of faith by spending as much time and effort as getting into the Juilliard program on flute or violin would require, particularly if they do not pursue a musical performance degree. There are students in that program who achieve exactly what you seem to want for your daughters, but there are no guarantees if you are exclusively targeting specific, extremely selective schools like HYP this early in their academic careers.</p>
<p>I am joining this thread very late…but wanted to put in my two cents. DD accepted to Juilliard - no lessons prior, didn’t know anyone, not a legacy, was accepted, studied with the teacher she requested and stayed a year. It was not a good match. She has transferred and is so incredibly happy now. It wasn’t the school for her. I am glad she went. She tried it and learned a life lesson.</p>
<p>can I ask what instrument she played?</p>
<p>Thanks EW’smom. D is waiting to hear if she passed prescreening for Juilliard for vocal performance. I sent you a PM.</p>
<p>She does not play an instrument.</p>
<p>“Classical music is not a competitive field” – WindCloudUltra</p>
<p>This is an extremely ignorant statement. Classical music, BECAUSE it is not necessarily a mainstream art form is VERY competitive. The level of talent required to make it professionally FAR surpasses other art forms. I can’t believe someone would actually formulate an idea such as that…</p>
<p>that’s the most hilarious statement ever, considering all music schools at the very least are rooted in a classical education</p>
<p>operaluvr: Where did you find that statement that you attribute to WindCloudUltra? I re-examined the entire thread and was unable to find it. I did a search of CC with the exact phrase and can only find your post. I hope that you have merely made a mistake and have not intentionally falsified a quotation. </p>
<p>I did find a post by WindCloudUltra that has a statement that you might think you have paraphrased (but quotation marks are not for paraphrases). I think that you might have misunderstood the intention of what WindCloudUltra wrote. Please examine the context and read carefully. WindCloudUltra does not make “extremely ignorant statement[s]”. </p>
<p>If indeed WindCloudUltra has not made the statement that you claim he/she did, then you ought to ask the moderator to remove your post. </p>
<p>Are you a reincarnation of mystery99?</p>
<p>can someone post the link of the two videos? i can’t view them.</p>
<p>@violindad: Thanks for coming to my defense 
@operaluvr: If you’re going to quote me, at least find the actual quote. Don’t paraphrase and then put the paraphrase (which seems to not only to engage in cherry-picking and quote-mining, but also completely and disingenuously distorts my original point…) in quotations marks. I’m hoping that wasn’t your intention, and that you merely got outraged after reading “It (Classical Music) is not a tough market” without reading what followed… 
</p>
<p>Here’s my actual post for those interested:
</p>
<p>[Perhaps I should have wrote "It (Classical Music) is not just a tough market.]…</p>
<p>Wow, talk about quoting out of context. If anything, WindCloud was emphasizing how tough the market is!</p>
<p>From what I have observed, it seems that anyone who plans on a career as a professional musician is going to have to be flexible and less focused on just one type of music. The days of training in a conservatory and expecting to be employed solely in a symphonic/chamber music type setting are over, if they ever really existed. Today’s working musician will find work in a variety of settings, and as one conservatory administrator said to us parents, “cobble together a professional career in music.” Reading skills, professionalism, working well within an ensemble, being able to adapt to the demands of each job - those seem to me like the qualities one should be aiming to cultivate while studying music as an undergrad and beyond. The schools that impressed me most during my daughter’s auditions were the ones that stressed the opportunities their school presented to students to play music in the community around the school, and the fact that it was important for students to take advantage of these opportunities. I agree, creative and entrepreneurial skills and of the utmost importance to any musician, along with perseverance, a strong work ethic and a tough skin.</p>
<p>thelovelybones,</p>
<p>links to videos are a no-no here on CC. See paragraph 5 at [College</a> Confidential - FAQ: College Discussion - TOS & FAQ](<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/faq.php?faq=vb_faq#faq_new_faq_item]College”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/faq.php?faq=vb_faq#faq_new_faq_item)</p>
<p>I don’t think there would be a problem with someone PMing you with the location rather than posting them.</p>
<p>Moonmaid,</p>
<p>Amen, sister, on all accounts.</p>
<p>Moonmaid wrote, <<the schools=“” that=“” impressed=“” me=“” most=“” during=“” my=“” daughter’s=“” auditions=“” were=“” the=“” ones=“” stressed=“” opportunities=“” their=“” school=“” presented=“” to=“” students=“” play=“” music=“” in=“” community=“” around=“” school,=“” and=“” fact=“” it=“” was=“” important=“” for=“” take=“” advantage=“” of=“” these=“” opportunities.=“”>></the></p>
<p>And since this thread is title Juilliard, and was originally started to denigrate that institution, I feel a need to say that Juilliard has myriad and excellent programs that do exactly this: there are many fellowship opportunities that get students out in the surrounding community as both performers and teacher; Career Services trains student groups in entrepreneurial skills and puts them on a gig roster. The opportunities are tremendous for those who take advantage of them.</p>
<p>does anyone know when Juilliard typically releases admission results?</p>