<p>It seems my son has just received a "likely" email from Steinhardt (jazz guitar). It starts off by saying that his audition scores were EXCELLENT (caps in the email), then goes on to say that while this email is not an offer of admission, "good news is very likely from NYU by April 1st." Finally, it asks him to evaluate the audition experience and to rank his college choices.</p>
<p>Several questions.<br>
First, has anyone else received one of these? I combed past threads and saw only postcards to NYU admission events in April. Those came in mid-late March and said the student was in fact accepted.</p>
<p>Second, NYU is certainly one of his top 2 or 3 choices, and while there's an instinct is to say it's indeed number one in the questionaire, perhaps the different schools speak to each other? That would mean his other top choice would hear that he's named another school his top choice. Yikes.</p>
<p>Left off the most important question - do we think they would send an email like this to anyone at risk of not meeting university (non music) admissions standards?</p>
<p>Jazz/Shreddermom–first of all, Congrats! It’s an interesting year this year–schools really are trying to gauge students’ interests, and these “likely” letters are a new wrinkle. </p>
<p>As to filling out the evaluation, the cynic in me keeps remembering that you are talking about businesses here. Colleges are businesses. If NYU is a top choice for him, tell them it’s “a top choice.” I don’t think he needs to go into detail about other places he’s auditioning and/or ranking them. The schools are not talking to one another. Your son needs to look out for himself. Be sure however, that he describes the audition experience in a positive way. </p>
<p>I don’t know about your final question, because I don’t know much about NYU admission standards and how the University/music school relationship works–does he fit in their profile, or is that a worry for you? I would assume that if the music school wants him and he’s in the ballpark, he’ll be admitted, but someone more in the NYU know should chime in.</p>
<p>The the email actually asks him to rank his choices and has a blank 1-5 list. His counselor thinks it’s inappropriate for them to ask this at this point in the process and suggests he ignore the ranking list and say he’s undecided between NYU and his other top choice. After all, a music scholarship may be in the offing, correct? Why make it too easy for them??? </p>
<p>Of course, he will reply with many positive things about the school and the audition (Which he loved - it was a big sort of open jam session with students taking turns “calling” tunes and backing each other up. This is the second year they’ve done it this way, and they told us parents it garnered their best freshman group yet.) We’re getting the idea this email is new this year.</p>
<p>As for S’s stats, his SAT is in NYU’s average accepted zone of kids from his private school (NYU at large, not Steinhardt); however, his GPA is slightly below, but still respectable.</p>
<p>I just wonder if this “likely” letter is really, well, that. In other words, is it like the Ivies’ likely letters? Does it really mean anything?</p>
<p>Yes, I think it does mean something, especially with the wording in the letter. My son received a letter like that (not from NYU) and was formally accepted a month later. </p>
<p>I have heard about positive letters from professors that did not result in admission. But letters from the admission office seem to be a pretty good sign. Congrats to your son!</p>
<p>Allmusic, this email came jointly from the two heads of Steinhardt Jazz Studies, not NYU admissions. But again, it states that “while this email is not an offer of admission, we believe that good news is very likely from NYU by April 1st.” </p>
<p>While the kids auditioned, parents were told that although it was a joint admissions process, the Jazz department can “fight” for certain students, etc. He reminded us that all the kids were required to put their GPA and SAT score on their prescreen submission form, to give the music dept. if they were in the ballpark.</p>
<p>So that’s about it. Still think congrats are in order?</p>
<p>Yup. Congrats. If they give you five blanks and you’re uncomfortable NOT filling them in, I might do something such as: #1 if Scholarship, NYU; #5 if no Scholarship, NYU
You know, with a little note: “While I adore your school I will have to carefully evaluate my capacity for debt load.”</p>
<p>I think that is a germane comment re: NYU unless that is not a factor you’re considering.</p>
<p>There is a back and forth process beween the admissions department and the music department at NYU. In my understanding (as the process was explained to me when D was applying 2 years ago), the music department first gets a list of “accepted” students from admissions and then will determine who they want on the basis of their audition results. If there are students missing from the “accepted” list that the music department thought deserved admissions based on a truly outstanding audition, then the music department can try to “go to bat” for them. The standards used by admissions to determine who gets on that “accepted” list may not be based on the same criteria used for other (non-audition) majors, since the audition is still an important factor.</p>
<p>D is in vocal performance, and I have never heard of NYU using such an email. I agree that I would feel uncomfortable ranking schools, but I would guess that if merit scholarships are involved, the dpeartment heads want to make their best offers to those that are most likely to come to NYU. It is the department heads who will dole out talent merit aid.</p>
<p>With that in mind, I would rank NYU first and other schools below it. However, I would definitely make mention that scholarships and merit aid will be an important factor in deciding what school your child will ultimately attend.</p>
<p>Good luck! But it definitely sounds very positive.</p>
<p>Department chair letters are almost as good as admissions department letters, and definitely more favorable than professor letters. Not knowing the ins and outs of NYU admissions, but based on other experiences, yes, I think congratulations (cautiously!) are in order!</p>
<p>Don’t like the ranking question, but I think others have given you good advice on how to handle that.</p>
<p>Hmmm…it really does sound positive. Given that the email comes from the professors, and considering your comment about his GPA and uskoolfish’s points, it’s possible that the profs are trying to figure out how hard they should try to “go to bat” for your son with admissions. I’d rank NYU #1 if that’s what your son wants.</p>
<p>It’s a great letter, but a bit agonizing to decide how to respond. Especially after reading your suggestions.</p>
<p>Putting NYU as first choice may cause them to be less likely to give him a scholarship, no? We were leaning, at this point, toward saying a tie between NYU and XYZ, but he loves NYU because of blah, blah, blah. Mentioning money or scholarships directly goes against my sensibility, but I realize I may be too polite about these things. They said during the parent meeting that their yield is on the low side, due to the expense of NYU and fact that many can’t afford it without adequate aid. They mentioned that last year this new jam session audition had yielded their best students so far, implying that more of who they wanted most chose them in return. So this letter may be a further effort in making students want to to chose NYU.</p>
<p>The honest truth is we would LOVE some merit aid, but ultimately he will go where wants to go, with or without it. Of course with it is preferable. </p>
<p>But now I’m torn again. It really is unfair of them to ask this! Isn’t it possible a kid doesn’t know yet? How could it hurt him to say it’s a toss up for the number one spot? It’s definitely one of his top two. Anyone?</p>
<p>S received the same email after his audition last Tuesday (jazz/shreddermom, I wonder if they were together!) and we have had the same debate/dilemma in our house. My son truly did love NYU and ranks it #1 to date, although he did mention that he had not completed his auditions and that finances would play heavily into his decision. Not sure if it was the right thing to do, but he did fill in rankings and added a nice, very honest note about the audition process and how much he enjoyed his visit.</p>
<p>At first I was not sure if everyone who auditioned was getting this email, and that NYU was trying to gauge it’s audition process, which is unique, but my son has spoken casually to others that have auditioned and many did not get one. However, he received that same email again yesterday with an additional question asking him how he heard about the program at NYU…hmmm.</p>
<p>Anyway, it seems more positive than hearing nothing…if we didn’t have all these things to debate, how would we pass the time until April :)? </p>
<p>Jazz/shreddermom, congrats…how did you resolve this in your house?</p>
<p>Personally, I think that NYU has made their admission decision and it is favorable for your son. I would guess that the department is thinking about making a merit offer at this point and is interested in finding out whether you are interested. They want to increase their yield and therefore want to use their limited merit aid budget on those student who will actually attend. The only merit aid NYU is offering at this point is talent, so your son’s academics would not come into play once he is accepted.</p>
<p>We made it known to NYU that they were my D’s first choice (D had done a summer program and we met with the dept head before she applied.) However, I was very clear that although we were not going to be eligible for financial aid, the only way she would be able to attend was with merit aid. He understood totally and came through.</p>
<p>I am not writing this as someone going through the process with a child, but rather about something that strikes me about these letters. If a letter comes from an official source, like the admissions department, that says something to the tune that you are likely to be admitted, my suspicion is that the child will be, and here is my thinking.</p>
<p>Under business law (generally required in business/management programs) a letter like that, e-mail or snail mail, coming from an official source, could be considered an acceptance letter if someone ever got one, didn’t get in, and sued (I am not a lawyer, so take this with more then a grain of caution). An encouraging letter from a professor would not hold that weight, but if it comes from the admissions office, it could be construed as such I suspect (It is why business letters are so carefully formatted). I would be surprised, even if they say this is not an official letter, to hear that someone got a likely letter worded like that and didn’t get in. </p>
<p>Not something to base plans on, just looking at it from a different way, and again I am not a lawyer, so don’t take this as anything but what it was meant to be, an observation. Be interesting to see if anyone knows of anyone or themselves got a likely then didn’t get in.</p>
<p>I suspect the rankings are not about admissions, but as others have said, is about judging interest and competition for the student, which could factor into scholarship offers and such. Colleges these days realize that students are increasingly shopping for scholarships and aid and that that factors into their decisions to go to one school over another (they of course officially deny this, but a number of articles have been written, quoting admissions people,that this practice is going on).</p>
<p>I would probably go ahead and rank, with NYU first and add something along the lines of “while NYU is my first choice, I am in a position that financial aid will impact my decision so the list may change once financial aid packages are received.”</p>
