<p>Does anyone know anything about the Extension Division at Mannes? I know many adults take classes there, but what about students who just graduated high school?</p>
<p>I'm a high school senior. This past winter I auditioned for Mannes, along with several other conservatories, with little to no luck; I decided to major in music at the last minute and play one of the most competitive instruments, and overall I was unprepared.</p>
<p>Mannes was one of my top choices, so it threw me off guard today when I got an email from them inviting me to the Extension Division Program. I know they might as well have sent the same email to every rejected applicant, but I'm absolutely intrigued (yes, I'm basically the kicked puppy that still follows its owner around). But I wonder whether going there for a year and then auditioning for Mannes and other programs would be better than what I'm doing now--majoring in music performance in my state school's music department, which is good but smaller, more geared towards music ed/jazz, and has nowhere near as many options as Mannes seems to.</p>
<p>When I think of my state school I get a flat feeling, and I've ALWAYS wanted to live in NYC and be surrounded by so many music-related things. But would attending Extension Division be limiting/a waste of time and money, since it grants a diploma but not a BM? I'd probably go for a year and then audition for Mannes and other conservatories, but I just don't know enough about this program. Does anyone have info or advice on what to do?</p>
<p>I have a couple of friends who have done/are doing this for violin (my current teacher is on faculty at Mannes). The first girl I know of did the extension division for a year, auditioned during that year for the conservatory, and got in. She is doing very well now. The second I know of is a violist who had been attending a large state school. He auditioned at a bunch of conservatories during his junior year and didn’t get in, so he did Mannes extension. He also auditioned for the conservatory while there, and did not get in. He now regards it as a waste of time/money, although he is now at Purchase, where I think he is doing very well. The two last people I know in the program are currently in it. They study with my teacher through Mannes, and I think they have made a lot of progress; they are both quite talented. I don’t think they auditioned this year for the conservatory, but they may next year. </p>
<p>So all in all, I think it the results are mixed. By no means is the extension division a guarantee of acceptance into the conservatory, but you have the advantage of studying with a faculty member and taking classes at the school. </p>
<p>I hope the audition process hasn’t gotten you down. This was a really tough year, especially at Mannes, which is a small school that gets a huge number of apps. If it makes you feel any better, I had a similar experience as a senior in high school, and after working really hard with my teacher during a gap year, got into San Francisco Conservatory with a big scholarship! </p>
<p>On a side note, I went to Mannes for pre-college, and I loved the theory/ear-training courses. They are thorough and well-taught. You will probably find the same in the extension division.</p>
<p>Good luck with your decision!</p>
<p>As you surmised, lostpfitw, I believe it is Mannes’s practice is to “invite” all rejected candidates to enroll in the extension division. Going back 5 or more years, I personally know students who were rejected at the pre-screening stage who received an “invitation” to enroll in the extension division. </p>
<p>Good luck to you!</p>
<p>My H took Mannes extension courses years ago between degrees. Fast forward many years, and those credits were acceptable to his school district for salary purposes. Are these credits real “college credits” that would count during your year? In other words, would you then be applying as a transfer student, rather than as a freshman? You should find that out before thinking of taking courses at Mannes vs. a possible gap year.</p>
<p>I don’t know a lot about the Mannes extension division, but from the standpoint of working to try to get into Mannes, it probably would be helpful to do so. Among other things, assuming people on the Mannes faculty teach there, it would give you an idea of what Mannes is like, what the teachers are like, besides the obvious, working with a teacher and gaining experience with ear training and such, assuming that is part of it.</p>
<p>In theory, it could also help you get into Mannes if you are working with a teacher on faculty there, since it does help when someone applying studies with a teacher who teaches at a program(there is no set rule about this, the amount of ‘boost’ depends on the teacher, the school, and how good the student is; no teacher is going to fight to get a student admitted who isn’t up to some level of quality, for example). On the other hand that is a plus, not a guarantee.</p>
<p>Rather then dealing with the issue of Mannes per se, I want to throw something out there. Your post seems to say that you decided to major in music late in the game, which to me means you could also have ‘gotten serious’ on your instrument late in the game as well. If your goal is to try and get into a relatively solid conservatory, like Mannes or any number of others, I would suggest strongly finding a teacher (whether on Mannes or at some other similar level program,or a high level private teacher) who would be willing to do an assesment of your skill level, where you are, strengths and weaknesses and so forth and to see realistically if even if working in the extension program along with the gap year of work you can achieve a level to meet that goal. Especially if the instrument is one considered even more competitive then others (like the piano, violin, cello, some others) a realistic assessment could tell you if even taking a gap year would be enough. The levels are so high,and the competition is so strong, that even taking a gap year may not be enough to achieve success,no matter how hard someone works. Most of the people I have known who took gap years were people who were at a pretty high level, but just needed time to polish their audition repertoire and clean up issues that blocked them from admission. Plus without a realistic assessment, no matter where you are in terms of proficiency, how can you know what to work on? :).I wish you luck on your search:)</p>
<p>It’s not safe to assume that faculty who teach in the extension division of a school also teach in the conservatory- I know that’s not the case at Eastman, CIM or Julliard.Also, there is a big difference in the “prep” and “extension” divisions at conservatories, so don’t get confused about who teaches where on that account (just to make sure that you see the difference when looking at faculty lists!).
OP, are you willing to tell us what your instrument? That may help you get some valuable advice from folks on this board, and, depending upon your location, perhaps some info on teachers in your area.
You know that you were up against kids who have been studying since they were 3 as well as playing in Youth orchestras, ensembles, etc.Getting an evaluation of your abilities/potential is excellent advice and will help to provide a clear path for you. You have choices and should consider LACs/Universities with good music programs who’s audition requirements may not be as stringent as the conservatories you’ve looked at.</p>
<p>Hi, I agree with what was said above. I was in the Mannes extension division for two years after I got rejected by Mannes in 2008. I studied under a really awesome voice teacher in the extension division and progressed pretty rapidly. I auditioned for the fall 2010 and I got into the second year of BM. The extension program for me was pretty breezy. You can choose whatever classes that interest you. However, since you would wish to apply for the college division, it would be more substantial to choose classes such as theory and history. If I’m not wrong, history credits can be rolled over in the college division so if you finish all 4 semesters of history, it is not necessary to re-take it. There will be theory and ear training and dictation placement tests to see which level you are at. So taking those classes in the ext div would be good so you can improve and be assured that you are at a higher level than your competitors who probably have never done any of that before. You can also try to have private lessons with a teacher who teaches in the college div or both college and extension div so there will be an advantage of getting into the college division (though definitely not a guarantee). I hope that this kinda helped and I wish you all the best! :D</p>