I did miss some of this discussion somehow. So a bit late. But here in fly-over land (lol), I would guess the vast majority of students know which schools they will attend by Xmas! The 2 BIG Us my D applied to for UG gave her acceptances in early October. I think KU gives acceptances in August (no kidding)!! I believe for the first time Madison did not have their first wave out until after the New Year (maybe mid-Jan.) I went to a New Year’s party and it was all the buzz that these poor students had to wait until the New Year!!! I’m quite sure North Dakota wouldn’t be silly enough to do something like that. I mean seriously there is snow to be plowed and then crops to be planted, why in the world would you wait so long to get anything done!?!? I think Madison is just trying to be all fancy.
Waitlists vary and I am pretty sure that it isn’t just being on the waitlist, but why and how you were put on the waitlist. You can get on a waitlist, for example, because the teachers you put in for would have taught you, but didn’t have room, and the school allows you to try and find another teacher with open slots. Or it may be your audition was solid but no teachers indicated they would teach you, but they put you on the waitlist because they might have openings if they miscalculated their yield…could be other reasons, too.
Might be worth e-mailing the admissions people and asking why, at one school my son got in, but there was a mishap with the teacher, and by the time admissions got around to talking to his second choice, that teacher was full, and they basically told him he had been acccepted but would need to find a teacher, so perhaps they will tell you the deal with it, if it was the indicated teacher they may tell the kid to talk to the other teachers and if they find someone, they are in. The worse that could happen was admissions might tell the kid “we don’t give out that information”, and at that point it might be worthwhile to look at other programs. Waitlist is hard because people have until May1st to decide, and you might find out after May1st if a slot opens at another program. If a waitlist school is one of the kid’s top choices, might be worthwhile to wait until end of April to decide in case something opens up, and if something opens up after you have decided you could potentially go to the other program, but would lose your deposit at the school you accepted at.
The kid is happy and relieved to be done with auditions, at last. The parents are pleased with how smoothly everything went and with the fact that they managed to keep the kid healthy for the entire month. Bits and pieces of good news and good signs are drifting in, mom and dad pass the time discussing the pros and cons of each school, while the kid has moved on to other things and refuses to talk about options before we know what they are. The kid is smart.
@unscripted:
You S is smart to do that, it is very easy to start second guessing, playing what if things before you actually know what is going on:). My S is done with his auditions for grad school, had some surprising revelations, but is waiting to see what the nuts and bolts are before trying to make a decision, not just getting in but also the financial side.
“the kid has moved on to other things and refuses to talk about options before we know what they are. The kid is smart.”
Very smart indeed!
Mine had his final audition yesterday. He’s got a couple of lessons with studio teachers this week, but he’s shifting his focus to trying to help his soccer team win the state championship. Hoping they make it all the way or at least until April 1 - it’s a really good diversion.
@BassTheatreMom, what a great way to shift his focus! I hope your son’s team the best to reach and win the state championship.
My D also had her final audition last week and this weekend she finally was home without any audition worries. She is now back focusing in all the school’s missed work. Her worries have shifted to her senior class fashion show, and other school activities.
I can sense she is very relieved from the audition process. She had some great feedbacks (oral and written) from some of the school’s faculties, and even though we don’t know most of the admission school’s results and financial packages, she did recently received her acceptance from our local music conservatory and financial safety! As I stated in another thread, she also received her acceptance to U MIch SMTD so overall, it has been a great first week of March for her!
@coloraturakid Congratulations to your D! What a great position to start the month with those two admissions.
There were times over the years that I wished S would drop his club soccer team and just play for school. It was all so time-consuming with practices and games for two different teams and then all the music lessons, classes, youth orchestra, etc.
I now appreciate the value of getting his head out of music and blowing off steam physically. I imagine your D’s interest in fashion has a similar effect. To be able to just enjoy something without the intensity of pursuing it in the way they are pursuing music is huge, and one of the first things I ask about at college visits is the intramural program.
By the way, they clinched their district title last night. One more regular season game and then on to playoffs. 
@BassTheatreMom.
Not my DD. She’s in her 2nd semester at Rice’s Shepherd School of Music
Oops that was supposed to be @coloraturadad - sorry about that!
No worries! Best of luck to all. Such an exciting time of year.
Lol @BassTheatreMom and thank you for your nice words. Please don’t be discouraged on your S time spent in soccer. That only shows his competitive nature which I’m sure he is going to need later on if he keeps pursuing a musical career.
As far as the fashion show, it is just a big school event where all seniors get to be models for major designers’ clothing. It is a huge event and a lot of fun for the kids. At the same time, it is a fundraiser for the incoming senior prom and graduation school expenses. It’s not that she takes fashion as a hobby, she just wants to join the fun, especially after missing various rehearsals from the audition trips.
As far as what her hobby is, she sings, she sings, and if there is more time she needs to kill, she sings!
@unscripted yes! Thank goodness for good health all around. And decent weather. Congrats on being done (@coloraturadad, too!). We are like you in that DH and I going over pros and cons when S isn’t around, but S is not wanting to talk too much about that yet, and that’s ok.
@BassTheatreMom enjoy that last season of sports! Soccer will be a great way to burn off anxiety and stress.
S got another full acceptance + merit package today, which had followed a previous “would love to have you in my studio” type interaction with the prof. He also got another music school acceptance yesterday (pending general admission decision).
So S now has:
3 full acceptances
2 music school acceptances with general admissions decisions coming later in the month
1 additional “you’d be a good fit for my studio” type interaction from another school
1 merit package received so far
no rejections
My son surprised me last week by saying that the school I had always assumed to be his top pick throughout this whole process based on how much he talked about it is not #1 any more, though I don’t think he has a clear #1 right now. When everyone says that audition trips are significant in changing/solidifying opinions about schools, it has been very true for S, but his opinions are still in flux two weeks after the last audition. One school that had been low on S’s list went way up, another down, one is off entirely. The attitude of the people he encountered on audition day and how well it was run also seems to have had a significant effect on some of his opinions. At one school everyone (staff, admin, faculty, students) just seemed so genuinely happy to be there, and that made an impression. Oddly, though, one well run audition day is the school that’s now off his list - I think they just presented a really good view of their school that allowed him to see that it wasn’t the right fit for HIM. He also has gotten a much better sense of the differences between the conservatories and the universities.
I think he is still working out in his head what professor fit and program fit really mean to him, and he is realizing a few of these profs who he had initially liked may not be the right fit for him personally as an undergrad. Sometimes it takes a few exposures to a prof to get a better sense of him/her, so I am very glad we did all those sample lessons so that he got multiple exposures to most of the profs.
I’m sure that once decisions/merit offers are all in some things will be clearer.
S just got an email that SMU decisions will be on the admissions portal on Friday at 7 pm. He’s already been admitted for music, but needs the academic admit still. The waiting is killling me - he seems unfazed by the whole thing.
Great news @BassTheatreMom, and good luck! My D received the same email from SMU but we are not too positive about the results or merit awards. She sent a recorded audition.
@coloraturadad Do you think that changes things much? It would be an interesting stat to track - how many acceptances come from recorded vs. live auditions.
We felt compelled to travel as much as possible because we didn’t really have a sense for how a recorded audition would impact his chances. S had to do one recorded audition because we just couldn’t work out their audition dates. It would have been nice to send in more recorded auditions, and just visit the schools without the bass - a hassle and a $150 adder for each round trip flight.
My D, who is a junior with musical theatre aspirations (my husband and I are both science folk, I don’t know how this happened!), is also waiting to find out about summer programs. A lot of waiting going on around here. Today we are going to the art museum to get out of our heads for a while. 
I assume it does make a difference @BassTheatreMom. Most of the school’s web sites recommend a live audition. I suppose there is always a chance to get accepted but I don’t see how the applicant can get a high audition ranking when competing for merit awards with kids who did audition live… Again, this is all speculation and surely hoping to be wrong. This is also all new to me (I am also a science folk; Electrical Engineer).
BTW, I see from the prescreening thread your S recorded audition was for Frost? I did go there for audition with my D and toured the facilities. The Music/Recording Engineering facilities there were unreal, I was truly impressed!
@coloraturadad Yes, that’s the one. They have had a nice interaction since S sent in his audition, so we are hoping for good news. If he is admitted we’ll definitely make a trip out there before any decisions are made.
He’ll be very excited to se the recording facilities. He’s a classical bass player first, but he is very engineering minded and that stuff floats his boat.
Well, surprisingly, D received the confetti letter from SMU! No word on scholarships or financial aid.
Same with S. Congratulations. An earlier email mentioned they would start to hand out the artistic merit scholarshipss on 3/15 and continue through 5/1.
Still busy going mad with worry here.