<p>My daughter completed her DVD for NFAA from which her pre-screen CDs will be burned. We FedEx'ed NFAA and Oberlin last night. What a weight off the shoulders that is!</p>
<p>The DVD obviously demanded memorization and the preparation for that was intense but so valuable for upcoming auditions. I'm just glad this one is done--and we made the deadlines by the skin of our teeth! Good luck to everyone working on this now!</p>
<p>Congrats, ariamom and D! There are two more essays to be written at our house and a recording to be finished up…and then “all” she has to do is prepare for audition season.</p>
<p>It sure would be nice if the schools could get together on a single essay topic.</p>
<p>Hi Ariamom, Same for my soprano D. I will be interested keeping up with you on response timeline from both of those entities. I assume your D is opting for the Dec audition at Oberlin?</p>
<p>Stradmom–I could not agree with you more on the essays. It’s those slight differences in each of them that make them start fresh on each essay. I know that’s kind of the point, but it’s not like the kids don’t have a 100 other things going on as well! </p>
<p>POTO Mom–how exciting for both our girls! Yes, we are hoping for the December slot at Oberlin. Her first audition is in two weeks at UT and we wanted to try to get at least one of the travel auditions done as soon as possible–weather is such a factor.</p>
<p>We don’t expect too much out of NFAA, but the experience was valuable and was recommended by her instructors at Interlochen so of course she went for it. I’m sure our paths will cross so we won’t be alone at auditions!</p>
<p>stradmom,</p>
<p>My D is keeping her fingers crossed for your D.</p>
<p>Thanks, othermusicdad! I keep having this paranoid feeling that I’m going to forget to do something important that will mess up her chances. Oy!</p>
<p>Heck! If you found your way to Orford, the college music application process will be a breeze! We’ll wait and watch for the updates.</p>
<p>Good luck to all of you as you begin this wild and crazy ride!! My recommendation is to do at least one FUN thing at each audition site that has nothing to do with music (a local restaurant or attraction). Have some fun.</p>
<p>Wow Stradmom - I was thinking the same thing - what if I’m the one that messes something up or misses something I should have caught. I noticed in one small spot on the Eastman application that it mentions the prescreen recording is between 15-45 minutes. I have to believe that is not the length of the singer’s repertoire of three songs which it requires. Yesterday, UPS slapped their sticker on top of the perfectly written address that followed the website directions per admissions. I inhaled sharply. Most of her apps are already gone now so if something’s screwed up . . . . I also wondered if they confirm that your application is complete and they have received all materials, including SATs, LORs and transcripts.</p>
<p>The prescription for 15-45 minutes of music covers a wide swath of degrees and majors. A piano or string major playing a concerto movement will play much longer than any song accessible to an undergraduate singer can manage. </p>
<p>Good luck to all!</p>
<p>Phew: SO nice to get things in the mail, isn’t it? I wish you all (oh and your children 
well as you begin the journey!!! I also agree with at least one fun thing everywhere–in our case (boy) food was the key! We had some great meals in every city!</p>
<p>Break a leg!!!</p>
<p>Anyone going to Pittsburgh for the first time should go to Primantis. We went twice…once when we went for the first visit (at the urging of the adcom…we thought she was nuts until we got there). Hey…I’m going to start another thread!!</p>
<p>To PotoMom: Most of the schools have online sites which show what the applicant has submitted and what’s still missing. Calling the music admissions office to get a more “granular” status report is always a good idea as the deadline approaches. The biggest thing is to make sure the people who promised references do what they promised in a timely fashion and to make sure they are telling the truth when they say they sent the reference in “weeks ago.” I say this because our daughter had one teacher who swore that she submitted the reference paperwork; the school denied receiving it and when my daughter peeked into the place where she had initially put the letters, envelopes, etc. as directed by the teacher – lo! and behold! the materials were still there. We enclosed self-addressed stamped postcards with each submission, listing what was enclosed. All the admissions office had to do was drop the postcard in the mailbox. That provided very definitive information has to who got what from whom and when.</p>
<p>The postcards are a great idea. Wish I had thought of that earlier. I anticipated the LOR issues so I had all the recommenders give all the sealed/signed envelopes back to me so that I could mail them. Eastman sends you an email as each recommender sends in their electronic submission. THAT’S GREAT. All of the prescreenings have gone UPS so they were trackable. I guess I just envision an admissions office full of paper and CDs and hope they all make it to the right place.</p>
<p>Sounds like you have everything under control, PotoMom!</p>
<p>Okay all - I’m absolutely jealous! My D has everything 80-90% done, but is dragging her feet on completion. </p>
<p>To the following up with Admissions: I was sitting in the waiting room for my daughter who was finishing up a shadowing day when I overheard the Admissions coordinator on the phone with an anxious parent. The parent was blaming the school for not getting back to her child, when it was found that the kid had mistyped her email address on the app. So - follow up is good. I’ll be doing that as soon as I can get my daughter to finalize everything. Arrrgh.</p>
<p>KeyofH is spot on about the on line sites. Those will be your D’s/S’s best friends over the next few weeks. Remind them to check in daily so that if something is needed, they can get right on it. If you really feel that too much time has passed and you see, or read here on CC, that others have “heard” something, it’s OK to check with the school. Better to do that than to wait weeks to find out that the application wasn’t received! If at all possible, it’s always better to have your kid contact the school though- just shows that they are really interested. Oh, and not to worry about those “times” for Eastman or anyplace else- they are not specific for a certain instrument and are certainly not applicable for Voice majors!! Wouldn’t you love to be a fly on the wall in the screening room if a VP applicant actually DID send in a really lengthy recording?! That would be really something!</p>
<p>Oh my. My son has almost all of his application essay/work done, but isn’t recording his prescreens until November 11th! (It’s been very tough for him to wrangle his backup musicians and he wanted to use as much time as possible to rehearse). That gives us about 19 days to get the Dec.1 ones in hand. I hope it’s enough time!</p>
<p>Jazz/Shreddermom - I will tell you that we had three different recording sessions. It seemed that each time there was one little thing either the teacher or the accompanist or my D wanted to fix. It’s great if you’re in a position to be able to review your recording so you can see if it’s what you want (before you let the rest of your musicians leave). Unfortunately, we weren’t able to look back at the DVD until we had left the session and were at home. Looking back, if I had “practiced” the recording effort, I might have saved myself some time and money as well as improved on the quality. The location of the recording seemed to be an issue in each case and created problems on its own in terms of sound quality, background visual, ambient noise.</p>
<p>Time does seem to work against everyone: the musician has to be ready to commit to tape at such an early point in the year as the deadlines come up so quickly. Our recording was done with school equipment by the band director in the same week the marching band qualified for state (my daughter sings in this year’s program!). Getting all parties together is also madness. But the judges in competitions and auditors listening to pre-screens are accustomed to hearing through the technical flaws of recordings which is an equalizer for those whose equipment is home grown.</p>
<p>And FedEx is your friend–we got stuff in by deadline time sending the night before. It was heart attack time, but we got it done!</p>