<p>While on topic . . . I haven’t called to ask yet, but the New School visit page just shunts a person into an online preregistration for tours. Has anyone had success scheduling a more personalized visit with a lesson and/or a meeting with admissions there? That would seem to me like the only reason to make a long trip for a visit.</p>
<p>saintfan…your S should email the professor directly to set up a personal lesson.</p>
<p>We are planning visits to Oberlin and Ithaca on our spring break. It is after auditions, so a good time to visit. We originally were going to visit Eastman but S has suddenly decided it doesn’t seem right for him. I think he wants smaller conservatories.</p>
<p>Thanks, momsings. I will have him get on that after we synch the calendars :D</p>
<p>Saint fan-- consider staying in a hotel in jersey city or Hoboken. Less expensive than manhattan and easy to get into city on public transportation.</p>
<p>Thanks, countertenormom - I haven’t been to NYC since I was about 12 so have no concept of the best place to fly into, stay, car or no car, etc.</p>
<p>Saintfan, when my D visited New School, another parent and I also walked a ways to get a sense of where the freshman would live … It was many blocks away from the school, so bring good walking shoes. And yes, if you don’t have a personal connection with a professor or teacher ahead of time, you will get funneled into a generic tour and Q&A session, which was fine, but at such a small school you want to meet as many teachers as you can while there. Regardless, you son will get to observe an ensemble practice, which is up close in a practice room.</p>
<p>I think we have our trip figured out. Fly to Chicago to see northwestern. Train to Ann abor. Drive to oberlin, then visit case western and CIM. Exhausting but doable I hope!</p>
<p>I’m taking my D (H.S. junior) to visit some colleges in April. Her plan is to, among other things, take a campus tour, hopefully get permission to visit an intro theory class, and maybe watch an ensemble rehearsal. I’m wondering about a mini lesson. I’ve read she should try for that. How does that work? For schools that have multiple studios how does she know which faculty member to ask? Does she bring material she’s worked on, or are the faculty so used to this they’ve got a plan in place already? Should she uber-prepare for the lesson because she’s making a first impression, or is it okay to bring something rougher that she’s just starting…?</p>
<p>Hi barnkl1i, </p>
<p>A sample lesson is a good idea (tons of threads on CC about this). Even though it would seem to make good sense to visit with multiple teachers at a school, I’ve heard there can be some sensitivity around this at some places. As a result, when my daughter was looking at music schools, she elected to see one teacher at each school. At places where she wasn’t sure about the teacher, or there was more than one teacher she was potentially interested in, she did her homework as much as that was possible (asking her teacher for recommendations, online research, speaking with fellow musicians, etc.), and chose one. In every case, she looked up emails and contacted the teachers directly about the possibility of a sample lesson. Sometimes they charge (sometimes a lot) for the lesson, sometimes they don’t. In all cases, following her teacher’s advice, she prepared for these lessons as seriously as she would have for an audition – as, in a very real sense that’s exactly what they are. </p>
<p>StringPop:</p>
<p>Thanks for the reply. That helps a lot!</p>
<p>saintfan, When you say New School, which part? Jazz or classical? We toured Mannes. We used the online system and when we got to Mannes it was just us and one other family. A grad student showed us around. We met admissions personnel, the librarian and a few faculty. All were very nice and helpful. The grad student even gave my daughter his email and the email of a voice student so she could contact them later with questions. D has an audition there next week, so I hope the same friendly vibe we got on our tour extends to audition day :)</p>
<p>jazz - thanks for the report!</p>
<p>My son has a good friend who is at the New School for Jazz Voice and that friend is very happy. Just wanted those of you looking to know. That being said this particular student was very comfortable with New York and has family that lives there. </p>
<p>My DD (now out of college) went off to New York as a freshman. I figured that she would be OK because she was quite familiar with the city from our many visits to see friends and family. But she was not yet mature enough to handle the pace of the city and deal with the challenges, such as lack of sleep from a movie (Will Smith’s Last man on earth) being filmed outside her dorm for weeks on end. So make you want to make sure that your child can handle the intensity of the city. </p>
<p>A senior in high school, my son is in the city twice a week for lessons and really can’t tolerate the noise or the chaos. He’s decided not to apply to the New York conservatories. Hope he feels differently by the time he’s ready to apply to graduate school! </p>
<p>Bachmom,
My DD went to Tisch NYU as a freshman. She had always loved NYC but living there as an 18 year old freshman was a different story. She hated it and left after her freshman year. A years later, she was more mature and she spent a summer in NYC doing an internship and working. Now she can’t wait to move there once she is done with graduate school….so yes things do change.</p>
<p>So, last week we checked out Oberlin and Ithaca college–S had a terrific experience at both schools!</p>
<p>D is a HS junior. we live in NYC. D attends LaGuardia & MSM precollege for VP. I’m trying to decide if we need to visit schools this spring ( which I cannot really afford) or wait to see the campuses when she must attend auditions.
I really don’t know what’s necessary and what isn’t. Would love to hear your views.
Also, will she be able to attend regional auditions based in NYC for schools we cannot really travel to?
Do VP programs have regionals?
Right now I am trying to plan a trip to see schools we can drive to like Eastman, Crane, Hartt, McGill, NEC, BC, Curtis, Boyer ( I’m sure there are loads more!) on the east coast. She thinks her dream is Oberlin as the Sopranos she knows well seem to flock there. I’d like to visit Vanderbilt as I believe she would get a great need/merit package there and Nashville seems not too far away travel wise. Rice and Lawrence are both so far away. Indiana is also a haul. Just not sure if we can wait until auditions next year.
Again, I don’t have a budget to do this at all, but I want her to take sample lessons. If the most important thing is the teacher and nailing auditions then should that be our true focus, regardless of school, location and campus!!??
Wow, this is complicated indeed.
Thank you. </p>
Coloraturakid, I think your spring break trip sounds like a good plan although it’s an ambitious list. My son is a senior (jazz guitar) and we did not visit many schools at all. It was very different from his two older sisters who both visited schools, fell in love with one and got accepted early decision (not music majors). We live in New England so we were able to narrow down with local trips. Then narrowed down further based upon the prescreen requirements. He passed all the prescreens which is really exciting but his live audition will be the first visit for most of the schools. I think this timing is working for him, mostly because he’s really focused on college now and knows better what he wants. He’s also in a conservatory prep program and we got some advice from teachers about colleges that might be a good fit.
I’m new to this whole music world. My S wants to pursue music (major) but also maybe science. So, we’re thinking a University or LAC? However, how do we go about visiting the schools and learning more indepth about the music program in the schools? any advice and/or simple suggestions would be greatly appreciated! thanks!