<p>I'm not getting replies in the Admissions forum, so I'll repost it here.</p>
<p>So I'm an extremely avid flute player. I've worked with some of the best flute professors (my current teacher is a good friend of James Galway and her teacher was J- P Rampal among others) and pianists around California. I've attended numerous famous masterclasses, joined symphonies/ensembles, been accepted to many, done chamber music, done music theory (ABRSM), and won one National and one International competition.</p>
<p>I don't plan to major in music, but to minor instead. I don't think I'm bad in flute...I've been playing for a good 8 years. Do you think an audition tape will help my admissions into some UC schools (Davis, SB, Irvine, San Diego)? My GPA isn't very up to par, but my SAT's are okay. If I do, how do I send it in? Should I make a resume? How do I mention to the UC's that I would be interested in their orchestra? Any available information would be much appreciated.</p>
<p>I'm not that familiar with the overall strength of the UC music programs and the differences between schools, but I'll offer some general guidelines, but remember for the most part the process is very school specific.</p>
<p>First, check the music department webpages for the schools you're interested in. Procedures for submissions are normally somewhere on the webpage, and may vary for majors and non majors.</p>
<p>Also check the requirements for participation, as this will also vary by school, and it may or may not be uniform for all schools in the UC system.</p>
<p>You may or may not find a music performance minor offered, although there may well be a general music minor, which can sometimes be tailored, sometimes not.</p>
<p>It will not be a deciding factor in an admissions decision, but a national and international competition win may well work to your benefit. It may even result in a small scholarship for playing depending on the particular department policy.</p>
<p>You may need to call an admissions rep familiar with the music department for each school if the info is not available on the web. </p>
<p>I know a little about some of these UC's -- UCSB has a performance program, offering a BMus and BA, and has quite an impressive series of master classes, etc. UC Irvine also has a music program, with performance opportunities. UC Davis has an academic music department, with an orchestra and chamber music opportunities (there is a resident chamber group). You might contact the music departments to see how they handle CD submissions for people who don't plan to major in music. Of these, Davis is probably the most competitive for admission; UCSB admits about 50% of applicants. There is a lot of information on their websites about the music programs.</p>
<p>Ah yes, many of my flute teachers/conductors have attended UCSB. UCSB admits 50% of applicants for music majors or regular admissions in general?</p>
<p>Regular admissions. A smaller number of students are invited to the honors program. The school is half the size of most UC's and is in a lovely location. It has a graduate program in music, too, with some impressive graduates. Edwin Outwater, who was the asst. conductor at the SF Symphony and the conductor of the SFSYouth Orchestra, went there in conducting (he had a BA from Harvard).<br>
For the music department, you must audition for both the BMus and the BA. I don't know how selective they are. There are scholarships to be had, though (in the range of $1,000 per year) for top applicants planning to be performance majors.
UCSB does not have a separate performance school, so is not like UCLA, where if you don't pass the screening you are simply not admitted to UCLA.<br>
You should check on this, but I imagine that the way to handle sending in a CD and having it actually listened to, would be to contact the music department and see if someone would listen, and if they liked what they heard, let the admissions office know. I know of a student who did that at Cal. He probably would have been admitted in any event (he turned down Yale for Cal), but he ended up in the orchestra and chamber programs, so he made some connections right from the start (of course, he could have participated in orchestra anyway...)</p>
<p>Should I contact the UC admissions office as a whole or separately for each UC I would like to apply to? So does this mean I have to go through the entire process prospective music majors go through?</p>
<p>Each UC handles applications separately, so you would have to contact each school. There are email contact addresses listed on the websites (though I sent some inquiries to UCLA and got no response, ever). Since UCSB has a performance department, you might start with the secretary there and perhaps the flute faculty. But to answer your question whether you would go through what performance majors go through, I think not. If you send a CD, though, you should look at what they expect music majors to be playing. I don't think you would be expected to audition at UCSB if you were applying as anything but a music major. Same would be true at Davis, where music is just one of the many majors in the college of letters and sciences. Once you were admitted to the school, you would audition for orchestra, though, as at any school. Another point: music major applicants to UCSB do have to send a resume, and recommendations. Even if you are not applying as one, you could attach a resume to the CD -- there would be no place on the general UC application to do that, but in your UC application, you should of course mention all of your orchestral and other performance experience -- especially any awards or leadership experience (principal flute, for example) -- these may enhance your application generally.</p>
<p>DD is not a music major but like the OP here wanted to continue to play her instrument and take lessons, and play in an orchestra while in college. I need to say...we know nothing about the UC's. However, in DD's case, she contacted the music department chairperson, the orchestra conductor and the instrument teacher at each school to which she applied. She attached her resume (also quite extensive) and then posed her questions...Were there opportunities for non-majors to play in the orchestra? Could she take private lessons (and what were the costs)? These folks were very forthcoming with answers for her. My DD did not submit a CD with her applications, but she did have private lessons and met with the music department folks at her three top choice schools during the application process. She knew upfront what her opportunities were at each school. I would suggest contacting the music department folks at the schools to which you are applying. They will know a LOT more about music opportunities and how to avail yourself of them than the admissions folks will.</p>
<p>That is absolutely true -- the admissions folks will probably know nothing, assuming you can even contact them. The UC's get thousands of applications (UCLA had 42,000 or so last year) and they farm them out for review. On the other hand, the music departments are fairly small, the programs want to have the best orchestras possible, and many are surprisingly good. (I heard the UC Symphony play Beethoven 7 a couple of weeks ago -- the conductor, David Milnes, is also a former Asst. conductor at the SF Symphony who was a longtime conductor, too, of their wonderful youth orchestra) -- it was quite a good performance -- standing ovation for an exhausted and exuberant orchestra. I have not heard the Davis orchestra but know several students who have participated, who were talented musicians, and the Davis music department is quite good. UCSB is small, friendly -- a very nice secretary who is good at communicating with interested students.</p>
<p>It can't hurt. UC Davis, for one, considers a lot of factors as pluses for admission, including performance awards, leadership (being a principal player in a section in orchestra), and other achievements that are music related. UC's most strongly consider your GPA, then SAT, but also your essays, and how they reflect what you would bring to the school. In your case, you would, among other things, bring strong music skills.<br>
Good luck!</p>
<p>Ah, someone in my other thread said that my CD would be tossed though, like rec letters because they wouldn't be required. Wouldn't this be true...because I would have to send in the CD through the general admissions process, not the music department (they don't have their own admissions).</p>
<p>Again, contact the departments and ask if they would be receptive to listening to a CD, with the idea that they could recommend you to the admissions department. The point would be to increase your chances of admission to the University. Once there, you would audition for performance ensembles. You could also skip the CD and just write about your interests in music on your application. As I said, UC's admissions appear to rest primarily on your stats and essays.
Although the UC's do have graduate programs, that does not mean that undergraduates in music don't get attention. The departments are small, so there is plenty of opportunity to get to know professors.
As to performance, at many of the UC's, it is mostly undergraduate oriented. Graduate students in musicology often are discouraged from spending much time on performance. At Cal, for example, the overwhelming number of students in the orchestra and ensembles are undergraduates -- in all majors. This is, of course, not true at UCSB, where there is a graduate program in performance.</p>
<p>So far I have only gotten 1 reply from Irvine and apparently, he wants me to ask about an audition when I apply...which I don't think is possible? The UC application is internet-based. I emailed him back anyway.</p>
<p>I don't know squat about the UC schools, but I can tell you a thing or three about self-promotion as a musician. Even if your objective is to minor in music, I suspect that you would still like to have a decent teacher and play with an ensemble that doesn't embarrass you. As one of many talented flute players seeking not a lot of openings, networking skills will be very important in achieving those goals.</p>
<p>Contact as many teachers, ensemble directors and department chairs as you can. Send them CD's and resumes and don't worry about how many get tossed in the wastebasket. Set up auditions and sample lessons whenever you can. Get your foot in the door and ask a lot of questions about the opportunities that are available. Play well and show some genuine interest and they are very likely to remember your name. That will give you a decided advantage over anyone who has not bothered to do the same. Expect that 95% or more of your contacts will be absolutely useless and be ready to pounce on opportunities provided by the others.</p>
<p>Makin it rain...BassDad and I have both given you similar advice regarding "marketing yourself" to the MUSIC programs for possible opportunities as a player once you get to college. We have both said the we know nothing about the UC's. Having said that...my DD marketed herself quite well. HOWEVER, this was for music opportunities only. She had to be admitted to the universities using their admittance criteria because she was NOT a music major. In most places, music departments can "lean" on the admissions folks if they have a very talented musician they see during the auditions who is on the cusp of the admittance criteria. However, I would think they would use this leverage for music majors only. The path I outlined for you (contacts, etc) would show your interest and desire to participate in the music program once enrolled, and that is important as well. My daughter was told...point blank...that they really wanted her as a music minor and player, but the had NO influence with admissions (this happened at three schools, two private and one state u).</p>
<p>I can't promise that it will have a positive effect on admissions, but I very much doubt that it will have a negative effect. Who knows? Maybe you will get lucky and the flute teacher will turn out to be the wife of the person making the admission decision and will put in a good word for you over breakfast. Nothing official, mind you, since you are not an intended major, but effective nonetheless. Stranger things have happened. If you don't bother to send out those CD's and resumes, you will not be in a position to have such good luck.</p>
<p>If you apply to a range of schools, you will very likely get in somewhere. That is where the marketing is more likely to do you some good. The music department at whatever school you ultimately decide to attend will know that you are interested in them and that you are willing to put some effort into what you do. That will give you a leg up on the other 17 incoming freshman flutists who are looking for the same opportunities that you are.</p>
<p>Wondering, though, about colleges that say specifically to send CD to admissions office, not music departments. Would it be considered okay to send an additional CD to a specific music professor? We recently figured how to send a large AIFF or smaller MP3 file to a musician using an FPT server. Is that a legitimate way to send a music prof a sample of an applicant's work?</p>