“Compete in state competitions
Compete in regional / state competitions”
That is the only thing I question in what otherwise I agreed with. Competitions as performance opportunities are not necessarily a bad thing, but in terms of admissions to a program, they likely will do little, especially if they are state or regional competitions. If someone is auditioning on an instrument, they likely will matter very, very little to nothing, with composition (which I admittedly know little about), winning a prestigious competition like an ASCAP or BMI award I could see helping in the admissions process, but winning a local/state competition likely would not do much, especially given that the level of those competitions is likely all over the place, the way they are with music competitions. If the competitions are to gain experience in writing a piece and submitting it to a competition, getting it recorded, as a process I agree, as a prerequisite to getting admission or influencing it, not much at all if anything.
None of that is really necessary for composition. Summer programs, a good teacher, attending conservatory prep are all good things to do but for conservatories, it is really about the music (and sometimes the interview) and for colleges an arts supplement will do exactly that, supplement an application (often without an audition). Most important here is the age of the student who is starting to burn out already, so something needs to change.
Also ‘top’ conservatories are not necessarily the ‘top’ places for a composition student. Composition is very different than a performance track, with many different pathways.
I agree with this–my son had the summer composition program, and a good supplement–but no composition teacher, really, and no conservatory prep. He didn’t go to a conservatory for undergrad, but majored in music at a university, and then went to a conservatory for grad school. Composition is really quite different from performance. After a certain amount of instruction, it’s really about the music you write.