<p>Hi,
I wanted to hear from people that are applying / have applied to music programs to how many programs they apply (I already have my list closed by now, I just want to hear what other people are doing).</p>
<p>I play trumpet and here is my list of schools:
New England Conservatory
Boston University
Ithaca College
Bard College
Purchase College
U Mass Amherst
U Conn</p>
<p>What we were told by the teachers from NEC prep who advice tons of students about applying to conservatory is that you need to have at least one safety (which includes a financial and academic safety. If you are in state in MA UMass Amherst can be quite difficult to get into. Increasingly more and more top students are choosing to attend UMass because it has such a good reputation and the price is more affordable than going to a private school. And increasingly I hear about students who years ago would easily get admitted to UMass being rejected.</p>
<p>My son applied to 6. He was supposed to apply to 7 but messed up one application, which fortunately was to a school he was not interested in. He did 5 live auditions that winter. He was fortunate to already be admitted to Berklee based on a summer audition and scholarship. He auditioned again in February to try to increase his scholarship. University of Southern Maine was his financial and academic/music safety. He ended up never auditioning there because of scheduling and timing.</p>
<p>I agree with Stacjip, and have only a few things to add.</p>
<p>I agree about adding or having at least one safety school, both admission and financial-wise.</p>
<p>My daughter started with a list of 10 schools, but did not apply to all of them. The schools had a variety of admissions deadlines and audition requirements. She was admitted to her financial safety school in December, which was a large state university with early audition option. That meant she could cut out a few applications/auditions. She only did three live auditions; the rest she did with recordings or was admitted early on the basis of taking a lesson with the teacher. She ended up not applying to Amsterdam, which she seriously considered, but she had settled on her first choice school before Amsterdam’s (late) admission deadline in April.</p>
<p>My son did only 3 auditions last year. Eastman, Curtis and Ithaca. He already knew and had worked at camps with the professors at Eastman and Curtis. He took a sample lesson in October at Ithaca and was told he would be admitted. He auditioned and was admitted. He was really only interested in Eastman and Ithaca because he was really looking for a well rounded general education. He is also a performance/ Education major and he absolutley loved his music ed class this past semester. He is very happy and doing extremely well at Eastman. </p>
<p>Cleveland Institute admissions office actually called our house and asked if he would audition because we had done a visit/ tour with them. They were short on audtioners due to some prescreening requirement video or something. I told them his schedule and schools he was scheduled for and they waived the prescreen. Ultimately he turned then down, they wanted a $125/$150 application/ audition fee. I said “hey, you called us we didn’t call you waive the fee”. They wouldn’t so we passed.</p>
<p>I applied to 11 schools with two “safeties” where I knew I could study with a reliable teacher on a getting full-ride. The rest I would consider all to be “reaches” just because the music world can be so subjective (I passed NEC prescreening but not USC?). </p>
<p>What I thought was really helpful was writing teachers. I wrote my dream teacher at my dream school, introduced myself, and it was amazing. We corresponded all over break, and he made my prescreening passed. I’m going to have a lesson with him when I audition. </p>
<p>I also wrote my second choice teacher about myself, and she’s already given me a very good scholarship just based off of my YouTube videos! </p>
<p>I wrote another teacher too who I thought would be a “dream teacher” and the teacher was not very enthusiastic about my playing so I knew to cross that one off my list (also when I visited the school it was not an atmosphere that fit with me at all…)! </p>
<p>It’s amazing what contacting teachers can do…don’t apply cold to a dream school! Make sure you have a contact!</p>
<p>It really may not be possible to reduce these lists to numbers! I caution students about applying to too many schools because it’s very expensive and you can find yourself spread too thin and unable to fit in all of those auditions. Remember that audition season is during the winter and that means travel can be dicey and it’s cold and flu season. In some cases, there may not be a “safety” school- if you are a flutist, violinist or soprano, you know there are a lot of you auditioning for a few spots. Choose schools where you know you would be happy and where you really like the teacher and the full program.</p>
<p>So many of us have said this so many times: please don’t try to make sense out of why you passed pre-screening at one place and not another. It does not mean that NEC is a better school than USC/Thornton (just using that from the example that was listed above)- it could be that one school needs more students that play a particular instrument or that a place graduated all of their mezzos and needs to fill in the entering class with more. Maybe a faculty member is going to retire in a year so they know that they need to cut back until a replacement has signed on. Don’t waste time and energy- save it for your auditions!</p>
<p>I don’t want to rain on any parades here, but it is not at all wise to count on any admission statments or mentions of scholarships unless and until you have it in writing from the Admissions Office and from the Financial Aid Department. Teachers sometimes make promises that they are not authorized to make or things they say can be misconstrued- I have known top students with excellent qualifications who have been told one thing by a teacher and then turned down when it came to the final letter. At this point in time, scholarships can’t be allocated because there is no final list of accepted students nor have FAFSA Forms been submitted. </p>
<p>Thanks so much for sharing your insights and experience. It’s been tough figuring out how many schools my son should apply to. Right now, he’s scheduled to audition at 10 schools. Two of these are regional and one or two will be by DVD. We’re also thinking of dropping one or two of the schools as we move forward and get a better sense of where he stands. Although he generally does well at auditions, I take nothing for granted. Piano is a tough admit, and we will definitely need financial aid and scholarships. This is why the list is on the long side. Fortunately, DS has passed his prescreens and this has been a big boost. He also has established relationships at his top two choices and one of his “safety” schools. </p>
<p>Now the travel arrangements begin and this is indeed where it gets a bit dicey! Wondering if it’s possible to do Eastman and Ithaca on back to back days. My grandmother lived in upstate New York, so I’m very familiar with lake effect snow. Although we live in NJ and could conceivably drive, I’m thinking of taking Amtrak to Eastman and then Greyhound to Ithaca the next day. Do you think this is doable? I’ve already booked our hotels, so at least were set there.</p>
<p>BachMom, I sent you a private message (I think) regarding my thoughts on Eastman/Ithaca travel. If you do not get it I will either try sending it again or post what I wrote here.</p>
<p>Bachmom, That should be possible to do Eastman/ Ithaca if you can get them on the same weekend. My son just told me Eastman auditions are on Fridays this year. He is part of the student group at Eastman that will show kids around and be there to help with questions and finding things.</p>
<p>Hi all - Does anyone have any experience with auditions at USC, UCLA or University of Washington/Seattle? My son has auditioned at Berklee and was admitted with a partial scholarship. We live on the west coast and he has auditions at these schools. Would appreciate anything that can be shared. Altogether, my son has 7 auditions. 1 down, 6 to go.</p>
<p>Alright, let’s break this down. Eastman usually tells applicants to make themselves available up until late in the evening- I remember my D’s audition tihere taking place at 10 PM! They have a large meeting in the main theatre first thing in the morning, and then the kids split off for more meetings while the parents remain in a Q&A. There is a large activity fair, tours of the buildings and dorm, and grad students audition first. Your son could have a spot in the afternoon or he could be playing much later.
Amtrak to upstate NY is a disaster, and if I could find a stronger word for it, I would. Nothing runs on time, and delays of several hours are common; Amtrak employees refer to the Lake Shore Limited as the “Late for Sure Limited”! I’ve spent hours sitting on board at Albany/Troy while they fumble around trying to find a engine (the lines split there, so they have to rehook), had trains cancelled altogether which necessitated grabbing a ticket on a local which takes a lifetime to get to NYC. To be completely honest with you, I would not take the train for any reason unless I had two days and unending patience. Greyhound usually runs on time out of Rochester but they do cancel if the weather is terrible (NY isn’t shy about closing the Thruway if need be) and the terminal is in a bad area of Rochester. That gives you a choice of driving or flying (Jet Blue has great prices to Rochester) and renting a car. I lived in Rochester for 30+ years- I’d fly.</p>
<p>Thanks everybody. My safeties are UConn and UMass, based on meeting the teachers there and feeling like I have a good chance. Purchase is a financial safety since I am a New York resident but it is harder to get into.
I have had lessons with a number of teachers in the schools I mentioned and have contacted most of the other ones.
I also started with about 10 options and reduced it to what I could realistically afforded (I hope I’m right in saying that my dad and I can manage 7 live auditions).
Generally it sounds like I’m in a good place, it’s nice to hear people’s opinions. I am waiting right now for my prescreening results from Bard and Purchase, will update when I hear anything.</p>
<p>I’ve applied to 12 schools (ridiculous, right?), only 3 of which are exclusively music schools. Sounds like you’re from around New England, we applied to 3 of the same institutions! ;)</p>
<p>I think it’s fine (and not even a bad idea, if you have a good mix of reaches, matches, and one financial/academic safety) to apply to 12 schools, as long as you don’t have 12 auditions. 12 auditions would be physically and logistically overwhelming, but 5-6 auditions and a balance of paper applications is savvy because you cannot prediction what offers, admission-wise and financial, you will have on April 1.</p>
<p>Hi woodwinds ~ I was wondering if you could please elaborate on what you said about your daughter’s admissions and not having to go to the audition …“was admitted early on the basis of taking a lesson with the teacher.”
Thank you for your help!</p>
<p>Thank you all for sharing this information. My high school junior S will be going through this next year (obviously). I appreciate hearing your real-life experiences with auditions and wish those of you in the process the best of luck! We are visiting Oberlin and Ithaca for certain over spring break, and maybe Eastman. We live on the west coast.</p>
<p>I went through this last year with DS2. Being a saxophone (so many for so few places!) he applied to 10 schools a combination of safety, middle and reach. Although we were prepared to do 10 live auditions, circumstances meant we sent in 2 recordings, did 2 “regional” auditions and the rest were on campus. He was accepted at all 10, regardless of audition method, 2 full tuition offers and substantial scholarships from all. His #1 reach was one of the full tuition so the choice in the end was simple. Made me wonder if we should’ve done fewer. But hindsight is 20-20 and going in we were not that confident
I will be going through the same with DS3 next year. Different instrument and except for two, different schools. I still don’t know the answer :)</p>
<p>Update: I passed both Bard and Purchase pre-screening, officially got into UConn and unofficially got into NEC which almost gave me a heart attack I really hope it works out there financially, after being there I can say it’s definitely my top choice.
All of my auditions were really good so far, have only Bard left, and I am, just like NYsaxmom, starting to wonder if I really had to do that many. But on the other hand, I still don’t know anything financial-wise, which could be even more important that acceptance itself…
Hope everyone else is doing well!</p>
I really hope it works out there financially, after being there I can say it’s definitely my top choice.