Hi
We have two auditions on one day, my son is jazz piano (doubles on bass).
Neither NYU nor McGill will give him an alternate audition date. I heard that NYU is light on merit money, and McGill would basically be half the cost.
Does anyone have any advice on this?
Thank you,
Sharon
NYU offers practically no merit money. Almost all of their scholarships require you to show need. If you are concerned about affording college and your FAFSA doesn’t show substantial “need”, I think you have your answer. I am not a musician so I can’t comment on which is the better artistic choice.
Does either permit video auditions?
I would prioritize McGill over NYU based on cost and my (anecdotal) understanding that the Schulich School of Music is a stronger music program than NYU Steinhardt. Full disclosure: my jazz guitarist son is audtioning at NYU and decided not to apply to Schulich but for reasons other than cost and strength of program.
NYU is notoriously stingy with money. Your family needs to decide based on realistic chances of acceptance, affordability, post-grad opportunities, and anything else that is deemed very important.
That’s a tough one. Both great schools. Your son will have to do some soul-searching… does he want to be in NYC? Would NYC be too much too soon for him? Does he like extreme winter? Would he be happy in a bilingual environment? And the money, if that’s important for you, try to see if he would be happy at the cheaper option. If money doesn’t matter to you, then go with the place that has the best teacher for him. Has he met the teachers? Good luck!
I’m surprised there’s no alternate date. NYU had a couple of dates for us to choose from. Don’t know about McGill.
Sadly, I’m not surprised that NYU wouldn’t change the audition date. We emailed them early in the process, telling them we were coming from the West Coast and therefore asking them to give us an audition date early or late in the week so that S could travel over the weekend to minimize missed days of school. Despite this, they gave us a Wed audition day. I begged them to change, and they politely said it wouldn’t be possible. . . . Mind you, this is after they took forever to actually confirm that S made it through the pre-screen, so, um, yeah . . .
@WestOfPCH - McGill only has one week of auditions. I think they coincide with school break so that Canadian students can get there without missing classtime. McGill does offer video auditions, but they would probably be happier with an in-person (as do most schools). The price differential is substantial and if your S has good grades/test scores their merit money is also guaranteed.
Wow, I didn’t know. No advice then @sharonp except that sucks!
I do know some kids who were granted admission to tippy-top programs based on video auditions, so there’s proof that it does happen!!
Mine got into Steinhardt with a video audition. Sometimes it simply isn’t possible to be everywhere at once, and things still work out just fine.
If you decide to change on-campus audition to video audition in McGill, it may be worth making a trip for 1-on-1 lessons with the faculty prior to the audition week in order to at least have someone who knows you in person in the faculty. From personal experience, they respond to emails promptly and welcome requests for sample lessons.
Also, S having just done the Steinhardt audition, I can report that it’s about 15 minutes long. If McGill has more of a program I would probably opt for them.
@akapiratequeen - I think the jazz auditions are a couple of hours long It’s set up a like a jam session with multiple appicants where tunes are called that you have to be prepared to play.
Oh @lkbux64 I stand corrected! My S did music education/jazz audition.
At least for classical performance @ McGill, the audition is only scheduled for 15 minutes…not sure if it’s different for jazz.
Thank you everyone, for your help! I was finally able to work it out with NYU (my alma mater…)…It’s going to be a busy week but we now have two separate dates!
Phew @Sharon P - glad it worked out! Enjoy Montreal…
Congrats on working it out. We had a similar issue that caused us much stress, but ultimately worked out. Sometimes the kids have to make tough decisions, but it is nice when the schools are flexible and allow you to do both.