Pros and cons of early action applications?

Other than simply having an offer in your back pocket early, what are the pros and cons of early action applications? How does it affect admission chances and scholarships (both merit and need)?

It’s clear that for many non-music kids, EA gives them a statistical advantage. Is the same true for music kids? Any downsides? How many of your kids did it, and if you had it to do over again, what would you do?

We are already thinking about when D will have time to record pre-screens and write essays, and I’m just wondering whether it’s worth the extra effort required to apply early. D will return from Tanglewood after her school has already started (missing the first few days of her senior year – because yes, school starts crazy early in the south) so if EA is on her agenda, we need to plan for it ahead of that fall scramble.

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I applied EA to my state school and did a November audition. It was really good to get that under my belt before the more important ones after the new year.

If at all possible, you should get one EA under your/her belt. Auditions are in November or December so she still has a couple of months. Choose a school that doesn’t require a prescreen if possible. We did two things: EA application to Berklee (not his top choice/a relatively simple audition, just one song and all the basic scales, theory, etc.) and also he applied for a BA (no audition required) at our local state school, which has rolling admissions. It would also have been possible to transfer from arts & science at the state school to the music school if he didn’t get in. So he knew by the end of December that he had a couple of options, which really decreased the stress level going in to the main audition season.

[Full disclosure: he did not get a merit award from Berklee, so it wasn’t a real possibility. But he knew he was good enough to be admitted. And, though I stressed about it at the time, the lack of an award was not predictive for other schools. Berklee just didn’t need to buy what he was selling this year, I guess.]

One more thought, on audition timing: you don’t always have a choice. But if you do, I would aim for the middle of the season – mid-to late-February – rather than later if you can. My S was out of juice by March and even dropped his last school because he couldn’t be bothered. Luckily, the important stuff came in late February/first weekend in March, and he shone when he needed to .

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I thought doing an early audition at our state school was a great idea. It was not as intimidating and gave him a taste of what is to come. However, we ended up not doing an ED audition at a very competitive music school because he wasn’t ready. Then I was kicking myself when it became his number one choice. However, he was much more prepared when he auditioned during the RD round and ended up being accepted. I think you need to really think about doing an early decision to a top choice. I know others expressed the same sentiment. For my son, his confidence and preparation were much better in February than November.

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Just having a couple auditions in early December were very helpful. But I would caution against scheduling a reach or top target for early audition until you are sure your child can be ready for it.

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Great topic @khill87! I know the ED option was important for my non-music major kids. Do many of the conservatory programs offer EA? I don’t remember that many EA options for conservatories, but maybe my S was just not ready in November.

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It really I think depends on the school. One school my S applied to had an Early Action option for an admission decision into that University that wasn’t tied to his audition timing or admission into the school of music. It was great to get admission into the University before audition season began and then when he had a lesson with the professor they already knew he had passed admissions into the university and in his case even what his academic merit scholarship was.

Just my opinion but if you do things early and have your ducks in a row so to speak it shows a level of seriousness, professionalism and interest in the school that other applicants that wait until the last minute do not. There is no doubt that all of that gets washed away when the actual auditions happen but in the case where they are looking applicants of very similar talent level those types of intangibles make a difference.

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@khill87 this is an interesting topic! I second @vistajay 's advice to get an early audition or two out of the way, and preferably at a school lower on your D’s list, to get her sea legs under her! I think you will find that MOST of the more competitive VP programs do not have an EA or ED option. Frankly, they want to hear the whole group of applicants before making decisions (and especially in voice, they are doing some casting in their heads…). Also, I think you’ll find talent scholarship awards are an issue with EA, so if money is an important part of the equation, you’ll likely have to wait it out to the bitter end! You may be able to do a non binding early action or decision at a school farther down your D’s list, and it may help to alleviate the stress of the whole process knowing she is “in” somewhere! But otherwise, I think for the more competitive admits, it’s going to be March Madness for your D!

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Music school apps are pretty much all due early for RD already - I think the last one my son sent in was Nov 30th to meet the USC Thornton deadline. The biggest problem is how early you have to be prepped for the audition. My S did get accepted to Chapman EA, but it was based on the video audition/prescreen tape. That was his only EA. All of the others that he applied to, he did not feel he was ready before January for the live audition, and even in January, he wasn’t confident. The only other music major applicant from his high school was accepted early at Bienen in December, and must have been extremely well prepped to audition early there.

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My thoughts on early audition vs. later audition. YMMV.

I think the one thing schools are looking for is potential and training/technique/sound quality. They are not looking for perfection. These are all very accomplished musicians and educators that are evaluating your student. They have heard thousands of auditions. They can tell in the first few moments whether a student is well TRAINED or well REHEARSED and there is a big difference between the two. With that said if you feel the the training and technique are very solid an early audition vs a late audition doesn’t really matter.

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Of the schools D18 auditioned for, Vanderbilt (Blair) and Northwestern (Bienen) offered Early Decision options. I believe with Vanderbilt they may have even offered two Early Decision rounds of auditions, with auditions in November (ED1) and early January (ED 2). Northwestern has a single ED round with auditions mid Novemberish, I think the app may be due as early as 10/15.

Caveats- Bienen will tell you they don’t defer Early Decision applicants, only accept or reject, so if you don’t clear the higher ED performance bar in November, you don’t get a second chance to be evaluated against the RD pool.

As far as merit aid goes, when you apply ED you’re committing to attend if admitted, so I imagine that would not put you in a good position to argue for a scholarship.

D did apply EA to the Arts and Sciences school at one of her RD music schools, (the two had separate admissions processes) and also to her BA (non audition) option. In both cases she was deferred before being admitted RD. Not sure if the one with the BM audition deferred her initially because she had an audition pending or not.

I think it’s correct that most if not all music scholarships are handed out in the RD time frame, regardless of EA status.

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Actually my kid did a sort of EA at one school, was accepted to the university and then auditioned for the BM program in their music school in early January. They accepted him and then sent out scholarship info within a week. And a month+ later sent another letter with even more scholarship $$. Another school accepted him within a couple of weeks of audition, but still haven’t released scholarship info yet. So it really depends on the school.

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On the practical side, if you can be admitted EA to your second choice school, you have only one more application to write.

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Another thing – your D will be preparing prescreens for Nov 1 or Dec 1 submissions anyway. As @gram22 notes, most music schools need your materials a lot sooner than the non-music Jan. or Feb. deadlines so they can evaluate and move you through to the auditions.

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I agree with the comments above, especially with applying for some programs that don’t require pre-screens. Some of these may be tied to early action deadlines (BU was in my daughter’s year). It’s great to have a few “guaranteed auditions”.

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My two cents is to tread gingerly with ED music school admissions.

My son applied ED to Northwestern/Bienen and did not get in. Did he not get in BECAUSE he applied ED? We’ll never know. But, I will tell you this, if I had found CC before he applied ED, I would have counseled against him applying ED. Per others, it seems that the bar is higher for ED than RD as they like to see what is going to be available in the RD pool. Even if you discount that the bar is higher for ED than RD, you also have to keep in mind that 2 -3 months of additional practice between the ED school auditions and the RD school auditions will generally mean a stronger audition which will increase the odds of being admitted.

In the end, his not being admitted ED is turning out to be a good thing. My son has some very good options to choose from and all of his music school admits came with a scholarship – something that we would have missed out on if he had gotten into his ED school.

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