<p>I was wondering, do most schools pass people for prescreening, or do they only pass those who they think have a chance of being accepted? Thoughts?</p>
<p>The purpose of pre screening is to weed out those who don’t meet the minimum standard for getting admitted to the program. A top level school that has let’s say 25 openings on violin may get as many as 150 or even almost 200 kids applying and to avoid having to schedule that many auditions they pre screen to weed that down to a manageable number. They basically weed out those they feel are below a certain minimum level of playing and whoever is left gets the okay to audition. I don’t know if they limit it to a hard number, let’s say 50, or if they weed out those below a certain level and audition however many make the grade, I suspect there is a rough target number.</p>
<p>yup like musicprnt said, it saves time and money for both the applicants and the faculty, and one benefit of there being a prescreen is that if you don’t make it, you won’t have to wait until february or so (if you apply on one of the later dates) to find out if you’ll make it. You might have time to see if you pass the prescreening, then decide if you want to apply to more colleges or not.</p>
<p>It’s kind of weird for me because I passed NEC prescreen for violin and I felt like I shouldn’t have passed. My tape was terrible. And I didn’t make it to USC but I made it to NEC? This all doesn’t make sense. So, do they allow live auditions for those whom they think can be accepted?</p>
<p>The strategies are probably at least slightly different from college to college. Music can be quite subjective, so I wouldn’t be surprised. Just do your best, and you never know, maybe you do 1 thing really well that really appeals to the judges and they just like you. Maybe a bunch of exceptional students applied to USC but not NEC, for whatever reason, or something xD</p>
<p>They allow live auditions for those that appear to have the potential to play at close to the level to be accepted. They know that a performance in a live audition may be quite different from a recorded performance (which might be one of ten takes).</p>
<p>Usually only one (or possibly a very few people) listen to the prescreening recordings rather than the full panel that often hears the actual audition. As well, a live audition will normally take about 15 minutes whereas it may take only a minute of listening to the prescreen to conclude that either the applicant is grossly underskilled or obviously has what it takes to be a serious candidate for admission.</p>
<p>As I have mentioned before with respect to “terrible” versus “perfect” prescreening recordings: students often lack perspective because they do not have the opportunity to hear that wide variety of applicants that invariably apply and they have too much personal investment in their own performance to listen objectively; as well, the prescreener can hear potential amid a few mistakes–a few seconds of errors will not obliterate the obvious talent and skill of the other 25 minutes of the recording; in fact, a few glaring errors amid wonderful playing usually just means that the prescreen wasn’t overeditted! The prescreen just gets you in the ballpark–ultimately the audition counts.</p>
<p>Was your USC rejection on the basis of your academic record or on the basis of your prescreen or was that made clear? Given USC’s knowledge of you, perhaps the issue is clouded.</p>
<p>Invariably there are many results for both prescreens and for actual admission that many people consider strange. Many people attempt to rank schools and assume that if one particular school rejects them then no school of supposedly higher ranking could possibly admit them. It does not work that way for the many reasons that have been discussed ad nauseum in many threads.</p>
<p>Not sure what the deal is, highly subjective I am sure. Our experience with NYU went a bit like this. Prescreen recording done with with another person taped at the same time, kill two birds with one stone. Videos edited to feature one guitarist or the other for required bits, everything else the same. Videos submitted, received and NEVER VIEWED according to the hits on you tube. One guitarist invited and the other not invited as far as we gather because the e-mail was somewhat cryptic and our attempts to have the e-mail clarified have been met with silence.</p>
<p>It is easier to accept a result when you know the material submitted has been reviewed. </p>
<p>I am sure every review panelist sees or hears something different and the results very from one to the next. It is surely different from the perspective of the artist whose opinion about what they have done is probably full of emotion. Such a crazy game!! Waiting and wondering and then doing it all over again and waiting and wondering some more.</p>
<p>@ violindad — it was my prescreen tape. But I see your point. Thanks!</p>
<p>
Musictwins, the videos were not viewed? That makes no sense! Did you call the office or just write to them? Or are you just writing the school off based on that strange response. </p>
<p>Lifeofsolitude, I know a young man who made the finals for Curtis and got a full tuition scholarship at NEC but did not pass prescreen for Mannes. I know it’s hard, but try not to read too much into the results of your prescreens.</p>
<p>Glassharmonica, S pulled the plug on NYU after repeated calls and messages asking for some clarification have gone unanswered.</p>
<p>@glass wow. that’s weird. Yeah I shouldn’t read into those. It’s kind of messing with me because I felt like I shouldn’t have passed some of the schools that I applied to.</p>
<p>Lifeofsolitude, (I say this with no knowledge of your playing), you need to work on your self-confidence before going into your auditions. If you received a prescreening green light, that means that you are considered a viable candidate for admission. Don’t go into your audition with a sense of inferiority or it will be reflected in your playing. Make sure your pieces are well-practiced and secure. Hold your head high and have fun. Not everyone is invited to audition at NEC. You have passed a big hurdle.</p>
<p>As others have said, passing pre screens at a given school is highly subjective, so for example someone could pass prescreen at Juilliard or Curtis and get rejected from a school considered lower tier…and among the top schools, the hierarchy people assume doesn’t mean anything, if school A is supposed to be better then school B, passing A’s prescreen can also mean not passing B’s…</p>
<p>When they listen to prescreen recordings they are trying to figure out if the person meets the minimum standards to get in. Especially the top schools are flooded by people from around the world who believe they ‘have’ to go to that school, think they are good enough and quite frankly many of them aren’t…I don’t know direct real numbers, but if a school admits let’s say 10% of those that apply, and they have 25 open slots, it stands to reason they have a lot of people applying in any given area (obviously, that 10% is overall, vocal might take only 2% whereas violins take 15%, but you get the idea).</p>
<p>The other thing with pre screen recordings those listening to it can discern major problems with technique and playing from slips or minor goofs. If someone is continually playing with poor intonation or their playing shows lack of understanding of the piece or whatever, it is different then a slip here or there. Also, I have yet to find many music students who aren’t hypercritical of their playing or think they sounded worse then they did, kind of goes with the territory.</p>
<p>I agree, you need to build your self confidence on the audition and go in there assuming you are good enough, because the pre screen said they thought you were. The fact that let’s say USC didn’t take you in prescreen doesn’t mean you were horrible, it meant that for whatever reasons they felt given their standards, you weren’t ready, but the fact that a school like NEC passed you should tell you something. You are going to face this with live auditions, too, a couple of students my child knew applied to NEC and some of the other tippy top programs, and they didn’t get into NEC but got into the other programs; another student applied to NEC who my child knew well and got in with a large merit award, and the two I am mentioning were by all accounts much stronger performers then they were, so figure that out <em>shrug</em>. </p>
<p>Others have said the whole process is subjective and a crapshoot, and it seems to be so you have to go in there with confidence and realize that the results may not appear too logical.</p>
<p>@musicprnt thanks. Yes, I do have to work on my self-confidence. I’m trying not to read into it but I can’t help but wonder why NEC would pass me. It’s such a prestigious school. But whatever. I’m grateful that they are giving me the opportunity to audition and that’s all that matters! It is subjective!</p>
<p>LifeofSolitude, if you made prescreen at NEC you are really good. My daughter’s friends have had similar prescreen experiences. One flute player made prescreen at USC and Eastman, but not UT Austin. Maybe it was the different music required, and she didn’t like the more standard fare of UT Austin? Who knows, doesn’t matter. You’ve got some major auditions coming up; focus on those and do your best.</p>