We are 5 days from decision day and Juilliard just gave our D (violin performance) her studio assignment today (her 1st choice) and NEC has notified her that she is on her first choice teacher’s very short list for very few spots but that they are still trying to work it out.
Have any of you ever experienced studio teacher assignments coming AFTER the acceptance deadline? My D does not want to commit to a school without knowing who her teacher will be.
NEC wins in many ways- financially, location and her dad and I are alums so we know it and Boston very well. She would accept in a heartbeat if this teacher said yes. But she would not want to say yes if she doesn’t know with whom she will study.
This has been a frustrating wait for all of us.
Any experience or advice?
I’m not an expert, but I don’t think there’s any downside to just putting your cards on the table to the admissions director at NEC. “She will commit today is teacher A comes through at NEC, but if the studio assignment is still up in the air at the deadline, we have an offer from her first choice at Juilliard, and teacher assignment is critical to her decision.” It’s a pretty straightforward situation, assuming first choice at Juilliard is preferable to second choice at NEC.
“First choice on a very short list” sounds extremely promising. Has she made contact with the NEC teacher? Is she assigned to a 2nd choice studio she could live with, while hoping to transfer into 1st choice? It sounds likely she will get the spot, given that there is always some shuffling around May 1. I agree with NYCMusicDad–lay cards on table. If there is no response and you’re up to the wire, you may need to take a leap of faith. It sounds like she genuinely prefers NEC.
Yes, we’ve had this discussion and we’ve had direct communication with the #1 at NEC who wants to find a solution (and who has not yet released my D even though she is obviously not #1 on the short list). Thing is D’s 2nd choice is probably a longer shot than #1 so we have no assurance that that can happen either.
I’m sure the #1 teacher has offered the few spots to some of the short listed kids and is now waiting for their yes or no. But time is getting slim.
It seems straightforward except that Juilliard will cost $10k more because NEC gave her such a great aid package.
I’m just wondering if they always give you assignments before the deadline or if schools expect you to plunk down all your money and gamble on this.
I attended NEC from 87-90 as a bassoonist which is a much different world from the violin world of today.
My daughter has two degrees from Juilliard in strings–if you want to PM me with questions I’d be glad to give you whatever perspective I have.
We got email confirmation on Saturday morning from #1 teacher at NEC so my daughter made her choice! Boston bound! Yay!
Teacher selection was critical to us as well. Into the last 2 weeks he had not heard form his teacher of choice at selection 1A and had not even had a sample lesson with the recommended teacher from school 1B. So we pressed school 1A and the teacher directly for an answer. We let the music admissions coordinator know S18 was coming there if he got accepted into a certain teacher’s studio. We emailed the teacher directly the day he said we should check back with him. We also asked S18’s current voice teacher to reach out to the 1A teacher, encouraging him to accept S18. That last one seemed to do the trick, as S18 got an email back very soon thereafter, accepting him.
Sounds almost identical to our journey, except the violin version!
Congratulations, @Violinmomaz!
Congratulations, @Violinmomaz!
Congratulations. I hope she has four wonderful happy years at NEC. My son is an alum of NEC prep and NEC undergrad. When we went to the open house for the new building I told my husband I have such warm fuzzy feelings from the NEC campus and I think it is because our son had four mostly very happy years there.
Congrats to @Violinmomaz !
First time commenter here.
My S was in the same boat… with almost identical words (top of a very short waitlist), with USC Thornton (Violin Perf). He got a call from the prof on the 26th offering him a spot in his studio. Needless to say S was ecstatic and accepted on the spot - LA bound now.
May I ask who the teacher was ? Weilerstein ?
Congrats on Miriam! She has an incredible studio!