Some Festivals state specific notification dates, other give vague windows of time and others do not state anything about notification timeline. Can those in the know please give an idea of which summer festivals notify when? Also, generally how much time does each festival give you before you “commit.” What if you get into one festival but are still waiting to hear the results of other (potentially more desirable) festivals. How does all of this deadline/commit/waitlist etc stuff work for summer festivals?
Word of mouth is the best way to find out. Offer dates are all over the place. Most competitive festivals will offer to their A-list, then after a waiting period go to the waitlist. Sometimes waitlists to top festivals will open up quite late, kind of a domino effect. In the old days when kids were less circumspect (and still used Facebook) they would often post their results (“Taos Summer 2014 FTW!”) but that rarely happens anymore. The rejection emails or letter tend to go out later than the acceptances and alternate lists.
2 years ago, my d had to commit to one summer festival or risk losing her spot before she heard back from another one she was very interested in. She got in to both but had already committed to the first one. I guess she could have pulled out of it but it turned out for the best. But yes, we do wish there was a universal deadline like with schools!!!
I should mention than my daughter once heard from a festival in Europe weeks before she knew she was due to hear from the domestic festival she preferred to attend. With my coaching (she was 18 at the time) she emailed the teacher at the domestic festival explaining that she had to respond to #1 before she would hear back from #2 and that studying with her at #2 was the first choice. She got an early acceptance. I agree, a universal deadline would make the students’ lives much easier.
My D has gone to Tanglewood BUTI for 2 years… they have sent emails at the beginning of March. As others have said, they may put you on the waiting list but that moves quickly too… within a week they move on. Last year she was on the waiting list and went in for a instrument 2 week workshop and after one week someone had dropped out of a higher ensemble and they asked her to join… I had to mail the correct attire so she could attend… and they gave her a scholarship for almost all of it. So you never know
@mperrine , so the 3/1 notification BUTI provides is not actual notification? I was hoping for an even earlier date, but I guess not?
@Busy_Momma last year it was on time… the year before it was later. They try to get it the first week of March…but it will not be earlier… sorry… we feel your pain… we too await the BUTI news this year… she is really gunning for the orchestra… for a horn it is a harder reach
S told me earlier today that 2 of his friends already received notification for BUTI, an acceptance and a wait list. Perhaps we’ll hear soon.
We got an email last night. Acceptance to the Wind Ensemble… wait list to the Orchestra
My son received emails from Interlochen and BUTI - both with decisions this week.
My vocalist D received a rejection from Curtis about two weeks ago and an acceptance for Tanglewood last week.
Our D is going to do the WNO Opera Institute at the Kennedy Center. This is the only program she applied to. She is a high school senior and wasn’t sure she wanted to do a program this summer, but she heard great things about this from other vocalists and wanted to give it a try.
I hope people can think out of the box for summer. It’s so damn competitive out there, and scads of talented kids are going to be rejected or waitlisted. There are many weeklong courses both here and in Europe that could be great diversions, with lessons with interesting teachers who aren’t so accessible. Or consider sending your kid to an amazing festival like Salzburg where he can hear orchestras that seldom play in the US. Compared to an expensive two month program, you might actually save some money!
Great point @Music2023. Where does one find a list of these types of courses? We purposely told S not to apply to any long summer programs to avoid burnout before college, but a one week class course would be ideal.
@Lendlees are there any blogs or forums specific to your instrument? I would start there, but you could also google “Summer Music Festivals” or “Summer Music Courses.” Or ask your son’s teacher. Or ask here…
@Music2023 Good idea! - S is a member of a percussion FB group so I might have him ask there. Teachers have not been much help - they only know the local one that S has done for 3 years now. Hoping other knowledgeable folks here might have ideas… 
Great idea @Music2023
We got a notification from MSM day before yesterday if anyone is wondering about timing… (D got a spot, but she’s already accepted an offer from Tanglewood).
Also: Tanglewood gave us less than a week to respond. I’ll have to doublecheck about the MSM deadline.
In the case of nearly every summer festival on our radar screen, nearly all of them required applications (with fees) and if accepted, commitments/deposits, well before we will hear about whether my daughter was accepted to the free, in-state opportunity to be part of a month-long “governor’s honors” program for top kids in the state. (I think BoCo, Westminster Choir College, and Baldwin-Wallace are a couple of notable exceptions). Granted, national programs are more prestigious and no doubt higher quality than anything our state can host, but it would be nice to have a true choice instead of one being thrust upon us due to an early deadline to commit. I imagine it used to be the same before colleges agreed for May 1 to be the common date for commitment. It would be nice if summer festivals and camps could do the same. Maybe our kids will remember this and can fix it someday when they are movers and shakers in the musical world?
Some of the European festivals are geared to the music of the 20th an 21st centuries, such as Lucerne:
https://www.lucernefestival.ch/en/lucerne-festival-academy
Mostly for undergrads and grads:
http://fontainebleauschools.org/music
https://www.eccearts.com/etchings
http://soundscapefestival.org/
Sorry for the tangent!
By the way, if a festival is pressuring you for a decision by an early deadline, you can ask for an extension. They might say no, but you can ask. You can also call the festival you’re waiting for and tell them you’re being pressured and ask if it’s possible to get an early answer. They may say no, but you can ask. And by “you”, I mean the student, not the parent.