Teacher Assignment with Acceptance?

At IU last week the admissions folks stated that if you get an acceptance then it’s the student’s job to reach out to the professor and ask to be put in their studio. They basically are putting the onus on the student to make the connection and work it out with the professor they want. With a student body of 1600 musicians maybe that’s the most efficient way?

@lkbux64 Totally normal to go to the house! BUT- Find out from other students if this teacher does this very often for his students already enrolled at the school. You don’t want your son to enroll and then have to find transportation to commute to this guy’s house for a lesson more than once a semester.

@Lendlees, makes sense. My S tried to setup an appointment with one professor who basically said he doesn’t do trial lessons. Another that my S tried to contact @IU discouraged it heavily saying he had already committed to a different candidate. So, if your professor priority list didn’t work out @IU then it was going to be fend-for-yourself. So Jacobs dropped down the list in my S’s case.

@lkbux64: When you write that Bienen doesn’t have a full-time guitar teacher, are you referring to jazz guitar in particular? Because I know people majoring in classical guitar performance at Bienen and I believe their teacher is full-time. Here’s something else for students to consider (bc you don’t have enough to worry about): While it’s great to have a prof who is currently performing (relevant experience and all that), your prof may be inconsistent working students into his/her schedule. Friend of my daughter selected a college/teacher who performs quite a bit. Unfortunately, the woman consequently taught this student only about once a month while my daughter worked with her prof at least once a week and sometimes more. The other girl transferred to another program with profs more dedicated to teaching. If your student wants a teacher who performs a lot, have him/her speak frankly with the prof and also with other students to see how it all works.

@momzhood – yes, I was referring specifically to the lack of a full time jazz guitar teacher at Bienen.

Great info here! My S has definite teacher preferences at 4 of his 6 schools, and two of these have been especially responsive and encouraging. That is probably the single most important factor for S in ranking the schools by order of preference (it’s left to the poor parents to worry about things like money and overall fit). Of the other two, one is nearby and easy to follow up in coming weeks, while the other has not been responsive in terms of making connections. That school has dropped to the bottom of his list even though it has other factors to recommend it (reputation for large merit awards, robust university setting). We shall see. At this point, I feel like we can wait for the auditions to finalize his shortlist and then push harder if the recalcitrant schools make that list.