S did one re-take, said that he did not think that any additional studying could yield any higher scores. And it was pretty time-consuming coming around to audition season, so it was a clear time to wrap up those tests.
It is so good to have a first answer. Good luck.
Based on my experience, if your D is in the range for tests/academics at Miami she doesnât need to worry. My D met with a representative of Miami (to show interest) during fall of senior year. He was new to the position and knew a lot about athletics and nothing about arts. My D was told to re-take the ACT. She was a bit below their mid-point (I think it was around 31?). Her GPA was fine. Her schedule was a monster alreadyâŠso that was NOT going to happen. Miami was not high on her listâŠit was an add on (for MT auditions not VP). As I like to say, she got her highest scholarship offer there to match the highest tuition we were considering. She had a very good audition there, really liked the staff and that brought it from the bottom of the list up to a high consideration. She had a good amount of communication from the MT dept (not VP but Iâve seen similar results for music). My feeling was that as long as she was within the academically acceptable range (and not scrapping the bottom) the score was a non-issue. Again she had a high GPA, AP creditsâŠjust not a 31 or above on her ACT. Glad we didnât spend the time to re-test.
thanks @bridgenail. Problem is she is in the range for GPA but definitely on the low end for SAT. They quoted us an average ACT score of 29. She is well below that when you do the SAT/ACT conversion. Hoping she can boost that SAT score from the last retake but she didnât come home feeling super confident despite having a lot of private tutoring. We will see. I will probably push her into some ACT tutoring and an ACT exam if the new SAT doesnât come back much better. Fingers crossed it will be a non issueâŠ
Makes sense. It was 7 years ago nowâŠI just remember that my D looked quite safe on naviance (not sure itâs used anymore) for GPA and ACT for all schools but Miami where I remember her hovering around the mid-point on ACT. I donât think a mid-point ACT or slightly lower is a concern but as you slide further down the scale ⊠yea it could be a consideration.
I have no idea the actual range. She is below mid point for sure and right at mid point for GPA. Itâs really the only school where the SAT score will be an issue as the others either donât care or she is well within the average of where she needs to be.
@SpartanDrew - one consideration with the ACT vs. retaking the SAT is some test takers do much better on one test than the other so the SAT to ACT conversion isnât always accurate! Has she done an actual ACT practice test - that will give a better prediction than using the SAT? Just a thought (and experienced this personally!)
Hi @NEILRRM thanks for the scoop! She re-took the SAT on 8/26 so we will have those results on 9/18. If they are still subpar she can take a practice ACT at the center where she got private tutoring for her SAT and see how she does in comparison. Then possibly more tutoring to take that in late October. Iâm really hoping it wonât be necessary but have prepared her for it in case it is. Iâve heard so many people say that the audition is everything which I am very confident in for her so hopefully Frost wonât be taken off the list of choices due to an SAT score. Itâs just stressful wonderingâŠ
@SpartanDrew, if your D has an outstanding audition, they will accept her. Regardless what you have heard about Frost, if the faculty wants her, she will be accepted! Audition is still king.
Thank you @coloraturadad !! Iâm really hoping that stands true. They know her and she has had very positive feedback from them so that feels good. Iâm not worried about her in an audition. She handles nerves really well and is always super prepared so from that perspective I feel very good. She wraps up the rest of her prescreen videos at the end of the month when we return from Loyola so she will have her second live audition done and all prescreens (and YoungArts submissions) finished so can have the rest of her apps submitted by Oct 1. Then the wait! Crazy busy times.
S18 is working on his prescreen videos too. He also was working on some to submit for a local opera competition and the Classical Singer online submission. He got his classical submission done for Classical Singer. He was nailing his musical theatre submission until the very end when his voice gave out and he could not finish. No time for another so he just did not submit in that category. Oh well.
Bummer @vistajay
We are back from New Orleans and our Loyola visit. What a whirlwind week itâs been. A week and a half I should say. Last week right before our trip, D was in the studio trying to record some auditions for YoungArts and said her throat felt terrible and was coughing so she cut the session short. Sure enough, the next day which was the day before we were scheduled to travel, she wakes up sounding and feeling terrible. My heart fell. What a stressful day that was. I called Delta, emailed Loyola, our options werenât great so we decided to go anyway and hoped for the best.
Ultimately, she felt better during the weekend but was still coughing so much that she couldnât sing for the audition. They were really great about it and said we could send videos which we have plenty of. The tour was short but very good and we really liked the head of the jazz program very very much. A really relaxed and affable man who is NOT short in talent on the sax. We Sat in on an improv class and a jazz combo, also had a chance to chat with one of the handful of the newly instituted jazz vocal students and had a formal tour of the campus which is very small. We spent a lot of time walking around the French Quarter and going out to listen to live jazz. D LOVED the music scene in NOLA and declared it her new favorite city that she has been to! Another plus is the super easy and cheap trolley car transportation from right in front of Loyolaâs campus directly to the FQ. $1.25 and a lovely 20 minute ride down the famous St. Charles avenue with gorgeous mansions.
That being said, We still have more questions than answers. They didnât show us the dorms or cafeteria at all on the tours which had us wondering why. They do share facilities with Tulane which apparently is directly on the other side of a fence (we didnât see where) so students can eat at either campus which is kind of cool. There are not very many options for vegetarians in NOLA at all and we really didnât see much in that regard on campus either. That could be a problem since students are required to live in dorms freshman and sophomore years. They do have apartment style dorms (which we didnât see either) so maybe itâs possible to get one with a kitchenâŠhowever they said those are at a premium and I think honors college kids get first shot at them.
At this point, we will submit Dâs videos and wait to see if she is offered admission with decent money and go from there. Iâm pretty sure it may make her short list which will warrant a trip back possibly in the spring for further info on all of the above. We also never met with the woman who teaches the jazz vocalists, maybe she wasnât there that day? Weâre not sure. One of the biggest draws to the school and the area is the gig opportunity for these musicians. Apparently, they all have lots and lots of gigs available to them so the performance opportunities are enormous.
She still has ZERO idea or feel for where she wants to go to college which frustrates her. I feel frustrated for her but remind her that she really hasnât spent a lot of time anywhere (aside from Berklee) and hasnât even visited several that she is applying to. I hope this all becomes clear by March!
What a journey. She is still coughing (and I picked up the bug tooâŠoh joy) so we had to reschedule her studio time from this week to next week. We are hoping to make the deadline for YoungArts still but this cough still lingers on. Once we get the auditions recorded next week she can get the rest of her college apps submitted and then we wait. Personally, I will welcome a breather for a bit!
I would encourage you SpartanDrew to not be discouraged about your Dâs lack of idea/feel for where she wants to attend college. Auditions and plain old time will help her focus on her wants/needs and priorities. They usually change and sharpen over time. It sounds like she had a good initial visit and she can follow up with questions and a second potential visit if she is accepted.
Thanks @momzhood. Iâm actually not discouraged about that. She is frustrated because she really has no idea. I have told her all of what youâve said above. I agree and think time, tours, auditions and acceptances will help her figure it out. Iâm just wondering how many music kids out there really knew where they wanted to go to college early on versus not feeling very clear about it until later in the spring. I recall reading one kid on here that was literally flipping a coin on April 30th! I hope thatâs not DâŠLOL
Maybe some inhaled steroids will help her cough! We have that on hand for asthma but use it for regular lingering cough too.
I still wonder if Berklee will come back into the picture.
Great trip report @SpartanDrew ! I suspect my S18 classical vocalist will be on the fence well into spring. There is just so much to learn about every program! But firstâŠhe has to get in!
You canât beat first-hand visits. You can really own the information that goes directly into your senses.
yes for sure @GoForth although having had first hand visits at Frost and Loyola with an extended âvisit/experienceâ at Berklee, she really still doesnât have a feel for the first two at all. I think itâs important to spend as much time as possible at each school to really get a feel for life there. We will plan to spend at least 5 nights near the school in Miami during live auditions (provided she is invited) so she can sit in on classes and spend the day there getting a feel for student life. Loyola also has âadmitted student daysâ during her spring break so if she gets in with decent money we may very well go back in April and do the same there as well, unless there is a clear winner prior to that time. Iâm sure things will clear up for her during the next several months.
Itâs amazing to me how valuable this site has been for me, a parent of a musician having had zero experience or clue how this process works. I remember reading many posts like these 2 years ago and feeling absolutely daunted and underprepared. D is not in a performing arts school and really is the only kid in her high school that is venturing out doing anything like this right now with really nobody creating a similar path prior to her. She is Blazing new trails I guess but she is a pioneer in that regard so there is no help whatsoever from her school. We would be on our own big time without the help of everyone on this site. It has been invaluable.
For what itâs worth, my sonâs top choice at any given time was the most recent school he visited. The only school he ended up taking off his application list was the first school we visited (not counting the school in the same town we live) and it was really the only experience that was âso-soâ. When all was said and done, he thought he could be happy at any of the other choices.
But the more schools he visited, the more he understood what his priorities were. For a somewhat spoiled only child who grew up in a classic college town, we were both surprised how little âstudent lifeâ things mattered to him, e.g. dorm, cafeteria, football games, etc. There were also some surprise priorities, like availability/access to practice rooms. If you talk to current music students, the subject of practice rooms comes up often â itâs a constant concern.
One thing that I think we did too little of â and didnât realize until much later â was to look through actual course offerings at each school. We were sort of fixated on faculty, performance opportunities, etc. and paid no attention to classroom courses or the breadth of music genres outside of jazz. His focus has been shifting this year and itâs just by pure luck that heâs at Berklee and able to do that.
Thatâs really great info and thank you @ScreenName48105. I donât think the dorm/cafe would be a priority at all if D wasnât a vegetarian for the past almost 4 years. That is a real issue for her and getting protein in especially as she is prone to migraines and lack of protein can be a trigger. I noticed that The New School has dorms with shared kitchens, a plus for a kid like her to be in charge of her dietary needs.
Practice rooms are a great point and as you said, at a premium nearly everywhere. Thanks for the heads up on the things to look out for during our visits.