@SpartanDrew , the Stamps scholarship and the Singer (named after Singer family, nothing to do with singers like our kids ) are two different programs. Stamps is an uber-exclusive full ride, only offered to 4 or so at Miami each year. And yes, I think they may shuffle this around to different departments for eligibility each year. I know Stamps was awarded to a whole quartet at Frost one year recently, so maybe Frost kids are not eligible for Stamps this year. However, the Singer scholarship is full tuition and given out to at least 80 a year school wide, and the Frost kids invited to the scholarship weekend are competing for that one.
Ok I understand now. Yes Stamps is offered to a jazz combo I believe every year. Dâs friend is the drummer in the freshman combo there. Or maybe itâs not offered to jazz every year? Unsure. @GoForth would know the answer to That. Question though, does Stamps offer a scholarship for any vocalists that you are aware of? Our friendâs son is at U Mich on Stamps for bassoon. But we were unaware of Stamps scholarships being offered to vocalists at all.
Well the Frost dean is a jazz guy, and the jazz program is certainly exceptional, so it would not surprise me that when a Frost student gets Stamps it is going to someone in jazz. I honestly did not ask such specific questions about Stamps, as it seemed such a long shot regardless of whether they would give it to a classical vocalist or not. We were concentrating on the Singer full tuition. But Frost is also the only Miami dept, outside athletics, that has their own scholarship money to give.
@vistajay and @SpartanDrew - the Stamps Music scholarships at Frost are given to an ensemble which rotates each year for incoming students. For example, the Class of 2017 was a Jazz Quintet, for the Class of 2018, a string quartet, Class of 2019 is a Woodwind Quartet. For the class of 2022, itâs a String Quartet. The students selected for the ensemble are in that ensemble for all 4 years unless they transfer or donât meet the requirements for the scholarship renewal. I donât believe there are Stamps Music scholarships given for vocal ensembles - just the opportunity to interview for a Stamps academic scholarship.
@vistajay Thank you for sharing such detailed info from Frost. The dean was not available last weekend and I feel like we had a very different presentation. You have shared some valuable information.
We attended auditions Friday too. (MADE with CAM) I was impressed that they were so prepared to interview my son. They asked specific questions about a song from one of his Albums that wasnât even part of his pre-screen. They asked about his writing process for another song
They talked about upcoming changes to the program and how he would fit in. He feels it went well. He loves the campus too
It would have been better if Lunch was provided of course
Hey everyone! We are here in NYC and I am typing out our latest trip report while D is sleeping in. Knock wood, so far everything has gone very well. Our trip to Boston was fabulous and I have all sorts of great recommendations for restaurants and VRBOâs if anyone needs them in the future. Our apartment was great, walking distance to absolutely everything in a beautiful quiet area. I can see why D loves Boston so much, as do I. We walked to the Spanish tapas place I had mentioned and it was so pretty walking past all of the gorgeous brownstones on quiet tree lined streets. Then we get to NY and itâs a whole different vibe! FYI that tapas restaurant was amazing with tons of vegan options.
So D got up at 6am on her audition day to be ready to leave by 8:30 (and still wasnât ready and had showered and washed her hair the night before! :-(( good grief!) I will say in her defense she looked amazing in a sharp black dress - very professional and put together and I have seen all sorts of outfits with kids auditioning. The girl checking them in said one kid showed up in jeans and sneakers. We arrived in plenty of time, checked in and were greeted by very friendly students and got directions to a warmup room and time. That was really nice. At Frost it was first come first served and those practice rooms were hard to get. D went into hers and made the comment that she had more time to warm up here than any other audition. I think she had an allotted time of 30 minutes. She warmed up and we headed to her audition. In case you are wondering I did NOT door lean/listen! Hahaha! Mostly because the doors had windows and I couldnât be stealthy LOL. Just kidding, I really wasnât going to door listen. She went in and did her thing with the head of vocal jazz as well as the head of the jazz department there auditioning her. She felt it went VERY well but like other places, they didnât give any feedback. But the bass player stopped her and told her she did a great job as they all left for a break after the audition. We then headed out to a dorm tour by a student. The new dorm is absolutely gorgeous! Easily as nice, maybe even nicer than Berkleeâs new dorm on 160 Mass ave. I did feel that they are a bit prohibitive on furniture though. No futons or chairs or anything that doesnât pass some California code that I canât remember. Also if a student wants a fridge and microwave they have to rent it from NEC for $199 for the year versus bringing their own which is fine. We took a quick look at the cafe and I donât think the vegan options were plentiful. This is where Frost wins hands down. After the dorm tour we took a quick campus tour then headed back to the apartment to change.
A jazz mom and daughter that we met through our audition travels and have become friends with had connections to some current jazz voice students at NEC. She shared cell numbers and D made arrangements to meet with one of them. We met him for lunch and he was very very helpful to D. Speaking with him also gave me a lot of into other things you might not consider like the meal plan not being great or adequate and his parents having to float money to him to eat on a regular basis. Thatâs a cost we will have to weigh in if NEC becomes a consideration. I will say she absolutely loved NEC, the faculty who auditioned her seemed great and she loved how small and exclusive it is. That being said, it looked like close to 20 jazz vocalists auditioned that day for what I have heard may only be 2 spots so the odds are not in her favor.
So we finished Boston on a high note and headed to NYC yesterday where it was an unseasonably warm 75 degrees! Not so much today and through the weekend though. Rain and cold weather have returned. We are trying to get to New School to tour, audit classes or something today and have absolutely struck out. Itâs amazing to me how some programs bend over backwards and are great with regard to communication and setting up tours and auditing classes and others itâs like trying to find someone in a black hole. Thatâs New School. Not feeling the love at all and itâs frustrating. D has a 2pm audition there on Saturday and that 15 minutes may be all she sees of the school and they see of her. Ugh. We head to Purchase tomorrow for a campus tour in the morning and her audition at 2:15.
Iâll circle back on our flight home on Sunday with the wrap up of these last auditions. I wonât lie, I canât wait until this is OVER!!! Itâs a lot to take on, for the kids as well as the parents. Bring on March and abundant college offers please!!! Hang in there parents! We got this!
NEC sounds great and the journey is almost over! At least for the undergrad partâŠalthough I was starting to develop FOMOOF (Fear of missing out on Frost) while reading this thread.
My daughter woke us up this morning to great news. She was accepted to UC Irvine Claire Trevor School of the Arts. Academic and arts admission. I believe this is her top pick since she liked the college but, more importantly, felt an instant connection with the two voice faculty. She is beyond thrilled and her mother and I could not be happier for her. It has been a long journey.
Ironically, she did not want to apply to UC Irvine. She visited it over the summer and thought the campus was too quiet. However, we made her apply since she was applying to UCLA and UCSB and it is a common UC application. On her return trip for auditions everything fell into place. She loved the school, the location, the students she met and the faculty.
She is heading back to UCI for a masterclass and trial lesson which may cement her decision. We are encouraging her to let the admission process play itself out as she also liked UCLA, UCSB and San Diego State. But today, we will enjoy this good news!
Congrats @BearHouse!!! Yayyy such great news and early as well! I donât think we will hear anything before mid march honestly. And I love the FOMOOF acronym! Best one yet! Funny enough on your UC Irvine comment, NEC ended up being a last minute 11th hour addition. I think she submitted her prescreens maybe a day before they were due. We hadnât heard much about the program or even anything positive with regard to merit money but thought we should try anyway. I still donât know if they will be generous enough with merit aid to make it a feasible option for D honestly. Even if she is one of the lucky 2 selected. They sent out all sorts of emails from financial aid with language like âWe work to make NEC accessible to all admitted students and believe that finances do not have to be a barrier with the right planning and knowledgeâ. So I went to see someone in financial aid while D was waiting for her audition and that meeting was truly useless. So I honestly donât know if it will end up being a real option or not.
This is the hard part. The kids have done their work in audition prep and school and now we wait to see if they are lucky enough to be selected, are they offered enough money to make it happen. Itâs crazy and stressful. Congrats on having such a great option for your D already in the bag!
@SpartanDrew - We were just in Boston this past weekend for my S. (Berklee and NEC) We both really loved Boston! Lots of transportation options and although there is lots of jazz clubs and concerts going on over the weekend we found that there were not many spots to hear music for underage students. We encounter that where we live but we do have many more opportunities for all ages jam sessions and places to play for a young artist. We loved the tour of NEC and so many offerings. Thank you for sharing insight on the meal plan. I loved the fact they have a kitchen on one of the floors for students to make their own meals. My S is Gluten, Dairy and Egg free which makes finding food difficult especially at restaurants. We did eat at the cafeteria at NEC and found very limited food items for my S. Everything has gluten! The staff assured us that they can accommodate any food allergies and it shouldnât be a problem. I wonder if that will work? Another thing I loved about NEC was the health and wellness center. So I am making my list of pros and cons so that we can compare at end of this journey!
Headed to NY next week. Hoping the weather holds up to get through the next week.
Hi @musicdm! When was your S audition at NEC? Thanks for the insight on the food limitations in the NEC caf. D spent the summer at Berklee this past summer when she was vegetarian and found her food choices to be extremely limited. Now she is vegan which limits even more. @diglass D had a roommate at Berklee last summer who was vegan and said she really had a hard time finding food. And yes I forgot to mention the kitchen in that lounge in the dorm. I took a ton of photos of that and thought that was fantastic! Huge community kitchen with a stove and 2 fridges that kids could label their food and store there to cook. We hadnât seen that anywhere so that is a definite plus. We missed the health and wellness center. Weird I wonder why. But overall the dorm and absolutely everything there was great. It is on Dâs short list of top choices to be certain.
Where is your S auditioning in NY and when? D FINALLY got some responses from New School after I stepped in and emailed someone there in admissions department so she is getting ready and we are headed there shortly for a tour and hopeful audit of a class for her.
My sonâs roommate at Berklee for the last 2 1/2 years is vegan. They lived in the dorms for 2 years and he managed to find food to eat at Caf and did not go hungry
yes they can find food but D ate the same veggie nuggets day in and day out she said. But I will add that she is a very picky eater so itâs likey that SHE is the problem versus the actual caf. LOL
Congratulations to your D @BearHouse ! Keep enjoying the good news and the moment. Way to go for your D @SpartanDrew , one more and then some major R&R. You are right @vistajay about March Madness. The clock ticks awfully slow during March. Good luck to all during this final stretch!
@SpartanDrew My S is Jazz Drums so his was last Sunday. NEC has an onsite Therapist and Nurse which they have more info on website but mentioned it during the orientation. They said the Therapist is free of charge however looking over the cost breakdown there is a line item for Health so I am sure we would be paying for it somehow. LOL. I read somewhere that if you get sick or have a health related issue at Berklee it is much harder to get help- much bigger school, etc. My S did not get to sit in on a class but he ended up knowing a sax player there so they had a jam session on Monday before we left. I am glad because it gave him a better feel of what the environment is like.
) are two different programs. Stamps is an uber-exclusive full ride, only offered to 4 or so at Miami each year. And yes, I think they may shuffle this around to different departments for eligibility each year. I know Stamps was awarded to a whole quartet at Frost one year recently, so maybe Frost kids are not eligible for Stamps this year. However, the Singer scholarship is full tuition and given out to at least 80 a year school wide, and the Frost kids invited to the scholarship weekend are competing for that one.