Congrats @BearHouse and D!
Congratulations @BearHouse and D! That should take a lot of stress out of this final stretch!
@SpartanDrew NEC was Sās favorite school, (even before the new dorms and fitness center!). If we could have swung it financially, thatās where heād be, although heās very happy where heās at. They packaged merit scholarship, regular student loans, Perkins loans and work study into their FA offer to get the cost down to EFC, so not as un-generous as their reputation would indicate IMO, but still too debt heavy to be a serious contender for our financial situation.
Iām not sure New School still handles things this way, but in '16 when S checked in for his audition, a student ābass ambassadorā came to greet him and gave us a 1:1 tour lasting 30-45 minutes and the skinny on attending there, before escorting him to his warmup room. After the audition there was a short wait, then an interview with faculty that was not in the audition room. It was a Saturday, so no classes to audit, but it was more friendly than an in and out audition. Iām glad you were able to get an audit and visit scheduled regardless. New School is a very different egg, as far as their approach to undergrad education. It is incredibly student self-directed and āget gigging nowā oriented. Which can be great but also has definite downsides.
Alsoā¦S will be playing bass for the jazz voice auditions at Purchase tomorrow. He takes voice lessons with Alexis as well, so if the opportunity arises and you have questions, heād be a good one to ask.
Dear Vistajayās S18:
Congratulations! It is my pleasure to welcome you as a music major to the Florida State University College of Music for the Fall 2018 Semester. The College of Music faculty wishes to commend you for your successful audition and academic achievement, and we invite you to join us for this important next stage of your education.
As a College of Music student, you join a legacy of excellence spanning more than 100 years. You and your classmates will study with world-renowned faculty who take great pride in preparing some of the finest musicians, educators, and music professionals in the country. And with more than 40 ensembles and over 500 concerts and recitals per year, you can be sure to have an abundance of performance opportunities.
Notifications regarding College of Music scholarships will be sent in late March, after all auditions have been completed. In the meantime, you may confirm your intent to enroll through the FSU Online Status Check.
We look forward to seeing you back on campus soon. If you have any questions or need any assistance, please do not hesitate to contact me. Again, congratulations and welcome to the Class of 2022.
Sincerely,
Kristopher Watson
Director of Admissions
YOUR PLACEMENT CLASSIFICATION IS:
Instrument:
Voice - Tenor
with a major in:
Voice Performance (BM)
yay @vistajay and S! Congrats!
FSU is the first music admit for him with a price tag we have no qualms about paying. Huge stress relief!
Congratulations @vistajay and S!
Congratulations!
Congrats @vistajay ! I am right there with you on the price tag stress relief! D has her final audition this Saturday at CSU Long Beach. I gave her the option to cancel but she wants to go and see what the program offers. I am glad to see her thought process maturing. Good luck to all auditioning this weekend! I suspect this audition trip will be much more relaxing now that she knows she has a good option.
Congrats @BearHouse and @vistajay. Dreams do come true. Iām wondering what @vistajay was doing bx his 4:37 post and the 4:12 one. Jumping around, crying, reading the acceptance 100 more times or all 3? Enjoy an easier ride. Iāll bet there will be more good news in March.
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Way to go @vistajay ! Congratulations to your talented S.
Hooray! Huge congratulations @BearHouse and @vistajay ! And, LOL to @bridgenail ās comment above!!! Enjoy these moments!!! Both musicians and parents alike worked hard for them!
S18ās local music college option came through today with some more scholarship funds, making it comfortably affordable. So now we have two affordable admits! Whoo! Happy dance!
Itās so exciting to hear great news starting to come in for this yearās families! You have all been so incredibly thoughtful, balanced & strategic in generating awesome and affordable options for your kids. Continued good luck to all!!
Congratulations @vistajay and @BearHouse !!! Exciting! We are in the home stretch! Had lesson with oboe professor at UGA yesterday. D didnāt want to go, she had decided UGA was her last choice. However, the lesson was awesome, reminded her why she decided to apply in the first place. The professor is a great teacher, he worked with her on a couple of pieces, he gave great feedback and was very encouraging. He said he would definitely admit her. Asked where else she had applied and if she had any favorites. She said sheād be happy to go to any of the four schools and that it would come down to cost. He said the same thing as the professor at Boulder, that he would need to know how serious she is about UGA because once he offers scholarship money to a student he doesnāt get it back if they turn him down. After lesson UGA went from #4 on her list to #2, still in love with Boulder (so am I). Audition is today at 10:30, Iāll be going to the school info session at 10 (thereās another one at 1 that D could go to but she decided we should divide and conquer so that we could get to Atlanta for lunch today). Funny thing, we have a neighbor that is a freshman at UGA this year, weāve known her since she was 2. D didnāt want to meet up with her, she thought it would be awkward. After the lesson went so well she regrets not arranging to meet up with the neighbor so that she could ask her questions about housing and such!! Oh well! Iām so glad we are almost done with auditions. Now the wait to find out about scholarships.
Keep the stories coming everyone, I love reading this thread.
@oboemom65 , sounds like UGA is a contender! Donāt you love when a professor gives you an early indication of acceptance at a lesson or audition!
I donāt really understand the whole āscholarship funds go poof if you donāt accept themā thing. Where do they go? Does another dept get them? Another teacher? Money does not just sit around once budgeted. Someone must use it. Anyone know how this works?
LAST DAY!!! WoooHooo! I canāt wait to post my āthatās a wrapā commentary. D has her last audition at New school today at 2 then we are going out with @Melodyminor and her D to celebrate a year of friendship and camaraderie as we traveled this path together over the past year.
Congrats @vistajay and @BearHouse!! Hopefully we will be sharing some letters like that very soon. @indeestudios it will be interesting to see what transpires with NEC. D loved it there so it is definitely a contender but as I said to the blank faced girl in financial aid, we will not be taking out loans to finance her education so scholarship will be critical. D knows we are giving her X amount for college per year and the rest has to be made up in scholarships. I wonāt have her graduate with debt. So that will be a critical deciding factor in where she goes.
And vistjay I agree I donāt understand the scholarship āpoofā factor either. I had someone from Frost tell me that the head of jazz voice has one full ride scholarship to give to a vocalist per year BUT if they turn it down it canāt be offered to someone else. Thatās so bizarre to me. Time will tell and I think in 4 weeks we will have some answers.
Owwww a money question! Iām all over itā¦with speculation.
@vistajay I agree money doesnāt go āpoofā. Itās somewhere. Based on limited experience I āspeculateā that at ācertainā schools, professors are given a set amt of dollars to attract candidates. Of course some candidates may take it to the last minute to decline. And that could create a poofā¦that maybe goes into scholarships during the year for special opportunities or summer programs. But now itās the dept dollars. I remember a comment that everyone waits until the last moment but my D didnāt. She declined Lawrence fairly early so those dollars ā¦ maybe ā¦ freed up ā¦ maybe not. Like acceptances I suspect schools know that not every dollar offered will be accepted.
So I think you have 2 things going on. The professors indicating kids for very nice offers. Then ācentral administrationā gets involved with their financial rules - like stacking or not. So they may check on academic scholarships to do adjustments. Maybe thereās some back and forth with the professor. But the chosen candidates will get strong offers - maybe the best (or close if they negotiate).
Iām speculating that after the initial offersā¦ācentral administrationā is in control. Many offers are made in March so itās a short timeframe to manage dollars. So they probably watch what is freed up against what is needed over the month of April. If there are 6 oboe offers and 5 declines early - maybe more money is available as the school sees the need. If a lot of tenors accept in late March early April why spend any excess dollars there?
So you have professors indicating high value candidate and then you have the dept watching offers and declines come in while managing the full dept needs in a short timeframe. Iām guessing prof are honest when they say they got one shot at offers. Why do I think this?
When my D entered IU she got a low music merit but a highish academic offer. I did call and question it (after my D, with me as the puppet master, was not successful in asking for more money). I was told that she was recommended by her teacher but they also had to consider academic scholarship. @vistajay and others have seen this too. And as a big school I donāt think they were desperate for a freshman mezzo. So the money seems to go through a central site at some point.
For grad school, my D got a good offer and asked for more. They came back quickly asking how much? They said they couldnāt put it in writing yet but were committed to making it happenā¦but needed to wait until near the end to see the dollars available to put it in writing. Her teacher was the first contact but all further communication came from administration with the teacher advocating on the side. I had no impression she had money to give. Still a student should start the conversation with the teacher bc they will advocate for them. But it can switch to a parent when itās with the administration. A week or so later the school put it in writing. Once my D entered she found out they were desperate for a mezzo who could perform immediately. I felt that at that point it was a dept issue to find the dollars for holes in the music dept.
Again speculationā¦but it does indicate not to play your cards too early in accepting or requesting money as dept need could be more evident later. Of course some schools will probably not struggle to fill spots so ā¦ you may not get extra.
That is interesting perspective bridgenail.
Youāll all be happy to know that I have evolved from door listener in the first audition to camping out on the first floor with Dās backpack and all of our stuff while D headed up to the fifth floor to warm up then audition for her last one. 
We saw the head of the department that toured us on Thursday and I laughed and said that all I need is a sleeping bag and a tent and my camping experience here will be complete. Lol.
Send her all of your positive jazzy vibes at 2pm! Hope sheās a scatting fool. In an hour this will all be done and I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. Woohoo!!
I could make a completely speculative guess why scholarships go away if the first person doesnāt take them, which would be the same reason they donāt offer the seat of the applicant who goes elsewhere to somebody off the wait list right away- they have an expected yield in scholarship students that is less than 100%, so they offer more than 100% of their scholarship budget and count on yield to bring the final number in on target, just as they do with acceptances.
No knowledge, pure speculation.
So true! Like airlines overbooking seats lol. D came down from her audition very bubbly and smiling. She said it was her best one vocally. That being said the judges were uninterested in taking her folders she had for them and one of them corrected D on her Portuguese Bossa and told her it was a samba. So the drummer played it like a samba and it is in fact a Bossa. That was annoying to her.
But she is DONE! And she finished strong which is great. Now we can go out and celebrate tonight. She is going to a small jazz club with @Melodyminorās D tonight. Fun way to put a cap on all of this.