Thank you for trip down memory lane with the March Madness thread from last year; it’s such a good reminder of how much things can settle and change in the space of a few months. I’m thinking of all of you parents and your wonderfully courageous musicians, who will know in just a few short weeks where they will land for the next four years.
@GagasMom , trial lessons and visits and so very important. It is ideal, of course, to spread these out over time; if you CAN do some this year, then GREAT! Another possibility is sending your D to a summer program, affiliated with a top choice school, where several faculty will be available to work with your child. In our case, like yours, every visit was a plane ride, and finances were a major factor. So, we didn’t do any trial lessons before audition season (except at a small LAC in a neighboring state where D decided not to apply), but extended her audition tours so that she had time for trial lessons at each program. D also attended a summer program at one of her top choice schools, and was able to work with several primary faculty in voice as well as with the main Opera/MT Director. This was very valuable. She was offered admission at the school (where she didn’t end up), and her “main” private teacher from the summer festival knew her now-current Undergrad teacher and they definitely emailed about her during audition season. These sorts of communications are very helpful!
@thisismynameOH , I’ll chime in here regarding teacher selection/assignment. This is more simple if there are only one or two Professors in your S’s instrument…in the case of VP and especially where there are Graduate programs (like was mentioned by @coloraturadad and others up thread ^) it is not always that simple. Subtle negotiations happen in this realm sometimes between Studios within a college and especially for coveted students/studios; there is likely a “culture” at each school and a “way that things are done”. I think this shows itself most in large instrument/vocal areas. For instance, it is possible that a teacher (or multiple teachers) from on school will reach out to a student early on with personal emails and offering a place in their studio. But this doesn’t happen for all students, every year; many will be assigned a studio after those other negotiations have sorted themselves out. Coveted studios often have only a few openings, and musicians who are offered spots in those studios are definitely getting accepted to other college programs and other “big” studios. For instance, at one school, my D received emails from 4 major faculty talking personally about her audition and /or trial lessons, and outright offering a spot in their studio. I know for certain that some admitted VP kids received the same sorts of offers, and that some others received no such communications, and just formally requested their choices and waited to be assigned. In other cases, a student may have had a personal experience already with a teacher (say at a summer program), and so only THAT teacher sends the studio offer (likely it is clear to other faculty that this student is already claimed by the other teacher). So subtle things happen behind the scenes. At another program, my D received warm, positive communications showing interest from 3 primary faculty after her audition, but with no mention of an official offer of studio… I’m guessing at this school, such offers are frowned upon, and the idea is, if my D was also interested in the teacher, communications would commence, and likely studio offers would have been imminent. Alternatively, one school absolutely did NOT guarantee teacher assignments, but you knew by degree program which teachers were in the “pool” to be assigned to. Even at this school, my D received communications from one teacher in particular, so I’m guessing that teacher was staking a claim of sorts? Personally, my D would not have chosen a program without a teacher assignment, UNLESS it was a super coveted program and all the options were acceptable to her. BUT, she had several big acceptances, and so, choices (I’m not saying this to suggest it’s bad if you don’t have this, but the choices and studio offers from other institutions give you leverage). When it comes down to the nitty gritty, it is possible to rely on these subtle communications UNTIL a student is choosing between two final programs; at that point, absolutely, I would insist upon official studio offers (most big programs know this and will do so without a request) before committing.
But thank you so much for your thoughtful responses.