My Son was also accepted to NYU composition program! We are still waiting to hear about scholarships . So far his choices include U. of Michigan, NYU, Berklee college of Music. He did not get into his dream shool-USC. We should be hearing from Peabody soon!
As I mentioned earlier He wants to study composition-classical/orchestral music with the hopes of possibly doing movie/media scores one day. He does want to continue to play Jazz saxophone as a student, and possibly double major in jazz studies( still undecided about double majoring). He is leaning towards Michigan due to its excellent composition program and music program, and overall faculty has seemed very interested in him. They donāt have a film scoring track, and I am still not sure how strong is their jazz program?? NYU and berklee both have film scoring and good jazz schools, but for whatever reason he seems to have " clicked" with U of Michiganā¦ Any thoughts??
thanks
Congrats on even more acceptances!
@Beto884 - CLICKING is important! Very important. Be very respectful of that. Itās hard for parents to understand that as you havenāt āclickedā and you want proof on paper. Fair enough you are paying for it. And you do need to help your kid consider all options thoroughly. I hope others answer on composition as Iām not knowledgeable. And āclickingā isnāt the ONLY thing, but an important item that should be acknowledged by parents (and not dismissed in any way - not saying you are doing that - just a general comment).
Edit - I just read your comment again and this āoverall faculty has seemed very interested in himā. Ahhh the kiss of deathā¦faculty that wants you. That can cause the āclickā. Good luck! You have great choicesā¦and maybe heāll find some āloveā at other programs too.
Beto884 some schools, like USC, like student composers to get a foundation before focusing on film scoring, many offer a course or two and at some students can focus early. There is, of course, a lot of technology and studio work involved with film scoring. I personally like the idea of a āfoundationalā undergrad but some kids want to get right to it!
Last three came in-
Vanderbilt waitlist 3/27 (declined)
Eastman- accepted 3/27 with a generous merit scholarship
Yale (BA) accepted 3/28
April angst is around the corner. Some very hard choices coming up.
I just want to once again say thank you to all the seasoned parents and students who have taken the time on this forum to answer questions and share experiences. It really helped me feel a lot less clueless and maybe put D at ease a little bit.
@Beto884 I agree with bridgenail, respect the click. UMichigan is a fantastic music school. Ann Arbor is a great college town, if he feels at home there, he may very well do better work. Undergrad is a longer chunk of their lives than grad school, so fit with the surroundings deserves a little more weight, in my book. Jazz program at UMich I believe is strong, but the surrounding scene will of course be much more extensive in NYC. Living here can present its challenges at times, though, Michigan would offer fewer distractions to his studies.
If he ends up being a film scoring pro heāll likely end up in NY or LA at some point anyway.
I was surprised to learn that NYU has almost the same number of undergrads as UMich.
My 3 cents.
Oh, I did think of one other thing, NYC has a lot of films being made, and NYU has a lot of student films being made, so Iād guess heād get hit up by classmates to score student films at NYU (for free, of course), more often than at Michigan, so thatās something to consider.
NYCmusicDad. thanks for all of your responses. It has been a blessing to be able to have the input of this wonderful community. Congratulations on your Daughterās acceptances!
Congratulations to those who received acceptances and scholarships!
@MusakParent My older D went to NYU and got a big award, more than $25k/year plus smaller fellowships along the way. So I do think itās worth applying, especially if the scores/GPA are high (hers were).
Alsoācongratulations to all on these great choices! @NYCMusicDad, as a Yale grad hereās a special woohoo! If your kid does jazz sax by any chance, one of my sonās teachers is there now ā Wayne Escoffery. Heās great.
At Yale, undergrads often study with grad students, so check on that.
@compmom undergrads can study with faculty, but they have to audition, which at this point Iām pretty confident sheād pass. There are other big questions about taking that route which we are investigating, but Iām pretty sure we know who sheād study with.
Anyone still waiting on MM voice admission decisions from NEC? All our sonās other applications have notified already, and Iām anxious. (Heās notā¦lol.)
ONLY one more day! Iāve been waiting all week to say that.
What are you doing this weekend (or have done) to celebrate acceptances?!? I have seen so many amazing acceptances that no matter the ability to attend (easy for me to say) they demonstrate your kidās ability to compete with the best.
And if you donāt feel like celebrating, I have found that family routines (pancake breakfast/movie nights/a walk with parents and the dog) can bring everyone back to center and have the strength to push on. You canāt change/fix the results for your kids but you can give them a safe, loving harbor in which to refuel. And when they lose faith (and all will at some point), you need to believe regardless of results, awards, scholarships etc. This is the greatest gift a parent can give. Blind faithā¦no matter what.
@NYCMusicDad, it sounds like youāre on top of this issue, but unless things have changed recently, my understanding, like @compmom, is that most undergrads at Yale who take music lessons are taught by grad students, not faculty. There are exceptions, and your daughter may well be one of those exceptions. Certainly based on her admissions results (and congrats on that!), sheās exceptionally talented. But if she chooses Yale based, in part, on her ability to study with a faculty member, Iād want to be as certain as possible that sheāll actually be able to do so.
There are obviously some tremendous benefits to going to a school like Yale, even if your Dās goal is to make a career in music, and there are notable examples of professional musicians who went to academic programs as undergrads. But it is an order of magnitude more difficult to pursue music performance at a conservatory level in an academic program than at a conservatory. My son ended up choosing Columbia over some very good conservatories because he didnāt want to give up the āfullā college experience. He loved his four years there - particularly being surrounded by a group of amazing peers with a broad range of interests - but he was very careful to map out how he was going to make the music side work. Although Columbia has a pretty robust jazz program for an academic school, and my son took full advantage of that, he also relied very heavily on NYC music resources outside Columbia, which probably accounted for the majority of his music activities while he was in college. In addition, he was very careful about limiting his academic load to the minimum required, and even so it sometimes stretched his time management skills to the limit.
Jazz and classical are obviously different animals, but I think some of the challenges my son faced in pursuing the music side are probably applicable to classical musicians as well. If youāre interested in more detail on some of the considerations he found relevant in making the decision, feel free to send me a PM.
Has anyone with a Frost admission gotten anything from Frost in the mail? We havenāt. This big packet from The U finally came today but still nothing from Frost with a letter about Jazz voice and CAM etc. And no swag!! Haha!
Things are settling down here fortunately. D is still working out things in her head. She really needs another visit to New School to get a real feel for what itās about. Their new student admission day just happens to be right before her YoungArts week in NYC so that works out perfectly. Iām hoping she can fly out early and stay with our friends in Staten Island and go to the admitted student day then visit some classes on Monday and possibly even Tuesday before YA starts. But that is late April. I am sure we will be one of those April 30th decisions!
We appreciate @bridgenailās comments about celebrating the successes! And intend to do so. Being stressed because you have too many choices is a much better place to be in than being stressed because you donāt have enough choices. Happy Passover, Easter or whatever holiday you all celebrate!
@NYCMusicDad - when my D auditioned at IU many moons ago, the cute guy helping outside the audition room was a graduate of Yale. We struck up a conversation. He was a āclose talkerā so after the audition I told my D, I thought he liked me ā¦ just to take the edge off. I was so smitten that every time I attended or live streamed an opera, I would check the cast list and sometimes noted he was on it. Our relationship never went anywhereā¦but he seemed to do quite well in the grad program. Thatās all I know about Yale.
Taking a second look at FSU today. Just finished a great Honors tour with a bright young lady who is also a choral music major and was able to answer 99% of our remaining music school questions. Lots of great info to assure us that undergrads get plenty of attention and performance opportunities appropriate to their age exist. Off to a voice lesson with a potential studio teacher now.
@bridgenail on the subject as what have we been doingā¦I am chaperoning my daughterās HS wind ensemble in NYC as they are paying at Carnegie Hall on Saturday. So I have had ab It 6 hours sleep in the past 3 days and we have been walking all over the city so my feet and hips are killing me!!! Some relaxation! It havenāt even had time to worry about the decision! :))
@SpartanDrew as of when we left, no packet from Frost =((
Hubby and I are headed out for drinks and dinner with our engineering junior S who is home for the weekend and to have a little fun and celebrate the weekend. D is working. I have a smoky Manhattan waiting for me at our local BBQ joint. Enjoy the weekend everyone!
Manhattan sounds good. Hartt acceptance arrived today, but told financial aid awards will come later. Why do they torture us like that?
Viola performance son received big envelope from Miami today. He also received email with status update from Peabody, and he was accepted. Received music scholarship but not enough to consider attending.