I have noticed that at some of the UC’s their music awards are also “talent based, need aware” as many of the larger scholarships include demonstrated financial need as part of the criteria. @willrogers we also considered the “is there more than one teacher here you like” question when choosing school. Tough decision.
Prescreen Thread from this year:
http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/2028502-2018-pre-screen-thread-p1.html
Acceptance Thread from This Year:
http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/2044346-acceptance-thread-for-undergrad-class-of-22-grad-class-of-20.html
GoForth Journal from last year:
http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/1839205-goforth-journal-p1.html
and somewhere there is a thread called March Madness from last year that I had missed and April Angst. Both very appropriate names. If you click on MezzoMama’s sceenname, you can go to her profile and see a list of all of her threads from the past years for prescreen notifications and acceptances. Those were my go to resources!
OOPS! Disregard the post above… ^^^. That was for the new “Tours and Journey” thread for the next group going through next year. My post was supposed to say this:
I think it’s important for parents of kids navigating this process next year to be aware of three things when considering scholarships: there can be a talent/merit component, an academic/merit component and a need-based component. So be aware if someone says “my kid got X amount in merit scholarship” or “my kid got a full ride”. It’s very important to differentiate all of those aspects.
Oh and finally, some cheerful news. D had her first lesson with her vocal coach today since all of the craziness from auditions has come to an end. Between each of them being sick or out of town this was their first time back together. D is doing a one hour jazz gig for her graduation party in June, a combination of a graduation dinner party and a senior recital. They were able to just have fun putting together the tunes for the show with no stress, no auditions, just fun. She came home cheerful, said she had talked to her vocal coach about college and honestly seemed pretty relaxed about it all. I prepared her that the appeal for school A was a real long shot and she seems very content with school B as well. Both top choices for her.
My stress level has decreased exponentially. Someone said to me recently, “grow where you are planted” and I think all of our kids will do exactly that wherever they land.
I’ve been checking constantly because I’m so excited to learn where everyone will be landing…and then I happened upon my “Facebook memory” from this day last year, when mine finally had all his “knowns” (acceptances AND dollar amounts so we could start comparing apples to apples) and was finally ready to start narrowing…and he didn’t commit until Apr 12, which I remember thinking at the time was actually faster/sooner than I would have expected. So I’m trying to just settle down already and let you guys mull and haggle in peace. But it ain’t easy. 
@willrogers re: the resigning prof…do you know the school’s track record/history of past instructors on your S’s instrument? The unexpected can and does happen anywhere…but in our case, I’m confident we would not have let something like that sway us away from my son’s school, but that’s because it’s ridiculously evident to me that they consistently attract and retain only top-notch faculty. Mine’s also on a very popular instrument.
@YertleTurtle – this happens at top conservatories, too. Faculty retire, die, and even leave for different conservatories. It’s very hard on their students, but it happens.
Yeah, I knew after I hit “post” that the word “retain” would be misleading…sorry about that! There was a devastating loss at my son’s school this year, as a matter of fact. What you say is exactly what I meant–it can and does happen anywhere, but if you can see that the institution has the means and ability to consistently hire well, I think you can feel confident they will again.
Like many of you, I am suffering from battle fatigue. The hurry up and wait involving prescreens, auditions, acceptances and scholarship awards is grueling. I agree with @SpartanDrew that CC can make it seem as though everyone gets huge merit scholarships and all appeals delivery happy endings. I do not think that is the story for most music applicants. Even when schools give very large scholarships, the balance is still too large for the average American family.
So for all of you veteran warriors that did appeals, when did you start to hear back?For those of you got that surprise bundle of cash, when did you discover it? It is so difficult to know when to compromise your dream school and commit to the affordable one. We just have no clue how long to wait.
Spartan Drew way back there- meant 1/3-1/3 of 120 credits (which was 30 classes at my kid’s school). I should not post using my phone! Am back home after trip to NYC for a performance.
My kid too the entire month of April to decide. We did not do any appeals because the small amount involved would not have made a difference. However at one school the professor/chair of the dept. offered to work with admissions/financial aid to increase it to whatever it would take. We did not end up taking him up on it.
My daughter applied to UC Santa Cruz as her reach, non audition program. She also sent her prescreen video to them for scholarship consideration. She was informed today she received a $3000 music scholarship! Sadly, however, she learned that she was not admitted to the University about 2 weeks ago. I told her I’d approve of any college in a city I’d like to visit. That was my main criteria. Santa Cruz had that going for it! Too bad.
I guess the UCSC music scholarship is a nice boost, all the same…but sorta seems like a case of the right hand not knowing what the left hand is doing, no?! It’s been fun and heartening to see CA state schools offer music merit to your daughter–I think I (erroneously) assumed they wouldn’t have the budgets!
@SpartanDrew - there is the classic that inspired me:
http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/258796-so-you-want-to-be-music-major-one-familys-experience.html
There should be a sticky of links to journals.
@YertleTurtle I agree. I was surprised to learn that the CA state schools offer music scholarships. When I realized her top four schools were all in state publics, I figured we already had “won” the tuition game. She has not heard from UCSB, SDSU or Long Beach for scholarship money. I’ll continue to post her results so that people interested in the west coast can have some idea of what to expect.
If an new award comes through from an appeal, it’s likely from redistributed funds from awards that were turned down. So you likely won’t hear back until late, close to 4/30 for undergrads.
That’s what I thought as well @glassharmonica but the director of admissions from New school emailed me back last night and said it would be soon. They do it on a rolling basis. It probably varies from school to school.
Correct, some roll through funds as they become available. When D3 asked for an appeal at J***iard, the answer came not long after the weekly FA committee meeting. But when D4 was waiting for an appeal, she learned the results on April 30th–whew!
that’s ridiculous waiting that long. Good grief we better have a decision long before then
So my awesome friend (made through CC over a year ago) @Melodyminor texted me last night that I started this thread one year ago TODAY!!! One year and 1556 posts later here we are! Wow what a wild ride! She also sent me a quote from my very first post which we now know is blatantly untrue.
It’s amazing the valuable information gleaned over the course of this past year. I encourage all of you parents traveling this journey next year to forge friendships, meet each other on audition days and communicate. It has been so great not traveling this journey alone.
@SpartanDrew I agree that its ridiculous not knowing until April 30th. What is also ridiculous is that one school has still not posted their decisions. Their web site says “some time in April”
I wish there was an eyeroll button underneath these posts as well as on facebook lol. I’d click that instead of “like” on your post @NYsaxmom. Good grief. Sometime in April…you have to be kidding me.