<p>Touching base with the experts again to see if we can solve our current problem. DS invited to all schools he sent prescreening materials to. This is not really bad news, but makes life difficult, especially when conflicts of dates occur and both parents work full time. Though he has researched, he can't seem to decide which schools he should prioritize. His list and planned auditions are for Indiana, CIM, BOCO, Manhatten, Eastman, U. of Cincinnati. He will also informally be visiting Northwestern (luckily we live in Chicagoland) and NEC as they don't request auditions, but we believe it would be helpful to meet the profs and learn more about the departments. Probably helpful for them to see him too... He had also applied to Univ. Missouri Kansas City Conservatory, as a back up but we will probably drop that audition. He auditioned today at CIM and got such good feedback from Dr. Fitch there that we feel he may not need a back up so we probably he will probably drop UMKC. </p>
<p>Here is the problem. CIM is great but they will only be accepting 2 comp. students. Last year they took 7. Bad luck, but I believe, not really, cause you make your luck. We have auditions scheduled for Eastman and Cincinnati both on the same day. He knows next to nothing about U. of Cincinnati, and may drop it. We could reschedule Eastman, but do we need to go to so many? Probably no right answer. He is leaning toward smaller composition departments and schools in general. This may be a good reason to hold on to U. of Cincinnati. Does anyone know much about the caliber of the conservatory, composition department, the university, the Symphony there and the town? Would the leanings of people there be conservative or liberal? Any help here would be appreciated.</p>
<p>I don’t really think 7 is too many. It does make audition time very, very hectic and complicated. And he will have to re-arrange his audition dates if he was involuntarily scheduled for conflicts. But it is possible to manage that many. You will see several music applicants balancing that kind of audition schedule on these CC threads.</p>
<p>I think you’re on the right track, researching and asking questions about the schools themselves. If he hasn’t already done so, he should be as sure as he can be that every school to which he’s applied is a good fit for him. If it’s not a good fit, in all sorts of ways, then he might as well take it off the list rather than drain your pocketbook and your time. And like all other college applicants, he should hopefully have a selection of at least one or two reaches, one or two matches, and one or two safeties.</p>
<p>If he’s really good at what he does, and perhaps all this interest from colleges indicates that he is (I don’t know much about the composition major, specifically – am more informed about other music majors), then it could really benefit him financially to have a large handful of good music schools competing for him.</p>
<p>Our limited experience has shown that music schools are often flexible when coordinating scheduling conflicts far enough ahead of time. Particularly if they’re the ones who scheduled your son “in the blind.” If your son created the scheduling conflicts himself, they can still be understanding … but be sure to give them as much notice as possible. We did run into a few who were not quite as pleasant as others when trying to work out complicated audition schedules.</p>
<p>Good luck! (Can’t answer your UMKC question. The others are all really great music schools – at least in my kids’ areas of music interest. CIM is very good … probably wouldn’t drop it from the list until I’d visited, even if that visit is for the prescreening.)</p>
<p>I agree with SimpleLife, but you can overthink this both ways. Be careful of dropping safeties, as there’s no such thing is a sure bet. If one of the “safeties or maybes”, will take a recorded submission as the audition, you might want to go that route, or reschedule one of the safeties for the last possible date if that works. Hopefully, you might have some sound offers and decide to cancel. Can S do a couple of the closer ones on his own without parent(s) if time off from work is an issue? It is a family experience, but again, sometimes something has to give. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, you can’t be two places at once and remember weather related issues can wreak havoc in the east and midwest. I remember an Oberlin audition during bad weather a few cycles back, and some folks just didn’t make it and it was not rescheduled, so some missed it. And kids do get sick. </p>
<p>It’s really a balancing act, and a number of factors come into play. And sometimes you just have to go with what your gut tells you. You can’t be in two places at once. Make a list of pros/cons on the iffy ones, and think it through.</p>
<p>Good luck.</p>
<p>Joel Hoffman at CCM is an exciting composer, and hosts an impressive summer program. Don’t know as much about the regular program - but the facilities are terrific and there is lots of support in Cincinnati for the arts, and the symphony performs contemporary music. I would definitely keep it on the list.</p>
<p>As for Northwestern - my son had to audition last year for composition on his primary instrument. Have they deleted that requirement? They only admit very few composers, as well. This will be true of many of the programs on your list, so there is no safety, even if he passes pre-screening with ease.</p>
<p>I know nothing abut BOCO - no one I know has ever applied there for composition, but Golijov is on the faculty which is certainly impressive. NEC is much better known for composition in Boston. Which doesn’t necessarily mean it’s better - although I suspect the caliber of performers is higher. Was BOCO his safety in addition to UMKC? Hard to know if UMKC is really a safety - impressive faculty, vibrant new music scene, and heavy Asian enrollment. Just because it’s big doesn’t mean it’s easy to be admitted to the music program.</p>
<p>If I were you I would do all the auditions - just change the ones that have conflicts. For one thing, you’ll want to compare merit offers, as well as the programs themselves. Despite what it might seem on paper (or the internet) in reality they will not be all alike, but you might not be able to figure that out until after auditioning, visiting, and speaking one on one with the professors.</p>
<p>Thanks so much for the quick input SimpleLife and violadad, you have made me feel less crazy about the #s. Realistically I can go to the auditions with him, but I am worried about the stress for him. I think you are right, and rescheduling Eastman will be the answer. We did our best but just couldn’t get the dates to all work out ahead of time, so it is our fault. We have been told we can change, if we do it soon. If we have a snowy end of February early March though, we are doomed. As it was, yesterday we tried to fly to Cleveland and our plane was diverted to Detroit! I ended up renting a car and driving getting us in at 1:30 AM. Lesson learned, if we can we will leave as early as time permits. Maybe driving and investing in tire chains is the answer!</p>
<p>You heard from Eastman and NEC? Dang… I hope a snail mail rejection isn’t coming my way.</p>
<p>Our daughter did 4 applications to conservatories for composition, a couple of years back. Three of the schools had “auditions”; one, NEC, asked for 4 scores but had no interview, exam or audition.</p>
<p>I think that she found those three auditions to be quite enough. Two were in NYC, and one in Ohio. They involved anything from a simple chat with a professor, to full theory exams (for placement) to an overnight composition exercise and presentation to a panel to 4 grueling interviews.</p>
<p>She chose the schools she really wanted to go to, and figured that if she did not get in, then she would work on her composing for a year and reapply. For her, that really would have been okay.</p>
<p>Does your son feel he would like to attend any one of these schools? If so, then maybe auditioning at so many will work out. If there are any he can cut, now that he feels a little more confident, then maybe he could lower the number a little.</p>
<p>Stamina for all this seems to vary!</p>
<p>Shinster, I think Eastman is doing rolling acceptances, when I spoke to them by phone to consider changing dates for my son I got the impression they had not yet completed their quota. So hang tight. As for NEC, they don’t audition so applicants won’t hear a thing till April, or end of March if we are lucky. Regarding Northwestern, it has been a bit of a fiasco. We had talked to Ryan O’Mealey who is in charge of Music Admissions, we first met him at Allstate last year where he told us about their summer program which my son attended and loved. When it came to the pre-screening requirement I called him and he told us that since Daniel chose not to double major in performance he didn’t need a pre-screening CD, that it was OK to just send a couple of DVD’s we had of him playing piano from performances. Well later after good advice from Rigaudon I spoke to one of the administrative assistants who urged me to get all that in writing from Ryan so I emailed him back. By then it was too late to pre-screen, ( past Dec. 1st), buy Ryan reassured me he did not need a prescreening CD, but should send a CD in following the pre-screening requirements for one of the instruments he would choose to study next year or be in an ensemble. So after one more call to the admin. asst. I found it could be sent in by as late as Feb. 15th. So now he is working on that. LIke NEC, Northwestern does not require audition/interview. But we plan to visit both to get his face in front of the professors, and to evaluate the program during the school year in case he is admitted. This is a full time job for me and my son… SpiritMom and Compmom, thanks again for your input, this site is invaluable.</p>