<p>My son, a senior, is doing early review auditions for U Michigan and Oberlin. He will get the non-binding results by mid-December. He chose to do this after visiting both schools in the spring and having lessons at which the teachers were encouraging. He is applying for Jazz Studies, Sax Performance. He is working hard to prepare with a demanding teacher, Jerry Bergonzi of NEC, who says he thinks son will do "great" in his auditions. That said, we realize it is very competitive and that son is taking a risk auditioning early to two of his top choices. But he likes the idea of the early feedback which can then inform some of his other application decisions. And he tends to not have performance anxiety; he seems to do his very best under pressure.</p>
<p>Can anyone provide any first hand or anecdotal feedback about these two schools, either about the audition or their programs? Is there anything non-musical that can sink a candidate/audition? What do kids wear to auditions? Son will also have lunch with the jazz faculty following the audition at U Michigan. Anything he should read prior to his first audition?</p>
<p>Son is looking for a serious, high quality music experience but not overly competitive/driven atmosphere in college. He is great at jazz but also wants latitude to explore punk/ska, rock, gospel, etc as he does now.</p>
<p>Both schools have high academic standards for admission. Once there, Michigan keeps music students at a very high academic standard. Buddy's S is a freshman there and was commenting that the intro English course, which they all have to take, involves reading a good couple of hundred pages per week...</p>
<p>Although I don't know exactly, BassDad will chime in, but I've heard that Oberlin is no slouch academically in regards to music students either.</p>
<p>Dress should be "formal," at least a shirt and tie and a nice pair of slacks, not jeans. A jacket is optional.</p>
<p>He should read up on any of the faculty's web pages, discography etc. prior to the auditions so he is informed.</p>
<p>Thanks so much for your advice. I should clarify that he will be comfortable with a high academic standard; musically, he hopes it to be excellent but not so competitively intense that he can't also explore his musical interests in punk/ska, gospel, rock as well as jazz.</p>
<p>At Oberlin, the conservatory is independent from the college. If he is applying for double degree, then the academic standards are high. If he is applying only to the conservatory, the academic standards are not high. When I visited Oberlin with D, we did not see much evidence for ensembles working in alternative genres -- primarily classical and jazz -- but there may be informal groups exploring a range of musical styles.</p>
<p>For audition dress, most of the males we saw were wearing dress pants and dress shirts for auditions. A few wore jeans and we thought this was very inappropriate. </p>
<p>The academic standards for regular (i.e. non-double) degree students at Oberlin Conservatory are pretty much what the student chooses to make them. The student must take 24 semester hours in the College, including a 3 semester hour English composition class if they score under 580 on the SAT verbal. Beyond that, everything is a free elective which can run the gamut from introduction to bowling to upper-level neuroscience courses.</p>
<p>Ensembles for alternative music abound, although they are mostly student-run groups. They range from bands that get together for a single on-campus event to groups that are recording albums, touring on several other college campuses and getting gigs at places like The Knitting Factory in NYC.</p>
<p>Dress neatly for the audition, but don't go overboard one way for the other. What musicmom describes is a good start.</p>