<p>Hi, I recently emailed a teacher who I am interested in studying with before he reviewed my regional audition tape and he written back to me. He has told me that I am a talented musician and that if I am accepted to the school he will do his best to keep an opening in his studio for me. I'm not quite sure how to interpret the note, but I'm hoping it will lead to admittance. Do any of you have any advice on what I should do now, and what I should expect?</p>
<p>I would take it as a positive sign, but do not consider it a shoo-in.</p>
<p>Yes, it probably means that you are likely to pass the audition hurdle (which is usually the major hurdle for most people at most schools), but it says nothing about whether you have passed the other hurdles for admission–i.e. academic requirements for entry, English language proficiency etc. Some schools have very high academic requirements which often prevent talented musicians from gaining entry (e.g. Northwestern, Rice) and even schools with very low academic bars, want basic proficiency in English.</p>
<p>wait wait…</p>
<p>aren’t the professors at the schools the ones that CHOOSE students they want to admit? what could he possibly mean by “if I am accepted to the school he will do his best to keep an opening in his studio for me.” ? i’m confused…</p>
<p>i thought the professors admitted the students not the “school” in general? and i can’t think what that means. the admissions office? but if you’re a music major… admissions office don’t listen to you …urgh i don’t know what does that mean?</p>
<p>Yeah, it can be confusing. Basically, even if the professors that you audition for want you in the music school, you CAN still be denied by the college admissions office. It’s a two-step process.</p>
<p>hmmmmmmmmm. i see. ah that just made me feel more anxious T.T</p>
<p>My son has recieved two “conditional” letters of admittance. </p>
<p>One college told he that he was admitted academically and the “condition” was that he has to be admitted by the school of music. </p>
<p>The other was the opposit, he was admitted the the school of music on the “condition” that he is admitted academically.</p>
<p>Rachelee, it depends on the process for that particular school. At some schools, a teacher may have the discretion to admit students as s/he pleases, but most schools have a panel that makes decisions based on some kind of voting system. At Juilliard, for example, each panel member rates each auditioning student numerically, and answers an additional question, “Would you be willing to have this student in your studio?” Of course, theoretically, some teachers are already pulling for particular students and will rate them highly and perhaps even mark down “competitors”. But, hopefully, most teachers give an honest, unbiased numerical rating. The numbers are tallied by the admissions office and students are admitted based on their numerical ranking. So you can see how a teacher might really wish for a student to be admitted, but the student might not have a high enough overall score to make the cut.</p>
<p>Yep - different schools, different procedures. At some you must be admitted academically based on grades, test scores, strength of schedule and so forth before you can even audition for the music department. At others, you can audition before the academic review, but you still need to pass both. Sometimes the music teacher may have a bit of pull for a borderline academic candidate, and sometimes not. At some schools, mostly the stand-alone conservatories, academics count very little and the audition is about the only thing that matters.</p>