There’s always been discussion here about the importance of your audition vs. grades/test scores in the process of getting into a music program, but this got me thinking about other components. Granted, some conservatories don’t seem to require essays, and for some schools it falls under the common ap essays, but for those conservatories that require them as well as for music admission to a university:
- how important are the essays in the equation?
- are there any peculiarities in writing an essay for a music student?
Well, if the essay requirements are any indication - very important (but I always hope the essays are important!). Not one of my son’s applications required only the common app essays, although the standard questions seemed to focus on why this particular program and future career goals. In fact, I thought the emphasis on future was interesting and unlike the essay prompts for liberal arts schools that I’m familiar with - somehow, more pragmatic. I think the best essays are specific and personal and speak about musical experiences where you’ve thrived as a way to connect the dots to where you want to go.
It is very hard to judge the value of an essay when someone is applying to music schools, within a university and/or at a conservatory. Given what I know of music school admissions and how much the audition weighs, I would say that maybe, just maybe, like grades and such, it may weight in favor of a student if they are borderline.
It obviously also depends on the school we are talking about. With conservatories and stand alone music schools, I would argue it might be a factor for borderline applicants. On the other hand, in schools like U Michigan and Northwestern, where you have to be admitted academically and by the music school, a good essay might be very helpful with the academic admission (for example someone who writes an essay for such a school, that talks about how they hope to bring change to music, talks eloquently about what music means to them, the passion they bring to it, what they hope to achieve in the world of music, is going to do better than someone who writes they are going to be the next Itzak Perlman and be a super soloist and therefore be “#1 violinist” or whatever (and yes, folks, have heard of such essays being written, from admissions programs with parents interested in the school)…
My take? It is always better to assume that something is important and give it the effort required, then assuming it is not, a good essay is certainly not going to hurt you, and it may help.
Essays helped my S at one audition. The adjudicators had his essay in front of them and asked him about it.
The essay is your introduction to the Admissions Office. In most cases- dec51995’s son is a notable exception- the music teaching faculty never sees them. They are often used in cases of relatively equal candidates (especially VP) and they are also used as part of the equation for scholarships and awards. If they are required, why wouldn’t you put the time and effort into something that could possibly result in some extra $$?
At Michigan in the interview (composition) they asked my son about his academic essay. He was very surprised and had to remember what he’d written! For composition I believe the music teachers do take into account the intellectual aspects of the student in addition to the artistic ones.
My son also found (also at Michigan) that his interviewers had read his essays and his technical notes that accompanied his portfolio, etc. so I’d bet for composition and other portfolio interviews it would be a safe bet that essays are germane. Not as sure about pure performance.
In my son’s case, he also received a substantial academic scholarship. While he was from a well-known gifted-talented program, his grades & stats were by no means the highest a school like Michigan sees, so we’re pretty sure the essays and recommendations had to have played into that one!
Of course essays are important, especially at university programs. At one of my undergraduate auditions (6 years ago) there was a coffee meet and greet in the middle of the audition day, and a very prominent flute teacher (decades in the NY phil, very successful students) came up to my mother and I and told us how much she enjoyed my essay, and made specific references. Essays can make you a stand out applicant.
It’s easy to draw sweeping conclusions about what is and isn’t important in the audition process. You hear all the time that it’s all about the audition, and for some schools (percentage unknown) that’s true. It’s good to remember that schools can have different philosophies about what constitutes the ideal student and different procedures for narrowing their pool of applicants. It makes sense to be as prepared as you can for questions and use every opportunity to make a case for yourself as an applicant–and that opportunity can include the essays you write.
@dec51995-
I can pretty much tell you that with performance degrees in auditioned programs, that the audition is the heaviest weight, and a mediocre audition isn’t going to be made up with a great essay, a 4.0 GPA, 2300 SAT, etc (in the latter, talking about music schools in universities), if your audition isn’t good enough to get you past the panel or chosen by a teacher, the essay won’t matter much.
The value of an essay is nuanced, it could, for example, in theory get a student who has passed the audition and gotten a teacher willing to teach them, admitted academically where that is needed (ex, U Mich, Northwestern), it potentially could differentiate between two students with equal auditions at a conservatory in terms of which got in, so it is important as a kind of tiebreaker from everything I know, so while it is important I think to write an essay that says who you are, there is only so much it will do to get you into a music school, and not to get their hopes up that because they wrote a killer essay if their audition was mediocre it may get them in,I am almost 100% certain it won’t. That said, writing the best essay you can is going to be important because those little edges can mean a lot if you are borderline, or for example, trying to attract the attention of a teacher who actually reads the essays (not all do, but better to assume they do).
Didn’t mean to step on your toes or misinform the OP, @musicprnt. I think we’re in agreement, and I wasn’t implying that a good essay could make up for a bad audition. That being said–and conceding that you likely know far more than I do on this topic–there’s wide variation in how much auditioned programs demand of the academic side of their students. At Shepherd–a school we would agree is highly competitive, musically–you could be passed over if your grades or test scores weren’t up to the high standards of Rice University. It’s also possible that the essay had no impact on the teacher’s decision. It could just have easily been a gratuitous comment in the vein of, “We like your playing, and, by the way, we also thought your essay was interesting.” At the very least, though, they had the essay in front of them, which kind of surprised me.
Essays are a lot of work. I’d hope some were read.
@ dec51995-
You weren’t stepping on my toes, I was simply trying to clarify how the music school portion of things work. At Rice or U Mich or Northwestern, academics and the essay count, of course, because you have to get admitted both to the music school and the academic side, what I was trying to say is for the music school portion itself the grades and such won’t matter, that if your audition is not great, the music school won’t look at the kids grades and say “oh, wow, he got a 2300 SAT”. Good grades, great SAT’s, the AP tests might get more academic merit aid for the student and thus are important, but in terms of admit to the music program about the only things academics can do is potentially break a tie or help a borderline student, but the actual impact of that is kind of debatable as to how much it does.
An essay could influence a teacher into taking a student, keep in mind that the music school process is a)do well on the audition (the first challenge) and b)get into a studio, and an essay might influence b, depending on the teacher. If a teacher sees a passion for the music from the essay, they may take that student over another one who seems to be interested in the music as a means to be a star soloist (have heard of this one, btw, not sure it was the essay per se, but the attitude).