jazzzmomm

I think I would have arranged for intensive therapy for myself so I could stop losing sleep over the final run up to admissions decisions! (Just kidding of course). Long walks with my son's friends' parents have helped immensely, as we all wait together. I did, however, fall off the diet wagon out of stress.

cartera45

The scholarship aspect is definitely an eye opener. It appears that the smaller private schools who want a student immediately set out to become competitive with at least OOS tuition at publics and closer to in state. The large publics warned the parents in the informational meetings that it was very tough for them to give talent scholarships that would have much impact on a decision. One school said that if a kid gets $1000k, that should be considered a ringing endorsement. That same school also told us that they reserve the bulk of the money for current students and they seem to be generous there.

BassDad

I assume you meant $1000. $1000k would be a free ride thirty times over at a large public. Ringing endorsement I should say. (Sorry, the engineer in me couldn't let that one go by.)

naturalmom

about changing teachers earlier. I just started a thread, because I'm trying to figure out if ds should change teachers. He is not a prodigy or anything, but of course we still want him to go as far as he can!

He has a good teacher, but we're wondering if he should get one of the better teachers in town.

Singersmom07

One of the best things we did for DD was to change teachers for her sophomore year in HS. She went with the most challenging but highly reputable teacher in the area. It changed the course of her life. He took her to a totally different level and made a career in music a real possibility.

team_mom

Two of my kids' teachers have said that even if the teacher still has many things left to teach them, it is a good idea to change after about 4-5 years. After so many years, it is good to get a fresh perspective.

cartera45

Bassdad - got me. I guess that was wishful thinking.

Hoosier Mama

I think I would have liked to visit more schools, but we were on a tight budget. Our D went to Interlochen her senior year of high school. Going at least two years would have been a huge plus, but financially and emotionally it just wasn't possible. She got in the school she really wanted (Jacobs @ Indiana U.) so it worked out, but I often wonder if she would have wanted IU as much if we had taken the time to visit Oberlin, Eastman, etc. It's just hard. You can't go everywhere, meet with everybody, etc., and in the end, I think it's a bit of a crap shoot anyway. I think a person will always wonder if they had visited just one more school, maybe that would have been the "perfect" one. Who knows? You do your best, hope for the best, and let the chips fall!

cartera45

Hoosier Mama - the good thing - or not - is that if our kids choose to follow the performance track, they will be looking at graduate programs a few years from now and they can consider many of the places that they may have overlooked this time around. That is largely why my D chose not to even go the conservatory route for undergrad - she can do it the second, or even third, time around.

operahorn

Things worked out ok, but not without a lot of angst. We would have visited more schools/teachers in the summer before grade 12, traveled onsite to all the auditions, had her tape done professionally (NOT edited, however), and had D take two SAT IIs before her Senior year (she was unable to even apply to two of her top choices because it was too late by the time we noticed the requirement). Also, I'd have been happier realizing that many schools' deadlines are Dec. 1st. But realistically I think we did pretty much the best we could have, considering we have twins...

-Allmusic-

Had I a window into the future, I would have saved myself a lot of anxiety. I just wasn't sure how things would go, and it made for a stressful fall/winter. Aside from that, I don't know that we could have done things much differently. My son had done his homework (as had I), and we visited, had lessons (thanks to everyone here), did screening CDs (with some small mishaps, but it all worked out) and on-campus auditions.

It was only the worry I could have done without, and even if I had to do it all over again, unless I knew the outcome beforehand (who wouldn't love that kind of omniscience? ), I doubt much would have changed in that department either. Oh, maybe I would have nagged less too....

I would also add the things that I would do exactly the same, which is having that kind of one-on-one time with your child. It was wonderful experiencing the travel and auditions with him, and I wouldn't have traded it (except the stress) for anything.

tango14

S changed teachers after freshman year of hs. Although it was forced on us due to teacher 1 moving away, there was an uneasy period of adjustment for about 6 mo. But it turned out to be the best thing. Teacher 1 was a cheerleader in addition to being a great teacher. It is not Teacher 2's style.

If we had it to do over, we would have homeschooled after freshman year of hs. S would not have had to waste time in meaningless hs classes, would have learned more faster, and been better able to coordinate his practice.

mom4

Son probably should have applied to 2 more schools than the 5 he applied to. It was do-able...

musicianmom

Interesting, mom4! My S auditioned at 5 schools also. He wasn't terribly interested in several of the schools, but we allowed ourselves to be talked into all 5 auditions for the "safety" factor. In retrospect, I would have dropped some of these just to save the $$$ of travelling and general wear and tear. I guess it's very easy to 2nd guess ourselves over what should have been....

I know for graduate school (if he chooses to go that route), I will encourage him to trust his teachers' assessments of his possibilites and encourage fewer safeties. Of course, I know I will then panic that he might become ill for an important audition or worry that the weather might prevent one from happening, etc, etc!!

operahorn

I don't know; we started with 8 schools. 2 D couldn't apply to because of the SATII problem; 2 she didn't get past the pre-screening. She got on the waitlist for 1, didn't get in to 2 , and was accepted to only 2 of her schools. Pretty nail-biting experience. Probably should have picked another couple of schools. I expect it depends on the instrument (she is a technically behind violinist). It did work out in the end, but I'm sure we both would have been more comfortable with a couple more choices!