@mom2clarinetobsessedkid : Thats an interesting thought about making a list where no money is available for undergrads. The thing though is that most colleges do in fact give some money, some more than others, and it depends heavily on the audition (and in the non-conservatories, on grades as well).
On the positive side, Cleveland Institute of Music have been reducing tuition (!!!) over the last couple of years. Since 2018 they’ve decided that eventually they will go free, and have followed through in 2018 and 2019. [They also give a ton of money].
I did see on the UT Austin website that they do give out of state tuition waivers to music students, so I’m hoping to at least be paying what in state students pay and also hoping for some large outside scholarships as well. I did tell my son he might not get much from the public out of state schools but he wants to try anyways and see what happens. I think he will be in the same situation with UCLA as well. @JeJeJe, Southwest is very instrument friendly! My son traveled on other airlines with his tuba and it cost $100 to fly it one way. Southwest does not charge him, they include the instrument as 1 of his checked pieces of baggage. I do worry about damage to the instrument etc but so far we have not had any issues. The other option is to purchase a seat for it and let it fly in the cabin, but that is so expensive and not a good option for us with the other expenses. It is not easy to travel with such a large instrument. We almost always have to rent a car when we get to the destination as taking a bus or train is almost impossible and some ubers are not equipped for such a large instrument.
@tubamama - congrats at how much your S has done. I’m so jealous.
I thought we had finalized a list of schools at the beginning of summer after some campus visits and sample lessons in junior year, but now S MIGHT be backing away from music and looking into everything else under the sun it seems including double majoring. I’ve pretty much thrown my hands up in the air and have had to tell myself regularly that it’s not my journey. S was still insistent on continuing in our local youth symphony and with weekly lessons. Don’t really know where his mind is; I’m not so sure he does either. I just know that he has a lot of other interests, loves music and has been enjoying playing trumpet, piano and electric bass- none of which is his primary instrument- when he needs to unwind. He’s quickly dismissed the idea of a gap year. So yay! (sarcasm) We have a lot more uncertainty going into prescreens and applications season. So far, we know for sure that Temple and our state school are on the list. Either school would allow him to pursue whatever it is he finally decides to do, which will be a prerequisite for other schools we may put on the list. I’ve given him a deadline of 10/31 to be recording ready. Fortunately all the schools we have considered seem to have generally the same repertoire requirements. On the bright side, I think if nothing else, audition season might be a lot simpler than I had originally feared. Ugghhh…
UGH! So sorry that things are feeling up in the air, @Busy_Momma. This process is not for the faint of heart! Also trying to remind myself that it’s not my journey. Easier said than done when you’ve been so involved over the years, and when they’re so close to the finish/starting line. I think you’re wise to keep schools on the list where he can do music at a high level as well as pursue other interests that may arise. I’ll be thinking about you in the coming weeks!
@Busy_Momma, I have to also remind myself that this is not my journey. It’s hard to do for sure. I think all kids get indecisive at this point and senior year is so busy. My son wants to pursue music performance but also loves business and economics and wants to continue doing both in college. He may also decide at some point to give up music or business. I wish my son would narrow down his list of schools. It would certainly make the live auditions more manageable, but because most schools only take 1 tuba player per year, he doesn’t want to limit the schools and I can’t say that I blame him. I never imagined all of the work that goes into the applications, the essays, the test taking, the practices etc. I’m hoping the apps will all be done soon so he can just focus on the pre-screening and live audition material. Keep us posted on what your son decides
@tubamama - Both Uber and Lyft usually have an XL option, which is an SUV/Minivan which will easily fit a tuba. We used a couple when moving kid (and a gazillion pieces of luggage) into the dorm this fall.
hi everyone! i’m pretty new here! i’m just curious- i’m filling out my depaul prescreen stuff and i’m wondering about the dance prescreen? i have an old video of me doing a hip hop number but idk if that’s what they want? the music is pretty explicit in the video. i’m also comfortable with modern dance, so should i send in that instead? ahhh i’m so stressed, thanks for all your help!
@broadwaybabie57 - This is the music thread…no dance required for our Bassoon players!
I think you are looking for advice from the Musical Theater forum and/or Dance (if there is one). I’m sure the Musical Theater people can help regardless…a very active, helpful forum
Not sure why, but I just decided to pop on over to last year’s Journey thread to read the September posts. People have mentioned before that it can be helpful to see what the previous group was doing around this time last year. I was feeling pretty good about D’s progress on apps., practice, prescreen prep, etc. until I saw that multiple people had submitted apps. by early September last year, and were well on their way to having auditions lined up. Gulp! Do I wish I hadn’t looked? Sort of. Seems like I need to return to my regularly scheduled ‘gentle nagging’ tomorrow…
@mom2clarinetobsessedkid I wouldn’t compare yourself to anyone else’s schedule. My D got back from Tanglewood five days after her school year had started, and she’s been steadily working on applications and rehearsing for prescreens ever since. Prescreen recordings this week and next, then after some tidying up of loose ends, all the applications will be submitted by Nov. 1. Anyone who had a summer at home or whose summer lasted till the day after Labor Day might be ahead of where we (or you) are, but it doesn’t really matter in the end!
@mom2clarinetobsessedkid My son did everything at the last minute. Nothing was submitted in September. I’m not sure anything was submitted in October. By November he had some apps in, and he wasn’t actually late on anything. He also didn’t have trouble getting the audition dates he needed, but maybe he was just lucky!
I remember nagging him on just one thing at a time. “How about you do that one easy application to local state U right now. You have an hour!” I also suggested he enter YoungArts because it had an early deadline and we could use the videos as his prescreens. That worked really well.
I’m super excited to travel up North tomorrow with My D. We live in Florida and I haven’t seen Fall in over a decade. We’re visiting 4 schools over the next week and she’s taking a bunch of trial lessons. We’re doing Oberlin, CIM, Eastman and MSM. Please share with me your restaurant and coffee shop suggestions. Thanks.
Have a great trip @SweetStrings! FYI Eastman is on fall break from Friday through Tuesday. Java Coffee will be open though so don’t miss it. For dinner, I hear great things about Pane Vino on the river. Dinosaur BBQ is of course great but go in off hours — it gets crowded. Have fun!
@SweetStrings - Right by CIM is an amazing French bistro: http://albatrosbrasserie.com/
See if you can get a reservation (I ended calling them and begging since we were only there for one night). Have fun - the area around there is fabulous. Also see if the Cleveland Orchestra is playing while you are there. Their symphony hall is spectacular and many of the CIM faculty play there as well.
@Sweetstrings - as Lendless mentioned, L’Albatros Brasserie near CIM is very good. Little Italy is a very easy walk from CIM with numerous restaurants & Italian bakeries! Our favorite bakery is Corbo’s although Presti’s has a large following. Depending on where you are staying in the Cleveland area, I can make other recommendations (one of our kids was a student-athlete at Case Western so we spent a fair amount of time in the University Circle area!).
If you will have a meal in Oberlin, highly recommend Black River Cafe near campus.
Loved The Feve (restaurant) at Oberlin. Also Gibson’s for a bottle of water, pack of gum, or after-lesson chocolate covered pretzel. ? Both in easy walking distance (1-2 blocks) of the conservatory. We second Corbo’s and Presti’s in Little Italy (CIM). Yum! Good coffee shop just across the street from the school (next to Glidden House). Sorry can’t remember name. Entire University Circle area is just lovely. Enjoy!
@mom2clarinetobsessedkid My S is no where near to submitting any applications yet. Most of schools he is looking at have the dateline December 1st. We still need pre-screening audio/video, essays and i do not know what else.
Thanks everyone for all of the great tips and suggestions. I loved Java Coffee in Rochester. It had a great college vibe and the food was delicious. Our trip was so awesome. We lucked out with weather in the 60s and 70s and beautiful clear skies. My daughter did 7 trial lessons and I’m so proud of her. She found 4 professors that she really connected with and she feels she could really learn quite a lot from. My biggest piece of advice to other parents doing trial lessons is to take detailed notes immediately after each lesson and campus tour. This really saved us. There’s no way we could simply remember everything we saw and heard. My daughter loved Eastman and Oberlin the most. Kodak Hall literally blew my mind. MSM was good too but the loud, noisy and crowded city was a big turn off for her. She would be happy to start college right now. I did caution her that things don’t always go as expected and she absolutely must have several acceptable options. I don’t want to see her heart get broken this winter.
