@AmyIzzy so so so true. Especially (for us) this: “It was her top choice before the audition, but it was interesting to see her open her mind and heart to other schools as we went through the process with other visits and auditions.” This was our experience exactly. My son started the audition season with Berklee at the top of his list, NYU second, then three others and Eastman as a distant sixth – too small, too intense, annoyingly complicated application, too much of a reach, too little chance of getting significant merit aid. The audition changed everything for him. He met the teacher who is now his advisor, hung out and jammed with the other applicants, actually enjoyed the interview, visited the gorgeous theatres where he now performs on a regular basis; and something clicked.
Even then, he didn’t let himself say it was his top choice, but muttered something like, “Yeah, it would be cool, but they’ll never come up with the money.” HAHA, I can now say. So keep the faith, all! (And @AmyIzzy, so glad your talented D is loving life in New Orleans!)
Congratulations on Berklee acceptance with / without scholarship!!!
Several of my son’s friends are freshmen at Berklee. They are all jazz-trained musicians. They are in winter break. One visited us yesterday. He is very happy at Berklee and Boston even though Berklee wasn’t his top choice.
Last year, exactly this time, my son received an acceptance with a good scholarship from Berklee. We didn’t know that Berklee EA result may come earlier than 1/31. The amount of merit scholarship was a disappointment so our holidays were ruined. Berklee wasn’t his top choice so he just moved on.
What I felt really bad for long time was, I couldn’t congratulate my son that time… I should have celebrated with him just for a moment. After receiving a Berklee offer, we figured out that we couldn’t expect much of financial aids except federal student loans from other schools (like a wake-up call from “financial aid dream”) so he really needs a large merit scholarship to go to a private conservatory. I was very worried if we weren’t able to afford to send him to any of those conservatories.
My son is very happy at his top choice school with a great merit scholarship. He is home for winter break. I apologized him yesterday for not being able to celebrate last year when his Berklee result (first one) came out. He doesn’t care but I felt better finally after one year.
Hi! I thought I’d drop in here for a popular music perspective. My D is a pianist/keyboardist and songwriter. She’s applying to commercial/popular music programs so her choices are a little unconventional and limited but exciting. I’d love your thoughts if you have any experience in this area!
Congratulations to everyone on their news — and big hugs for any disappointments. It’s sweet you’re all here.
Here’s my daughter’s status:
Accepted:
Berklee (no scholarship)
Cornish College of the Arts
University of Oregon Popular Music (APEX scholarship)
University of Colorado Denver School of Arts and Media (scholarship)
Belmont University Commercial Music (scholarship)
Lewis and Clark (BA Music / Dean’s Scholarship)
“Not” Accepted
Oberlin TIMARA (not a great fit so expected)
We are waiting on USC (like everyone else!) and she’s working on schools with solid BA music programs as a back-up (Occidental, Yale, Pomona, etc.). Our older daughter is at USC (Iovine and Young Academy) so we have our fingers crossed — but we’re excited about all of the prospects.
Thanks for all of your insight and positivity — it’s good to know I’m not nail-biting alone!
@pocket22 it sounds like you have a lot of great acceptances & scholarship offers already, congrats! We know several students who are music majors at Belmont. They’re all doing well and they’re all very different types of musicians. From rock to pop to funk. One of them is also a piano singer songwriter like your D. As I’m sure you’re aware, there are tons of gigging & networking opportunities there. Good luck!
I think bridgenail was talking about my son in her last post, and I echo the advise to take early rejections with a grain of salt. My S18 VP was rejected early from SMU and received a prescreen decline at Vandy (his top early choice). Put some doubts in our mind. But then admits and large scholarships followed to USCal, FSU, Miami-Frost, Loyola-NO and Furman. Keep the faith, as better days are ahead!
@MusicSchoolSeeker Thank you!! Thanks for sharing about Belmont. It seems like location will really matter for our musicians — and opportunities surrounding in the nearby cities. Nashville would be fun!
I was expecting USC pre-screen results to come out today and was feverishly updating my email pretty much the entire day…when I got the email at 5pm I was over the moon and still am! USC’s been my dream school for years and 5months ago, I honestly thought that even getting past the pre=screen round would be an enormous reach for me. So excited to audition!!!
We will have to scramble as FSU audition was scheduled for 1/25 and USC is 1/26. I could fly back in time as long as the FSU audition is earlier rather than later. BUT my dad already bought the tickets for a flight back on 1/26, so we are not sure whether to cancel the return trip and book a new flight for 1/25, or cancel the whole trip and try to reschedule FSU for Feb (cannot reschedule USC as choral music major only has one weekend of auditions). Anyone have experience with this quandary? Thoughts?
Also, any recommendations for theory books to refresh before taking theory placement tests/sightreading evaluations? I took many years of music theory but it’s been two years since I did regular formal study.
@akapiratequeen thank you! yes, for a bit over half tuition - super excited.
expecting word from a pair of nearby EA bfa acting programs that have given him either academic or artistic acceptance but not both. and he has a bunch of acting auditions scheduled for nyc’s unifieds weekend in mid january and more jazz voice dates lining up for mid feb to early march.
he’s definitely more comfortable going in to that with some acceptances in hand. clearly a better mood than when the first two responses he’d gotten on prescreen were acting programs passing.
@Racingfan53 I don’t know how much cross-country travel you have under your belt, but I have done the LA-FL trip many times and I find it quite draining (of course, I’m a lot older than you!)
If you have the option to reschedule FSU, I would strongly consider it. That way, you will be at your freshest for both auditions.
Racingfan53—- Congratulations! No one wants to waste flight tickets (Southwest has a great cancellation policy)…But if USC is clearly your top choice and dream school, you may want to consider to focus on USC audition in the weekend instead of traveling 3000 miles from Florida (FSU is in Florida??) to California. Some people managed traveling very well last year though.
@MMRose@JeJeJe thank you both for your advice. I was obviously thrilled to pass the USC pre-screen but also disappointed that I didn’t get the date I requested. I was hoping to have a bit more audition experience under my belt before hitting up my top school, which was why I’m considering keeping the FL audition as is.
However, my dad wants to reschedule FSU, which I think is quite doable. They have two audition weekends in Feb and I could make either one at this point (still waiting on one more pre-screen). So I think we will try that. I’ve done a bit of cross-country travel but with weeklong stays each time.
Plus, if we reschedule FSU, I will be able to go to my high school’s winter formal, and I won’t have to miss the last day of finals. So maybe it’s meant to be anyway
Congrats to everyone on all the Berklee acceptances! Savor the moment with or without scholarships as it is quite an accomplishment! I vividy remember, 2 yrs ago, when my DD recieved her Berklee acceptance without scholarship. It was bittersweet as it was her top chioce at the time.
@Racingfan53 I would suggest you reschedule the FSU audition. As I recall the USC audition day can be a long day. Aside from that travel delays and unexpected issues are bound to arise when you least expect it. Flying in Jan/Feb can be tricky as well.
@Pocket22 Congrats on all of your acceptances already! My DD applied to many of the programs you mentioned as a popular/commercial music major 2 yrs ago. Of the ones on your list we visited Berklee, Belmont, USC, and University of Colorado Denver.
It was a long and winding journey for my DD. She is currently a Songwriting major at Belmont University and could not be happier! The opportunities in Nashville and through Belmont are amazing. I would be happy to answer any questions you may have. Feel free to PM me as well.
@Racingfan53 congrats on passing your USC prescreen! As for the theory exam, I wouldn’t worry about it too much. My son reported that last year they stressed that the exam does not factor into the admission decision. If you do want to review, perhaps the Barron’s AP Music Theory exam review book might be helpful. But, again, I don’t get the sense that it’s really necessary. Good luck!
Thank you so much @diglass — my D is excited to get to know the schools and we do love the idea of Belmont/Nashville. Thank you for your offer to answer questions as we get closer…we know very little about it except the website!
So for those of you with IU audition dates, do you have times yet? The January date is rapidly approaching so D grabbed one way to Indianapolis so she is sure of arriving the night before, but hasn’t booked a flight back since she doesn’t have a time. Also does anyone know what the MM audition entails? Just 10 minutes of singing and out the door, or are there interviews, presentations, socials after the audition itself? She tried to call the office on Friday but wasn’t able to reach anyone. This info would be very helpful in arranging travel!
I started following these threads a year ago to get some info and tips for my son (tuba performance BM) who started the application process this fall. All in all he applied to many selective schools and he’s got auditions scheduled in January/February at many of those schools. We somehow worked out a plan for him to be able to audition live at all of the schools he applied to. I booked hotel rooms, car rentals and flights on Southwest knowing we could cancel and reschedule if we needed to. My son’s plan all along was to major in music and business or economics.
Well, something happened a few weeks ago that we never imagined in a million years would happen. My son decided to apply to one single choice early action school just “to see”. He sent in an arts portfolio with a video recording of his music. Again, he never expected an acceptance to this very selective school and we were fully prepared for the busy audition months coming up.
I am happy to say that he opened up a “Congratulations” email from Stanford University on 12/6. Needless to say we were both shocked and happy. That happiness was even further escalated when he found out he could attend there tuition free.
He is taking his 2 week Christmas break from school to think about what he wants to do going forward, however, he is going to withdraw several of his applications.
I still plan to follow these threads and cheer the rest of you on. I have learned so much from you all and when I see you posting about prescreens and acceptances etc. I feel excitement for you and your kids.
I will keep you posted on what he decides to do with his pending auditions
