@coloraturagirl My VP daughter will be at Tanglewood this summer too! I’d love to connect our Ds! Mine is also a junior, also more interested in conservatories, but also looking at some LACs and university programs too. Let’s definitely PM re: Tanglewood!
@tubamama Have you looked at Bard College/Conservatory for your S? They offer a special (up to - which means it may be need informed) full ride scholarship for brass players:
Conservatory Brass Scholarship
These scholarships cover up to full tuition and up to full room and board costs at Bard. Two scholarships in each category are awarded each year to incoming students.
Bard has a very special Economic Institute, as well.
Thank you. We will definitely check it out!
@tubamama You may not know, but Bard Conservatory requires all students to get a double degree: https://www.bard.edu/conservatory/undergraduate/
And here’s info on the Levy Economics Institute on campus: http://www.levyinstitute.org/
Yes, welcome to the newbies and thank you to @akapiratequeen for still watching over us!
@Lendlees , yes, S will be applying to Temple, esp since 1- I still have a lot of family and friends there and will make me feel better about having him so far away; and 2- I really, really love the idea of that merit money! We were told that if he could keep his grades up, he could get free tuition and depending on audition, get more merit money. Not that they’ll guarantee it, but it’s something that’s at least a possibility. I know from others’ experience not to count on anything until you see an offer in writing. I do feel like I really scored in convincing S on Temple because his stubborn self was still arguing with me about checking it out a couple of hours before our tour. I would have been happier if he conceded that I was right, but whatever. He even bought a Temple shirt! One of the teachers is a Curtis grad who teaches at Juilliard as well and is principal with the Met Opera. Does your S know about the semester abroad at the Amsterdam Conservatory? Is that something he’d consider?
@Busy_Momma - the merit money is definitely not guaranteed anymore - it used to be, but now it’s not. That’s not to say that they don’t give it…it’s just a little more random of how much for academic. My S’ grades are ho hum, but his ACT scores were incredible. That translated into a decent amount of $$, but definitely not anywhere near full tuition (unless we were in-state). Was it the advisor @ Boyer that gave you that information? The audition money is extremely random…we are still waiting/hoping for some.
I didn’t know about the Amsterdam Conservatory option. We will definitely look into that. Is that new? When I asked last year they didn’t offer anything for performance majors, but my kid would be all over that (and so would his parents!). Awesome.
The faculty are amazing - many are principals in local orchestras and/or teach at Curtis as well. We are super thrilled to be there. Feel free to PM me as application/audition time gets closer.
Just a few words of advice that my son and I learned along our journey…
Plan early - the submission deadlines sneak up on you. The apps take time to get everything ready…fees, recommendation letters, pre-screen videos, essays, etc. Getting all of that done In the midst of HS fall senior activities is quite stressful.
Check all calendars —On the application you will select the preferred audition date/weekend. Well, of the 6 live audition invites he received we had to reschedule most one of them due to overlap and school events. Cross reference the auditon calendars with your personal calendar and the school calendar before you submit the applications! Reschedules are not guaranteed. During the audition weekend the schools have lots of other activities planned — observation classes, performances, tours, etc. Before booking flights, review the schedule.
When flying — each airline has a policy for traveling with instruments and also allow you to purchase an extra seat for large instruments. Policies are on their websites. We always paid extra to board early to ensure overhead space and reduce stress. Note - the regional jets are tiny. We did have to use the valet/gate check option for those flights but we handed the instrument to the attendant and it was brought back up onto the jetway when we landed.
It will be expensive/keep your options open — there are certainly stories of students getting significant aid and scholarships but If we did it again I would have looked closer at the school costs ahead of time. Tuition ranges from 8k-50k, Room and board ranges from 10-15K/year. The max students can take out for loan is ~5K per year, the rest is on the parents to fund or take out loans. Having an in-state option with a highly recommended teacher (and one that takes a personal interest in you) can be another avenue to explore. Also look for schools that waive out of state tuition.
Everyone will have an opinion. At the end of our decision process we had to filter out the noise and focus on the factors that were important to my son (big university experience, varied degree options), the reputation/experience/fit of the instrument professor, and financials. These factors should be unique to each student.
Best of luck on your journey!
I just finished reading the 2023 thread updates today and with all their good news and happiness I’m sort of wishing I could skip these hard months ahead and fast forward to the happy ending. One can dream.
I haven’t researched much into student loan limits- yikes! My D has a 4.2 and hopefully higher once the year ends, and has 9 AP classes on her transcript. In addition to finding the right opera undergrad program for her, I have been counting on an offer of some merit money as well. She will have three years of Conservatory training from her high school which I hope makes her stand out as well. As a single parent, I am really stressed about the finances. My oldest goes to a state school with a very reasonable tuition, but her major is not as specialized.
@coloraturagirl - there is lots of merit money available - especially for music programs situated within larger universities. Your daughter’s impressive grades should definitely help, especially if her SAT/ACT scores are commersurate.
@sweetstrings - you’'ll get there! I promise.
@colorturagirl - focus on teachers and programs first. Make a list of safeties, known affordability with decent programs. Then make a list of schools that might seem to be out of financial reach but offer good academic merit money combined with music scholarship money. SMU in Dallas is a good example - they give generous academic aid for high stats kids, they have a great conservatory that offers huge money for talented voices/players and they take financial need into consideration. My son received a $208K four year package made up of academic and music scholarships at SMU.
Look outside the box for good fits.
Last - hit for the majors, Apply to a few of the best conservatories for your daughter’s specialty - you might be surprised by the acceptances and scholarship money
@colorturagirl - one more thing, on our hunt for safeties we learned that the University of Houston is a feeder program for opera students straight into the Houston Opera - one of the top notch operas in the country.
They are generous with academic and music scholarships. It might be worth a look.
Places like Indiana, in which the music program greatly outweighs the university in terms of selectivity, can be very good for getting academic merit money (assuming you can get in!). Make sure you fill out the FAFSA as well, even if you don’t think you’d qualify. Many merit scholarships are partially aid-based as well.
Great tips- thank you. U of Houston is definitely on our list as well as IU-Jacobs.
Having just barely lived through this treacherous process, and made every mistake in the books, I have two methods to propose:
- Start early. (Be talented enough to do so!) Dig for a ton of information on schools, and then try to create relationships with teachers. Take trial lessons EARLY in 11th grade. Designate your favorite teacher, and then CONTINUE to take lessons and/ or keep in very close touch with him/ her, emailing often for guidance and with questions. Make it clear that this is The One. Tell this person that you are all in and you will do anything to get into his studio. If he likes you as much as you like him, he will be just as happy to have a sure admit as you will be. Move forward, but MAKE SURE you have a backup plan. a school that you pretty much know you will get into and be happy there just in case something weird happens to topple #1. This is LEAST stressful way to apply to music school. You know who you want, you know what your chances are, you put everything into place to make it happen, but you still have a backup plan. (Someone here did this and I am sure he will chime in if he wants.) Remember, YIELD is very important to all colleges and even music schools, so your promise of an immediate Yes counts of more than you think.
For those of you who say “But what about financial aid?” Make sure this is a school that you know offers aid. Make sure your new bff professor knows what your needs are. Make sure this is a school that you can afford. If that is NOT the case, then do Method #2: - Do tons of research and make a list of schools you love. With teachers you love. And a setting you love. These might be VERY different schools, and that is OKAY! Only put schools on this list, that you would be thrilled to go to. Do NOT bother with schools you feel “meh” about. Now, here is the important part: Make a SECOND list with schools that you KNOW offer a lot of aid. For example: if you can demonstrate lots of need, then list some schools that meet 100% of need. If you have really great academic stats, then put down some schools who give academic merit aid to music majors. If you have low need and low stats, choose schools that tend to offer big merit awards (this year those were Eastman, USC, and Frost. And UCLA for one very talented pianist.) Now, make sure to add 2-3 schools from THIS list to your other list. You might end up auditioning at a school that you have NO desire to go to, but if they give you a huge award, you can then go to the school you end up really wanting , show them said award, and ask for more money. Be careful, because Audition Fatigue is real, and you will NOT have any desire or inclination to waste your time traveling to a school you have no interest in. But travel you must.
- Some additional random thoughts:
-Do not be surprised if your #1 is not the #1 you thought it would be at the start or the middle of this process. Things shift and sometimes schools or teachers can make themselves quite unattractive. This is invariably disappointing, but the best thing you can do is move on as quickly as possible. Be grateful that you dodged a bullet.
-Look up the course calendar online of prospective schools. You should be able to find them easily. Make sure your music classes don’t start at 7 am if that is not your thing. Make sure the music classes don’t conflict with beginning Erdu, if that is your intended minor. Ask what you’ll get in return if you get a 5 on the Music Theory AP.
-Check out the practice rooms at each school. Not just the “warm up room,” but the actual practice rooms in the overheated dungeon of the moldy building, and see if you can handle that.
- I am going to do another post with “things to ask when they ask you if you have any questions” but I have to go now and help one of my neglected children now that I’m done being my music senior’s butler. Happy trails!
@Music2023 - OUTSTANDING! Wish I’d read this last year. YES YES YES to develop relationship with professor(s) early and keep in touch. They need to know you want them. AND you need to know you who you really want.
AND we’ve all been “our music Senior’s Butler” —I love it!
Cheers to the Class of 2023 and Best Wishes to the upcoming hopefuls of 2024!
Okay, deep breaths. Thanks to all those who have recently completed this audition journey and are coming here to share their wisdom and relief. We can do this, right? I’ll admit these posts are causing pangs of anxiety, but better to have the info. now rather than later. Will try to digest these recommendations in small doses, and add it all to our game plan. Stressed about forming the best list of schools for my musician. Even with the helpful and thorough advise from @Music2023 on this subject, it all still feels a bit confusing & overwhelming. Time to dig deep and figure out the financial picture for our (currently) top schools. We have also been advised not to worry about sticker price, so I’m not really sure how to proceed! ?
@mom2clarinetobsessedkid and other 2024 journeyers, deep breaths! It is a lot, but like the elephant, can be eaten one bite at a time. 
I was super-impressed by @music2023’s post, but I must admit I did not do nearly as much research. Specifically, we did not establish relationships with studio heads in advance (with the exception of people at a local school who we knew anyway), and we didn’t research programs nearly as carefully.
Here was our (perhaps oversimplified) process, for what it’s worth:
- Develop an initial list of possible schools -- we did this in the fall of junior year. We had eight, but anywhere between 4 and 12 seems reasonable. Our initial criteria were geographic (he wanted to be driving distance from NJ, though a couple of these schools pushed it; but not in NYC, where he'd spent much of his life) and "playing to his strengths" -- high GPA, just-okay boards, strong jazz background (all-states etc.), good teaching experience, excellent writer (bring on the essays!).
The initial list included:
1 in-state option we could afford without merit aid/he could reasonably expect to get in. For us, this was Rutgers Mason Gross. Note that we’d never seen it at this point so didn’t know if it would make the final list.
2 places on his “dream school list” – at this point, Berklee and Peabody, neither of which ended up making the top 4.
2 places on my “dream school” list, Oberlin and Eastman – prestigious, great programs, but not on his radar.
3 places that we’d heard (from CC) offered good merit/academic scholarships, and where his academics were on the high side – Lawrence, Syracuse U. and Ithaca College were our picks in this area.
- Research. Before we scheduled any visits, we went on the website for each school to make sure they offered the programs/degrees he wanted (double degree in jazz performance and music ed.). Oberlin fell off the list right away as they had recently discontinued music ed! Note that we did NOT research Lawrence, and that was a mistake, because it turned out they didn't have a robust jazz/music ed program. Luckily we found this out before heading out there. So do take the time to look on the websites and make sure the school has what you are looking for!
- Visits. We replaced Oberlin with NYU (in retrospect, I should have just dropped this -- he didn't want to be in NYC but mom wasn't listening!) and then set up a visit schedule. He'd already done the Berklee five-week, my D went to NYU so he knew it well, and we decided Lawrence was too far. That left five schools to visit. During the spring of junior year, we did a day at Peabody, a long weekend at Ithaca/Syracuse,and a day at Rutgers. Along the way, we discovered that Eastman had a two-week summer jazz workshop that was right up his alley. So instead of a visit, he did that program last summer.
- Revising the list. By the summer before senior year, the list looked like this: Berklee (Boston! Jazz! Boston!) Ithaca (he loved the head of the jazz program there) Eastman (he also loved the summer workshop and, surprisingly, Rochester) Rutgers (we were both incredibly impressed by Mason Gross and could see him here) Syracuse (loved the campus, and they talked about the possibility of really serious merit aid)
Peabody fell off the list – he loved it but the joint degree was five years and the jazz program was, at that point, in flux. The other choices, NYU and Lawrence, remained. In retrospect, I should have let him drop them as well. The five schools above were all places he could see himself, and logically I knew he would get into at least one, but emotionally I was too nervous.
- Senior year. He'd had a very busy and difficult junior year, and given this list, we decided to scale back the academics where possible. So no AP classes (he had 4 and had done well in all, including a 5 in Music Theory), no science, no math, and three music classes -- honors choir, honors wind ensemble, and freshman choir, where he was a TA. By then we were all in for music -- we would have made different choices if, say, Yale was on the table. Note that no one, including Oberlin and Michigan when we researched them, questioned or criticized these choices. Decent rigor and grades, plus outstanding auditions, would have opened doors at any of those places with the possible exception (I am told) of Northwestern.
Since the pressure was off at school, it went ON with applications. He submitted the common app by September 1 and all other applications by October 1. He completed three prescreen videos by November 1 (the deadline – that was a bit hairy, try not to wait that long!). He also applied EA to Berklee, because he was sure it was his top choice – this turned out to be important for many reasons, one of which was that he didn’t love it as much when we returned for the December audition! It seemed too big to him, and less academic than some of the other places. This was a big change from junior year, when it was his dream.
After the December Berklee audition (he heard before Christmas that he was in, although he didn’t get enough merit aid to make it a real option. But I zipped my lip about that – it was a big confidence builder), he was scheduled to do a January regional audition for Lawrence. He decided to drop it, and after the Berklee admit, I agreed. He then had six weeks to really practice before his next set of auditions, in late January – Ithaca, Eastman, and Syracuse – all within a week of each other. That might not work for everyone, but they were his strongest auditions. He was over his initial jitters and, by the time he got to Syracuse, so confident that he changed one of his songs DURING THE WARMUP PERIOD. I almost had a heart attack when he told me, but as it turned out, he killed it.
He had two follow-up auditions in early March, Rutgers and NYU – both local for us. So the only real travel was Boston in December and the three-fer in January.
- Waiting. This was the worst! We started to hear in early March and got the last notice (NYU) three weeks later. That period seems like it took years -- I can't believe it was only a few weeks! They don't call it March Madness for nothing.
- Decisions. I'll spare you the agony -- he got in everywhere. We were shocked, amazed, ecstatic! Some of it was luck of the draw, but some was choosing schools that were good fits for him and keeping the reaches to a couple of places he really loved.
- April Angst. It's real, people! S got a huge range of financial offers, from full tuition ($52k) at Syracuse to substantial scholarships from Ithaca and Eastman, to absolutely nothing -- zero -- from Rutgers (affordable anyway), Berklee and NYU. This made things somewhat easier, as he would have had to take on debt to go to Berklee or NYU while we could manage the others (albeit without leaving money for graduate school unless he chose Syracuse).
In the end, Eastman won the day. For me, it ticked all the boxes (especially reputation/financial), but what won him over was his experience in the jazz workshop – he worked with the person who will now be his studio head, and it was a great experience. He also didn’t want to graduate with debt. A word to the wise: summer programs at schools that really interest your kid are soo worth it. I complained mightily at the time when I had to pay $3k for the Eastman jazz workshop, but I believe it helped him get ten times that (per year!) at the school. Plus it showcased an option he wasn’t seriously considering before he went.
Whew! New journeyers, don’t know if I made that better or worse! I hope it was helpful. Good luck, and know that you WILL get great results . Yeah, yeah, we didn’t believe last year’s journeyers when they told us that either.
Sending love and light!
How will you know if you have affordable options in your list?
My best advice is to first determine if your family is eligible for Financial Aid or not. The answer MAY vary by school - depending on the COA at that school. At that point there are really 2 paths to learn about which I outlined in post #97 of this thread:
Really read about or talk with the FA people at each school so you understand the funding process there. This will help you understand, for example, why students receive the vastly different merit scholarships as @akapiratequeen described above in #137.
Hope for the best and reach for the stars, but understand what that means for each school. ?
What @buoyant said! As you do this, don’t be afraid of applying to expensive private schools as well as public (cheaper) instate options! In terms of true cost of attendance after scholarships, Rutgers came in third for us, behind Syracuse and Ithaca, and only a few thousand more than Eastman. Quite the shock!