I def hear you! We are in the NYC area so just the opposite! Mine wanted UNT undergrad then hoped to return to NYC area for grad!
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I would like to see if anyone has any feedback or experience with UNT for classical performance, particularly strings. My son is a cellist. We are very attracted to UNT for the potential low cost of attendance. Clearly it’s stellar for jazz and winds, but receives attention for classical strings.
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I am in Texas and while my child is in vocal music, I’ve been around other parents of serious musicians. When you ask about where they are applying to in Texas, the list almost always includes Rice- Shepherd, UT -Butler and UNT.
UNT has really nice facilities and their orchestra concert hall is beautiful! It is a very large music school - I think one of the largest in the country. My student’s biggest concern was performance opportunities for undergrads when there are so many graduate students.
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Where is everybody at at the application process now? We are basically done with a school lineup and hit several submit buttons on common app for general college admissions.
My kid hasn’t yet applied to the music schools at those colleges or submitted separate applications that some freestanding conservatories require instead of a common app altogether.
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It is the largest public College of Music. The performance opportunities both in school and throughout the greater Dallas area are plentiful. My son often had to turn down gigs. Yes, you do compete with MM and DMA students but there is no preference for putting a more experienced musician in a higher lab band. The competition is very fair. Mine made the 1 O’Clock lab band as a junior when there were MM and DMA students vying for the same spot. They make sure placement is based on talent. He really liked the fairness and healthy competition. It’s a lot of hard work but plenty of opportunity!
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My daughter (undergrad applicant) has completed the Common App other than the essay. She started all the music apps – they are all the same platform, but each one has to be done separately. It takes FOREVER. I don’t know why they can’t just do a common music app! She has most of the info filled in, other than the recordings and essays.
I don’t think my son (grad applicant) has even started yet! LOL But he has all his recordings done, so at least that part will be easy.
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We are in the similar boat. He has filled out his Common App information. Still waiting for a recommendation for his teacher. Separately completing and tracking music schools admissions is a whole another monster.
For the schools that require prescreens, we are trying to figure out if what he recorded with his jazz combo is good enough or if he needs to re-record.
It’s a process!
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Nice to see this thread is so active!
Just want to add that music supplements can help a lot with admissions to many schools for BA degrees. Although my kid got into a few freestanding conservatories, a BA at a selective school with excellent financial aid ended up being the most feasible financially and in the end, kid got a doctorate in music and is still in the field. My kid is a composer so that path has especially been useful for that musical focus.
I hope folks will read the Double Degree Dilemma essay in the Read Me section, which is about different ways to study music. Good luck everyone!
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Does anyone have any knowledge or experience with the performance program at Boston University? We’d like to add it to our list after reading the news of their new free tuition offer. This would be for classical viola.
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I have a freshman doing a performance major at Boston University. So far she has been pretty happy. Do you have any specific questions about the program? We liked it because it is a music school/conservatory within a rigorous academic environment, so she does not have to compromise academically or musically. There is also a nice sense of camaraderie and cross over between all the departments of the College of Fine Arts, which has been a nice bonus.
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My son was at Indiana with a residency for a couple of years, and he is a city kid and he liked living in Bloomington. College towns tend to be different, their own world.
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Thinking of all of the music applicants at this moment. I happen to be visiting my musician this weekend. We live on opposite coasts so don’t get to see each other often.
He is fitting in his recording prescreens during gaps in his heavy work schedule. I am hanging out quietly while he plays.
When did he become such a professional?
And a reminder to all parents to enjoy the endless and beautiful practicing in your home. I have missed it and it becomes even more precious when they are away and you only get to be an audience intermittently.
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Class of 2028 HS parent here, following to learn from the music hive. It’s great to see some familiar names from the summer music threads.
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I’d like to discuss the pros and cons of applying to the most elite music schools - in my mind that’s Curtis, Juilliard, and Colburn (my son is classical cellist). They have different and more demanding audition requirements, so he needs to decide in the next few months if he is going to incorporate those requirements into his audition preparation.
I’m pretty sure he’s not Curtis material at this point. He is winning local competitions, but as soon as he is competing against out of state candidates, he doesn’t win. I can hear the weaknesses in his playing compared to the best of the best.
Colburn would also be challenging, but from what I understand it is slightly less competitive than Curtis. We are also on the West Coast, so we could do some visits to meet with faculty. Colburn has the most restrictive audition requirements, so it would mean learning an entirely new concerto than what he’s planning on auditioning with. He’s planning to use Elgar - has entire concerto memorized and polished as a junior and is performing it with orchestra multiple times this year. But it’s not on the Colburn list - he would need to do Dvorak.
Juilliard is the big question mark. He probably wouldn’t get in, but if he did, would we be able to afford it? Would it be a waste of time and money to pre-screen and potentially live audition? We have to fly a cello across the country, so it’s very expensive.
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My thoughts on the “elite conservatory” auditions.
Good for you and your cellist to be weighing this decision now, I agree that it is up to a year of time investment to prepare the required rep. I see your son is a junior, I believe my son started his serious prep for these conservatories around this time.
What does his teacher say? My son was lucky to have a teacher who knew the required level for these conservatories based on the placement of his students in the year or two ahead of my son. Not everyone is so fortunate to have a teacher with this much experience, but I always say start with the teacher.
If the teacher agrees to go for it and your son is ready for the challenge, my thought is to let him try. Obviously his prescreens will need to be at a very high level, not perfect but with excellent tone, musicality, technique and intonation. So the decision needs to include ongoing monitoring (by his teacher) as to progress. The risk of preparing all of this repertoire with increased pressure is that he either burns out or that he spreads himself too thin so that his currently prepared rep suffers. I would say this needs to be an honest and ongoing discussion between your son and his teacher.
Regarding Curtis and Juilliard being far away, my son had the same issue. He opted to take a lesson only after he had passed the prescreen. It is not mandatory to take a sample lesson by the way.
It sounds like he might need to mix and match his repertoire to see how much crossover he can finagle. Again it will be about time and energy available to put together high level prescreens and manage that rep all the way through live auditions if needed.
This process is so high pressured that certainly he (and you) will have moments when it all seems like too much. But it is always ok to change course during this year.
Hope this helps 
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I was nodding along to your description of your ds, except my dd is a violinist (jr). I’m trying to decide what schools are a good fit. Elites are not, but she is still a solid player. Finances are also a major factor for our dd, so it goes together to make it challenging to find a direction. One thing I did (though some people might find it objectionable) that I found helpful was use chatgpt to help match schools to her current level. It gave me some schools to research that I hadn’t considered. Her teacher is helpful, but financially we have to steer some conversations away from recommendations.
I don’t remember Colburn having the level of added requirements that Curtis does…
But I do remember that Colburn only had one cello space open last year. Every year is different, though, and it is FREE.
Oberlin was very generous (full tuition), and a good school, worth checking out. The elites that our kid (violin) was accepted in (Juiliard, NEC, not so elite Eastman and USC) in general came to very similar financial offers. A little less than half of full cost. We are not well off, so not clear what was financial and what was merit. Still a very substantial cost.
I am very proud of our kid, worked very hard in Junior year and improved but not an “elite” player going into Junior year, or likely at application. Difficult to judge as parent. I would listen to the teacher, at least apply and see what is offered. Both the school and your kid might surprise you.
Ours is a very happy Freshman at NEC. I am glad she is at a school where she needs to reach to meet her peers.
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One thing that I have seen over and over is that people really have no idea what level school their child should apply for. There are students every year who are still in the Suzuki books but are the best in their area who apply for Juilliard and are shocked when they do not pass the prescreen.
Moral of the story is that it is very good you are thinking about this now.
Some of things that can help you figure out if your child really is at an elite level include:
- Summer programs - where did they apply and did they get in? Are they getting into the top programs or not?
- National competitions (the real ones) - if they are getting in, that’s a great sign, even if they aren’t winning.
- Other students their level from the past few years - you can probably identify other students from your program/area. Where did they apply and get in?
- Teacher, of course, and summer program staff - should have some idea, though sometimes teachers who haven’t sent a lot of kids to top conservatories recently may lack this understanding
I also admit to using AI to see what schools it suggested for my child. I put in some of the summer programs she attended and some of her competition results, and it spit out a list of six schools. Five of the six were on her list (and the sixth was cut for geographical reasons). So I think we got it right.
Curtis and Colburn make their biggest cut BEFORE live auditions. Only a small number of BM candidates are invited to the live auditions in both places. This can help a little bit – you will at least know by late December (Colburn) and mid-January (Curtis). But it doesn’t help in a situation like yours where the repertoire requirements at Colburn would require learning a different concerto.
Generally, I tell people not to bother with Curtis unless they have most of the repertoire already in hand. Otherwise, it is just too much and will dilute practicing.
Generally, Juilliard’s application requirements are pretty simple and so that may be a good choice for a “reach” school.
I’ve been told our experience is not really generalizable, but my son got extremely generous packages from all the schools he applied to. Most were full tuition. If you match your level to the right level schools, you can get really generous aid.
There are lots of great Tier II conservatories out there, and many of these offer really good financial aid. I would put one or two “reaches” on the list, and then a handful of Tier II schools, with one or two safeties just in case and to help you negotiate financial aid.
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The live audition at Colburn only needs one Concerto, the prescreening asks for a Mozart? I think mine used a Sonata, possibly she snuck by, IDK? She made it through the first round of in person, but not accepted in the end.
Both of TooManyViolinist’s kids are remarkable, and her advice and experience invaluable.
This is very positive and helpful. His teacher does not have a lot of experience with this (he is mainly a performer with very few students). We are working with the cello faculty at our local state uni for some college/conservatory advising, so we will get some solid advice. So far, Eastman is being tossed around as a potential good fit.