S25 heard back this morning from Belmont University, and he has been accepted to their College of Music and Performing Arts for Commercial Music, Percussion! We are very excited abound the opportunities at Belmont and are surprised he heard back so quickly!
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Just found out S25 passed prescreens for Frost. So excited for him!
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Does anyone know stats for Frost (percent that pass prescreen and then percent admissions after audition)?
I do not know. I know a couple of years ago, quite a few musicians were deferred from EA to RD.
The overall rate at Frost is 20% (which is based on the total applicant pool vs accepted). The problem is that is the overall program vs every instrument/department is going to be different. In some years a department may have a lot more slots open whereas another you might have 15 kids auditioning for 1 spot after the pre screen. In one department you could have 25% of the kids passing pre screen get in, in another, 5%, in another 40%, and it varies from year to year. In typical programs at high level schools with screening the rule of thumb is 25-50% of kids passing pre screen get in, but again, it is all going to depend. One thing you can do, in your kids area, ask them how many slots they have for that area this year, admissions will generally tell you that (they have no reason to lie). They also might be willing to tell you how many kids pass pre screen typically in a given year, and with that you can figure out the rough odds, so if they have 10 slots, and let’s say 30 kids audition typically, it is 33%.
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Thought I would share some contrast between applying for undergrad versus grad programs:
- Son is recording pre screens this week. (Yes, he knows applications are due first week of December!)
- I don’t even know where he is applying.
- I totally trust that he knows the process, details, budget and timeline.
This is how I know his conservatory has prepared a budding professional, and we have raised a good kid. 
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My S25 also received his EA audition invite for Frost and is pretty excited. The Dec. 7 date makes shuffling the later dates for other schools a tiny bit easier. His prescreen videos were of stage performances and one rehearsal room combo take.
I’d like to address the academic bar question for Frost and NYU specifically. Last weekend, we attended the Jazz focused college fair at Jazz House Kids in NYC. We attended last year as well and it offers unparalleled access to reps from major Jazz programs. At one point in the program, the students attended a breakout session leaving the parents with the reps for Q and A. My Q was “at more selective schools is there a minimum academic level a student must meet in order to be considered for admission. NYU and Frost, I’m looking at you.”
NYU: Yes, NYU has pretty selective admissions requirements, and although we have a rating system for our auditions at Steinhardt, after we pass a student on to the admissions department, the NYU admissions department has the final say for admission.
Frost: Yes, part of being at a world renowned research institution means that there is a higher academic bar to admission, and the student’s academic record is definitely a factor as far as the admissions department is concerned. That being said, at Frost, we can advocate for a student that is highly qualified and/or fits a particular need for the program.
Me: NYU, can you also “advocate” (yes I actually used air quotes and got a laugh) for a student that you think would be a particularly good fit for the program?
NYU: Yes, absolutely.
Straight from the horses’ mouths. I have, however, heard from highly placed educators at other programs and NYU students in particular that some more highly qualified NYU applicants don’t make the academic cut and were denied admission even though they might be objectively “better” than those who did. I think that there’s an insanely wide range of input and latitude across these schools and while you get an occasional straightforward answer like I did, most often the faculty in charge of these things hedge and rightly so IMHO. YMMV for sure.
The final portion of the day was the College Fair where the reps stood behind tables and mingled and spoke directly to students and parents. I will say that this is an amazing opportunity to ask specific questions from people involved in the process. NYU rep was the human being that the Jazz kids actually email their application to, and Frost rep actually reads some of the apps. ALL the reps were really nice and open as you would expect, since this is how they recruit. Juilliard rep, Dr. Flagg was super patient and gladly took a lot of pretty basic questions with zero attitude. A real class act IMO.
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That’s really great information! Thanks for sharing.
Congrats! That is my son’s top choice program - Commercial Music w/Guitar. Maybe they will end up together! May I ask did you also find out merit yet? S25’s audition is 1/25 and I’d really love it if his top choice program came through with decision/merit in early Feb so we can avoid some Feb/March travel. He’s at a boarding school which is proving to be difficult with audition travel.
Just a “nit picky” comment which I’m sure that you know. In the scenario above I would guess maybe half of the kids (15) would get an acceptance as many kids get multiple acceptances…so they would offer 15 spots to yield 10 students.
I can no longer remember that numbers for my D’s UG but I think it was around a third of students would get offers. So if 120 students auditioned, 35 - 40 would get offers to yield a class of 20.
And…not everyone shows up for auditions! My D showed up for the last audition of the day and was asked if she was OK going in early as they had a couple of cancelations. You would think everyone is super prepared and confident…but I saw some questionable “presentations” (wrinkled clothing, messy music, confused about protocol) right next to the super prepared students (which admittedly were most).
Still, you can knock out some of the competition by doing the following:
1.) Show up for your audition…early and prepared.
2.) Know the dress protocol and look neat with your music ready and easily accessible.
3.) Walk into the room, be polite and smile…and generally understand what is expected of you.
4.) Play the required music as expected.
5.) Be curious and respectful to the panel. Try anything asked of you to the best of your ability and with a good attitude.
6.) Try to enjoy the experience…at least a little. NO need to be perfect.
7.) Thank the panel when you exit.
If you are a prepared, gracious, curious and polite human, you may knock out a portion of the competition that way. It’s not all talent! Remember teachers are looking for a student to mentor for 4 years. Having any type of attitude, even if you are talent, may not be attractive to teachers.
And, at some point, you just need to put the numbers aside. If you are asked to audition, you have a chance, so you should go do your best…and not think about the numbers too hard (it never helps). Focus on what you can control…helping your kid get a good nights sleep, eating well, giving “atta boys/girls” to keep their spirits up! No matter how hard…BE POSITIVE for them. If they get down, you need to believe for them.
Good luck…auditions will be here very soon!!
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mine applied EA to Frost…admission was 1/28 in 2023. He did not receive merit information early but was in talks with professor (guitar/jazz) who told him he was recc for full tuition. The formal merit was much later and he already accepted elsewhere. Hope this helps with timeline.
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That is a great post and you are right, I didn’t mention that they often extend offers well beyond what they are filling (the numbers I gave are based on how many people they extend offers to), they expect a certain yield. Again my numbers are based on acceptance, not kids actually getting admitted. So while Juilliard had a 6% acceptance rate, not everyone accepted will go there (and of course, there is also wait list, which serves the same purpose as over admitting, but is safer, because if you over admit, and guess wrong, you will have to stretch teacher’s studios. IME school will use wait list to create a reserve for that reason.
And thank you for the ideas on the audition and how to handle it. Attitude can and does play a role in admission, I know directly of kids who had superior playing who went into the audition and didn’t get in because they went in with an attitude, it comes across in the playing. How your present yourself matters (no, you don’t have to go in there like some young women I have seen in the music world, wearing very expensive outfits), being polite, listening to what they say, giving them what they want and while I shouldn’t have to say this, parents, I recommend that if you are accompanying you kid, stay away from the audition room or even the school, lot of kids are made even more nervous knowing parents are listening, even if they don’t say so). My son at one of his UG auditions was thrown off, he walked into the audition room and there was a mom arguing with the audition panel (how the heck she got in there IDK), needless to say that girl didn’t get in.
The audition is a microcosm of the musical world, it is a small world, and so much comes about by networking and having people who like you and the like. Being polite, being easy to work with, being willing to do things like do a gig for someone as a favor that doesn’t pay well, or filling in for someone else at last moment, or keeping a lower paid gig when a great opportunity dumps itself in your lap make for a lot of good will, and it is important. Same holds for coaching or masterclasses, even if you don’t feel like you got much out of it, treat it as if you got divine wisdom when thanking the person/people doing it.
Back to the original thread…
In general in the music world the way students/musicians handle themselves is huge, talent is only one factor in all this, it is like anything in the real world. In an audition they are auditioning the potential student as much as the playing, that I am sure of. Also know that sometimes what you perceive as the panel not liking you, isn’t, panels during audition season put in long hours, and they may be hungry or tired when you audition, and having actually asked teachers at schools about the audition process, many of them believe it or not are rooting for you to make it, they have been there themselves (yes, there are those who are not nice, who go into auditions relishing knocking kids down, they exist). They know you are nervous, they know that not all kids are playing world class instruments, many of them when they auditioned didn’t have necessarily the best.
The biggest piece of advice? Try and see it as a performance, rather than an audition, approach it as you would that, rather than obsessing about being perfect. You need to play well, don’t get me wrong, but you have to trust your muscle memory and musical instincts built up in practice.
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Another PSA for applications. My son found out in an email last night that although the deadline for USC Thornton is Dec 1, there won’t be anyone at the school from 11/27 through 12/1 for the holidays. This means you should probably have everything done and uploaded well before 5pm on 12/26 just in case you have technical difficulties. Also Slideroom tech is only open until 3 that day, so keep that in mind.
He was very upset to lose those 6 extra days that he thought he had work on it. Just thought I’d pass this along so no one is blindsided. It would probably pertain to any other schools with 12/1 dates too.
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Couldn’t agree more! I’m OK with parents being “around”. My D would have been confused if I wasn’t there holding her jacket and bag. Only once could I hear the audition…but I tried to stay away from the door or simply ignore it (for the one I could hear). I didn’t want my thoughts or judgments to bleed into my comments to her. There is enough pressure on these kids…without a parent sticking their nose in. I will say that we often got dinner after an audition; and she would be super chatty. I was glad I didn’t have any “thoughts” about what I heard. I could just be a sounding board…and I think that is all she needed.
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Tell your student the same! Stay away from the audition room until it’s your turn…mine heard what he thought was a high schooler auditioning and freaked out…it was a graduate audition! lol
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Two years ago I took my son to one of his auditions. I dropped him off, went to park, came back inside the building, asked the students at the check-in desk where the parents could wait. They gave me a blank look, paused a whole minute, finally one guy led me to an empty conference room. I thought it was very weird that there was no other parent waiting. After my son was done, I asked him how it was, and he said he felt “cooked” because he heard someone playing in a practice room. As we walked out, he remembered that he had asked for an alternative audition date because the original date conflicted with all-state concert, and the day he auditioned was the audition day for graduate programs, so everyone sounded professional. No wonder there was no parent waiting. We were really worried for several minutes.
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@jilukes, he was told if there is merit from his audition, it will come as a letter in the mail in mid December. I believe auditions in Jan will receive audition merit in March, but I would check the website. Best of luck to him!
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We had to reduce size of the pre-secreens because their slide room had file limit and would not take links. It was stressful doing it at the last minute, so check in advance to make sure the file fits within their size parameters.
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Holy Cow! Thanks so much for this tip!!! This is why I come here!!!
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4 applications complete and the last is as far as we can take it for now (needs midterm grades). When do we start to hear about auditions?
Hopefully soon, but I think after the application windows close.
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