I needed to update my D’s (25 viola BM) homeschool transcript, so I contacted the admissions office at CMU today. They told me it is too late, as the decisions have already been made and sent out. My dauggter is concerned because she hasn’t received any communication regarding her admissions status.
My daughter contacted the admissions office by email at CMU today and this is the email response she received:
“We just started the process of releasing admission status in batches because we don’t want the system to crash. Please check again later this weekend.”
This is just a warning to all students to be careful on what is said during a trial lesson with a professor. My daughter received a rejection from CMU today. She had a trial lesson with the one professor in the department after her audition. He was very complimentary of her audition asking her what would it take to get her to study there. He assured her she was one of the best students he had heard. Her comment back-fired on her in this case. She told him a nice scholarship would help. That is when he told her that CMU doesn’t have much schloarship for UG. It all goes to graduate students. He said he would have offered her a huge scholarship if he could. Then she gets a denial today. I am almost certain he knew she would not attend, even if she had been accepted. He probably figured he would offer it to another student who may likely be able to attend. This is likely true unfortunately. We are looking for the school that values her the most with a nice scholarship. She is still very disappointed. She loved that school and the teacher!
She is going to send him a nice note telling him she hopes to be able to work with him in the future someday. She deciced to write that on her own.
That’s awful! We are also looking for the school that values my kid with merit money. We also have a cautionary tale though - had a similar situation with a professor, who knew my kid for nearly 2 years in various interactions and told him that he submitted the best videos of any prescreen applicant and how he’d love to see him at his school in the future, yada yada. This man led him and us on to believe he would be admitted through both his words and actions, and then we get a “waitlist” notice. What??? So angry right now… would have applied to more schools if we had thought this one was not going to offer acceptance
I’m sorry to hear that; CMU claims to be need blind in admissions.
I do think notes always keep doors open for later. My son ended up not applying to Mannes this year even though the prof said he had room for him because it looked like The New School just doesn’t have any money to give. But that doesn’t mean he won’t apply for grad school- always good to keep doors open for the future.
I hope your daughter finds a musical home where she can thrive.
She is disappointed, but knew she would not be able to afford it after she heard about the lack of scholarships for UG. So she knew it would not work out regardless.
yes, well, …it’s one of those situations that even if we were to get off the waitlist, hurt pride and feelings means we’re not accepting anymore. That relationship’s been ruined and I couldn’t imagine a successful teacher-student pairing after my kid feels so betrayed.
Hopefully he has other great schools lined up. My daughter got accepted to SFCM before she got her CMU rejection, so it helped a bit. She is still waiting for 5 more decisions. (One of which she expects a rejection as it was her first audition of the 7 and it was not stellar)
I think my S is excited to be accepted at UMD. It’s gotten very hard to get into, even for top students, in the DC region. That’s changed a lot in recent years. He would not have been likely to have been admitted with another major. It’s still among his top 3 choices but I think he’s more excited about DePaul right now (got in earlier this week). He wants a school with collegiate spirit, strong sports teams and culture, where “normal” (not 100% artsy) kids go and where if possible he can minor or double major outside music. We live about an hour away, which on some days seems like a plus and not on others. He also got into Frost/Miami but that one is causing a lot of sticker shock for us.
My S didn’t apply to CCM (said he disliked the building, sigh) but my daughter is a design student at the University of Cincinnati. One big plus there is that they freeze your tuition for the duration of the undergrad program and hers is 5 years long. She didn’t get merit aid but her cost of attendance isn’t much higher than it would have been in-state (we live in Virginia) and its program is very prestigious. She’s very happy there despite heading there last August without knowing any other students. It was hard to figure out what tuition would be since they took a long while to say. I think it’s $22k and cost including dorms and food for freshman year was twice that.
Also considering DePaul! waiting to hear about $$$ from the latest schools for sure. Such a lovely music building and it’s nice to have a campus feel for sure! Is he going for jazz?
Agree with everything @old_music_prnt wrote about prestige, and about debt. I am the parent of a mid-30’s kid who got a doctorate in music and has been in the music world for decades. Even without debt, the financial road is rocky. At one point I suggested supplementing with real estate!
We found the doctoral route w/option to leave after master’s, was one way to get a funded grad degree- and most stayed for the doctorate.
The musicians I know with undergrad and/or grad debt find their career decisions hampered, and they are often exhausted!
Excellent teachers can be found at so many schools: there is a shortage of such jobs, which are dwindling in many places, and top teachers are teaching all over the place. Grad schools then have students from all kinds of backgrounds who get into “top” programs.
One thing @old_music_prnt: I have never heard of this happening:
“if you are a composer a teacher might give your name to someone looking to commission, and it should play into the decision making.” Even if it did happen, it is unlikely to pay much if anything at all. To be honest, the path of composers is far more fraught than that of instrumentalists.
Hi everyone! Does anyone here have any insight on UNCSA? I got accepted to UNCSA as well as CMU, Ithaca, and UNT for vocal performance, but it seems like UNCSA is gonna be the option I can afford to attend. I’m really considering CMU because I loved it there when I visited, but my family would have to take out loans for me to attend. I’m still in between CMU and UNCSA to be honest. I didn’t get to visit UNCSA so if anyone has any insights on them and the student life there it would really help me make a decision!
