Class of 29 Undergrad/Class of 27 Grad: All Things Related to Music School Applications (prescreens/tours/interviews/auditions/supplements/etc)

College Majors Music Majors
1561

My daughter got rejected from BU, but that was absolutely expected. The professor she had a lesson with, after her BU audition, didn’t care much for how she played her Bach. Funny, because at the next audition (the very next day), she played on a huge stage and one of the professors yelled from the back of the hall, “nice Bach ornamentations!” during her audition! Needless to say she was accepted at that conservatory. It just goes to show how subjective these auditions can be. My D did not like the vibe or the location of BU anyway and would not have attended, even if she had been accepted. She has been accepted to CIM, IU Jacobs, SFCM and is awaiting results from Eastman and Peabody. I’d be surprised if she was not accepted into Peabody, as she and the professor there seemed to connect well during the trial lesson after auditions. I don’t have much to go on with Eastman, but she felt great about her audition! Just not sure about availability with her instrument (viola), because I was pretty surprised as to how many violists there were audioning. Back when she was just starting out, violist were in high demand, which is one reason she chose to study viola…opportunities! Don’t get me wrong, she has had a ton of opportunities (good paying gigs, even at 14 years old!). But I was surprised during this audition season to see so many violists. Seems a bit more competitive than we expected.

A bit of good news during this audition season: We forgot about a video competition she entered over a month ago, and yesterday she found out she was chosen as the winner of the Western region, winning $500! The stress of these auditions made her forget all about it, when normally she would be on pins and needles waiting for a response.
I know many of you are receiving rejections, and my daughter is as well, but I keep telling my daughter, these rejections are not a reflection of the quality player she has become. There are many reasons a student may be rejected, such as availability in a studio, subjectivity, “who you know, not what you know” etc. I fully believe everything happens for a reason, and many will look in hindsight and see it all eventually works out for good. Keep the faith! We are almost to the finish line. Praying for you all!

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1562

I just noticed an additional Financial Award Letter in my son’s portal that I don’t think was there when he first opened the portal. There was an additional scholarship offered from the college side (the initial award we saw was just on the conservatory side). Don’t know if it will be the same for you, but you might check again now?

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1563

I’m so sorry this is happening to your son. I can only speculate…so take this comment for that. But schools can have “stylistic” differences. My D did get accepted for grad school at BU. Her teacher was not hot on her going there bc she didn’t like the VP “sound” that was produced from the school. In other words, she would have passed on kids from the school while other teachers/schools may have had high interest. When you get higher up in this process, it isn’t simply talent…it becomes so much more nuanced (and difficult to figure out).

If he should have been accepted “on paper” and you know that there were studio spots, it may be a question of style or one of those many intangible elements of music. I would NOT assume that the BU determination would stretch to other schools…where the faculty can look at style etc very differently.

Hang in there while waiting on the others.

EDIT: I just saw the comment by @momto5kidz which is saying basically the same thing.

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1564

Son was waitlisted for Oberlin, but feels okay about it as there were not many openings on his instrument.

Question: does financial aid work the same for students that come off the waitlist at Oberlin, or does financial need become a factor from that list?

Just Eastman left to hear from!

1565

Curious how one knows how many openings there are for studios/instruments.

Anyone have insight on a posiible Eastman release?

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1566

Thanks! Yes, there was an additional letter and we’re definitely significantly closer to doable. WIll take @Baribassmom’s advice and appeal…once I figure out the process :slight_smile:

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1567

Good to know this often works. Any idea about the timing of appeals? The only other school he has received merit info from so far is our flagship state U which is full tuition + and I doubt Oberlin would match that so I’m trying to decide if we should appeal immediately or wait until we have all the offers in, which will probably be around Apr 1.

1568

I believe my son heard about the number of openings at the Oberlin audition.

1569

I think it’s fine to wait until you have the full picture then write an appeal.

I think that at least part of the reason they gave my son more was because he wrote that he was ready to commit if they would be willing to match.

I agree on the full ride match not being likely but maybe they can come up enough for you to be able to manage it.

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1570

I recall my son emailed admissions that he wanted to appeal and they sent an official form for him to submit. I think they expect this haha!

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1571

We found out about one school from the professor. It wasn’t until after auditions and our son was accepted, but I bet you could ask during a trial lesson and they might tell you!

We asked how many students are in the studio, and he said he likes it to be 18-20, including 3-4 grad students. He continued on to say that works out to about 3-4 new students every year. I remember reading that same number for a different school’s double bass studio last year, which makes me think that this is probably a common number just based on how many students a single professor can effectively teach. At least for double bass. Might be different if they have more grad students, or for different instruments (bass is always a little different since they play in orchestra but also jazz groups, pit, wind ensembles, and even electric bass in rock groups at some schools).

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1572

18-20 for one teacher?! The studios I know of have about 7 kids in for each teacher with the biggest I’ve seen as 10 or so at Colburn.

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1573

I am sorry your son has been having a rough go with admissions. Unfortunately what you are experiencing is common in music, there often seems to be no rationality in thing like auditions/admissions. It is very hard because we see a kid seemingly doing well, they might win competitions , be all state , have a teacher that thinks they are really talented…and then you hit admissions and it is like what the heck? It all comes down to a 10-15 minute audition and if a teacher is willing to teach him. There are so many wildcards with admissions it isn’t funny:
-It is possible that the teachers he specified had no room in their studios. At BU you said there are 4 teachers, it is possible that they had very few open slots, and keep in mind that could be UG and grad. I know of school who auditioned a pretty sizeable number of students when they literally had 1 open slot.

-in any given year your don’t know what the competition is like. Music is international and there are a lot of talented kids out there, it could be your S is in a situation where there are a lot of realy high caliber students coming in and as good as he is it could be this year they attracted some people who are better (at least in the minds of the audition panel). if the school had limited slots, it makes it worse. What makes it worse with the higher level programs, the same kids are auditioning at other schools your kid may be auditioning at.

-it can also come down to stylistic differences. In Violin there are some major programs whose style leans to the franco belgian style, and it can be hard for a student who plays in the Russian style to get in.

-In music there are no measurable stats either. GPA, SAT, AP classes, none of that counts anything in admissions. Nor for the most part does your musical resume, being CM of Al State, winning some competitions, likely means much, it is all the audition and how it is perceived (you can argue that someone who has won a major competition like in the violin world would matter, like the Menuhin JR or the like, but the thing is, if you won that, your playing is already up there. it could get you a free ride though).

If a atudent is rejected, it means either they felt his playing wasn’t at the level they were seeking that year (which again is influenced by the applicant pool) or no teacher wanted to or had room to teach him. Usually if the kid is good enough, but the teachers on the kids list don;t indicate they want to teach him, they may waitlist him (depends on the program. If you put 3 teachers down at Juilliard, they have a big violin faculty, so if none of them can take you, they will often waitlist you).

Music can be a cruel you know what, and you wonder, but that is how something so subjective plays out. My son’s music group in a major competition, literally won it on points, but because of a rule that says they needed consensus of the jury for the winner, they ended up tied for second(no first awarded), and in part they didn’t win beause of anti american bias/bias againat “american playing” (and yes, I know that for a fact, a member of the jury knows my son’s group, they ran into him and he was still pissed about what happened. ).

It won’t take away the hurt and I am not trying to, just trying to explain a process that is so heavily subjective with all kinds of variables can be very arbitrary seeming and even seem cruel.

I am sending all my good energy that your S gets into one of the remaining programs.

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1574

At bigger schools that can be quite common with popular teachers, that can cut across UG, Grad, AD, certificate students. My S’s UG teacher had a studio of like 23 students in total. Not all schools would allow a teacher to have a studio that size , but especially for their noted faculty they will often open up more slots, but they do have limits for budgetary reasons.

Colburn is a really small school so it wouldnt make sense for them to have large studio sizes. On the other hand a big program like IU might have large studios, because of how many kids they admit. The other thing it depends on the teacher too, at Rice for grad my S’s teacher had about 13 or 14 students I believe total.

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1575

Hm interesting. I’d bet at least some of the difference is conservatories (which has been your focus if I remember) vs. the hybrid programs we’ve been targeting. And maybe the size of the school matters? I’d guess some profs will have more responsibilities for also conducting or running ensembles, depending on the program. I’m realizing I don’t really know how this differs from school to school. Maybe I should start asking!

1576

Yes, my daughter’s voice studio at IU Jacobs is made up of 18 students ranging from freshmen to doctoral students and all the certificates in between. She is the only freshman in her studio currently which strangely she loves.

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1577

I think it’s how busy the professor/instructor is. Some teach full time and can handle a bigger studio, others play in orchestras or have other professional commitments so their studios are smaller.

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1578

In talking studio sizes, sure some have time for 20 if that is their “day job”. My spouse keeps a studio of about 8 - 10 students (spread across both a conservatory and a university consisting of undergrad, masters and DMAs), his lowest studio year number was 4 early on while being new to his orchestra and needing to really focus on the job and highest year was 12 (over past 20 years). This round he accepted a total of 6 (more than usual) and assumes at least 3 will come but on the chance all 6 say yes he will have 13 total next year which is a huge time commitment on top of his actual day job at the orchestra. At the conservatories in major cities where many faculty are members of the local orchestra this is a common occurrence.

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1579

Anyone on UMICH SMTD waitlist hear anything yet?

1580

To all the parents and students alike. We are all in the final stretch! 9 days to go! By then, we should all have a final picture of which schools to choose from, as well as the merit/financial packages. My heart goes out to all those who don’t get exactly the picture they envision, whether that be rejections from favorite colleges, or whether they simply can’t afford their favorites. I have read a few posts recently that have made me empathize with those kids. I still think about those kids and their stories, even today, as I feel their pain. My kids have felt the sting of rejection in the past (all 5 of my kids are musicians), so I understand the pain. I have wiped many tears in my house. Music is such a challenging and stressful industry riddled with highs and lows. My prayer is that you all move on, doing what you love, no matter where that ends up being. Many professionals have had set-backs and it is through adversity that makes one stronger and more resilient. No one in their right mind would ever endure all this heartache if it wasn’t rooted in a deep love for the music they create. There are many paths to success. I hope you all embrace the journey and thrive! Good luck to all those who are still waiting on audition decisions (my D is still waiting on 2). And congratulations to you all! The work you have put in, just to be able to audition, is remarkable and inspiring! God bless you all and I am praying for everyone!

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