Eastman makes four! Gotta get the travel matrix in high gear. Still waiting on Curtis (which sounds like it will be later), NEC, and UMich. Can anyone confirm that UMich comes out one studio at a time?
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Was really hoping for NEC today; also since NEC had him list dates in order of preference a month ago I’m assuming we don’t get to really choose like the other schools that have come through so far. (Kiddo also passed MSM and Peabody along with Eastman today.)
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After so many great prescreen passes we got the first rejection to his dream school Juilliard. Ugh my heart broke for him because I was even starting to believe it may happen. Hoping this redirects him and doesn’t define his worth because he clearly is talented.
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sending you a message
I really would like them to close this loop. For real.
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Have you heard anything from the school as a whole? Portal still says “awaiting initial review 10/2/25”. Foreverrrrrr
“Your application is under final review. Next step: Final decision pending.
Updated on Oct 21 2025.”
She did her final audition by video and it was submitted Thanksgiving weekend. Looking at past posts, folks found out in December, so that’s what I’m hoping for. But they do say by January 10.
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Hi everyone! It was just one year ago, when I went through this whole process with my viola daughter, who is currently studying at Peabody. I get to do it all again with my pianist daughter. She is applying to 10 schools assuming she won’t pass all prescreens.
Frost- passed pre-screen
IU (where another sister is studying piano at) passed pre-screen
Peabody rejected pre-screen (sister was very sad today!)
UMich- waiting
UNT- passed pre-screen
UTAustin-passed pre-screen
Vanderbilt - waiting
USC- passed pre-screen
Eastman- passed pre-screen
Northwestern- passed pre-screen
Last year with my violist DD we did so much wonderful work getting multiple auditions in one weekend, saving us a lot on plane fare. (We are from Washington state). But I don’t see how we can possibly do that this year. I thought maybe we could try the two Texas schools, but that didn’t pan out.
Good luck to everyone!
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@littlebluehouse Congrats on so many great schools! I have a tenor trombone at Eastman. Just a quick note on travel planning, I recommend keeping your evening open the day of auditions at Eastman, the professors often hold a Masters class for those they want to hear play again. Also the studio sometimes holds recitals those evenings for you to hear current students. I believe there’s some large ensemble concerts the evenings of audition weekends in February. It’s a great experience to get the full picture of what it’s like to be a student there. We had a flight to Boston very early the next morning for another audition and had to drive to Buffalo late after all the events were done. It’s an exhausting day but highly recommend staying for all of it.
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Anyone have any voice prescreen results from Juilliard or Oberlin? CCM said they’ll send out results next month, and we’ve had good news from everyone else.
Anyone have experience with what the Peabody day is like? Curious if it’s possible to fly in early the morning of the audition and fly out on an evening flight. Trying to minimize the number of days my son will have to miss school in February 
good luck!!
So disappointing, this is so hard for them.
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@FSUSammy. You probably know that the Juilliard Jazz program is tiny, but you may not be fully aware of how daunting the odds are, particularly for guitar. The entire program consists of five ensembles of about 8-9 students each (plus one artist diploma ensemble), and that includes both undergrad and grad students. Not all the ensembles have a jazz guitarist - at any given time, there may only be 2-4 jazz guitarists in the whole program (again, including grad students). Two jazz guitarists were admitted last year and started in the program this fall - one in the BM program and one in the MM program, but that was unusually high. If anything, that probably reduces the odds for this year. There are years when they don’t admit anyone on jazz guitar. All of which is to say that not getting into the Juilliard jazz program is the expected outcome and really says nothing about your son, whose talent is evident from his other results. And congratulations on the results to date! He will find the right place at the end of the day.
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Thank you! We knew the odds just were naturally against us because of the small program. I guess he was hoping to just get the invite and feels like that would mean he’s “good enough” to even catch their eyes. But you are right he clearly is talented because he caught the eyes of many other programs. I just need him to realize that.
@FSUSammy the rejection from Juilliard may be a blessing in disguise. Many great options from acceptances already!
We learned that Juilliard acceptances really depend on openings in studios and that includes grad students. Sometimes one opening or even none. Rejection is not a measure of talent especially for a kid with so many high level acceptances (with one full tuition!).
I think it is really really helpful for folks to post rejections. If all posts are about acceptances then people may be uncomfortable about posting about negative results!!
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Not trying to rationalize, but to add to the “blessing in disguise” sentiment, the Juilliard jazz audition process can be devastating. They hold auditions on the instrument in the morning and then post a list in the early afternoon for a handful of students to do a callback audition in the late afternoon or evening. If you’re not on the list, you’re rejected. My son had a jazz guitarist friend (this is many years ago now) who flew in from California for his audition and then didn’t make the callback list. He was fortunate that he had a number of friends in NYC and he stayed the weekend and hung out with them while they tried to cheer him up. But it was pretty brutal. In some ways, I think better to get the news at this stage and just focus on all the other great options.
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^^ This. Bad auditions and/or unfavorable results happen to performers from students to pros. If kids are at this point where they are submitting themselves to this prescreen/audition process, they are clearly proficient, talented musicians. Those rejections sting like crazy, but this community is a supportive group who understands the feel of that sting. Normalize the reality of the bad; celebrate the successes!
Edited to add: I’m sure everyone knows this, but remember that the auditions never ever stop. In fact, this is just the beginning! There’ll always be yeses and nos.
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I really appreciate everyone in this group. I guess band parents are also a special breed. But than you for the uplifting messages. I do believe this is some blessing in disguise. I’m also glad it happened now instead of in January. It gives him a chance to pick himself back up and get mentally ready for our lengthy round of auditions.
also agree with sharing the rejections here because it normalizes those no’s because as we all know it does happen quite often and probably won’t be the last time they get a no too.
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Another thing to keep in mind, that those students who are auditioning at schools that are part of a big university, it is really hard to know if you get rejected due to the performance or academics. You must also get into the university itself, like Vanderbilt, Carnegie Mellon, USC, Princeton, UMich, IU. Sometimes, you won’t pass prescreening if your academics are not on par with an initial review. My daughter is applying to Vanderbilt. She is missing a “school report” on her application to the school. She received an email yesterday explaining that they can not proceed with the prescreen vidros/review, until that report is sent. (We had sent the report already but seems it needed to be email to admissions rather than added to her online application). They said as soon as they receive the info, they will proceed with the prescreen. I don’t think this is the norm though. So many times, you spend a lot of money traveling, and you may get rejected after live audition because of academics. I think they do this because some will pass you because you wow the music professors in your live audition, and even if your academics are not where most students are within the school itself, the music prof can go to bat for you. But sometimes, the two departments dont talk to each other and this scenario can’t happen. Each school has its own process, which complicates matters.
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