Hi! From what I know, the amounts vary widely. The viola section had like 9 new students this past year, and I think 4 are graduating - grad students though. It will be interesting to see how it all shakes out for this coming year with the main ensembles.
You should def appeal!!!
When my son was initially accepted without merit, the e-mail had a link to the appeal process. Call and I’m sure they will direct you to the process.
As the parent of a student who is first on a waiting list, please don’t just let your offers expire. There are many kids out here on pins and needles waiting for your already accepted kids to either decline or formally accept. Our kids are waiting for your kids to send decisions to all your schools. Please let them know!
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same
I’m not surprised by the amount of need-based aid they give out so much as by that coupled with collecting detailed parent financial info, even for grad students. Most schools that use the CSS profile are looking for a thorough financial picture because they meet need or at least try to come close to it. If the NPC is to be trusted at MSM, their awards don’t change much at all based on need. DS hasn’t gotten his final award letter, though, so perhaps they’ll surprise us. I’m certainly sympathetic to the financial hardships many colleges are facing, but my sympathy doesn’t magically increase my household income, sadly, so schools that don’t have strong need-based aid were non-starters when DS was applying as an undergrad.
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For sure!
I just don’t think we will be able to let every school know by then and the ones that are at the bottom of his list are ones that are already hitting up their wait list.
For those that have appealed at Peabody, where do you see the result of said appeal? My son got an email mentioning that it’s been processed and to check his emails, but he has no additional emails from them except for the initial email saying we submitted the appeal. We even checked his junk/spam folder as well.
Updating to add that we got a 2nd email saying his appeal was accepted and we had to go to another portal which of course he can’t access from his phone while he’s at school so it’ll be a few more hours until we have any clue.
Other than cost, what criteria are your MM kids using to decide on a school? Trial lessons and follow up conversations have all been fantastic. Right now there is no obvious “right” answer.
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For my son a big one is location. He wants to really be out of Florida and that’s one of the big reasons UM Frost is losing against Berklee. We live in South Florida about an hour away from UM and he feels like he wouldn’t really be going anywhere different if he went there. He also feels like he will have to take pointless classes at UM (like science and math lol)
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We are not to a Masters level yet but is in the near future. We have talked about looking at how successful Graduates from various grad programs have been that are on his radar, where are they getting jobs or moving on to other opportunities? Is it in an area he wants to be in long term if he makes connections with other local musicians. We usually stalk the studios websites/social media as they often post where graduates are headed next. For what it’s worth this was important for his undergrad too. Consider what their goals are post grad and will that school/location get them there?
We are right on the cusp of starting again. Mine is a junior at UNT and has really only focused on location so far. Wants to come back East to NYC. He is going to start reaching out to professors this spring/summer. I suppose he will broaden his “location preference” as the process continues.
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Okay, we are narrowing it down. Her top 4 schools are Eastman, IU, Vandy and UMiami.
For Eastman, we all know the reputation. But when we traveled there, the school os surrounded by a not so appealing area, Rochester. It seems to be a large homeless and gang area. Is this a miss characterization? Also, DD will want to minor in another subject. I know U of Rochester is not super close. Anyone have a kid going there who also takes classes at U of Rochester? I also hear it is kind of remote feeling.
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Mine has very niche interests/talents, so that shaped his list a lot (he plays a regular old orchestral instrument, but specializes on an auxiliary instrument and is more interested in contemporary chamber music than orchestral). Beyond that, location is important to him—being somewhere he can make connections (and also somewhere he doesn’t mind living)
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Has anyone heard from USC regarding merit? Or UT Austin?
Interestingly enough my son got an email from the head of the guitar dept at USC. He wanted to talk to him about augmenting his award. Mind you the only “award” he got was work study. The way the email was worded it almost sounds like they want to offer him the ability to teach in some way and I guess that would cover his work study bit. But again that leaves a 99k gap that we can’t possibly cover. I’ll have my son talk to the guy anyways to confirm what we think and may have him mention that we can’t possibly afford this.
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I’m sorry I can’t speak to the ease of transit between U. of Rochester River campus and Eastman from direct experience. But DD has a friend at Eastman who seems to be doing that relatively seamlessly. Also when we were there for audition, the students on the discussion panel seemed to be pleased with the opportunities at the other campus. But as for logistics, I don’t know. If it’s a make-or-break part of the decision, she could probably reach out and get some details.
The environment is not great. But I wasn’t completely appalled by it, personally. I’m probably inured to it since I did my training in a city a great deal sketchier than Rochester, NY!
Yeah, my daughter is in Baltimore and absolutely hates the city. She feels unsafe. We are buying her a car to help her get around a bit safer than the transportation. So I may feel that the area does make a bit if difference. Does your DD go to Eastman?
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My son is at Eastman, but he is not a dual with U of R. He is not in love with Rochester itself, but he has never felt unsafe in that area. We had similar feelings regarding the immediate area especially when he first started, I would check in with him a lot to make sure he was feeling safe. We quickly learned that there are very beautiful neighborhoods and areas of the city. We stay in AirBnB’s just a few blocks away and have never felt unsafe. It is a culturally rich city, lots of arts and music, not very sports oriented. Resident Life does make an effort to put together “field trips” for the students to parks, apple picking, hiking, skiing, etc. to keep students busy on the weekends knowing that the immediate area does not have a lot to offer. They also do a lot of activities around the dorm and courtyard, movie nights, game nights, etc. The River campus is beautiful but a 20 min bus ride. My son drives over when he goes more than takes the bus but the bus is available and is supposed to be reliable to get back and forth. What you learn quickly as as student at Eastman is the playing opportunities, instruction and education that the school can offer outweighs what is going on outside of the building. And forgot to add - they only have to walk about 10 steps between the dorm and main building so the amount of time they are outside and interacting with those around is very minimal. And there are tons of security guards around.
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