You’re not crazy! as the mother of a cellist, I would totally do that if we could! But we are on the West Coast so everything is too far (except San Francisco, which we will drive to).
Just saw the email from FSU for EA from the CoM. My son is in! Although it’s a backup school for him. His dad and I went there and I’m still secretly hopeful lol But I also realistically want him to be at the best school for him especially for Jazz.
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In September I looked at my son and asked “what are your thoughts on LA and San Francisco? Are you sending prescreens to California?” He had been coached at festivals by some faculty from Colburn and USC but they felt so far away. I knew we could drive to all the east coast schools and we were finalizing if he was taking London auditions and he said if he had to fly 6 hours with the cello to school he’d vote London over California. With so many of the conservatories being on East coast I do think of the parents on west coast often and feel for you guys trying to plan the travel since it’s basically every weekend in February; so many trips! Ugh I feel for you!
@77mom you sound experienced! Do you have a trombonist too, or are you one? Just a tenor in the mix, and he’s had good luck (knock wood) getting his instrument on board in the past.
@Mnmom26 @SnowyJoJo if his audition is midmorning on a Saturday, when would you recommend arriving? I was hoping he could be at high school on Friday, and then we’d take a short (1 hr.) flight late afternoon or early evening. Does that seem too close? Would the option to attend classes or performances only exist on a Friday, for example? One current student has talked with him about playing duets, but I imagine that happening Saturday afternoon. There are also some people he’s connected with across the country he is hoping to see informally. Any suggestions for how to structure this?
I’ve been married to a trombonist for 26 years so experienced is a word you could use 
feel free to message me. (And long ago when he didn’t fight an agent that insisted on gate checking his tenor we wound up with one very smashed trombone- thanks Delta - lesson learned.)
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I think your travel plan is a good one!
My daughter’s audition was on a Saturday in mid-February at 11:20am. We flew in on Friday early afternoon (from the East coast) and stayed at the Graduate Hotel in Evanston, which is an easy walk to campus. That hotel has a great breakfast! It had snowed the day before (not very much), but we didn’t have any issues with our flight.
We didn’t do a tour, a lesson or anything else. Just auditioned, ate a nice late lunch in Evanston, then flew back home on Saturday evening. This was her final audition after six straight weeks of auditions (and she was also in the middle of musical rehearsals and regional honors choir), so we just wanted to get home. The one thing I remembered from the audition is that they did ask my daughter questions - not difficult ones, mainly about what she wanted from a program, what she could bring to Northwestern and what she wanted to do after graduation. For some reason, she was a bit tongue-tied (nervous?) and fumbled it a bit.
Good luck to your son!
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Side bar addendum to above for trombone families: if you are taking your trombone on plane and the bell flare of the case does not fit in the overhead (smaller planes) and agent is trying to make you gate check the instrument; first ask if they have room in the cabin closet (sometimes they do and are nice), second option that we have done - not ideal but better than a smashed trombone - grab mouthpiece and stick in purse / pocket etc, we take our coats and wrap the bell section and put that in overhead and then gently lay slide on top (also wrapped in a coat or sweater and make sure slide lock is locked!) and hand empty case to agent to gate check. We then guard that bin like crazy until doors close so no one puts anything on it.
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S22 applied to 5 total schools for undergrad- 3 for music, 2 for other pursuits (but probably would have done a music concentration or BA). All were schools he would have been happy to attend and only one felt “safety-ish” but only because the acceptance rate for the academic side was on paper a bit more forgiving and there were non music major opportunities that interested him.
All that to say I completely agree that more isn’t more in this realm.
My daughter applied to only 5 schools. One of those was in-state where she took lessons, but we knew that was of least consideration. All required pre-screens and were between 8 and 13 hours away (except the in-state option), and yes… we drove them all. There was no instrument concern on our part, but rather weather. At the time of the year for which the auditions were scheduled, weather plays a huge factor and really disrupts flights here in the Midwest. We opted not to take a chance. It was a great way for us to have a good time on a road trip and really learn the areas where daughter was applying! We are also pretty used to traveling to see family because no one lives within a day’s drive of us. I also just didn’t want to deal with the uncertainty and chaos of air travel. I wouldn’t say that driving was cheaper, it was just a personal preference for Zen and comfort lol.
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I don’t really know what the options will be for weekend auditions. For the ED round, they sent a list of classes and performances for Monday-Wednesday if I remember correctly. I never actually saw the email. It went to my son.
His audition was in the afternoon on Monday and he ended up attending a class afterward then an ensemble rehearsal and a student performance on Monday and a class on Tuesday morning before we headed home.
He took trial lessons over the summer/ earlier in the fall so he didn’t need to add that to this trip.
We used to live in Chicago and have made the trip back at least once a year for the past decade. Having tried planes, trains, and automobiles from here (Minneapolis) to there, I will put in pitch for the train if it’s at all comparable in terms of travel time for anyone (although we’ve typically flown our son back and forth when he’s made the trip on his own).
For us, the train takes a little longer than driving, but I was able to work during the trip and my son did schoolwork, which made it worth it for us.
And it’s nice to hear that he’s not the only one who isn’t applying everywhere. He’s applied to 5 schools and will likely apply to 3 more that don’t require an audition or have a performance major if he needs to go to the RD round. Worst/ best case scenario he’d have two more audition trips, which felt manageable. He doesn’t want to go to a conservatory so that narrowed things down a bit.
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chiming in on the timing on when to arrive for a mid-morning audition…..I’d be there early in the morning because some of the schools we’ve gone to had some kind of into session first thing before auditions began.
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Do we think this week will be THE week to hear back from prescreens??? We are waiting on Temple, USC, Oberlin, Peabody, and Juilliard.
For those waiting on Peabody sounds like they will release prescreen results sometime before holiday break which I guess would be this week.
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I mean, I appreciated the email, but not the fake out!
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100% agree lol I seriously went onto their website to see when THEIR holiday break was which sounds like they are technically on break. So which holiday break are we talking about lol
On the academic calendar, it looks like offices are open until December 23. So I’ll work with the assumption we will hear anytime from now until then.
I’m tired of practicing patience.
Ugh that’s so far away! I can’t do this for another week. Obsessively checking emails to see if something comes through at any given moment.
Just heard from DePaul about prescreen. Anyone have a sense of Bienen decision date? Looking to make one trip to Chicago area if possible.
Bienen prescreen decision date? Or decision date AFTER the in-person audition?
So if I was in charge, they would definitely notify by Friday, allowing for two working days to respond to the inevitable phone calls and emails from applicants, to reduce the pileup they come back to in the new year. I hope for all of us, all the schools follow my logic.
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