Hello. I hope all are surviving the college app season; and looking forward to the holidays, like our family D25 is a prospective vocal major. While connecting with music professors in at least three colleges, the professors inquired about what other colleges she has applied. In two situations, these were casual conversations during trial lessons. In another one, after inviting her to an in-person audition (based on prescreening), they mentioned that they were curious to know during the audition/interview where that particular college stands on her interest list. So we donât know whether she might be facing the same question during future auditions in other colleges too.
I am wondering what to make of these questions, and how best to answer them, especially in the last case. I find the questions pretty weird (and nosy) - imagine if I went to a job interview and the interviewer asked where else I have applied. Is this common? Any suggestions about how to respond? Thank you.
I would say somethingto the effect of âI am looking at schools that are x hours from home and have programs with xyz attributes, like a, b, and this one. I donât want to have a favorite and not get in or be able to afford it, so at this point, I can honestly say I could see myself at any of them.â If the school asking is a top choice, itâs fine to tell them so.
I suspect that with programs where you interact with someone from the program during the application process, part of their performance review includes successful recruitment, so they may be figuring out who they might entice with some merit aid, etc.
It can seem like a weird question, but where fit really matters, it is often more a question of how well you understand their program and how well it aligns with what youâre looking for. (This is asked a lot when students are applying to boarding schools, and it might, for example, prompt an interviewer at a small girls school to ask a bit more if every other school was big and coed.)
Same thing happened to my S22 when he was applying for Theater Tech. He decided to just tell them. In his case it turned out fine. He got into all the schools where he applied as a theater tech major including an admission to a reach and a large merit offer from a nearby competitor of theirs.
The Aspen Music Festival app lists a ton of other festivals and asks you what else youâre applying to as well⊠I agree itâs helpful info for them to know, and helpful for a college to know if they really arenât at the âtopâ of the kidâs list, but I donât see how itâs at all helpful to the kid or applicant to reveal this info. I told my son to be vague on all questions like that and just say that heâs very interested in all of the schools for different reasons. His choice will come down to financial affordability. Since we wonât get much or any financial need aid but also canât afford full cost, it doesnât make sense to have âtopâ schools anyhow because even if he gets in to say, Juilliard, heâs not attending at full or near full cost anyhow.
It is very common for music majors to be asked where else they are applying during the audition process. So I would advise that applicants have some type of answer ready.
My son chose to answer honestly with little detail but with the emphasis that he is interested in all of the programs where he is auditioning. Similar to @Kpatterson above. He was never asked to rank the school on his list, but he was asked if he thought he had a preference between stand alone conservatory and university school of music environments.
In my opinion, panelists/professors ask this question to get some idea of the studentâs interest and potential for fit.
Very common. All students should be prepared for it. An honest answer is the best (as long as you donât rank!). IMO, they are trying to learn more about the student. My D had lunch with a faculty member and invited me along (for MT during a summer visit). He chatted with my D about her list. He actually used it as an opportunity to âsellâ his program. He talked about the difference amongst programs and what he thought they could do for her at their school. So it shouldnât be interpreted as a negative toward your student. It may not be remarked upon during the auditionâŠbut a teacher contacting you may use the information to persuade you to come their school.
And, if financials matter itâs OK to mention it. My D did that for grad school. Something like Iâm sincerely interested in all schools. Still I will need to consider the financials in my final decision.
Opps - was reading quickly and missed the first couple of comments. So my response is general to all. AND, no need to rank schoolsâŠbut you can say the school is high on your list for a particular reason or two.
Wasnât sure I had the time but here is a quick addition:
My âwonder childâ did two auditions at a school (VP and MT) then flew to Unifieds in Chicago (an MT thing) for about 4 auditions, I think. It was crazy busy and at her first MT audition she was asked something likeâŠwhatâs your number 1 school. Without thinking, she said that school she had just auditioned at for two days! lol. She didnât mention the school she was auditioning for. It was the only school that flat out rejected her! Luckily it was a âmeanâ audition. And the question was near the end. She did end up at the other school. So maybe her honesty was fineâŠfor that one.
So, just be prepared and donât do what my kid did. She never did that againâŠshe knew it was wrong right when she said itâŠ.but couldnât take it back.
We had the experience of a professor at a top conservatory trying to âsellâ the benefits of applying there over the other place he teaches, which is actually also a top music school, but perhaps slightly less prestigious. AwkwardâŠ
String instruments may be different from vocal. My son applied in 2022 to four schools of music. He had previously taken multiple lessons with all four professors. They all knew each other, all asked him where else he was applying to, and he told them all. They all accepted him. He learned from his private teacher and some friends 1-3 years ahead that most classic string professors collaborate regularly. Other than teaching in their schools, they give master classes in other schools, teach in summer and winter festivals, and host workshops. Their students are encouraged to take lessons with other professors (especially during summer breaks), and they accept each othersâ undergrad students into their masters programs.
My impression is that music professors recruit potential students too. All four professors my son auditioned for made some kind of âpitchingâ. Two asked to discuss with his parents the benefits of joining their studios. He has several friends who have received similar âpitchesâ from multiple professors, all string musicians.
My son is in his second year in college. Over long breaks he takes lessons from the professors he didnât join their studios.
My daughter simply provided a list of the other schools then immediately pivoted to talk about what she liked about the current schoolâs program (mentioning also that it was high on her list).
I got the sense that the question was less about gauging the studentâs potential interest in their program but more about how the student sees themselves based on that list-- is it standalone conservatory heavy? State U heavy? LAC heavy? Additionally, they can gauge a bit how other schools see them based on where they were granted auditions.
My Sâs list was very small and curated to exclude any school with grad students and it was obvious from his list what type of program he saw for himself.
I think there can be a lot of reasons they ask. What type of program syou are interested in, geographic areas, they may know faculty in those programs, etc.
I have 2 kids that went through the process. We live in a metro, both my kids did regional auditoned programs in vocal and instrumental. So we just know lots of students who have been through the proces. Kid #1 had a sample lesson at a school the fall prior to applying when we were very new at all this. Teachers at face to face sample lessons will sometimes be frank and honest in ways you may not get in other settings. We had a few experiences like this.
Anyway, without typing out the entire conversation, we definitely felt that teacher was trying to get a slant for what kind of merit/financial offers we might be looking for. He did say straight up they had minimal funds at the moment for undergrads in that area. Schools are trying to hit a bottom line and may have more or less merit in a given year, may need a mix of FA, full pay, merit students, etc depending on the school. So that might be something else they are trying to gauge - if they have the ability to compete financially and liklihood of attendance.
After that each of my kids prepared how to answer indivdually for each school - listing a couple similar peer schools and indicating an open mind to what each had to offer. One of my kids was double degree, not every individual faculty he met was excited about that. He applied to 12 schools with a huge range of options. So listing all those options in an audition setting didnât really make sense.
D25 is a prospective vocal major. While connecting with music professors in at least three colleges, the professors inquired about what other colleges she has applied. In two situations, these were casual conversations during trial lessons. In another one, after inviting her to an in-person audition (based on prescreening), they mentioned that they were curious to know during the audition/interview where that particular college stands on her interest list. So we donât know whether she might be facing the same question during future auditions in other colleges too.