<p>Whoops I just read that your timing is between now and next May - what I really meant was May of your senior year! You’ll be sending in your prescreens in November of your Senior Year. Auditions will usually be in Jan/Feb/March - although places like Oberlin (which you should also explore) offer an early review in the fall. Then you’ll hear from the programs in March & April, for the most part, of senior year - and need to put down your deposit by May 1. So you’ve still got a good amount of time. If you can only afford to visit for the auditions, then use email well! Professors will respond and you can get questions answered, and get a sense of the programs as well as the faculty with whom you’d be working. My son sent some mp3’s to get a feel whether his music would be well received. About half the professors listened to it and responded, while the other half said they would only listen to his music in a formal application. He ended up not applying to those programs!</p>
<p>Another program I haven’t mentioned, as I don’t know about their financial aid, that I recommend you explore is CalArts in Southern California. If you’re interested in electronic music, that’s a great place. As is Oberlin.</p>