<p>Which conservatories want you to send them? In particular, will Mannes and NEC ask for them… and can they become an eliminating factor?</p>
<p>I keep thinking about possibly ruining my college chances and it’s making me do even worse in school haha. I have exactly one week left to fix everything and I’m panicking more than ever…</p>
<p>sprstr…I don’t know any school that doesn’t require you to send in your first semester grades. That said, at this point your grade is what it is. Finish up the best you can and move on.</p>
<p>For a music major your audition is a large part of the admission decision…but they will also want to make sure you will be a successful student and will consider your academic grades (even at a conservatory).</p>
<p>I’ve from many people that as long as you don’t have D’s or F’s, you’re fine.</p>
<p>I know for schools like Northwestern, they do care a lot about your grades. I’m not sure about NEC and Mannes, but as long as you do great at your audition and you’re not failing (just get A’s and B’s), you’ll be fine.</p>
<p>All schools will require a final transcript if not a mid term report. Even at conservatories, merit aid may be partially based on high school academic grades, so don’t totally let your classes slip too much. You don’t want to go from all A’s and B’s to barely passing. They will want to see that you will be able to handle the academic requirements of college. Conservatories have a pretty heavy course load with many classes, even if there is only one LA class per semester.</p>
<p>What about going from C’s and D’s to D’s and E’s? It’s like the more I want to stop failing, the worse it gets…
The only school that’s said anything about grades has been Indiana Bloomington, but I’m not sure whether I’m auditioning there anymore.</p>
<p>Will they see the individual first two marking period grades, or just a semester average?</p>
<p>Most likely a semester average, that’s how it works in my school.</p>
<p>sprstr:</p>
<p>I’m curious as to what you were told by IU. My son has applied there and auditioned on January 15. Unlike Northwestern (where he has also applied), he was admitted to IU (i.e., the university) prior to his audition. We are now waiting to hear whether or not he will be admitted to the Jacobs School of Music. In a phone conversation with Northwestern I was told that the admission decision to the university will be determined AFTER his audition. I’m assuming that his fall semester grades will be one factor that is considered (they use the common app and want a mid-year grade report). </p>
<p>Did IU say that they look at fall semester grades as part of their decision-making? Was it for scholarship purposes or … ?? Thanks!</p>
<p>I got an email maybe in late December from Indiana University (not Jacobs itself) saying my academic record was inconsistent and that they wanted me to send my first semester grades as soon as they were available. I guess IU would decide whether I was admitted after seeing those? My report card comes out a week after the date my audition is scheduled for, so I’m kind of confused about how that’s all going to work out. </p>
<p>I doubt they want to give me academic scholarships haha–they made it seem as though they were on the fence about me or something, but my grades from this semester aren’t awesome so I’m not sure it’ll help my case.</p>
<p>This is when the difference between a true stand alone conservatory and a music school affiliated with a university will matter.</p>
<p>At the risk of sounding overly obvious, I would suggest you go talk to your teachers and your counselor right away to see if there is something you can do to bring those grades up. You may be able to re-take an exam or submit an extra paper.</p>
<p>I stand with opera-mom on this one. Grades do matter, even at conservatories. They are considered an indicator of your potential to handle advanced level work and can be used to decide between two relatively even candidates. I would doubt that, even with an amazing audition, a school would take a student with C average- there are just too many candidates out there, they don’t have to take the risk.
When you consider the amount of work to be done- languages (if a voice major), key board, theory, aural skills, music history, rhythms, ensembles, not to mention the required freshman courses of some sort of a colloquium/seminar, English/Writing, etc- the course load can be quite heavy, 21 credits not being unusual. The school invests time and money in a student and it is to their advantage to have him/her succeed. If the student enrolls and then is unable to handle the workload, the school loses a student and that place might have gone to someone who wasn’t able to get off of the waiting list.
I wish that high schools would hold young musicians to the same standards that they do athletes and those who take part in the theatrical productions, making them ineligible to participate in school ensembles if their grades do not meet minimum standards. It would be doing them a favor.</p>
<p>I think it is rare that a conservatory rejects someone, that they otherwise would take, based on grades. I am talking about schools like Peabody, Julliard, Curtis, etc. - true stand alone conservatories. Peabody has on its website that “we rarely reject anyone for purely academic reasons.” I know someone who has been involved in admissions there and he has never seen anyone rejected for grades, if the audition is strong, and he has seen some really poor transcripts. Curtis says on its site that students are accepted purely on the basis of their artistic talent and promise. These schools accommodate lots of kids who barely speak a word of English. They clearly can support kids who struggle academically too.</p>
<p>Mezzo’sMama, I’m sorry you consider me a “risk”. Are we talking about different types of schools entirely? Because even just by looking at basic collegeboard stats it looks like nearly a tenth of accepted students have had C grade point averages.</p>
<p>This marking period ends in 3 days, and I definitely can’t do anything about the past three years… So I’m not exactly sure what you’re suggesting I do, though I do understand if the purpose of your post is to try to stop others from making the same mistake…? </p>
<p>My school actually has the same rules for sports and music eligibility; I think you have to be passing a certain number of credits.</p>
<p>But I was wondering specifically about whether first semester senior grades can be a deal-breaker–not high school grades in general.</p>
<p>I think that you will find that conservatories that are connected to universities care more, because they have to meet some few the university’s standards. Care how much? Depends on the audition. If other things are equal you may be at a disadvantage. If you have a stellar audition, may not matter. The pure conservatoires operamom mentions, not really much at all. There just is not one rule out there and you have to know what matters to each school you apply to and where are stack up on the auditions. </p>
<p>You must have completed your applications, although some schools may still be accepting applications, most of the conservatories have long since past their deadlines. Have this discussion with the admission folks where you have applied. They are really there to help you with the process. If you don’t want them to connect the question with your application, just call as a potential student seeking more information.</p>