<p>We first did a “trial run” in the fall of DS’s Junior year to a near-by but well respected conservatory. It was very helpful in getting acclimated to what the scene is, types of questions and discussion with the admissions staff, and the benefit of meeting the Chair of the Voice department and witnessing some lessons (not sure that is all that common, and in retrospect it was a bit uncomfortable).</p>
<p>Then during the Winter work with your student and faculty to develop a list of potential schools – I had about 15 to 20 candidate schools. I created a table showing programs they had available, degrees and other pertinent information.</p>
<p>I think it is very important to try to use winter or spring breaks to visit schools of most interest, particularly to try to determine if the student is competitive at that school. The faculty will provide that sort of feedback in the context of a trial lesson or having the student play at a meeting. DS always made an effort to meet with the Chair of the Vocal Performance department, and usually succeeeded. I urge everyone to take advantage of the resources here at CC-- for example if you are going to get the most out of a visit you need to make appointments with faculty in advance. They will be happy to meet with the student. (Note that I did not attend these sessions.) You can check calendars to figure out whether the school will be in session. We also did a trip right after school was out in early June, again pre-arranging some meetings with faculty.</p>
<p>DS spent the fall of his Senior year working on his audition CD and preparing applications. He had one audition in early December, one just before a break and another during a long spring break. As I said earlier, if he had not been admitted on the early review, he might have applied to a couple more schools during Christmas break.</p>
<p>Finally, DS spent several days at his top school (where he had been accepted) during Winter Break meeting with all the Voice faculty he could so that he could make an informed choice of teacher and be sure that this was where he wanted to be.</p>
<p>I hope this is helpful.</p>