<p>I am so thankful for your replies. I do not have enough posts to pm you all. He did the summer program last year at Oberlin and loved it. The first one is what he wrote at Oberlin last summer and it was written for bass clarinet, piccolo, and violin. All the titles are in Swedish, since he has lived most of his life there. He wrote a duet for cello and piano and a string quartet for his application pieces for the Oberlin camp. </p>
<p>He just finished writing a piece for our school choir that includes flute and a string quartet. </p>
<p>Criteria: My son absolutely loves theory and loves school. He is doing an independent study this year with the AP theory teacher since he did AP in 9th grade and is serving as the teaching assistant for the AP class. He is working through a 2nd year college theory textbook and doing all the work and taking tests. </p>
<p>He really enjoyed his time at Oberlin and would love to go there, but wants to keep options open. He is looking at Eastman, Peabody, Northwestern, and Rice as well as he would like to keep the option open for a dual degree. He was very interested in the types of classes offered at Oberlin and the quality of players there. He also heard that it is easy to get new music performed there as well. He is a self-starter and learner and will put 100 percent into what he does, and since we do not live in the US, it is hard to get a feel for a program and we do not have the luxury of visiting a lot of schools. </p>
<p>He wants to continue to take cello lessons and progress on the cello and play in an ensemble or orchestra. He has played in orchestra throughout High School and in other ensembles. </p>
<p>I have tried to read as many posts as possible related to composition, but still feel very fuzzy with everything. He has the grades to get into a decent school, but I want to keep his options open and not aim too high and not have him get accepted anywhere. Do you all have any safety schools you could recommend for him? Or composition programs that do not require a full audition? Any advice regarding auditioning on piano rather than cello? Or trying both? </p>
<p>His GPA is a 3.9 unweighted, first try on the SAT was 2010, but he has only been doing school in English for 2.5 years. He did 6 years of school in Swedish, 2 in German, and High school in English. He has taken 6 AP classes so far and will take 3 next year. </p>
<p>He does meet occasionally with a German composition teacher, but this is usually when he has completed a piece. We do have miles to fly him back this summer for a smaller music camp (he was given a full scholarship) and he could possibly try to visit some other schools, but summer time is not a good time to meet with professors. </p>
<p>Anyways, I am a newbie at all of this and appreciate any questions, advice, wisdom, etc. </p>
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