Vanderbilt Music Questions

EmJN15
Mon, 28 Feb 2011 20:45:45 +0000

Hello! I had an audition at the Blair School of Music a bit ago, and I had a few questions that I was hoping somebody would be able to answer! For starters, the vocalists were asked to prepare three specific types of pieces. When I went in for my audition, they asked what pieces I was doing so I listed them in order, and then they only had me do my first two (leaving out my last- and therefore assumably and truthfully my best- piece). They then had me sightread piano which went very well, and then asked if I had any questions. We chatted for a little bit, and I think (and hope!) they seemed interested in me as an applicant. The audition itself went very well, but is it a normal thing to cut people off after two pieces? They were even running ahead of schedule by 15 minutes, so I don’t think it was a timing thing! I haven’t had this happen at any other place I’ve auditioned at, so I just wanted to be sure it wasn’t a big deal or anything.

And also - I heard that Vanderbilt’s application is “two-fold” when auditioning for Blair: you get one master decision about getting into Vanderbilt, not one into Blair and one into the main school. Does anyone know how much weight the music admissions/faculty will have in this admissions process, especially considering I will be going in as a music major? I am within the Vanderbilt range for overall stats of accepted students, but I fall a little on the lower end with a 30 ACT and about a 3.65 GPA (around top 10%-15% in my class, my high school doesn’t really rank, but that is what my counselor estimated).

So basically I’m asking: is it a good or bad sign that they cut me off, (or does it not matter), and if it turns out I did have a really good audition, will that significantly help me get into the school as a whole? I love Vanderbilt and am really hoping for a happy letter in April!

Thank you!