College

DSOA

MUSIC MINOR/ALT MAJOR TRACK

Continue to play music in college on scholarship, or pursue degrees in music education, therapy, or composition.

Play for your education; Learn to compose, educate, record, heal, or just enjoy!
Scholarships, continued enjoyment, and alternative professional careers in music abound.
Dreyfoos is well positioned for students who
think that they might want to continue playing their instrument through college, who want a partial or full scholarship to play for a school, or who are seeking a music degree in something other than performance. For most of you, music will not be your lifes work. Still, just about every college and university has a music department. Each of them is looking for core musicians to anchor a freshman class in their departments. With all of your hard work and the high level at which the faculty of the DSOA Music department keep you, the doors to scholarships and opportunities to play in concert, orchestral, and marching bands in college abounds. There are also many careers in music that are not in the performance sphere. Music education trains you to do what Mr. Rogovin and Mr. Hernandez do: Educate the next generation of musicians, and keep American concert music and classical music alive. There are also careers in the emerging world of music therapy, music history, and music theory, to name a few. Consider joining the schools marching band program. You get travel to away games, to see a lot of the major football and, in some cases, basketball games. Music therapy is a rising major as we learn more about Alzheimer's disease and how music can at least slow patients impairment. Music therapists work in hospitals, with the blind, special needs children, at hospice and in a growing number of medical arenas where music can produce life-changing impacts on the way people cope with illness and learn. Music production, with the emphasis on engineering sound, can lead to a wide variety of careers, from working a sound board to doing the acoustical design of recording spaces or performance spaces to building next generation sound recording or reproduction devices like microphones, speakers and headphones. If you minor in music, you may still be able to get partial scholarship, or you can do it just to keep playing through college. Even if you dont minor, you can join orchestras or ensembles for fun and continue to play.

Inside:
Success Checklist! Summer Programs! Where to Apply?" Showcases" Career Opportunities " Conservatories by State" The East/West Bounce" College Size" The Essay"

2 3-4 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

College
Starts in the

Grades 9-10 Outperform

Get private lessons set up or continue them. Practice, practice practice Learn from the successful juniors and seniors. Get in alldistrict or all-state.

Grade 11 Outperform
Take classes in music theory, and learn more about the history of the music. Work in the community, particularly in your area of interest.

Grade 12 Outperform
Your skill sets are at the best they will be in high school. All-State, showcases, and more private lessons at conservatories and colleges open doors.

9th
Grade
Everything that you do matters from the day that you start Dreyfoos. Homework counts. Practice. Juries. Drop one or two here and there, and you can find your college picture changes.

Plan
Find great summer programs to learn your music. If you compose, take composition courses and write! If you think music therapy sounds interesting, volunteer at a place where its being used. Production? Record, record...

Strategize
Plan with your year private teachers well. Develop a top six list of schools. Visit as many as you can. Develop the portfolio of materials you need for composition, or the repertoire for a music major or minor.

Execute
Do your audition/pre-audition recordings. Do your composition portfolio early. Get your college apps in EARLY even if youre not going for early decision/action. Contact the schools who had an interest in you in the 11th grade.

Keep Focus.
The transition to high school is full of great opportunities, social life, and distractions. Moderation and balance. Keep your focus.

Shine.
This is your time. Make it count. Put yourself out not just at school, but network with college programs and find your place in a program.

Deliver.
Peg your auditions. Deliver your portfolio. Take the interviews for music therapy. You have a lot to be confident about with great training.

College Starts in the 9th Grade

Once upon a time your parents had the luxury of being kids, screwing around and screwing up. With colleges and conservatories receiving applications, often at six or ten to one to the positions that they hold, you can afford very few bad days of your own making. Your grades in academics COUNT. Big time for colleges, less so for conservatories, BUT since you dont know where you will be invited to play, you must keep all of your numbers high. Two trajectories are acceptable to colleges: People with an upward grade path, who got their act together, and people who perform at a high level throughout. See-saw grades, up one year, down the next, can close a lot of doors for you. A downward trajectory, where you begin well and end poorly, or have an off the cliff run from grade 10 to 12, are certifiable death for applications. Homework may be a drudge, but its worth enough points at DSOA that all of it needs doing, in spite of what your peers may tell you. Practice may also seem like a chore at times, but, particularly in a conservatory/ music career track, its unacceptable to pull

Bs and Cs. Theyre red flags that you dont have your act together. The goal that you need to set as a 9th grader is to be the best that you can be. You never worry about how many other people there are out there, or what other people are doing. Stay in your art, look inward, and focus on your music. Achievement springs out of good foundational habits, drive and dedication. Listen to your teachers. If they find deficiencies in your performance fix them. If they arent giving you enough feedback, go talk to them privately and ask what you can do. You want to position yourself so, by the time you are a senior, you will be the kind of competent, core player upon whom college band and orchestra directors build their program. The work began the day you arrived at Dreyfoos in the 9th grade. Where are you now? On track or off? See the bigger picture, and dont let the day to day of life rule you.

Showcases Count.
Someone starts the rumor every year that All-District and All-State arent important. If youre thinking about a music minor, theyre still important. For composition and therapy, less so. Try to find other showcases where your composition skills, or your interest in therapy can make you stand out.

EVERYTHING COUNTS.

Success Checklist
From Grade 9 on...
Adult Help.
No one successful ever succeeds alone. You will need both financial and logistical support from adults to get you into programs, transport, and mentor you. Parents, teachers, family friends. Do not turn down help.

Get private lessons from a good instructor. DSOA has some of the best. We can help if money is a problem. As you approach your senior year, get evaluations from college-level people (see Special Lessons) to see where the gateway to music as a career lies for you.

Private Lessons.

SUMMERS
Make Summer Count
Summer programs that continue your music studies make you marketable to colleges. The track for you is similar to those pursuing a career in performance, except that you have considerably more options, as there are several thousand more music programs at colleges all over the world. Big schools for band like USF, UF, Indiana, and others have their own summer programs that act as recruiting feeders to the school. The best rule of thumb is to pick one(s) in the general areas you think you might actually go to school, and the college programs most likely to provide you with scholarships. Big and medium schools may seem like the obvious choices, because they have more money, but dont count out smaller colleges either. They have to recruit musicians for their programs too. Some schools, like Blair at Vanderbilt, open the door to an ivy-league-level education with a music school so grade competitive for entry that few people get in, which means a phenomenally low student-to-teacher ratio.

Practice every day.

Practice every day as much as your private instructor recommends for your grade/ability level. Birthdays, holidays off. If you arent, someone else is. It makes a difference in your mastery of your instrument.

Keep Your Academic Grades Up.

Some schools care a lot about grades, some dont. Since you wont know which you will actually get into, your grades remain important. Challenge yourself with your academics (honors, AP) as much as you can. Schools like UF, UM, and others wont talk to you without great grades and challenge.

Listen.
You need to be a great listener as well as player. Listen to the greats in the musical forms that move you not to imitate, but to understand, synthesize ideas of their art your own work, and grow.

Perform.
Beyond performing at school, as you become a more mature player in the 10th-12th grade years, perform wherever you can work or gig. Real-world experience is invaluable, especially working with a wide range of people.

Your summers count! What do you do with them? Check the list of summer music programs in this guide. Money isnt an issue. Many top programs offer scholarships and even help with transportation.

Summer Programs

Top 10 Summer Programs with National Footprint

Interlochen Summer Arts Camp
(Interlochen, MI) The oldest and one of the most prestigious camps that brings in students from all over the world and has turned out some of the top musical talents in all fields. Structured well. Three week sessions can be combined or stand-alone. Jazz program is excellent. Audition: YES. (Student evaluations with a high score bypass future audition for entry) Scholarships: YES. Pros: Great education, respected by all schools. Cons: Cost without scholarship; Transportation to Traverse City can cost more. camp.interlochen.org

Master Classes
Take them. Much of music education is a mentoring process. Show up on the radar of people who are the top of their game, and they may help you find your way one day.

Showcase.
All-District is a must. All-State is a great boost to your prospects of a scholarship. If you can figure out where you might like to go to school, doing showcases in that part of the country is a great idea, because faculty from that region gets to see you in action.

Boston University Tanglewood Institute (BUTI)

Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO) and BU host a camp for aspiring classical high school artists at Tanglewood. Students work with top professionals and participate in the musical life of Tanglewood, one of the best summer classical experiences around. Audition: YES. Scholarship: YES. http://www.bu.edu/cfa/tanglewood/

Dont just presume the answer to an opportunity is NO, or that you wont make it. TRY. If you dont get something, youre no worse off than never trying, or never asking. If you are not advancing in your work at DSOA, ask your teacher what you need to do to get back on track. DO THAT.

Ask for Help, Advice, Guidance

Berklee College of Music

(Boston, MA) This will be Berklees 27th year running a five week high school arts camp. They use school faculty and ofter a much more diverse program for those interested in pop music. Vocal is mostly pop forms. They offer a strings program, but not just classical. Scholarships: Limited. Pros: Experience Berklee, Summer in Boston, musical education outside of traditional band/classical/Jazz Cons: Cost without scholarship. Five weeks long. http://www.berklee.edu/summer/fiveweeksummer/program-like.php

In your junior year, have a clear idea where you want to apply. Go online and learn their audition requirements, or their composition portfolio requirements They may change but at least youll know the basic rigor of them. Prepare well in advance (over the summer). Arrange to take lessons with faculty at the top conservatories (More on this inside). Get a solid recording if you need a pre-audition (More on this too).

Planning for Auditions Admissions

Top 10 Summer Programs (Cont.d)

Music for All
For concert Jazz and percussion, this camp has one of the highest satisfaction ratings among students and parents alike. Music for All is the same organization that does Concert band of America and Jazz Band of America honor bands..http://musicforall.org/what-wedo/summer-camp

MORE TOP SUMMER PROGRAMS

Adamant Music School Adamant, VT Piano, violin, bassoon, flute and clarinet Amati Music Festival Hunter, NY Violin, viola, cello, piano, flute and guitar American Festival for the Arts Houston, TX All instrumental disciplines including jazz and composition Aria International Summer Academy Williamstown and South Hadley, MA Violin, cello, flute and clarinet Baldwin Wallace College All disciplines including voice and music Theatre. Programs for school age students and adults. Banff Centre Banff, Canada Year round programs for all disciplines Birch Creek Music Performance Center Egg Harbor, WI Orchestra, jazz, percussion, and steel pans Blue Lake Twin Lake MI All instruments, dance, theatre, jazz and composition. Adult and family programs are also offered. Bowling Green State University Bowling Green, OH Brass, musical theatre, double reed making, recording, saxophone, piano, and voice Brevard Brevard, NC Orchestra, chamber music, opera Calgary Arts Summer School and Festival Calgary, Alberta Canada String programs for ages 5-18 California Summer Music Monterey, CA Strings, piano and composition Camp Musical de l'Estrie Sherbrooke, Quebec Strings ages 5-15 Cazadero Performing Arts Camp Berkeley, CA All instruments Cleveland Institute of Music Clevaland, OH All instruments and composition - offerings change annually Eastman School of Music Rochester, NY Summer programs in classical, jazz, and rock guitar Eastern U. S. Music Camp Colgate University - Hamilton NY All instruments including jazz and voice. Elm City Chamberfest New Haven CT Strings and Piano ages 8-18 Encore/Coda Sweden, ME All instruments Global Youth Village Bedford VA All musicians interested in learning music from other cultures Goucher College Towson MD Programs vary annually Green Lake Festival Ripon College, Green Lake WI Strings and piano, chamber music focus The Hartt School of Music Summer Programs University of Hartford, Hartford CT Chamber Music, Ballet and Suzuki Strings Hartwick College Summer Music Festival Oneonta, NY All instruments, including jazz and musical theatre Heifetz International Music Institute Wolfeboro, NH Violin, viola, cello, and piano Icicle Creek Leavenworth WA Chamber Music (strings and piano) Idyllwild Arts Idyllwild, CA Music, dance, theatre, visual art, creative writing Indiana University Bloomington, IN All instruments - programs change annually Interharmony International Music Festival Birklehof, Germany www.interharmony.com/hiimf Sulzbach-Rosenberg, Germany www.srimf.com Orchestral instruments, piano and voice International Music Institute and Festival Emmitsburg, MD Strings, piano and chamber music Jazz in July Amherst MA Jazz instruments and ensembles Kent State University Summer Piano Institute Kent, OH Piano, grades 7-12 Killington Music Festival Killington VT Violin, viola, cello, double bass and piano Laurentian Music Center St. Adolphe-d'Howard, Quebec, Canada Strings, piano, wind ensemble, musical theatre Lutheran Summer Music Academy and Festival St. Peter, MN Band, Chorus and Orchestra Magic Mountain Morris, NY Orchestral instruments Madeline Island Music Camp Madeline Island, MN Chamber music - strings and piano Manchester Music Festival Manchester VT Chamber Music (piano, strings and woodwinds) Midwest Young Artists Carthage College, Kenosha WI Numerous programs throughout the summer for all instrumental disciplines as well as jazz, chamber music and recording arts Music at Menlo Palo Alto CA Chamber Music Music at Port Milford Milford Ontario, Canada Chamber Music focus for string players ages 12-18 New York Summer Music Festival SUNY - Oneonta NY All instruments Norfolk New Haven, CT Chamber music Northern Lights Music Festival Aurora, MN Piano and strings Oberlin College and Conservatory Oberlin, OH Early music, flute, trumpet, organ, voice and percussion Orfeo Music Festival Vipiteno, Italy Strings, piano and voice Performing Arts Institute of Wyoming Seminary Kingston, PA All instruments (classical and jazz) Dance and theatre Point Counterpoint Lake Dunmore, VT Chamber Music Putney School Summer Arts Programs Putney, VT Orchestra, composition, early music, chamber music Ravinia Highland Park, IL All instruments Rocky Mountain Summer Conservatory Lowell Whiteman School Steamboat Springs CO Chamber Music Focus Round Top Round Top, TX Orchestra Schlern International Music Festival Schlern, Italy Orchestral instruments Southeastern Piano Festival Columbia SC Piano Sphinx Academy Walnut Hill School - Natick, MA Strings Stokes Forest Upper Montclair, NJ Music String Crossings Nashville, TN Strings, grades 8-12 (classical, jazz, rock and bluegrass) Strings International Music Festival Philidelphia, PA Strings Summit Music Festival Fordham University Tarrytown, NY Chamber Music (piano, all strings and harpsichord) Toronto Summer Music Academy and Festival Toronto, CA Chamber Music, Voice, and Percussion Traveling Notes Location changes annually Strings and woodwinds Tuckamore Festival Newfoundland, Canada Chamber music Uppingham Summer School Rutland, UK Piano festival and courses for all instruments Yellow Barn Putney, VT Chamber music Walden School Dublin, NH Musicianship, theory, improvisation and composition

NYU Steinhardt Summer Music Programs

NYU has a broad array of music summer programs from strings to Jazz to piano intensive to vocal choir/ pop, technical recording, and even film scoring and composing. You work with Steinhardt faculty, which is a good way of auditioning them for college consideration as well as getting on track in their prestigious program. Audition: YES. Scholarship: ASK. PROS: Great faculty, more reasonably priced, evenings filled with best culture in Americas biggest city. CONS: No scholarships.

Stanford Summer Jazz Camp

Well thought of and well attended, Stanford University hosts a summer Jazz camp that is one of the best in the country. If you have an interest in improving your chances in a West Coast school pool, this is definitely one camp to put on your resum. PROS: Well regarded, good program, top school; CONS: Distance. http://stanfordjazz.org/jazz-camp/jazzcamp-2013/

Camp MSM (Manhattan School of Music)

Manhattan draws from its feeder programs. Camp MSM is a good way of getting on their radar if you are interested in MSM. They have a wide range of instrument classes in both classical and jazz. Audition: YES. Scholarship: YES. PROS: Great experience CONS: Cost without scholarship. http://www.msmnyc.edu/ Instruction-Faculty/Programs/Special-Programs/Camp-MSM

Midwest Young Artists

This Chicago area camp offers programs for classical jazz, vocal, etc. Chamber Music group has top faculty from Northwestern and members of major symphonies working it. Lookfor bounce to an area where youre more unique. Fewer Floridians hit top midwest programs/schools. Audition: Yes Scholarship: YES. Pros: Great faculty, nice summer location; Cons: Cost without scholarship. http://www.mya.org/ summer/

NEC Summer Programs

The New England Conservatory (NEC) in Boston hosts an intensive youth orchestra, a Jazz lab, and an opera program each summer. A good way to see if you like NEC if conservatories are your track. Audition: YES. Scholarships: No. PROS: Great programs CONS: No scholarships. http://necmusic.edu/summer

Aspen Music Festival

Covers a wide range of classical instruments, guitar, opera and recording arts. Also good for students considering West Coast programs. PRO: World class faculty CONS: Fees high; transportation to/from Aspen can be more costly. http://new.oberlin.edu/office/summer-programs/

Juilliard Jazz Summer Workshops

The program is in hiatus while Wynton Marsalis reassumes the directorship of Julliard Jazz. No 2014 workshops.

Concert/Classical
(Click on the name to visit the website)

American High Schools Honors Performance Series at Carnegie Hall

You must be recommended by your music director here at DSOA. Auditions are held based on the recommendations. This showcase is heavily attended by top conservatories. Concert, orchestra, and vocal.

SHOWCASES
Showcases arent optional. Theyre ESSENTIAL. Particularly in Jazz. With limited seats opening up every year at top schools, students who make national showcases are first-look for those seats. Even if you have multiple All-State appearances, the national competition students have a clear advantage. Click on the names to visit these websites!
UCF or other mid-north schools, this may be a worthwhile showcase.

Honor Band of America

Like Jazz Band of America, Music for All brings a great clinician and a pool of top talent from high schools around the country together for this honor band. The auditions are months in advance, so you want to start thinking about putting this on your radar in the 10th grade to get ready for 11th-12th.

National High School Honors Orchestra

The American String Teachers Association (ASTA) puts this event on in Louisville, Kentucky. String players must be juniors or seniors. All other instruments grades 9-12 may apply.

Next Generation Jazz Festival

The Monterey Jazz Festival puts on the NGJF in April of each year as part of their education mission. Prestigious and well seen.

NAME All-National Honor Ensembles

Held in Nashville, TN, the National Association of Music Educators All-National Honor ensembles require that you make AllState in your state, get nominated by your band director, and pass their screenings. Needless to say, if you can jump through all of those hoops, it puts you in a showcase platform that is well received by top conservatories and university programs.

Downbeat Student Music Awards

Sponsored by Downbeat Magazine, it covers musicians, combos and bands.

JAZZ
(Click on the name to visit the website)

SFJAZZ High-School All-Stars

Another really good California showcase for students who benefit from the bounce and are interested in Golden State schools.

Grammy Camp - Jazz Session

Students audition by video. Those selected play at pre-show events for the GRAMMY Awards in Los Angeles. Acceptance waives pre-audition at MSM. Well attended by top programs. Offers of summer programs/ showcases come.

Midwest Honor Band and Festival

University of Missouri at Kansas City (UMKC) hosts high school honors a concert band and an orchestra.

Vail Jazz Workshops

Vail Colorado has a youth Jazz workshop in its 18th year.

Jazz Band of America

Another of the top national Jazz showcases that is a must. Well received by conservatories and colleges alike.

Generation Next Youth Talent Competition

Jacksonville Jazz Festival hosts this youth talent competition each year that seems to cater to Douglas Anderson students. Time for a DSOA student or two to introduce themselves!

YoungArts
YoungArts (http://www.youngarts.org/) has showcases for Jazz, concert, classical and vocal. With showcases in Miami and LA.

NAME All- National Jazz Ensemble

The National Association of Music Educators has a national Jazz Ensemble annually. You have to make All-State, and be nominated by your director. Clinicians are often from major conservatory and college programs.

YoungArts
YoungArts (http://www.youngarts.org/) has showcases for Jazz, concert, classical and vocal. With showcases in Miami and Los Angeles.

THINK AHEAD.

UCF All-Star High School Jazztet

A newer showcase at the rising star program in the state. If youre thinking of
You should be setting showcase goals for yourself in the 9th and 10th grades. If youre that good, try out earlier. At least you learn the process!

Composition

Therapy
Composition can range from pop music forms to classical, jazz, or even scoring for motion pictures, television, and games.
There are a growing number of places to go to school for this:

Vanderbilt - Blair
With around six composition students to a professor, and major guest artists coming to work with you, its the top choice, BUT you have to have killer grades to get into Vandy.

University of Miami
Miami has one of the best music therapy programs in the country.

UCLA/USC
In the heart of the movie business, both of the big schools in town have scoring/composing courses that attract top industry artists

UCLA/USC
In the heart of the movie business, both of the big schools in town have scoring/composing courses that attract top industry artists

Hampshire College
Some small schools have great programs Hampshire is a make your own program kind of school that is part of the Amherst College consortium. Very much for the independent, free-thinker.

Hampshire College
Some small schools have great programs Hampshire is a make your own program kind of school that is part of the Amherst College consortium. Very much for the independent, free-thinker.

McGill University (Canada)

A top medical and music school merge for a great program. College is cheaper in Canada, too!

Engineering
Berklee College of Music
Great facilities getting better, and one of the best networking systems of any college. Berklee students work and network which is why they have good careers in production. A law degree always goes well with producing music, but there are dedicated degrees for recording producers.

NYU Steinhardt
Amazing program, and students have access to programs taught by faculty that bring in law school elements on things like contracts.

Belmont College
Located in Nashville, another school with an emphasis on business and music, with an eye on popular music.

University of Southern California

USC has one of the best programs in the country. Period.

UHartford/Johns Hopikins/University of Southern Cal.

In the cities where there is a lot of recording, there are recording engineers, and good programs run by some of those engineers. These three top schools are all in markets where there is a lot of work, too.

Full Sail
Full Sail is one of the emerging leaders in the next generation music business.

Major College Music Programs by State.

(Almost all colleges have programs)

University of Illinois at Chicago Northern Illinois University

Crane School of Music Eastman School of Music

Five Towns College

Indiana
Butler University DePauw University Indiana University Jacobs School of Music

Ithaca College School of Music Juilliard School

Manhattan School of Music Mannes College of Music New York University, Steinhardt School Syracuse University Setnor School of Music The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music

= Featured School

California
California Institute of the Arts - A&M School

Kentucky
University of Louisville

California State University, Long Beach Bob Cole Conservatory of Music California State University, Northridge Colburn School University of California Los Angeles Herb Alpert School of Music
University of Southern California Thornton School of Music

City College of New York SUNY-Purchase Conservatory of Music

Louisiana
LSU Tulane UNL

North Carolina
Appalachian State University, Mariam Cannon Hayes School of Music

Maryland
Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins University

University of North Carolina at Greensboro University of North Carolina School of the Arts

University of the Pacific Conservatory of Music San Francisco Conservatory of Music

University of Maryland School of Music

North Dakota
North Dakota State University

Connecticut
Hartt School of Music Yale University

Massachusetts
Berklee College of Music Boston Conservatory Boston University

Ohio
Baldwin-Wallace Conservatory of Music Bowling Green State University Cleveland Institute of Music Kent State University Oberlin Conservatory The Ohio State University University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music Youngstown State University

District of Columbia
Catholic University's Benjamin T. Rome School of Music

Longy School of Music New England Conservatory of Music

Michigan
University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance

Florida
Florida A&M (FAMU) Florida Atlantic University Florida State University College of Music Lynn University (Harid) Palm Beach Atlantic University Palm Beach State College Rollins College University of Miami Frost School of Music
University of Florida University of Central Florida University of North Florida

Minnesota
Concordia College McNally Smith College of Music St. Olaf College University of Minnesota School of Music

Oklahoma
Oklahoma City University University of Oklahoma University of Central Oklahoma

Oregon
University of Oregon

Mississippi
University of Southern Mississippi University of Mississippi

Pennsylvania
Carnegie Mellon School of Music

University of South Florida University of Tampa

Missouri
University of Missouri-Kansas City

Curtis Institute of Music Duquesne University Mary Pappert School of Music Pennsylvania Academy of Music Sunderman Conservatory of Music at Gettysburg College Temple University The Pennsylvania State University Lebanon Valley College University of the Arts Mercyhurst College

Idaho
University of Idaho

New Jersey
Mason Gross School of the Arts of Rutgers University Montclair State University New Jersey City University Rowan University Westminster Choir College of Rider University William Paterson University

Illinois
Chicago College of Performing Arts of Roosevelt University DePaul University Northwestern University Bienen School of Music
University of Illinois School of Music (Urbana, IL) Wheaton College Conservatory of Music

Puerto Rico
Conservatory of Music of Puerto Rico

New York
Bard College Conservatory of Music Brooklyn College Conservatory of Music

Northeastern Illinois University University of Chicago

CONTINUED NEXT PAGE....

The upside of the bounce can be huge depending upon program. Certainly in music, schools like USC and the conservatories in California and Washington see fewer apps, so you become more attractive. There are things to consider about the bounce. You build a lot of relationships in college, and many people go to grad schools in range of where they studied in undergrad, because their professors have associations with other professors often on a more regional basis. So like the area that youre going to pick, because you may end up living and working there. The other downside of the bounce is travel. You are flying farther to come home. The cost of distance travel these days is not much worse than flying to New York or other Northeastern cities if you book in advance. For those though that are not able to afford much travel, scholarships that have some travel component usually only cover major semester-based travel and the Christmas break. Some also make allowance for Thanksgiving. You may find yourself staying where you are rather than going home for other breaks, or seeing family visit you at your college. Other than national summer programs, if you decide that youre going to include the bounce in your strategy, consider major performing arts summer programs in the area. !

The East-West Bounce

Colleges are big cities. They like populating them with a diverse group of students from different races, walks of life, gender/orientation and geography. Geography can help you when you look at schools. Most students go either to school within a few hundred miles of their home, or they jump to the top schools of the Northeast corridor (New York and Boston). If you live in Florida, you are a more attractive candidate for geographic diversity in California, Oregan, Washington, and throughout the midwest. Less so in Texas and Georgia and other Southern States, and you get no real bounce at the Ivies or in most large Northeast corridor schools, although there is some pick up at small and mid-sized colleges. You might be a big fish in Indiana, where youre just one of several thousand Floridians applying to U.Penn.

South Carolina
University of South Carolina

Utah
Brigham Young University School of Music

Tennessee
Austin Peay State University Belmont University Middle Tennessee State University Tennessee Technological University University of Memphis University of Tennessee, Knoxville University of Tennessee, Martin Blair School of Music, Vanderbilt University

College Environment
On top of getting an education, youre also picking a lot of lifestyle choices for the first time. Do you want to go to an urban campus like a Boston University or NYU, or a rural campus like Hampshire College or Smith? Do you want warm weather or cold climate? A place where you can hike, bicycle, fish and hunt, or with a lot of good cultural programs like concerts, plays, and shows? If you can, VISIT THE CAMPUS of your top choices in your Junior Year or even your 10th grade year. Dont go when its perfect, if you can. Go when its probably at its worst (There is a reason they call it dead of winter.) Everyone photographs campuses at their best. See what day to day life is like when the weather is less optimum. Visit the town. Is it a place where you can find what you need, from a pharmacy to a place to go to the movies, etc. Go when students are IN SESSION and on campus Summers are convenient, but you can get two entirely different reads of the same place. Summer students are often not full-time or are there for special events. See what its like when you would be there. Talk to students. Find out what they like and dislike. You are going to spend four years of your life somewhere. Make it someplace you can call home.

Virginia
George Mason University James Madison University Virginia Commonwealth University

Washington
Cornish College of the Arts University of Washington

West Virginia
West Virginia University

Texas
Moores School of Music, University of Houston Shepherd School of Music, Rice University Texas Tech University School of Music University of North Texas College of Music
University of Texas Sarah and Ernest Butler School of Music Baylor University The School of Music

Wisconsin
Lawrence Conservatory of Music, Lawrence University University of Wisconsin Madison University of Wisconsin Milwaukee

BIG.
What Size School is Right?
When you go out to eat or the movies, which is better, getting served right away or waiting in line? Big is not better, but sometimes you can find small in big that is better. UCF has a huge population, over 51,000 undergrads. Sounds too big? The music department only has a few hundred. If youre majoring in business, though, that may be a very, very crowded place. Larger schools sell big sports programs, marching bands, and big social life. Some, like University of Michigan or Notre Dame, are in small towns but big enough to be their own city. The downside of big schools is that more people compete for limited resources and the attention of professors. You have large lecture classes with hundreds of people for the first couple of years. It is very difficult to build relationships with professors or to get the full value of their knowledge when they have to interact with hundreds or thousands of kids in a semester. With thousands of people on a campus, you may not just run in to people. Sometimes you may have a class with one person, then never see them again in any of your other classes. NYU has terrific schools for specialties, but Washington Square Union College, fondly dubbed WESUCK by Bobcats, has had some really uninspired, disinterested faculty teaching entry level courses. General ed takes up about two years of your educational experience. All universities and many colleges have graduate students. Which means that certain opportunities may go to those students first. It also means that professors writing books quite often will rely on teaching assistants to do the heavy lifting of teaching undergrads. At UCLA famed economist Milton Freidman would come out and tell his students that he was writing a book, didnt have time to see them, and that they should consult with their grad section leader.

Medium.
If the department of your choice is really good at the big college, you may want to suffer through the crowding in your general ed. At some schools, you can apply to honor colleges or one of the lesser-known colleges of Boston University, the College of General Studies. In places like these, you get a small college within the university, where you only work with professors and classes and lecture halls stay at small college size. A win-win for the big school fan. There are mid-sized colleges that offer smaller class sizes and a bit more personal attention. Of the Ivy class Brown and Dartmouth are more mid-sized. Miami is surprisingly midsized for a school with a big sports footprint. Under 12,000 to about 4,000 would be in the category. Small colleges are the best bang for your buck in undergrad education. There are mini ivies like Bowdoin (ME), Reed College (OR), Bates (ME), Bryn Mawr, New College of Florida (FL) and others, which may have as few as 1600 students, and no graduate students. There are small colleges like Rollins in Florida or Lewis & Clark in Oregon which have taken students with fairly mediocre high school GPAs and turned them into Fullbright Scholars. Small colleges give students a lot of face time with professors rather than graduate students. Opportunities to participate in more programs, internships, and other special events are easier because you have fewer bodies competing for the same resources, and often, no graduate students. Several of these schools require a 30 to 50 page thesis project to graduate. Sound intimidating? Maybe, but it can be worth a year of your life and $50,000 or more. Smart students work on something that they want to do in graduate school, and apply at places to continue working on their thesis for the masters. Some graduate schools offer them a 1/1 which is a masters/Ph.d. in two years rather than three. There are smaller college programs like Bowdoin and Bates that are SAT/ACT optional, or just

Small.
dont require them, because they dont believe in their predictive accuracy, which is the leading edge of a growing trend in college admissions thinking. Some people find the downside to small colleges that they meet fewer new people because they know everyone. Travel can be a bit more costly if the airport is a smaller field, and if mass transit or close walking distance to a market arent a part of the community in which the college sits, you may need a car. While you will find small colleges in cities big and small, some are in very small towns, or areas of a suburb. Oberlin is 30 minutes from Cleveland, and, outside of campus, there is not a lot going on in the town or the immediate area. Another advantage of smaller schools is that often housing is more affordable. Big schools in urban markets often have sky-high dorm prices and local housing is often scarce and pricey. Some large schools dont offer dorm space all four years. Most small and medium colleges can usually guarantee space if you want it. One non-traditional thought on how big you should go really has to do with how far you plan on taking your education. If you think you are going to get a BA or BS degree and go off into something where education is not going to carry you, then big can be as beautiful as small. If you plan on getting higher degrees, or you arent sure what you want to do, then small schools with individualized attention set you up to succeed.

Nameplate Schools
Harvard. Yale. Princeton. Stanford. MIT. They sound very prestigious. If youre wicked smart, get perfect grades, and look to double-down on nameplates in graduate and Ph.D. programs, go for it. If these are more of a reach, or finances are an issue, as they are for most people, consider saving the money for grad school, killing in undergrad at a mini Ivy and putting the nameplate on your grad degree. Multiple nameplate degrees are best for government and public health pedigrees.

The essay is one of the biggest pieces of your admissions puzzle, which is probably why it scares so many people. The essay(s) arent about you so much as they are representative of you, of who you are. They also give the admissions committee a good idea of your ability to write and express yourself.

From the specific to the broad, it was a simple essay filled with a kind of warm honesty that resonated well.

out in the world and succeed as a woman on her own terms. That particular essay was so well liked that it was not only read, but it became a yardstick by which many of the other essays were measured by those reading that year.

Be Impressive. Dont Impress

With so much on the line, you often might feel the need to impress your readers with

Write. Redraft. Repeat.

Give the process time. Dont wait until the last possible minute. Write a draft of your essay, then set it aside for a day or two. Revisit it and revise. Let it rest. Do it again. It will get better.

You get a LOT of help with essay writing here at DSOA. That we know. As one who has read them both for high school and college admissions for a couple of years, here are some good tips.

Know Your Audience

The essay is one of the few human interactions that you have in what is becoming a more computerized process. Even after they use grades and SAT scores to weed out applicants, admissions people are still reading thousands of these things. Dont be a bore. Write something interesting that wakes them up a bit. Its the essays that intrigue admissions officers. If you find yourself on the maybe pile you want someone in the room advocating for you. The essay, in conjunction with your recommendations can be the tipping point in your favor.

Brevity is the Soul of Wit

Shakespeare was right. The best college essays generally are the strong silent types. Like great

The Essay
a command of what you know about the subject that is your lifes passion: Art, music, dance. There are a thousand essays on their desks full of that. It drones into a sameness after a while. Dont tell them what you know. This is where you tell them WHO YOU ARE. You have to convey your passions and interests by talking about things specific to who you are. One particularly good essay that went to Tisch School of the Arts was by a girl who told the story of her grandmother who worked during WWII when the men were away, but who had to return to domesticity when her father and brothers returned. The candidate never mentioned herself in the telling, or her hopes and aspirations, but you knew from how she wrote about it, the passion, the feeling of loss for her grandmother, and her mothers scolding tone about the grandmothers high spiritedness that this young lady was setting out to do what her grandmother was never allowed to do: Go

music, you dont need an avalanche of notes or words to convey an idea. Try to think Hemingway. Keep sentences short and sweet. We tend to write as we speak, which often

leads to a lot of run-on sentences. If you have a one sentence paragraph full of ands then pop a period in where a few of them are and break it down.

Be Creative.
In the face of the blank page, a lot of people write what they think the admissions officers want to read. They list creative influences in their art. They tend to try to look at themselves from the big picture, like a bug under a magnifying glass. Dont. Often times, something seemingly trivial, something small, can be something big. In one essay, a young man begins writing about counting to 50 in Turkish while he flips a ball up and down. He did this one summer when he went to a Boston summer program. He didnt talk about the program, but about meeting new people from all over the world for the first time, and how he found out, when he asked a girl out in Spanish, after having a roommate help him, that he liked speaking different languages, and that he could pick them up easily. He wrote of seeing the world, and being a part of it.

Clarity
Often times, since we know what were writing, what were saying seems very selfevident. Unfortunately, there are other people who may read an essay full of vague personal pronouns and become quite lost. If your readers at the admissions office have to keep back-tracking to figure out who or what you are talking about, your essay will not be well received. Get friends or parents to read for you. Ask them if what theyre reading is clear, and easily understood. If they have trouble following what youve written, think how a tired admissions person plowing through a few dozen essays will feel!

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Cleverness Tests
Both the SAT and the ACT suck. You stand a greater likelihood of picking the correct numbers in the POWERBALL lottery than you do of telling much about the college aptitude of a student. The SAT is not, in spite of its name, an aptitude test. Its a cleverness and speed test. It tends to favor people who are quick test takers, good probability guessers on multiple choice, and those fast with their math. The ACT is not much better. It still favors the clever and the swift, but being a bit more writing intensive, those who take it who are good writers seem to find it a bit more bearable. None of it is not about the depth of your knowledge, but how good you can be at grinding out answers under pressure.Which not everyone is, no matter how good of a student you may be. That is why there are so many test prep books and courses that amp up test scores, and why the test can be improved upon. Technically, if it really worked, your score should be the same every time, because your aptitude really hasnt changed. Yes, its a dumb system, and yes, many admissions offices keep talking about getting rid of it. Most dont, though, because the number of applications to college keeps rising, and its a convenient way of creating artificial cut-offs that allow a lot of weeding and pruning of their applicant pools, even if the tests are flawed. Many schools super score, which means that they take the best math score from all of your tests, the best English, and the best writing. A few, like Bates and Bowdoin colleges in Maine have done away with SATs and ACTs. They dont consider them as a barrier to admission. Unfortunately, though, they are a hoop that you still have to jump through for most colleges, and the better the score, the easier your process will be. These tests serve both to weed out candidates, and to determine top candidates. If you have a perfect or near perfect SAT and great grades, a

lot of doors open up. Even a high SAT and more modest grades will still give you some lift in a college world where the test is still king. If youre looking for scholarship money, great grades are good. High test scores are better. You can get over the SAT hurdle. The best way to beat the test is not to let it beat you. You need to be honest about the kind of student that you are. If youre fast and clever, the test may be a breeze. If youre more methodical, slow, you may want to look into books or classes to help you learn the tricks to staying on time and ontrack. Have great grades and low standardized test scores? Consider a test-optional school. There are also schools like Rollins College and Lewis and Clark and Sarah Lawrence which will consider the tests, but also rely as or more heavily on teacher recommendations. If they think you have a lot of potential, some of these schools may look past the standardized tests. The cost of a test-prep program shouldnt equal your score on the test. For some people, a prep book is enough. If you need more one-on-one, find a mentor/tutor you get. If someone is talking over your head, its not that youre dumb. Its that theyre not clear and the right choice for you. REMEMBER that when you sign up for the SAT it will ask you where you want to send the tests in advance. DO NOT DO THAT. You may take the test a few times. You should be in the drivers seat. You can always report later. Some schools let you pick your own super score. Wait until you have taken the test as many times as you feel that you need to do, and then decide who/where to send the scores. The best thing you can do to beat the standardized tests is to be relaxed, and realize that, once you know the system, standardized tests arent a problem.

SAT Prep
High End
Revolution Prep offers group SAT classes at Suncoast and many Southeeast Florida private schools. They also offer one-on-one tutoring that can range between 1,100-2,000 depending upon the tutors level. The group classes are just as effective and still pricey at 500-900. FAU and Pine Crest Fort Lauderdale offer summer SAT courses as well.

Online
Several companies, including the venerable Princeton Reviews, offer online courses. If youre selfdisciplined and better working on your own at your own pace, this can be better than the book without the hassle of having to go somewhere to take a course.

Books/Flash Cards
There are several brands of books that you can find at Amazon or a bookseller that offer prep. Princeton has a well organized one. Practice tests are a good idea because a lot of the success people have on the test is learning how to manage the time well.

Improving Perfection
Several companies offer programs for students who are already high achievers. Pass on them. The basic courses work just fine for smart kids. Its only a part of the whole picture. No one can guarantee a perfect score, and the added pressure is probably not beneficial to producing a

Making the right impression.

Whether youre going to college fair booths, or meeting a music professor, or having an admissions interview with an admissions officer or an alumni representative, you want to get their attention in a positive way. Colleges track everything that you do with them. Did you go to an open house? Ask for information from them? Did you followup? Come to a college fair later to see them? Did you go to a regional open house? Tour the school? You want them to see your interest, so try to make sure that you hit a few events that they do and sign in. Thats not enough, though. You want to make sure that you get on their radar. Some schools like DSOA. That alone can open the door to conversation. If youre not shy, like Adesh, this should not be a problem. If youre a quiet person, though, you may have to force yourself to get out there with a smile, and engage the admissions people, or their representatives, in a discussion about something. Admissions officers are usually good ice breakers. When they talk to you, they are trying to get as much of an understanding of you as they are when they read an essay. My exceedingly quiet, shy twin daughters went to a college fair and the Bates Reps who engaged them in a discussion about life and school that got them talking. They liked what the people there said enough to go see the school. So we went to Maine. Not in the spring, but in February, with about 4 feet of snow everywhere. the admissions puzzle that is great to have in your admissions jacket if they will still do one. The best ones are done at the school, or on regional representative visits to the area. Dont be shy. Ask them politely, if the rep is down here in Florida, to see if they will meet with you. If they say no you are no worse off. Some schools, particularly the Ivy league flavor, use alumni to conduct interviews. Many of these can go equally well. Some, though, are done by alums who dont always do things by the book. A Dartmouth interview that I went to had three of them seated around the room strategically at different places so the student would have to turn their back on one of them to speak to the other two. The game being played was to have the courage to ask one of them to move so you could speak with all of them. It took about three or four students doing the interviews and talking about them to figure it out. Not all of them are that odd. Sometimes you can get an alumni interviewer so up for you that they will push hard to get you into the school. Some have more pull that way than others. Make good eye contact. Dress neatly at least for any college fair or a college tour/interview. If you have an alumni interview set up on an evening/afternoon, dress to impress. Shake their hand. Positive human contact is the best thing for your file!

(Making the Right Impression)

The tour went well, and the reps talked to them quite a bit more about Bates. The next fall, when Bates returned, they remarked Its the twins who came up to see us in February! They were admitted ED2 over that winter. Some schools offer interviews when you go visit them. Take them up on them whenever you can. The interview is another large piece of