Why have we developed this blog and why is it important?
For close to a decade, I have fielded daily questions from parents and students about college admissions. Many of these questions could and should be answered by the music teacher, but often aren't even asked, either out of misplaced embarrassment when it comes to inquiring about financial aid, or stemming from basic ignorance equally on the part of parent, teacher, and student of the whole daunting process.
In the beginning, I had considerable current information about the admissions path having experienced it first-hand recently myself through undergraduate and graduate school and having sheparded several students through the process. Now in the interests of being more effective I continuously research by reaching out to admissions officers, teachers, high school counselors, deans, and then of course innumerable books and websites to become fluent about the current music school admissions processes.
What has become apparent is that while there are many tools and resources regarding the admissions process, most of them are not relevant for music students, and some are even quite misleading. In the end, there hasn't been much progress for aspiring serious music students dating back to the college fairs and glossy brochures that summarized admissions offerings in past decades. Parents, teachers, and students are still as confused with by the lack of pertinent information, the flood of irrevelent and misleading college mail, and the steady stream of inaccurate information and meaningless school rankings from teachers, counselors, fellow students, and aggressive admissions officers about school offerings and opportunities. There is a great need for straightforward and truthful information minus the spin and anxiety factors.
For close to a decade, I have fielded daily questions from parents and students about college admissions. Many of these questions could and should be answered by the music teacher, but often aren't even asked, either out of misplaced embarrassment when it comes to inquiring about financial aid, or stemming from basic ignorance equally on the part of parent, teacher, and student of the whole daunting process.
In the beginning, I had considerable current information about the admissions path having experienced it first-hand recently myself through undergraduate and graduate school and having sheparded several students through the process. Now in the interests of being more effective I continuously research by reaching out to admissions officers, teachers, high school counselors, deans, and then of course innumerable books and websites to become fluent about the current music school admissions processes.
What has become apparent is that while there are many tools and resources regarding the admissions process, most of them are not relevant for music students, and some are even quite misleading. In the end, there hasn't been much progress for aspiring serious music students dating back to the college fairs and glossy brochures that summarized admissions offerings in past decades. Parents, teachers, and students are still as confused with by the lack of pertinent information, the flood of irrevelent and misleading college mail, and the steady stream of inaccurate information and meaningless school rankings from teachers, counselors, fellow students, and aggressive admissions officers about school offerings and opportunities. There is a great need for straightforward and truthful information minus the spin and anxiety factors.