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I'll be spending this next year avoiding the crushing weight of complete rejection by sending new flavor suggestions to Ben & Jerry's. ("Xanadu" = Xanax + Honeydew melon)

I think composition and performance are slightly different animals. I mean, fit can still come into play. John Adams probably couldn't get into somewhere like Stanford, and that's an issue of style. There is an element of "you're not good enough" (or, rather, your portfolio/audition wasn't good enough) in composition, I believe. I've heard over and over again that the composition portfolio is the most important part of the application. If that part is unacceptable, there is not much you can do to overcome that.

I haven't asked or otherwise contacted them about my application. The department of music at Davis has a twitter account; I've thought about sending some passive-aggressive tweets. I think I'll just let it go, however. I'll get to feel like I'm DiCaprio at the end of Inception. This is precisely what I'm trying to avoid.

I know, right? The only communications I've received from the various schools that have rejected me have been form letters. Was it my portfolio? Grades? My multiple arson convictions? No way to know. There are still two schools I have yet to hear from, but I'm not exactly enthused about my chances. My life has taken a very unexpected turn since I submitted these applications in November, so I'm actually not able to start a degree this fall, no matter how great the school or offer. USC or UC Davis could offer me the world and I'd have to say no. I just want to know how to improve for next year.

I guess I need to decide if that's a game worth playing. There's actually nothing stopping me from becoming a reclusive hermit of a composer or from walking away entirely and finding other fulfilling creative pursuits like cat juggling. edit: for reference, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bGVT4-1DBU

Someone feels my pain! Example: wrote a movement of a larger piece last week for SATB choir. No meter changes, no rhythms outside of half and quarter notes, and a grand total of three accidentals. Even I think "yikes this is simplistic" when I look at it. If you never listen to it, you wouldn't realize that there are two different meters going on at the same time in places, and that a tonal center is very hard to pin down even though there is barely any chromaticism. I could totally see something like that being dismissed on sight. I don't say any of this because I think I'm some sort of unique flower who needs special handling. My music is just deceptive in a way that I don't think is especially common.

Thanks! This is my first year applying for doctoral programs. I'm finishing a masters in music composition right now, but that application round consisted of exactly one application to the school where I had just completed my bachelor's degree. I think I successfully avoided one or two of the mistakes you mention, but I certainly fell into some others. I think I applied to a good mix of different schools: five private, four public -- some with large schools of music, some with smaller departments. Going into the process I thought three schools were long shots, a fourth would be hard but not impossible, and I thought I had a relatively decent chance at the other five. One of those five receives 10-15 composition DMA applications a year and accepts 5-6. That rejection hit hard. It wasn't a top choice, but I had thought that if I get only one acceptance, that would be the one. Not every school was a great fit, and I see that now. That's something I think I have in common with your applications from last year. One in particular was a terrible fit; I applied solely for geographic reasons. Won't do that again. Looking back, I think some of my application materials were a little too general. I found out early in the process that one of the composers I would have liked to study with was on sabbatical. That kind of scared me off of mentioning anybody by name in any of the applications. I think the main problem might be my portfolio. I don't mean that there is something wrong with it or that it is of subpar quality, I just don't think admissions committees see music like mine very often. I had suspected this for a while, and a very trusted professor of mine told me as much recently. I'm rambling at this point, and I could go on for paragraphs and paragraphs, but I think it boils down to fit. It wasn't for a lack of trying, but I only found one true fit. Edit: I want to clarify that when I mean that committees don't see music like mine very often, I mean that literally. The actual music that appears on the page sometimes looks like someone doing a bad Arvo Pärt impression. It sounds very different, but the notations are extremely simple, and I think that works against me.

Just curious: In what way were you more realistic this year as opposed to last?

I know, right? Those were an expensive nine emails. Even at a rate of $50 per email we'd come out way ahead.

Hey, if you can get a funded master's degree, take it! Those are as rare as mythological beasts. Somewhere there's a blurry photo of a funded masters student walking through the forest.

I think there are a few composition programs that have yet to send anything out, so some hope may remain. There are two schools that I haven't heard from yet, but I'm not particularly enthused about them, having gone 0/7 thus far. I think instead of applying again next year I'll just hire a guy to send me 9 emails wishing me "future success." Probably way more cost effective.

THIS. I still get emails I thought I had unsubscribed from. Every time I hear that *ding* I check my inbox in a panic, only to find that Old Navy has a deal on pants this week. I shake my fist, calm myself down, and go buy some pants at Old Navy, because that actually looked like a pretty good deal. And it JUST HAPPENED AGAIN while writing this post. Argh.

I see another University of Chicago musicology acceptance on the board. Congrats!

I don't know. I think I would have liked to have had one interview, even if I was subsequently rejected. I'm not terribly confident in my application, and an interview would have meant someone thought it was strong enough to go through the trouble of interviewing me. It's more feedback than "NO", which is what I've gotten so far. Now if I had four interviews and four rejections? Yeah, that would be much worse...

I've got a feeling about today & tomorrow. We will all get lots of acceptances. I'm feeling it. Saturday night I'll either be eating steak in celebration, or comforting myself with steak. My point is I don't see this weekend playing out in a way that doesn't result in me eating steak. I ramble when I'm nervous.