Whistler1979

Sorry to hear it, soclose.

Sorry, musico. Yale is definitely one of the toughest nuts to crack, in pretty much any discipline.

Bummer, soclose. Sorry to hear it.

I'm in CA, in the Bay Area. Mail usually gets to/arrives from the LA area quickly here.

Way to go, Jason! Congrats.

Congratulations on Duke, Bryan--great news. I got bounced from USC today--postal mail. Somehow it's nice to get an old-fashioned rejection letter instead of an even more impersonal e-mail or .pdf of a rejection letter.

Sorry to hear it, soclose.

Bounced from Penn today. Rejection came in the form of a message delivered through the online application system. Still waiting on USC and Oregon.

Thanks, Jose, for your reply and your thoughts. I hope for your sake that the news from Harvard is better than the "nice solid rejection" you anticipate. I am certain that you're right re: the 90%/10% mix of portfolio/everything else in the success or failure of one's application. It might even be more steeply tipped toward the portfolio than you suggest. Again, good luck to you and to everyone here. Here's hoping we all get lots of good news soon.

Hi, everyone-- I guess I'm a bit of a latecomer to this forum and this thread; I just discovered it yesterday. It seems a wonderful way to pass the time while waiting and hoping. I'm applying to PhD/DMA programs in composition. It's my first time applying. Some background info: undergrad @ Cornell (music); MM in choral conducting at Yale; MM in composition at San Francisco Conservatory. Good GRE's in verbal/math; pretty good in the writing section. I applied to Michigan, Eastman, Indiana, Juilliard, Northwestern, Univ. of Oregon, Penn, and USC. I received alarmingly quick rejections from Michigan, Eastman, and Indiana. Juilliard followed in rejecting me roughly mid-January. I was miffed to read that some of you had heard from Northwestern as early as you had; they didn't reject me until about 10 days before interview/audition weekend. (I found that to be rather galling--professional courtesy, folks! We have lives!) I have passed the first round at Oregon and am still waiting to hear from Penn and USC. (Did anyone else on here apply to Penn or USC, and if so, have you heard anything?) It may well be that this just isn't my year; I know a number of people who have had to apply a couple of times before gaining admission to the program(s) of their choice. And all in all, it seems like a horrible year to apply--more people competing for fewer spots (thanks, economy). To anyone who has applied more than once: what kinds of things are you doing / did you do to strengthen your application the second/third/nth time around? Did you try to cultivate any kind of personal relationship with the faculty at the place(s) you wanted to go? Thanks for reading. Because I'm so late to this thread, please accept my blanket congrats to all whom have been accepted already, blanket condolences to those rejected, and blanket courage to those still waiting to hear.