ks391262

Me too. Finally!

Finally got my rejection from Cornell, now I'm just waiting on Duke. I'm wondering if anyone has been waitlisted for any of the Duke music programs, or is it just that they sent out some acceptances and everyone else is hasn't been contacted?

I'm in this same kind of boat, having heard from most schools but still waiting on Duke and Cornell, although from the results section it looks like some people have already gotten acceptances for my program from these two schools. If we are on some kind of waitlist and they are waiting to hear back from those who they have given offers to, why can't they tell us that instead of leaving us in the dark? I'd much rather know now whether I'm rejected or on a waitlist than just thinking I've been forgotten about! On a positive note though, at least I have gotten an acceptance and funding package that is good enough to accept from Eastman, so I'm excited that after two years of applying I'll definitely be going back to school!

I'm in pretty much the same boat too, it's not looking very good. Rejected at 5 schools, 4 left to hear from, but two of those I don't have much hope for (one is Duke, as it seems they have already sent out acceptances. The worst part of this whole thing for me as a composition applicant seems to be that schools don't care about the things that other programs outside of music and the more academic fields within music (theory, musicology) do. They don't seem to care about my stellar GPA or GRE scores (even though most of the schools I applied to asked for them), my work and professional experience, the performances and commissions I've received, the fact that I speak 6 languages or that I was a Fulbright scholar. It seems some don't even care about my recommendations, as one school sent out the first round of rejections before their deadline to receive recommendations! I doubt the application essays and writing samples are considered much either. It seems to be all about the portfolio of compositions, which is naturally a largely subjective thing to evaluate, and so it does seem to be a crapshoot that we have little control over, which is very frustrating.

I did write him after I was rejected and he at least was encouraging and told me that he was disappointed too as he had been "rooting for me". But they have 6 or 7 comp faculty, so I guess the others didn't think as highly of me I suppose. Still really disappointing though.

From my own experience, I was waitlisted at Michigan last year and then rejected, which was heartbreaking. So over the summer I contacted one of the professors and asked for advice on how to improve my application as I was going to apply again this year. He was very generous and gave me specific feedback on my portfolio and how to improve it and I even talked with him over the phone about it. I took every one of his suggestions, but this year I didn't even get invited for an interview. So make of it what you will.

Yale School of Music sent out prescreening results Jan 27th

Doesn't sound good for us people waiting to hear from Chicago if others have already been sent acceptances... Anyone out there applied to Duke? Do you have an idea of when we should hear results? The results from past years seem to be all over the place in terms of timing, from around now (late Jan) to as late as early April. They are one of the programs I have the best hopes for getting into.

Congrats on getting accepted! What discipline is that for? I applied for composition and am still waiting to hear from them.

Charles Ives? Just kidding, I assume you mean Ivies? For composition at least, it should be sometime in February for Princeton, by this Friday Jan 26 for an interview invite for Yale (School of Music), and late February for Cornell.

I just read in the results that someone (I assume it is the same person as they listed these results back-to-back and list the same GRE scores and undergrad GPA) applying for an MM in Composition was rejected from CU-Boulder but offered an interview at UMich. Seems strange to me that CU would reject them without an interview if they got offered one at UMich, considering UMich is a much more prestigious program. It's especially strange from my perspective as I got my MM in Composition at CU and considering my saga with getting rejected at UMich without interview this year (see my post above). Maybe it is all just a crapshoot after all, this whole application thing, and I shouldn't be reading the tea leaves and just hope I get lucky at this point.

I'm pretty sure most schools will accept updated CVs at this point. At the very least, it wouldn't hurt to contact them and ask if you can submit an updated one because you've just gotten a new accolade.

Got all my applications in, now it's mostly waiting and worrying...

Well, the early returns aren't going so well for me so far. I got invited to interview at Eastman, which is good but... Then I got rejected from Rice without an interview invite. It was strange to, because they said that I'd hear by Dec. 18 by email and to contact them if I didn't hear from them by Dec. 20. Dec. 20 came and I hadn't heard so I emailed and they said notifications went out on Dec. 14 and here's a copy of the rejection email. But recommendations weren't due until Dec. 20 (and they seem to have a weird system were they don't send out emails requesting recommendations from recommenders until after you've submitted the application which has a Dec. 1 deadline). So it seems like they don't even read or consider recommendations for this first round of cuts, which really is disappointing because one of my recommenders is a graduate of their program and they ask for 4 recommendations whereas all my other applications asked for 3. So they ask for an extra recommender and then don't even consider them! Then I found out I got rejected from Michigan without an interview invite (not the Christmas gift I was expecting). Not only did I get invited to interview when I applied for the exact same program last year, but I was waitlisted and then rejected, which was so disappointing at the time that I contacted one of the faculty and asked what advice they might be able to give me on how I could improve my application for this year. We talked on the phone, he listened and looked at my portfolio again and gave me feedback on it, plus I had two friends of mine who are graduates of their program help me put together my new portfolio for this year. This made me feel really confident that I had improved my application and would have an even better shot this year, which has made this recent news all the more disappointing. I really have no idea how this happened, and now it has shattered my confidence and I'm really worried I'm not going to get in to any place that I've applied this year because it seems that I'm a worse candidate than last year, despite trying everything to do the opposite. :-(

As you are working on your Chicago application, I just wanted to share with you that I have a friend who is currently in the Phd program in Composition at UChicago, and he said that the faculty love it when students show specific and focused interest in UChicago and their program in their essay.

Is anyone else out there worried about the ramifications for graduate students if the current Senate Tax bill is passed which includes taxing tuition waivers? I'm applying to doctoral programs right now and I'm quite worried this is going to make it financially much harder, if not impossible, for me to accept an offer of admission. It could mean thousands of dollars more in taxes for many graduate students: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2017/11/30/graduate-students-across-country-protest-tax-plan

Do you already have a masters? I'd bet it'd be really tough to get into a DMA/PhD program with only a Bachelor's, especially top programs like UChicago and Columbia, but you never know unless you try. What masters programs did you apply for? I'm working on my UChicago application now too, as that is the next nearest deadline. I'm lucky I got an application fee waiver from them for having been a Fulbright scholar, and it seems they don't require an interview so I don't have any cost in applying! By the way, I'm looking at the UChicago application right now, and it doesn't say the writing samples have to be about music, so you could probably be fine if one, or even both, are on topics outside of music.

Just got my Dec. 1 deadline applications submitted: Yale, Rice, Eastman, and Michigan! I had a really hard time making the decisions on what compositions to include in my portfolio, but at some point you just have to decide and go with it. I do think that my applications are at least a little stronger than they were last year, so I'm feeling optimistic at this point. Anyone else gotten any applications done, or are you still working on them?

Hi all. I applied for DMA/PhD programs in composition last year, but it didn't go as planned. I thought being out of school and working in the real world for 5 years building up experience and my portfolio would help me get into a top program, but I guess it wasn't enough. I applied to Princeton, Yale, Michigan, and Indiana; got rejected at Princeton and Yale (which wasn't surprising), waitlisted and then rejected at Michigan (which I was super bummed about), accepted at Indiana but only offered a partial tuition scholarship and I refuse to go further into debt and will only go to school if I get full funding (my audition/interview for a theory assistantship couldn't have gone any better, but I somehow wasn't offered one, they told me they give them to theory majors first and had none left over for non-theory majors this year). Luckily, Indiana let me defer my acceptance, so I don't have to apply again this year and will be reconsidered for aid again. I am widening my net for this year and am planning to apply to the same schools plus Eastman (PhD), UChicago, Duke, Rice, and Cornell. I really hope things work out this year because I REALLY miss being a student and am dying to be back in school! Good luck to everyone else this year too.