comp12

Great interview experience today at CUNY. They had a waiting room for current grads to mingle with interviewees, which set up a nice environment. The interviewers were in an adjacent room and called you in when it was time. Six of the CUNY composition faculty were present, and each took turns asking questions and letting the questions lead to open conversation, which I felt was more the goal than grilling over bullet points. The interview lasted about 20 minutes. They didn't ask about specific moments in the portfolio, though did ask for my specific thoughts and approaches to dealing with some musical parameters in general. Also, the usual why-do-a-phd stuff, and what sort opportunities or studies I wish to focus more on if I end up studying there.

Awesome, congrats purpledinosaur, to the extent of my knowledge, there is no musicianship exam at CUNY (but I only know about the composition interviews, YMMV!) - the composers at the Grad Center are having their interviews this Saturday. I'll let you know how that goes! When are the theory interviews?

"Dang it, it's Friday. Monday is sooo far away :("

Judging for past years' stats on the results survey, it seems that Columbia indeed takes its time. The accepts seem to come in from late Feb. through early March, and the denies in mid March. Chicago is a department that have tended in the past to roll out its admits early - and this year that trend has obviously held up. Stanford, though, seems to be average on the spectrum, but this year made their decisions super early as well. The next-up schools appear to be CUNY and Princeton in early February, if past years' results are any indication. BTW - Happy February everyone! The end is near...haha

Welcome to the Music forum, Barney! Congrats on Chicago! Are you interviewing at CUNY? They interview all their composition finalists - but I'm not sure about theory or musicology.

Dang it, this thread has caused me to hit my quota of thumb-up's for the day! Who knew there was even a quota?

Haha dharma, talk about waiting it out...composers are all anxious to hear back after musicologists have started to be notified for about a week. But, it makes sense I suppose, since they need to take the extra time to go through portfolios and recordings. Somebody got denied from Stanford (who has been piling out the notifications today!) for composition, which perhaps means that composition news are finally beginning to trickle out...

Sounds like a great job at UCLA - 6 finalists for 2 spots is not bad! Was Paul Chi hara there? He's a real hoot. Graduate Center is having 13 finalists interview. They typically get 50 total applicants and after interviews, accept enough to aim for an incoming pool of 4-5. Those odds sound good - however they usually can't offer full funding for more than 2 of them. They try to find administrative work for the rest, or have them apply for adjunct teaching positions at the other CUNY campuses. So at this point, it's still kind of competitive. I'm on pins and needles just like you. February is just a couple of days away. Our musicology cohort here on Grad Cafe have been incredibly acing their unusually early results so far this year. Hopefully, the composers can do just as well!

Ok you sly Karajan...I guess you've got TWO options in NorCal now

Awesome! Way to go, Gradcafe musicologists are rocking it so far this year!

Was that you at Chicago, snes?!?

Good luck today, Becca! Let us know how it goes. Amadeus...sorry to hear about UC Davis, but congrats on all the other invitations! Have you heard anything from the Graduate Center yet?

Awesome, congrats!!

Was it you at Stanford, Karajan? I noticed you have an admit now in your sig!

I'd definitely email the department to ask if they could kindly check if all supporting materials have been received and on file. Several of my schools showed incomplete statuses, and I just mentioned it and asked if there's anything more I need to do. All these departments subsequently checked on it, wrote me back not to worry, and then updated the status. Be sure to email an administrative person or assistant, not bug the faculty directly themselves about it, since faculty usually don't touch application materials until it's time to sit down together for the review. Welcome to the party! I definitely know people in ethno/musicology who have been successful in gaining admit to top Phd departments straight from undergrad, so it's worth a shot.

Nope, I am not a primary music technologist - I just occasionally write the fixed media piece or use Max MSP for some live processing. Oh well, maybe less people means less competition for you

Sorry to whoever posted the reject at UCLA musicology. Was it one of us here? And I guess it happened right on cue...ha.

LOL yes - obviously I meant admit as an admission of entry, not an admission of a fact/opinion, haha. Clearly, UCLA is a great place to study music as a scholarly field on the graduate level....though, if you trust NRC rankings, not quite as good as studying folklore at IU-B PS - congrats music people - this thread has finally attained "hot" status.

Sounds great, eum-ag. I know that though it is a hard admit, UCLA for one is great for socio-musicology studies, particularly involving popular musics (but obviously you already knew that, haha!). As for me, I write vocal and instrumental music that is a mix of tonal and atonal harmonic approaches, with an increasing interest in electroacoustic music.

Welcome to the party, eum-ag It's certainly great to have an ethnomusicologist among us. What is your prospective area of focus? I like your list of schools. Like me, you also have a bunch of geographic locations covered! New England, Pacific Northwest, Southern California, Mid-Atlantic, Midwest, and Southeastern Canada. (Well, I didn't apply to anywhere in the PNW actually, but every one of the other regions I've managed to cover it!)

Haha I love how us three are permanently glued to this forum. Ack, about a week until February...reaallly starting to get anxious, albeit excited as well.

Looks like rejections (pre-screening denies) from the Yale School of Music (MM/DMA's) have started to be released. Today - 1/23 - is the date by which audition/interview notifications are sent out to Yale SOM applicants. Any news on the musicology front from the Yale U. department of music?

Congrats snes - have a ball in Chicago!

snes and Karajan, have a wonderful trip to Philly (if you are indeed doing the interview in person)! I'll be making a weekend getaway to NYC for my interview at CUNY in a couple of weekends. Judging from results surveys in past years - Chicago seems to make their offers early - sometimes even in January. I know there are some of us who have applied there - fingers crossed!

Congrats on landing the interview, Herbert!