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missroseroseI have a date set for my audition for Berklee. December 15, in Los Angeles - apparently applying early got me a spot on their audition tour. I'm a little surprised, as I'd put down Boston as my preferred audition spot and Los Angeles as second - they said on their website they prefer as many folks as possible to audition at the actual school, and I figured hey, it'd be an excuse to go back. But I'm not complaining; LA is a bit easier to get to from here. About the same travel time, but no TSA hassles, and better food options.
After only a moderate amount of freaking out, I got the number of a woman who does voice lessons here in town, called her up and explained what was up. She seemed interested, and said she'd be happy to help me prepare. Hopefully her instruction style will be something I mesh well with; if not, though, I'll just do my best to get anything I can out of it. It's only for seven weeks. (Ulp. Seven weeks.)
The surprising part, however, came this evening. I'd emailed the admissions office with a question about transcripts, and hadn't heard back in a few days. I had meant to give them a call tomorrow with my question, but late this afternoon I got a call from a young man (probably a student employee) who introduced himself as a student at Berklee who was calling because I'd applied and wanted to see if I had any questions. And (surprisingly, at least from my experiences with college administration) he actually knew the answers, including whom I should send my transcripts to and in what format, and some specifics on the audition process. I was impressed - that level of organization, proactivity and student-friendliness is completely at odds with my previous experiences with institutions of higher learning, which had been much more along the lines of Kevin Pease's eternal "You are the inventory" quote. Maybe that's the difference between going to a $5,000/semester school and a $25,000/semester school? Fingers crossed it's a representative sample, anyway. It's certainly bumped my opinion of them up a few notches.
And good news - one of the things my Friendly Student Employee was able to clarify was that there are additional tuition scholarships available aside from the Presidential, ranging from a few thousand dollars to a full-ride; better yet, those are completely merit-based, whereas the Presidentials are both merit-and need-based. So my chances are at least a little bit better than 7 in 4,000.
Onward and upward...
After only a moderate amount of freaking out, I got the number of a woman who does voice lessons here in town, called her up and explained what was up. She seemed interested, and said she'd be happy to help me prepare. Hopefully her instruction style will be something I mesh well with; if not, though, I'll just do my best to get anything I can out of it. It's only for seven weeks. (Ulp. Seven weeks.)
The surprising part, however, came this evening. I'd emailed the admissions office with a question about transcripts, and hadn't heard back in a few days. I had meant to give them a call tomorrow with my question, but late this afternoon I got a call from a young man (probably a student employee) who introduced himself as a student at Berklee who was calling because I'd applied and wanted to see if I had any questions. And (surprisingly, at least from my experiences with college administration) he actually knew the answers, including whom I should send my transcripts to and in what format, and some specifics on the audition process. I was impressed - that level of organization, proactivity and student-friendliness is completely at odds with my previous experiences with institutions of higher learning, which had been much more along the lines of Kevin Pease's eternal "You are the inventory" quote. Maybe that's the difference between going to a $5,000/semester school and a $25,000/semester school? Fingers crossed it's a representative sample, anyway. It's certainly bumped my opinion of them up a few notches.
And good news - one of the things my Friendly Student Employee was able to clarify was that there are additional tuition scholarships available aside from the Presidential, ranging from a few thousand dollars to a full-ride; better yet, those are completely merit-based, whereas the Presidentials are both merit-and need-based. So my chances are at least a little bit better than 7 in 4,000.
Onward and upward...
