A Guide to Grad School Applications

A year ago I was applying for grad school, and I felt like I had no idea what I was doing. There are a lot of things I wish I had done better, a number of good ideas I’d like to share, and a lot of things I just didn’t realize, so here are my tips to make things go a little smoother for you! If you’ve already applied and are preparing for auditions, head over to my guide to grad school auditions!

Watch the video here for more detailed information on applying to grad school in 2020!

First, make a list of any and every grad school that interests you

Google schools in whatever state or part of the world you might be interested to live in. Find schools that are known for what you want to do, whether that’s performance, musicology, education, etc.

Think about where alumni from your undergraduate school have gone for grad school, and see if any of those schools interest you.

Talk to your teacher and any mentors whose opinions you trust, and ask where they could see you going. They could suggest schools you’d never thought of or seen on a simple google search.

Make a spreadsheet!

I created a spreadsheet of every school I considered, along with all application and audition requirements, application fees, names of teachers, location of the campus, and all other information I might need later on, so I wouldn’t waste time searching websites to find information again and again.

This spreadsheet was a lifesaver and helped keep me organized when it came time to apply to each school.

Look at the audition requirements

What pieces will you have ready by January for auditions? Alternatively, what can you learn by then? Look at the audition requirements of nearly every school you can think of (even ones you aren’t particularly interested in) early so you have a general sense of what repertoire schools want to hear and what level they might like it at.

I planned my senior recital entirely around grad school auditions–I knew I needed a Bach cello suite, a concerto, and a sonata for auditions, so I prepared the fifth Bach cello suite, the Walton Viola Concerto, and Sonata for Viola and Piano, Op. 11 No. 4 by Hindemith for my recital, and I held it in December before my auditions even started. Planning it this way gave me performance experience before auditions and it gave me a hard deadline to learn the music by.

Where will you realistically be able to go based on the location?

If you don’t want to travel to a school for an audition, chances are it’s too far away and if you’re accepted, you probably won’t want to go there. Of course there are exceptions, but this is what I found to be true for myself.

If you find yourself dreading the travel to the audition, imagine how you might feel when you want to visit home! Maybe it won’t affect you because you don’t plan on going home often or maybe the school you’re looking at is closer to home than it is to where you’re traveling from for your audition, but I’m a six hour drive from home and I really hate it. It doesn’t feel that far while I’m here, but I hate not having the option to comfortably go home for a weekend.

What is the area like?

Where is each school located? Is it in a city? In the middle of nowhere? In what kind of place would you ideally like to end up? Can you see yourself living there and enjoying the area for the next two years? This is more a question to ask when you’re visiting for your audition (if you audition in person) since you never get the total feel of a place until you’re there in person, but it’s good to start thinking about it as soon as you’re considering a school.

Make prescreening recordings early

Since this blog post is going out so close to the Dec. 1 application deadline employed by most schools, this point may be moot, but schedule any prescreening recordings you have to make early enough that you can redo them if you’re not totally satisfied with them!

Set up multiple dates with your accompanist so you have many chances to get a good take. Once you get a good one, you can always use the rest of your dates as rehearsals! The more dates you set, the less stress you’ll have to get it perfect, and the more opportunities you’ll have to capture what your playing truly sounds like.

Get a lesson with your potential teacher

Connections are everything, and meeting your potential teacher in person will help both of you! You need to make sure you and the teacher are compatible and that you’ll learn what you would like to in your time with them.

Keep in mind though, that if you do this before applications and auditions, an in-person lesson will require more travel. Because of this, I didn’t schedule trial lessons before my auditions, but I was able to get lessons right after my auditions at two of the three schools I auditioned for in person. It’s always possible a lesson could help “redeem” your audition–you might be able to talk through tricky sections and any controversial decisions you may have made.  You may also be able to show the teacher how fast you learn, or some other great quality about yourself!

If you’re not willing to travel for a lesson outside of your audition, you can always ask to set up a Skype lesson. Some teachers are willing to do this and some are not, but if it’s something you’re interested, it’s worth asking about!

Look at what classes are offered at each school

See what classes and ensembles are offered at each school, and write down each class that interests you in the spreadsheet I hope you’ve made! Knowing how academically heavy each school is was really important to me. I didn’t want to be bogged down with classes I would deem unnecessary, so I specifically looked at the curriculum offered at each school.

Also, if you’re looking at a performance degree but you’re interested in doing more than just performing, look at what other degrees are offered–you might find a sort of performance major “add on” that interests you!

Start your grad school applications early!

Again, I’m posting this a little late for this piece of advice, but start your applications early! Do all the easy sections first. When I got bored in class, I would go to my applications and fill out the personal information sections.

Most of my applications were due December 1st, and I ended up leaving so much for November 30th and December 1st. Don’t do this! It was so stressful! I’d suggest making your own “deadlines” so you have some wiggle room leading up to December 1st and can make sure you’re happy with everything and you really want to apply to all these schools before you pay the exorbitant application fees!

You can also be sure that any videos you need to upload actually upload, and you won’t panic when they’re not uploading fast enough at 11:45PM on December 1st.

Narrowing down schools

Try to narrow down the schools to as few as you can, while still feeling somewhat confident that you will get into at least one. I applied to seven schools, which cost me hundreds and hundreds of dollars on application fees. Purely because of the cost, I highly suggest narrowing your list more than I did!

I ended up traveling to only three of the schools for live auditions, and I sent video auditions to two schools. I sent prescreening recordings to the remaining two schools, but wasn’t offered an audition.

It’s great to have reach schools, but don’t let yourself go in debt for application fees or get too far in over your head. Keep things fairly realistic!

Ready to start preparing for your auditions? Read my Guide to Grad School Applications! I learned a lot from the live auditions I took and I want to help those of you who will be going through the same thing in the coming months!