Office of Admissions Blog

by Max Woertendyke, 1^st year Actor 

Just over a year ago I woke up early, took a shower, got dressed, packed my lunch, shoveled the walk (it had snowed terribly the night before), and headed into the still cold morning to my audition for Juilliard’s drama division. 

I had been gearing up for this over the past month, and as I rode the subway up to Lincoln Center, I did my best not to let my nerves get the best of me.  I had worked hard on the monologues and song I needed for my audition and I felt confident in my preparedness.  None the less, it was impossible to not feel a little anxious; I found myself scoping out other commuters on the train trying to guess whether they too might be headed in the same direction as me.

Upon arriving and signing in, I was ushered to the 3^rd floor, where I was dropped off in what can’t be described as anything other than a holding pen.  There were about 100 of us in the room.  A room down the hall held about another 100 hopefuls.  A strange nervous, excited energy permeated the rooms – some people were goofing off and performing for anyone who would listen, some were running through their monologues in harsh whispers, others sat quietly and seemed to be working on staying focused and relaxed.  Current Juilliard students were there to answer any questions we might have – both about the school and the audition process – and I have to say that despite the odd energy coming from the auditioners (myself included) I was immediately struck by the warmth of current students.  I had expected them to regard me with a kind of suspicion and superiority, a kind of “So…you really think you can get into Juilliard…?” mentality.  What I found instead was an incredible openness and generosity of spirit.  I felt welcomed and encouraged.  It was the attitude of these students (along with the faculty) that helped make my day such a good first experience at Juilliard. 

The morning ticked by slowly – I was one of the very last people to go.  When my turn came, I walked into a room that I now know like the back of my hand, but then it was just a huge, daunting, white room, with four people sitting behind a table at the far end, including Richard Feldman, the associate director of the division.  I won’t lie.  Standing there, I was nervous.  It felt like this was the moment of truth, and I didn’t want to disappoint myself with a less-than-stellar audition.  I took a deep breath, gathered my focus and dived into my monologues and song.  And that was it.  My audition was over.

The next two hours, waiting for the afternoon call-back list to go up, were the slowest and most stressful of the whole day.  My monologues had gone well, but I couldn’t say they were a sure thing; I was hopeful, but not certain.  When the list did eventually go up, I took a deep breath, walked down the hallway and scrolled down the list of names.  At the very end, in alphabetical order, was my name.  I had made it to the second half of the afternoon.  The hardest part of the day was over.

The second half of the day was less nerve-wracking but proved to be an exercise in patience and perseverance.  A lot of the pressure to prove that I was good enough had been lifted and I was able to have more fun, but there were a lot of hours of auditioning to go before the day was done.  One by one we did our audition pieces in front of the entire faculty – about twenty-five people or so.  We were asked to write a short essay about a creative experience, and fill out some paper work.  We had group game time, where we played theater games, improv games, did movement and vocal exercises.  And between it all we waited: we talked to each other about our audition and where we were coming from, we talked to current students about what they liked most and least about the program, some people took short naps on the benches in the hallway to rejuvenate themselves.  We alternated between auditioning and waiting for a few hours until a second cut was made.  Of the twenty people that had been carried through from the morning auditions, about ten of us were asked to stay for interviews.  We were told that being cut at this didn’t necessarily mean you wouldn’t be invited back for the Final 40 weekend – but I was happy and relieved when they asked me to stay.  I waited some more, trying to fight off the headache that was beginning to develop, and finally around 10:30pm I walked into the head of the division, Jim Houghton’s office. We chatted for fifteen, twenty minutes about why I wanted to go back to school, what my audition experience had been like, about Abe Lincoln and Tony Kushner. 

After my interview, almost fifteen hours after I had first arrived at the building, my audition had finally come to an end.  I grabbed my stuff, said goodbye to the faculty and friends I had met over the course of the day, and started home.  It had been a marathon.  I was exhausted, but I had loved it.  I had felt so comfortable in the hallways of Juilliard.  I had felt at home, and I was hopeful that I would be invited back to the callback weekend, which would make this first audition day seem short in comparison.  I had had a great day…and now all there was left to do, was wait some more.

by Tina Gonzalez, Director of Financial Aid

Now that your application has been submitted, it’s time to start thinking about financial aid.  Most students are unable to afford the cost of college without some form of financing, and Juilliard students are no different.  In fact, about 90% of our students receive some form of financial aid, and almost 80% are receiving scholarship assistance. 

Here are a few key points to keep in mind during the next few months: 

Scholarship awards at Juilliard are based on a combination of financial need and merit.  This means that if you want to be considered for scholarship, you must complete the full application. Due to the School’s high level of selectivity, we do not offer merit scholarship.  We encourage you to apply even if you think you won’t qualify for need-based aid.  Although assisting students with need is our top priority, other factors also plays a role in our decision-making.

Financial Aid applications will be available in January 2012.  The Financial Aid application may be submitted online through a separate link on the Admissions Application homepage. We strongly encourage students to use this application method. A PDF will also be available on our website. 

U.S. Citizens and Permanent Residents will also need to complete the FAFSA, using their most recent tax information.  NEW THIS YEAR: Use the IRS Data Retrieval Tool when filing your FAFSA to save time and reduce errors.

Finally, we require copies of the student and parent 2011 tax returns (or 2010 if 2011 is not available). International students must send official documentation of their parent’s salaries, such as a tax form or letter from their employer(s). 

The deadline to apply is March 1, 2012.  It is extremely important to apply on time to be considered for all available funding!   

Use the Net Price Calculator to estimate your potential financing options.  Beginning fall 2011, all colleges are required to include this tool on their websites. While this does not represent a guarantee of a scholarship offer, it may assist you in your college planning. 

Visit our website for additional information.  We especially recommend our frequently asked questions (FAQ) page and Facebook page.  If you still have questions or wish to discuss your specific situation in detail, we encourage you to contact our office and speak with a counselor.  We’re here to help!

by Lee Cioppa, Associate Dean for Admissions

Here we are again, just before Thanksgiving weekend – which means, of course, that this is the last weekend before Juilliard’s application deadline.  It’s always a curious time in college admissions – those few days before a deadline when application numbers start creeping up – and then astonishingly explode!  Although our offices are closed and all uf us really need these vacation days before the deadline, I always find myself logging on to our online application from home over Thanksgiving – just to have the fun of hitting “refresh” and watching the application numbers go up.

There are a number of things that we are watching carefully this year regarding our applicants – certainly, what our application numbers will be for our new M.F.A. in Acting is a big unknown.  It’s also our first year with a “received-by” deadline – which we discovered (painfully) with our first deadline of November 1 for our Opera Studies program seems to be a surprise to a lot of folks – despite it being all over our web site and application materials!  It is a big change, and in fact we are sorting out lots of administrative issues on our side as well.  We have to go through mail in a very different way – not sorting by a postmark, but by when it actually arrived at the School.  Rather than anticipating dozens of bins of mail a few days after December 1, it’s (hopefully) going to hit early next week. And then, of course, our applicants are very eager to confirm the arrival of their materials by the deadline – which will be tough for us to do because of the sheer volume of mail and time it will take to simply open envelopes.

All of that being said, these changes are very exciting – new programs and new processes, new applicants and eventually new students!  I hope that all of you reading this who are applying this year are going to get a lot done this weekend on your applications – it’s the perfect few days to wrap everything up and beat the deadline without any last minute stress.  I’ll be doing a lot of napping and yoga, in anticipation of all of your applications – and, of course, hitting “refresh” on the online application every once in a while!

by Luci Rosa, Assistant Director

Hello Prospective Students for Fall 2012!

What should you be doing this month?  

RESEARCH! RESEARCH! RESEARCH!

What to be looking for:

• Faculty Bios @ www.juilliard.edu/about/faculty/index.php
• Application Deadlines
• Pre-Screening Procedures
• Required Repertoire
• Standardized Tests @ www.juilliard.edu/apply/program-information/index.php
• Check out our FAQ’s @ www.juilliard.edu/apply/faq.php

You should be:

1. Passionate about applying
2. Disciplined in organizing your research
3. Motivated to provide your best work
4. Confident that you have completed all the necessary requirements.

And finally…IMAGINE  YOURSELF  AT  JUILLIARD!

Good luck on your application process,

Luci

by Katie Friis, Senior Assistant Director for Dance and Drama Admissions

Hello, Everybody!

As we kick off another exciting year in the Office of Admissions, I’m thrilled to share with you three major changes in the Drama Division:

First, we have announced the addition of a Master of Fine Arts (M.F.A.) track within our Actor Training Program.  This doesn’t change the total number of actors in the program (still 18 per year) or the length of the program (still a 4-year acting curriculum), but it does mean that students who have earned a bachelor’s degree prior to enrolling at Juilliard will now have the opportunity to earn a graduate degree here.  Also, there are some special M.F.A. Seminars that have been added to the curriculum, which you can read about here: http://www.juilliard.edu/degrees-programs/drama/mfa-seminars.php And of course, we still have the Bachelor of Fine Arts (B.F.A.) option for those actors who haven’t yet earned a bachelor’s degree!

Next, we have introduced a mandatory pre-screening video requirement for all acting applicants who reside outside of the U.S.A.  You can read the specifics here: http://www.juilliard.edu/apply/program-information/actor/index.php#pre-screening This process has been implemented because we realize that there is a great deal of time, energy, and expense required of any applicant who has to fly to an audition site, book a hotel room, eat at restaurants, etc.  For applicants who reside outside of the U.S.A., this expenditure is usually the greatest (and realizing that it’s not terribly convenient to fly in from Alaska or Hawaii either, we’ve offered the option to pre-screen to these applicants).  We hope that through pre-screening, we can save some applicants an unnecessary voyage, and confirm for others that it is indeed worth their trouble to attend the audition.  Please keep in mind that the faculty will be reviewing the pre-screening videos with an eye towards who might be a good fit for our program and the School at this time – it is not a judgment of your overall talents or future prospects as an actor!

The final change is a much earlier application deadline for our Playwriting program: NOVEMBER 1!  We do realize that this is quite early compared to other programs, but we have a small group of readers who read each and every applicant play in its entirety, and each play needs to be read by two separate people.  This takes time and organization on our part, folks!  Therefore, we decided to bump the deadline up so that we can get started on this process sooner, and hopefully notify our finalists earlier in the spring as well.  The good news is, playwrights no longer need to send a hard copy of their play – we are asking for an uploaded copy of the play in the application, and an e-mailed “blind” copy for our readers.  You can find complete application requirements here: http://www.juilliard.edu/apply/program-information/playwright/index.php

I hope this helps to explain some of the new processes for Drama Division applicants, but if you have additional questions, you know where to find us!

by Lee Cioppa, Associate Dean for Admissions

We haven’t posted a blog since mid-December – what can we say, it’s been absolutely crazy!  But in a (very slight) lull, I thought I’d catch you up on what’s been going on in Juilliard Admissions.

1. We’ve been processing a record number of applications!  More may be better some of the time, but not when you have almost 5,000 applications to process in the month of December!
2. We had our first auditions of the year – for Opera Studies in December, and just this past weekend, two days of Drama Division auditions.  We’re full swing now – New York City Drama auditions finish this coming weekend, and then Dance and Drama faculty go on the road for regional auditions.
3. We have finished the pre-screening process for over 2,000 of our music applications.  The faculty reviewed recordings, videos and compositions, and we’ve been sending out those results for the past couple of weeks.  Now that we know who’s been invited to audition, we’re working on the exact schedule of dates and times.

At the same time, the School is gearing up for some incredible performances in the next couple of months – Smetana’s “Bartered Bride” in a co-production with the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Program; our annual Focus Festival; the Drama Divisions’ new Repertory season for our 4^th year actors, and the Dance Division’s Repertory performances, which include “Les Noces”, with Stravinsky’s great score. How to choose?   Actually…how to find the time to go see everything?

Now, on to getting ready for auditions….

by Tina Gonzalez, Director of Financial Aid

Every year students tell us that, although attending Juilliard is their dream, there is no way they can afford the “sticker price”. The good news is that Juilliard offers financial assistance to over 90% of our students, both domestic and international. In addition to Juilliard scholarships, there are federal student loans available, parent loans, federal and state grants, on-campus employment, fellowships – the list goes on. As a result, we are proud to have a diverse student body that includes students from a variety of economic backgrounds, from all over the U.S. and over 40 different countries.

If you plan on applying for aid, I hope you will find the following information useful. In addition, encourage you to visit our pages at http://www.juilliard.edu/admissions/financial.html and http://www.juilliard.edu/about/faqs.html for more details. Our deadline to apply is March 1, 2011.

Financial Aid Tips for Applicants:

1. Get organized! Make a spreadsheet of each school to which you are applying, and make a note of their costs of attendance, required financial aid materials and deadlines. Later on you can enter the scholarship offers you’ve received and compare them (federal financial aid should be similar at every school, since these funds come directly from the government).

2. Plan ahead! Have a candid discussion with your parent or guardian and find out how much financial help you can expect from them. This includes whether they’d be willing to take out loans on your behalf, or cosign a student loan with you.

3. Educate yourself! Do you know the difference between a grant and a loan? In addition to learning about your schools, you’ll need to know about federal student aid as well. This includes grants, loans and work-study funded by the U.S. Department of Education. The best sites to visit are www.studentaid.gov and www.finaid.org. The information there is so helpful, we even refer to them ourselves when we have questions. In addition, you can go on the FAFSA website (www.fafsa.gov) at any time to get a preview of your federal aid eligibility.

4. Do some research! In addition to saving for college, you should also research outside funding sources. There are plenty of free scholarship searches online such as www.fastweb.com. You can also write letters to local philanthropic organizations, especially ones with whom you have a religious, ethnic or professional affiliation. Or you can even throw yourself a benefit performance to raise money!

So, to get you started, here’s what you’ll need to apply for financial aid and scholarship assistance at Juilliard:

Juilliard’s scholarship decisions are based on financial need AND merit. The merit component is based on the strength of your entrance audition. The need portion is largely determined by the information on the following required items:

• The Juilliard Financial Aid application. We’ll email the link to applicants in January.
• The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), if you’re a US Citizen or resident. This is available starting January 1, 2011 at www.fafsa.gov.
• A complete, signed copy of your and your parents’ 2010 federal tax form, or (for international students) official documentation of your parents’ salaries.

Detailed instructions will be available in the Financial Aid application. Our deadline is March 1, 2011. It’s extremely important to apply on time, as we are unable to award aid until all forms have been received.

We understand that everyone’s situation is unique, and encourage you to stay in contact with us throughout the process. If you have any questions or concerns along the way – even if you just want to make sure we’ve received your information – we’re here to help you. Good luck!

Compiled by Colby Carson, Assistant Director for Recruitment

Every year we get many of the same question in the Admissions Office – and why wouldn’t we it’s all new to you?!? In most cases, previous answers stand tried and true.

I decided to scour some of our previous blogs and mix and match them together (while updating dates) to give 2011 applicants a fresh look at some of this tried and true information. Note: I recommend looking over the resource blogs in their entirety at your leisure (if you do, I’m sure you’ll notice themes). Please realize that a few details may have changed over the years; the Juilliard Web site and Admissions Facebook page are two places to go for the most up-to-date information.

Today we consider what the looming December 1 deadline means for YOU!

The Application

This year December 1 is the Wednesday after Thanksgiving, and as usual, applications have already begun pouring in. We know that those that haven’t submitted yet will be doing so soon. The long weekend is the ideal time for students and their families to put the finishing touches on all of those applications with approaching deadlines, and we always see a surge of activity and tons of mail right after the holiday.

On December 1 the online application closes right after 11:59 PM (Eastern). No joke! If you try submitting it after that time, you won’t be able to because it will shut off!

If you’re online at 12:02 AM on December 2 and try to submit, you’ll get an error message telling you the deadline has passed. Do yourself a big favor—don’t wait until December 1, but try to finish up and submit it by November 30, because if you go to submit it and there’s some kind of technical glitch, you still have the following business day to rectify matters.

Once you’ve submitted the application, you’ll receive an automated e-mail confirmation that it was submitted. After we officially “acknowledge receipt” of your application, you’ll receive another automated e-mail letting you know. If you believe you clicked “Submit” but you didn’t receive any automated e-mails, guess what? You didn’t “Submit” your application. If you realize this AFTER December 1—you’ve missed the deadline! Your application is LATE! (See the Late Applications section below).

For more tips on submitting your application, please see Toni’s previous blog, from Monday, November 3rd, 2008, as it has excellent information on the subject.

Pre-Screening

Another hot topic on almost all music applicants’ minds right now is pre-screening. Keeping with our Associate Dean’s theme of “reduce, re-use and recycle”, we send everyone reading this blog to one Lee wrote three years ago on pre-screening. Posted on Thursday, November 8th, 2007, it’s quite detailed, and only one thing has changed since then – we don’t send out pre-screening results by mail any longer – only by e-mail.

Late Applications

You know that any application submitted after Midnight December 1 is considered late. What else can make you “late?”

If you chose to pay your application fee by check, and you mail the check out but it’s postmarked after December 1, that makes your application late. If your major is pre-screened and your pre-screening materials are postmarked after December 1, that will also make you late.

We know that it may seem a bit nit-picky, to view an applicant as being late just because the application fee or pre-screening materials were postmarked the day after the deadline, but think about the hundreds of applicants who raced to their local Post Offices (or walked 15 miles in the snow, shoeless, uphill both ways) just to postmark their stuff on time. Out of fairness to them, Juilliard must stand firm on the December 1 postmark issue. Also, for your own peace of mind, be sure to send your check or pre-screening materials by some traceable method (and keep your receipts!). If the postmark on your package is illegible and we question its timeliness, you’ll then be able to provide proof that it was postmarked by the deadline. (BTW, we get lots of phone calls asking where ya’ll should mail your stuff – the mailing instructions are bar #1 on the home page of your online application.)

Does Juilliard accept late applications? That’s a complicated question. The answer is basically NO. If we receive an application fee postmarked after the deadline, even if the online application was submitted on time, we consider that application late.

What happens if you’re late?

It’s a problem. A big one. We can’t just say it’s O.K., no matter what happened to make you late. It’s not that we wouldn’t sympathize; it’s that pesky “fairness” issue, as Admissions is charged with maintaining the integrity of the application process, for ALL applicants.

Generally, in the case of late application fees (for those who opted to pay by check), we can only approve your late application if there are audition slots available after we’ve scheduled all on-time applicants. The situation is the same for late pre-screening materials; those applicants’ pre-screening may be considered ONLY IF there are audition slots available after all on-time applicants have been pre-screened. Keep in mind, however, some departments’ audition slots will fill up rather quickly and, in that event, regardless of why your check or pre-screening was late, we will not be able to approve your late materials.

Since each music applicant is scheduled for a unique audition time, we do have a finite number of audition spaces. Our first priority is to schedule applicants who submitted a complete application and application fee by the deadline. We won’t process that late application until all the on time applicants have been assigned audition times (usually in mid-January). If there are any audition spaces available, we will then accept and process the late application. If all audition spaces are full, the application is not accepted and the application fee will be returned.

Dance and Drama have, on occasion, accepted late applications, because those divisions have one audition process and multiple dates (and audition cities). If they have any dates which are not completely full with on-time applicants, they may accept a late application for that particular date and city. If you are reading this after December 1st, and want to inquire if these divisions will accept a late application, contact Katie Friis, Senior Assistant Director for Dance and Drama Admissions. (Last year NO late applications were accepted for the Dance Division, and very few were accepted for Drama)

In Closing

I know, parts of this blog might come off as a real downer, but let the combined wisdom of years of blogs past serve to inspire you to be the applicant who ISN’T sweating bullets on December 1, wondering if you’ll be able to get everything that needs doing DONE by 11:59 PM.

DON’T take any chances. DO take advantage of the holiday weekend, keep a slice of pumpkin or apple (or pecan) pie by your side (‘cause pie helps, trust Mony on this one), and wrap everything up by November 30. You’ll be happy you did.

All that being said, good luck with completing your application, and please contact us if you have any questions at all –admissions@juilliard.edu, (212) 799-5000 ext. 223, www.facebook.com/JuilliardAdmissions.

Resource Blogs:

“I said it once before, but it bears repeating now…”*

Tuesday, November 24th, 2009

By Mónia C. Estima, Senior Assistant Director for Music Admissions

It’s that time again…

Wednesday, November 11th, 2009

by Lee Cioppa, Associate Dean for Admissions

…my chances on the danger-line…”*

Tuesday, November 25th, 2008

By Mónia C. Estima, Senior Assistant Director for Music Admissions

Application Deadlines: Better late than never does not apply

Wednesday, November 28th, 2007

By: Lee Cioppa, Associate Dean for Admissions

by Toni Rosenbaum, Admissions Associate

December 1 is less than a month away. Before you start stressing out, let’s go over what exactly is due.

For Dance and Drama applicants, the only thing you need to have in is your application and application fee.

For Music applicants applying to the undergraduate diploma, bachelor of music, graduate diploma, master of music, and artist diploma, you must submit your application and application fee and pre-screening (if required).

For Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA) applicants here’s what’s due: the application, transcripts, pre-screening (if required), and TOEFL scores (if applicable).  Remember – December 1 is a received by date for the transcripts and TOEFL!

Artist Diploma in Opera Studies (ADOS) applicants – we haven’t forgotten about you! Your deadline was November 1. Please log back into your application to check the receipt of all of the materials you turned in by clicking on the “Track Status” tab. All of your updates will be sent via your online application so continue to log back in and check there. However, your supplemental materials (other than the application and pre-screening) are not due until December 15th – so you can wait until you receive the results of the pre-screening to send them.

There’s still some time to get your application in. Avoid all the stress and try to have it in earlier than December 1st at 11:59 p.m. (e.s.t.). We want all of you to have a smooth application process. Please take the time to carefully read over all of your application instructions and requirements. Feel free to e-mail us with questions (we all work to answer your questions as fast as possible). GOOD LUCK!!!!

by members of Juilliard’s 1st-year class

We recently asked some of our first year students to offer some words of wisdom to our Blog readers.  We said to them:

What is one piece of advice you would give to current applicants to your major, or one thing that you wish you had known as you began your application?

And here’s how they responded:

Try your best to not over stress about the process and auditions. Do your best work and try to relax. K.S. Dance

Choose a monologue that makes you feel special. Because if it doesn’t make you feel special, you won’t appear all that special. R.S. Drama

A word aptly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver. S.T. Horn

I would recommend focusing very hard on the pre-screening and making sure your first impression is a good one. I used a high quality camera to record my pre-screening and did the entire tape in one continuous shot. J.V. Percussion

Always remember that the Juilliard faculty is looking for talent and potential, not a perfect audition or performance. Don’t fixate on making sure every note is right if it means hindering your musical capabilities. C.W. Piano

At music schools, the fundamentals are absolutely crucial. I can’t emphasize enough just how important it was to get REALLY nit-picky about intonation while I was preparing for auditions, for instance. Good luck! C.Z. Violin