On January 16, 2019, the Acceptd Account Relations Team hosted a conversation with Tiffany DeVries, Dean of Music Academy of the West, and Michael Nock, Associate Director & Dean of Fellows at Tanglewood Music Center. We were joined by summer festivals and intensives from all over the country including Curtis Summerfest, Sphinx Performance Academy, Sewanee Music Festival, and many others. 

We loved having everyone come to the table to share and learn from each other. Tiffany DeVries, shared in this sentiment, "Between us it's not competitive, because each program is incredible in totally different ways. It's not an apples to apples comparison; I think every musician should go to each of these programs and get as many opportunities as they can. It is really fun to learn from one another."

To jump to a specific question, here is an outline of our conversation:

0:31 - Give us your background in relations to your role now. Did you attend summer intensives? How did you come to be where you are?

5:15 - What are the biggest changes that you've seen since you have been with your respective programs?

11:20 - Do you find that in the last decade that we are living in more of a gig economy than we were or is it that the education is catching up with what has always been asked for?

15:12 - Do you have specific alumni programs? What does that look like for each of you?

23:31 - Do you find that the students themselves have changed? What do the students look like today compared to 10 years ago?

32:48 - What are the biggest questions you see coming to you every year from applicants looking at applying?

38:44 - Rushmore Music Festival: What is your advice in attracting the students of a younger age range in which both the students and parents are still learning the commitment level needs to strive and survive in the industry?

Summer Intensives: A Changing Landscape

Do you struggle to retain all of your committed incoming students? Don’t worry, you’re not alone. In our discussion about summer melt, you’ll hear Joel Wiley, Director of Admissions at the University of North Texas College of Music, and Shannon Ritter, Undergraduate Admissions & Recruitment in the School of Theatre at Penn State University explore strategies to help keep your students on track and motivated leading up to their first college semester.

0:40 - What does the summer melt mean and how have you seen it shift over the years?
3:10- Do you think the average university melt of 40% is the lower or higher in the arts?

4:15 - Reasons that students aren't staying committed to the school
6:30 - Tactics used to get students to stay committed over the summer
12:10- Do you see melt only in specific areas/programs or across the board?
13:20 - Do you see this with any specific demographic of students?
15:10 - Discussion around scholarships
16:45- Do the students pay a deposit and how does that affect their commitment? 
18:45 - How do you find out about those that are melting and how do you move forward?
20:20 - Do you find no-shows to be more or less frequent?
23:28 - Last thoughts from Joel and Shannon

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