October 23, 2026

The leaves are changing color in Central Park, which means that Autumn in New York is here, and application season continues!   

Today’s blog entry focuses on the recommendation letters required for all applicants to our undergraduate and graduate programs.

What To Know

While our applications are due December 1, your recommenders have until January 15 to submit their letters to the application portal. You will need to submit contact information for your recommenders as part of your application, and they will receive a request via email to submit their letters directly to MSM. For this reason, it is important to use your recommender’s institutional or corporate email address. Submissions from anonymous email addresses (Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo) may be subject to additional review. 

How to Choose Your Recommenders

• Freshman and Transfer Applicants: Please include one recommender who is your primary instrument teacher (if you don’t have a private teacher, you can use a band or music director) and one other musical or academic recommender
• MM, PS, PPD and AD Applicants: Please include one recommender who is your primary instrument teacher and one other musical recommender.
• DMA Applicants: Please include one recommender who is your primary instrument teacher and two other musical or academic recommenders.

Our Tips

Approach your recommenders as early as possible to request that they submit a letter on your behalf. Although letters are due January 15, your teachers will likely have a busy fall schedule and letter requests from multiple students, so don’t wait!  

• Once your recommenders have agreed to write a letter for you, confirm the best email address for them so they can submit their letters without any issues. 

• Provide your recommenders with all the information they need to write their letter: you can offer your resume of musical and academic accomplishments both on and off campus, as well as your community service and other extracurricular activities. 

• You can also tell your recommenders a little information about Manhattan School of Music! This will help them focus their letters on your relevant skills and accomplishments. And they will be proud to know that their stellar student (you!) is pursuing their dreams at a music conservatory in New York City! 

As always, the Admission Team is here to answer any questions you may have throughout the application and audition process. Please reach out to us here: admission@msmnyc.edu 

And look out for our virtual events here.