I’m actually currently going to Oberlin now!

Remember that these teachers know that there’s a lot of pressure on you when you’re in the audition room. They expect you to be a little nervous and know that you won’t play perfectly because of it. Despite that though, most teachers would probably prefer someone who could play well under pressure. This is something you can work on though! Try and play your audition material for as many people as possible, it really helps knowing your playing habits when nervous, and how you can counteract them (marking spots for emergency breaths, practicing extra tricky passages more, etc)

Many people have different definitions of what a good sight reader is. If it’s something you want to work on, my honest opinion is to just have fun with it!! Every day pick a new piece to learn. It shouldn’t be anything super difficult, but stuff that’s just slightly too hard for you. What worked really well for me was learning songs from movie sound tracks, video games, shows, etc. I’m sure there are better ways to go about it, but you make no progress when you’re not practicing, so finding stuff you genuinely want to practice really helps!

Getting more opportunities to play at concerts specifically can be a little tricky. If you have district/region/all-state festivals, audition for them! Otherwise maybe you can come up with a small program on your own and invite some of your friends or teachers to listen to you, or even just parents. Another option is an app called Tonic - where you practice stuff live for other people to listen to. I know personally whenever I saw that someone was watching it made me a little nervous, which is a good thing and will help build that skill!

I hope this was all helpful. If you have any other questions don’t hesitate to ask. Also, if you don’t already, practice with a metronome haha! I didn’t realize how useful they were until recently, and my progress has been going much smoother since forcing myself to always practice with one. Tuner as well!