Reddit reviews The Essence of Afro-Cuban Percussion & Drum Set: Includes the Rhythm Section Parts for Bass, Piano, Guitar, Horns & Strings, Book & Online Audio

This is a fantastic book, but I don't think it's necessarily a good starting place for Afro-Cuban rhythms. Work through the Malabe book and at least get started in the Uribe book first.

another great book, kind of an encylopedia reference http://www.amazon.com/The-Essence-Afro-Cuban-Percussion-Drum/dp/1576236196

Any reason why your teacher is telling you that you have no chance??

For my audition I just played a few drum set grooves (swing, bossa nova, samba, 3/4 swing, and a ballad), sight read a snare drum solo, and sight read a marimba piece. I had already spent a semester in the percussion ensemble (because I originally wanted to be an English major, but after meeting the faculty of both departments I settled on music) so my teacher already knew me and had a good idea of my skill level.

My first semester was mainly rudiments and solos from Cirone's portraits in rhythm. Pretty much snare drum only focusing on building my technique. My next semester I got started on Frank Malabe's Afro-Cuban book and John Riley's Art of Bop Drumming. Beyond that I worked through Riley's Beyond Bop Drumming, Ed Uribe's book on Afro-Cuban drumming, and his book on Brazilian drumming. After that I spent a lot of time working on solo transcriptions, playing pieces that my instructor and I picked out for drums and vibes, jamming with my instructor on vibes or on drum set, and working on pieces that I was writing. By the end at lot of what I was doing was driven by my interests and what I wanted to work on to improve.

As far as the music department as a whole I took your standard history, theory, aural skills, and piano classes, along with tons and tons of ensembles.