<p>hi all,
i've been admitted as a piano student to IU and UW. the merit awards offered by both places are roughly the same, but they come from different schools within the universities.
i know that overall, IU is definitely better than UW in regards to music. i got into IU's school of music, but did not receive a merit award from the school-- which apparently puts me in the minority (i think... 60% of students get merit aid?). i had a pretty rough audition. but, i got into the honors college there, with money. i don't know too many of the music professors there, except for one that i met last summer and had a great time talking to.
i got into UW's music school as well with a great audition and a rather nice merit award. one of the professors seems to really want me to go. i haven't heard from UW's honors college yet.
so, wisconsin definitely wants me to go to their school. but, indiana will offer a much more competitive music experience, and while i'm not the best (i'm not even a b.m. candidate-- BA at wisc and BSOF at IU), i feel like i can really thrive in a more intense environment.
in my gut, i really want to go to IU, but wisconsin would definitely give me a "safer" start. suggestions?
thanks!
-3T</p>
<p>Part of being successful as a musician is being somewhere you belong, where you can have and gain confidence. If it will bother you being around really fine pianists, where the chance of you achieving any status as a performer is reduced, you might not develop as well yourself as a musician. On the other hand, there is great value in having an academic honors experience, you will be stretched more intellectually. When will you hear about UW honors? You know yourself best....where will you thrive as a person and as a musician?</p>
<p>If you got into the music school at Wisc, how are you a BA candidate?</p>
<p>wisconsin offers a b.m. degree, but also a bachelor of arts in music degree for those who want to do more with other subjects. a BA allows more of a chance to double-major, which is what i hope to do. similarly, the BSOF allows students to major in music and a subject in which they'd receive a bachelor of science.
hope that i answered your question!
-3T</p>
<p>What would your other major be? What do you see yourself doing after college? It sounds like you want to be a better musician but that that will be your avocation, so I would go to the school that would be better for developing your future career.</p>
<p>Who would you be studying with at UW? While the music school, as a whole, at UW is not nearly as good as IU, the piano faculty is pretty strong. They also have a very good collaborative piano program which will likely work better with a double major. Finally, the UW doesn't really have an honor's college the way other schools do. If the honors college atmosphere is a big draw, you may want to look at IU.</p>
<p>hi again,
i plan on studying math as my other degree. however, i hope to do music as a career, but since i really enjoy math [although not nearly as much as i do music], i'm going for the ba / bsof degrees.
the faculty is another thing that's making my decision so hard-- i don't really have a teacher selected at either school, although wisconsin's faculty is communicating directly with me, and they're expressing interest in me going.
BLARGH. i wish that these decisions weren't so tricky!
-3T</p>
<p>It is a tough decision. UW is very strong in math, probably stronger than IU. As far as faculty go, if you could study with Chris Taylor, I would go for UW. He is a fabulous pianist. I think he is a good teacher as well although he might be out a lot performing. Martha Fischer is also an excellent teacher and pianist.</p>
<p>I went to UW and did a B.S. in piano performance. Yes, the bacehlors program is a great way to double major. I was a premed student (now a medical student at Univ. of Penn) so I didn't need to double major per se (I did only the music major), but having a BS option made my premedical studies fit in much better. I had a FANTASTIC time at UW and Martha Fischer was my teacher and was superb pianist and teacher. I was interested mostly in collborative piano and she leads that program. I really liked the school, although I didn't choose the school on its music program per se. I just loved the school and it was close to home and is a gorgeous campus. The musical community at Wisconsin is great and I loved all of my courses and was able to do everything I wanted and more. Of course, I say this all from the background of never intending to be a professional musician, so I had a more carefree experience with music there, not worrying about how this would effect future auditions and the such.</p>
<p>PS. Chirstopher Taylor is himself a mathematician and so you may find it interesting to get to know him. He is also one HELL of a pianist.</p>
<p>Hey I’m auditioning a few music schools–peabody, MSM, oberlin, boston uni and IU. My first choice is IU! Would just like to know about the audition atmosphere for BM (Piano performance) in IU? and also the average merit scholarship one can get. I’m from Singapore btw so i’m cant apply for the local financial aid. also do you know if there are many asians auditioning for piano? Thanks!</p>