<p>dd has been accepted at Northwestern, Michigan, Carnegie Mellon, NEC and Oberlin. looking for advice on which to choose...she seems to like all the schools, cost is roughly equal between them...any ideas?</p>
<p>I would say Michigan or Oberlin. NEC has some excellent teachers, but the overall college experience is lacking. Sorry- I am NOT an NEC fan. My daughter (junior mezzo at Rice) was accepted and said it would have been terrible. A number of her Interlochen classmates have not been happy there. She liked one of the voice teachers at Oberlin a lot. She did NOT apply to Michigan, but says the voice program is strong. She felt Northwestern was very lacking for vocal performance. She visited and was not impressed. Hope this helps. It is all such an individual thing, of course.</p>
<p>Oberlin is my recommendation. Very high level, but the program is almost entirely undergraduate.</p>
<p>"the program is entirely undergraduate"....is that a negative? If so, why? I would have thought that not having to compete with grad students would be a plus. Am I missing something?</p>
<p>No, I meant that as a positive. Of course, you can learn a lot from observing and playing with grad students, but Oberlin students (like Bard, Curtis, Vanderbilt, Lawrence, and a couple others) have the advantage of never being blocked out of an ensemble, class, or studio because of competition from grad students.</p>
<p>Calicomom -- All the schools your D has been admitted to have pluses and minuses and very much depend on her goals and expectations. NEC is a pure conservatory -- i.e. a music 'trade school' as someone else on CC has called conservatories -- only music and no liberal arts and, in the case of NEC, no college experience (not so hot living arrangements, etc.). CMU's vocal program, too, is very much like a conservatory. I am from Pittsburgh and my D's teacher in HS was from there. The program is very restrictive and does not allow much leeway for other courses within the university (which, IMO, is not very strong in the liberal arts, but is excellent in the sciences). Contrary to what you might have heard, there is very little crossover between the vocal performance program and the MT and drama programs. There are some excellent teachers there, however. My D looked at NWU very closely and, like MomofWildChild's D, did not even apply -- she neither cared for the teachers or facilities. However, with that said, the university overall is excellent and Chicago is a great city for music. My D also got into the Oberlin Conservatory and she liked the teacher there. However, the overall Oberlin environment was too alternative for her liking. Your D needs to judge whether it's a good fit for her. I do not have firsthand information about Michigan's vocal performance program but it appears to be excellent. My D definitely wanted liberal arts as well as voice and a double-degree so it came down to Lawrence and Oberlin. Lawrence was a better fit for her and she is now a sophomore Vocal Performance/Art History major. Good luck with your choices!</p>
<p>Our daughter has had the good fortune of being accepted to 6 schools as a voice major(soprano).NEC,BOCO.Peabody,SUNY purchase,McGill and BU. Any comments would be appreciated. And where exactly does SUNY- Purchase fit in?
Thanks
Richard</p>
<p>IMHO, from visiting NEC, BOCO and BU, I would definitely put NEC at the top of the list, BU second and BOCO third. I don't have any information about the other schools you are considering. We found BOCO to be dark and cramped, were surprised that they had no cafeteria of their own, no bookstore, and only one small dingy lounge area in the dorm we saw...lovely victorian architecture but not well maintained. dd was not terriblyimpressed with the teacher whose lesson she observed, nor the student who sang. BU has the advantage of being a large university in the ultimate college town, but the campus is spread out across many city blocks. The College of Fine Arts is supposed to be quite good, but I believe that NEC's rep and quality of voice instructors is superior to BU. dd was not impressed by the dungeonlike basement practice rooms, either. just one person's opinion...</p>
<p>Although these are all good options, Oberlin is the most highly respected of the bunch and you should look at it carefully before choosing an alternative. Also, I know a soprano voice major who is a freshman there this year and absolutely loves it, and speaks very highly of the teachers. I would not particularly recommend Carnegie Mellon based on personal family experiences there -- the music department may be different, but I was very disappointed by what I observed of the culture of the school.</p>
<p>It's been about three years, but friend of d attended NEC and lasted one year. She really didn't like it at all. The dorms are horrible. And some think the very very elderly teacher almost wrecked her voice. I am sure this teacher is no longer there. I am only posting what I heard, and so please take it w/ grain of salt.</p>
<p>Fermata, I think it is a mistake to call Oberlin the most highly respected of the group. NEC has the greater international visibility, a larger number of really prodigious students, and a few of the really tippy-top caliber teachers (Weilerstein, Lesser, Tuttle, Kashkashian in strings, for example) that Oberlin can't claim at all to match. That said, the average quality of undergraduate instruction may well be higher at Oberlin.</p>
<p>Thanks to all who offered their suggestions. DD has tentatively decided....on Oberlin! (Nothing is final until the last possible moment: May1) As a mom, I am relieved b/c I just got a good vibe about the place when we visited the campus. While I was put off by the hippy-dippy bit, I was also impressed with the feeling that the teachers care about their students, that my dd would not fall through the cracks as might happen at a larger school, or one with a more dominant grad student presence. And dd seemed so very happy there! My only concern at this point is that she is not an opinionated liberal, and may be a little imtimidated by the dominant mindset of the typical Obie. I am guessing that the students in the conservatory are less political, more inwardly focused? Or am I mistaken?</p>
<p>YAY!! I think you are right about the kids in the conservatory being not quite as political- they simply don't have time! I think she made a good choice.</p>
<p>My daughter is currently at Oberlin (both Con and College) and reports that, other than a few who are "out there" even by Oberlin standards, most of the students are very respectful of each other's personal and political beliefs. PM me if you want more specific info about life in general there.</p>
<p>What is BOCO?</p>
<p>Boston Conservatory</p>
<p>Go to MSM and study with Patricia Mccaffrey... she is the best teacher.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.patriciamccaffrey.com/%5B/url%5D">http://www.patriciamccaffrey.com/</a></p>
<p>How does Bucknell rate?</p>
<p>I just wanted to add that my daughter just finished her sophomore year at NEC and we have been very, very happy with her experience there. She did switch voice teachers after her freshman year, and this summer is going to songfest.</p>