Best colleges/music conservatories to study cello performance at

Does anyone know the best colleges and/or music conservatories to study cello performance at? I have several schools in mind that I’ll be applying to next year but I’m not sure how good they are…

Do you have a private teacher advising you? These decisions are very personal, depending on the kind of player you are and what your needs are. If you can give us more information about your playing, your aspirations, your experience (without of course revealing personal details) the board may be able to be more helpful.

@glassharmonica I have not yet talked to my private teacher about this (or my parents for that matter). Currently, I am still trying to figure out if I actually want to study music. One thing that is holding me back is that I remember my parents telling me a while ago that music was not going to be my life. I guess why I’m holding back is that I’m afraid to tell my parents that I want to study music and also what their reaction will be once I tell them. I have been playing the cello for 14 years, and I’ve gone to summer music camps for the past eight years. I think I’m pretty good at cello, I started learning with the Suzuki method, and once I got past book nine (the Haydn C Major concerto), I played the Kabalevsky concerto, and now I’m currently working on the Elgar cello concerto and the third Beethoven sonata. This will be the 11th year I’ve played in an orchestra (I’ve played in several different orchestras over the years), and I’ve had experience playing in chamber music groups at the summer camps that I’ve gone to. As for my aspirations, I’m not really sure as to what they are yet. I guess why I want to study music is because that’s the only thing I can see myself enjoying studying in college. I feel like I won’t be able to handle the workload of studying something else. I don’t plan on becoming a professional music or a cello teacher after I graduate, I’ll probably make my living at something else. But another thought that I had was would it be wrong to get a degree in music and then not even try to put it towards a career in music? I don’t know. I’m just very confused right now as to whether I actually want to study music or not and I don’t feel like talking to my parents about it right now.

I’m sorry to hear that you don’t feel comfortable talking about this with your parents yet. Ultimately I think it’s helpful to have their support whatever road you decide to take but I understand it can be hard to start a discussion if you don’t think they will be supportive and will try to discourage you.
You can pursue other careers after studying music in college, many people do. I think a fair number of people tire of the hustling involved with trying to launch a performing career and decide to go in another direction. If you were to get a BM in cello performance you can apply for lots of jobs that just require a bachelors degree. You can also apply to masters programs though you may need to take some specific courses required for certain programs and take one of the graduate tests such as the GRE, etc. I think it’s more common that students start out thinking they will pursue a performing career and then decide along the way to go in another direction but it would be possible to study music with no intent to actually use it for a career. Anecdotally, I have a friend whose son intends to get a BM performance degree and take the premed courses he needs with the intention of going to medical school because he loves music and wants to be fully involved while in college.
Also, there are many different ways to study or be involved in music in college. By auditioning and pursuing a BM in performance, pursuing a BA which tends to be a more academic less performance based music degree or by studying something totally different and taking some music electives and being involved in extracurricular music groups. Also, BMusEd which is mainly for someone who wants to teach K-12 music.
As far as deciding whether you want to study music I will just tell you the difference between my S and my D who were both very involved in music growing up. My S started going to various camps and festivals in the summers starting after 8th grade. He would be performing morning to night for several weeks, sometimes most of the summer and he LOVED it! Would come home super excited and geeked up, bursting with stories and enthusiasm.
My D could never quite pull the trigger to go to a music camp though she contemplated it, she couldn’t see herself enjoying that intense all day everyday music immersion. She played in various orchestras and groups throughout HS and enjoyed it but a few hours at a time was enough for her. My S pursued a performance career, my D did not.
You said you have been to many music camps, how did you feel about those? Did you love that total immersion in music? Looking back on that may help you decide if you want to study music. From my S’s experience getting a performance degree was a pretty intense, full immersion in the world of music.
Sorry this is so long, just trying to throw some things out that might be helpful to you.
Some of the schools that have strong cello departments/ teachers that I know of are: UMich, CIM, CCM, Northwestern, Indiana U, Rice, Lawrence U, Eastman,NEC, Julliard, Curtis, Vanderbilt. I’m sure other posters know of others and there are often good teachers at less well known schools that don’t have a national reputation but are still good solid teachers.
Good luck!

You might want to read the Double Degree Dilemma essay posted closer to the top of this music forum, which covers the ways people can study music. It isn’t really about double degrees.

A BM will be 2/3-3/4 music classes and is immersive. There are usually auditions to get in.

The other 1/4-1/3 classes would usually be liberal arts.

A BA will e 1/4-1/3 classes in music for a music major, and there are usually no auditions, but you submit a supplement with recording, resume (your resume will be good), letters of recommendation from teachers.

The other 2/3-3/4 classes for the BA would include gen eds and electives.

It is extremely common for parents to worry about kids majoring in music, and many threads on it. Many parents want a more practical major or a “backup.”

Some of us feel bad about this, but respect each family’s decisions. As cellomom said, music majors can get any job that has a bachelor’s degree requirement inside or outside of music. And go to grad school, professional schools like medicine (music majors have a high admit rate), law or business or nursing school- with prerequ’s done (there are post baccaulareate programs for this0.

Good luck!