<p>Hello! For a while now, I have been trying to find the best college for music for me that is at most five hours away from my home state of Connecticut. I have a 3.03 unweighted GPA and as of right now, my SAT score is a 1660. (I plan on re-taking it). In terms of extra curriculars, I am in what is known as wind emsenble in my school, which is just advanced band really. I am in Odyssey of the Mind, the Quidditch Club , and I plan on taking AP Music Theory next year. I have been looking at Ithaca College because it has a good music program, but I would like to know if there is a better college out there for me. Thanks for your help!</p>
<p>Here’s a list you may consider. A number of schools withint 5 hours.</p>
<p>[Top</a> Music Schools Ranking in 2010 | U.S. College Rankings](<a href=“http://www.uscollegeranking.org/music/top-music-schools-ranking-in-2010.html#axzz1l4RqQLBy]Top”>http://www.uscollegeranking.org/music/top-music-schools-ranking-in-2010.html#axzz1l4RqQLBy)</p>
<p>A helpful thread that might get you started:
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/258796-so-you-want-music-major-one-familys-experience.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/258796-so-you-want-music-major-one-familys-experience.html</a></p>
<p>Also you might want to give us some insight at to what you want to study. Performance, music theory, music ed, music technology?</p>
<p>Right in Connecticut, you have UConn and Hartt, both respected programs. Ithaca is a fine school, and if you’re looking in that direction, you might check out Eastman. Boston and NY both have many music options also.</p>
<p>There is also UMASS Amherst which has a good music program.</p>
<p>I’m mainly looking towards music education.</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/651282-schools-music-education-northeast.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/651282-schools-music-education-northeast.html</a></p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/812256-northeast-schools-music-education.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/812256-northeast-schools-music-education.html</a></p>
<p>Here are a few more links for you! Good luck in your search.</p>
<p>Have a look at the College of St. Rose in Albany, NY. We were pretty impressed with their facilities, and the school’s commitment to the music program. They say they have a 100% placement for music teachers, and they give an academic scholarship for good SAT scores/GPA.</p>
<p>Gettysburg or Ithaca for music education?</p>
<p>If you’re looking at the U Mass system, consider U Mass Lowell. They’re a pretty good all-round school (especially strong in science, if that interests you), and their men’s hockey team is Div I so there’s some marching band type stuff going on there. </p>
<p>Lowell itself is a nice place to spend a couple of years. The town hosts the oldest free folk festival in the US every year, and there’s lots of historical districts/landmarks which are slowly bringing in enough $$ for renovations in the non-touristy parts of town. I don’t know what it’s like in terms of off-campus housing for students, though, and I’ve never seen the U Mass dorms out there. Also, Lowell is a short cheap train ride into Boston and goes through some other towns on the way, so living outside of Lowell and commuting isn’t impossible and it’s really easy to get to Boston for concerts, performances, etc.</p>
<p>(Disclaimer: I don’t work there! I work for one of the other Boston-area music schools and go to the folk festival every year. :))</p>
<p>Ithaca’s School of Music has been around much longer and has an excellent reputation for music education. Gettysburg’s conservatory is newer therefore might not be as well known. Check out the studio teachers for your voice or instrument and see which school would be a better fit.</p>
<p>One note, for the OP and anyone reading this, the music school rankings someone posted,besides not being about music education, are probably near worthless in terms of determining what is good and what is bad for a music student. For one thing, what criteria are they using for music schools? How are they even creating these rankings? More importantly, it would also depend on what department you are going into, for violin for example I can tell you some of the schools they highly ranked aren’t particularly good, and some of the low rated schools are very high…and if you look at something like Rice, ranked at#21, you have to wonder about their methodology, Rice in general is one of the most competitive admits in that list, it is up there with the ‘elite’ schools like Juilliard, NEC and Curtis, so I have to wonder what criteria they are using? I don’t even think USC is on the list, yet it is a very highly respected program, and so forth. It all depends on what the student is studying and who they are as a student that determines whether a program is good for them, and yes, factors like cost and such play into such a decision.</p>
<p>This is the criteria they use, according to the website:</p>
<p>Teaching Quality / Professor Ratings (10%)
Staff / Student Ratio (15%)
Median Salary of Graduates (10%)
SAT / ACT Test Scores (15%)
Graduation Rate Performance (10%)
Undergraduate Academic Reputation (20%)
Student Selectivity (5%)
Alumni (5%)
Academic (Undergraduate) / Research (Graduate) Performance (5%)</p>
<p>Many of these are irrelevant to music (median salary of graduates? Musicians just out of music school generally are poor…), SAT/ACT is meaningless in how well you play your instrument, undergrad academic reputation is kind of funky…things like alumni, teacher ratings and student selectivity should be major grounds here, weighing a lot more then some of the other factors they give…</p>
<p>Mike, I don’t know anything about your area, but generally I believe the rule of thumb is that for music ed you should have the state flagship university on your shortlist. To teach in public school you will need to obtain a teachers certificate from the state you want to teach in, so it just makes sense to go to a college in the same state you teach as most likely they will prepare you for that particular states certificate requirements.</p>
<p>Also, you don’t want to spend more getting your degree than you will make teaching, so it doesn’t makes that much sense to go to a high priced private school, unless you get a heap of scholarship and financial aid money. Public schools generally will not pay a teacher more money just because they went to an expensive or prestigious college.</p>
<p>And, your SAT and GPA will likely fit in nicely at most large state universities.</p>
<p>Connecticut’s governor just announced that he wants to tighten up requirements for students entering education programs. Not clear how that might influence music ed, but it would be something for a Connecticut resident to keep in mind in school selection.</p>
<p>Good point, Stradmon, though I suspect the politicians are thinking of academic teachers:) (though the same standards will apply to music teachers as well)</p>