<p>I was sure hoping it was $10K!! </p>
<p>The 3 of us have a college counseling session at the HS this Monday. The College counselor (much more in tune with things than S's regular counselor). He definitely agreed that since S is considering a music career, he needs to get a jump on his college search. He's making an allowance for us since they only schedule rising Seniors for this week of summer. Whew! Finally, something seems to be going our way.</p>
<p>S. also said he talked w/ his orchestra instruc. today and he said that was b*** s*** (his term, by the way) about colleges needing 3 yrs. of a foreign language. And this is a man who graduated from Northwestern. We'll get this all clarified and rectified on Monday.</p>
<p>Yes, a bloody Mary is sounding much better now than a cappuccino!</p>
<p>A couple of thoughts - depending on how he decides to apply, he might not need the foreign language thing. If he applies and is accepted as a performance major they are often not as strict with the academic requirements. However, if he wants to keep his options open, he really should have the third year. And the teacher who said otherwise applied to college at least 5 years ago at a minimum and the landscape has changed even in that short amount of time. UW-Madison only "requires" 2 years, but the counselors know that most kids who are serious contenders have 4 years. The requirement allows leeway for groups that they are trying to attract. So don't necessarily assume that even if the school says only 2 years that that will be enough for competitive schools. </p>
<p>Another school to look at is DePaul. They may be too close to home, but they have a pretty strong cello program and I believe are fairly generous with aid for music students. He also might want to look at UW-Madison. Cello is pretty strong. (My cellist spent this past year as a special student of Uri Vardi.) The out-of-state costs will be less than those schools listed above and there are music scholarships, although I don't know how easy these are for out of staters. However, your son's class rank may make UW a reach academically. Your high school counselor will likely know how your son fits in with other students that have gone to UW from that high school. Along those same lines, you might want to look at Michigan as well. Their music dept. is stronger than UW's, but they will be more expensive and even more of a reach academically.</p>