Creating the List of Colleges

College Majors Music Major
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I can’t comment on jazz so my contributions are just food for thought - and their seconds as I know you have thought of them already!

Going back to your original question, keep in mind a “list” is ever evolving. To me it looks like you have a few solids (at least for now), a few other you are certainly considering (Oberlin, Temple - anything between Chicagoland to NYC area) and a few that are an intriguing, expensive lights (and ultimately could be a fly trap - NYU - frankly I’d go light on these schools unless there is one - just to see).

ScreenName48105’s earlier comment reminded me that WE had NYU on my D’s list. She was going off to NYC to make it big! However I encouraged to do all here other apps first and see if she had time for NYU as I explained we could not afford unless a miracle happened. With everything going on in the fall of senior year and barely getting all the other apps and pre-screens done, NYU never happened. And that was because my D had learned a lot and become more realistic during the process.

As a parent I looked at affordability, told my D not to go down the road of debt (for some this would be fine) and told her to put some variety into her schools choices because … you never know. For some kids they will stay solid on their choices. But still many will change their opinions over the last 12 months. AND the audition process will continue to shape opinions. I think few leave the process without thinking “if I were to do it again, I would definitely…”

And U of Miami was one of those schools … it was on the list, it was off, on again, off again…too expensive (never visited)…well maybe we need another school…last app sent in. She went to a unified audition (for MT), it fit in the schedule, had the greatest audition, and got her biggest scholarship offer. You just never know…

Good luck!!!

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The list where essentially tuition is wiped out will be a narrow one unless your income is quite low

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I don’t think anyone mentioned being “tired of gigging”. Context is about it being a priority or consideration when considering undergraduate music programs. Just saying that for my son, it was a major factor when making the early school list as a junior in high school; not so much as a senior making his final school selections.

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I guess I misunderstood some of the comments.

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GoForth- it looks like you may be located in Illinois from the list of schools that you mentioned were easy to visit?
Have you looked into MSU at all? It seems that it might be within relatively easy visiting range and might fit your category 3 definition. I don’t know a lot about Jazz, but my kids were involved in the orchestral program through the Detroit Symphony and many of the faculty involved with the jazz portion of the program came from MSU and were very highly regarded. My understanding is that Rodney Whitaker, the jazz bass faculty at MSU is well known and has a strong reputation. Again, not my area but maybe worth taking a look. I don’t know about scholarships but your sons academic strength might get him some merit there.

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MSU is very strong in Jazz bass.

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@cellomom2 - with your note, S has looked at Rodney Whitaker on YouTube and likes his style there. If the numbers look do-able, then it could be. That school is within a distance that would justify a car trip just for a sample lesson and campus visit.

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We know s VERY strong bass player for whom MSU was/is his dream school. He is there now.

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A long time ago, I was fortunate enough to have a regular Sunday gig with Rodney. In addition to being an incredible bassist, he’s a very positive, charismatic guy – the kind of person people enjoy being around (we had him do all the talking :wink: ). Hopefully, he’s retained that quality all these years later.