<p>Well, I’m back to report, once again, on my son’s experience at CU Boulder. He recently started his second, and final, year as a graduate student there. Happily, it turns out that his first impressions of the school were accurate – he’s in a great place!</p>
<p>(1) When I first started this thread a year ago, I reported that my son was impressed with the cohesiveness of the faculty. Still true. These people are all on the same page, it seems, and that page is, “The student comes first.” There seems to be absolutely no pettiness and no insider competition between faculty, and definitely no laziness or sluggishness when it comes to putting the students’ education first. My son is wowed by his department’s professionalism and teamwork. </p>
<p>(2) I also reported that he was impressed by his program’s high standards. Also still true! Grad students have to endure a series of challenging placement tests at the beginning of their first school year, and then they have to endure a few more placement tests at the beginning of their second semester. My son graduated summa cum laude in his undergrad program and took all of his courses seriously. He felt that he knew his material quite well. And yet, he did not pass a few of his placement exams and had to take two or three prerequisite courses in addition to his graduate courses (can’t remember if it was 2 or 3). The department does disperse information in advance about which subjects will be tested and about which materials will help them to prepare for the tests, but because of my son’s last minute decision to attend CU Boulder, we’re not sure he got all of the information he was supposed to get – and so, we are pretty sure he showed up less prepared for the exams than most students. There were a handful of tests that my son was not at all expecting. If we’re remembering last year’s handouts correctly, it seems that the information on this year’s handouts (and on the website this year) is more specific and more clear. Nevertheless, my point is that despite my son’s dedication to his undergraduate academics, he still didn’t place out of all of the subject tests for CU-Boulder’s graduate program – which is to say that the program seems to have very high standards – and we both really respect that. It’s good news! (Incidentally, the vast majority of students had to take the same number of prerequisites as my son, or more. It is not at all uncommon to not pass a handful of placement exams at CU Boulder, I’m told.)</p>
<p>Graduate students have a team of 3 professors that assist and evaluate them throughout their time at CU. This team is called their Faculty Advisory Committee. In the semester prior to graduation from graduate school, grad students must take a written Master’s Qualifying Exam. Here is an excerpt from the CU Boulder website: “The exam lasts from 9 AM until 4:30 PM (with a lunch break). The exam is formulated by the student’s advisory committee, which consists of the major advisor, plus two additional graduate faculty members. The student is allotted three hours to answer the question from the major advisor; the questions from the other two committee members are each allotted 90 minutes.”</p>
<p>Then, in the final semester of attendance, graduate students must complete an oral exam given by their Faculty Advisory Committee. Here’s another excerpt from the website: “The final oral examination (usually 1 hour, but Music Ed students schedule 1½ hours) is administered by the student’s committee during the final semester and is based upon the student’s course work, thesis projects, and work done on the MQE.”</p>
<p>According to the website, “Out of approximately 650 institutions nationwide offering master’s degrees in music, the college’s MM program was ranked 20th by U.S. News & World Report.” My son looked at several MM programs, and CU Boulder’s was one of the more stringent, academically inclined programs of all that he got to know well. Perhaps this is part of why CU’s program is ranked so high.</p>
<p>(3) My son still thoroughly enjoys working with his teacher and respects him very much. He respects him for his knowledge, for his teaching skills, for his talent, and for his general demeanor, character, and humanity. His teacher knows what my son needs to work on, and the teacher knows how to help him work in those areas. My son is still certain that he got a real winner! :)</p>
<p>My son still LOVES the community, the mountains, the weather, the cafeteria, the new gym … he is having a wonderful time while working very hard! He has taken a few courses from other departments at CU, for fun, and is very happy with the quality of education in those courses as well. He is very happy with his department’s generosity in terms of scholarships and teaching assistantships. He is very happy with his fellow students. There are plenty of very talented people there! He is very happy with the quality of the school’s performances, the quality of the faculty, the quality of his accompanists, etc. All in all, this has been an absolutely wonderful school for him! He feels really fortunate. (And so do I. 
We all want our kids to end up in good places that fit them well!)</p>
<p>I mentioned performance opportunities before. This may be one area that leaves a little to be desired. My son would still say that CU Boulder has an outstanding rapport with the greater Colorado community. There’s definitely great community outreach, and a wonderful rapport between local citizens and the School of Muisc, and there are certainly a variety of opportunities available – some professional gigs, outreach gigs, operas, summer workshops, and various citizens looking for musicians via the department (for weddings, parties, etc). My son was able to get a part-time music job in the community right away last year, which he still has. But apparently, there just don’t seem to be as many big-paying gig opportunities as there were in his undergraduate locale. This likely has a lot to do with the sizes of both communities. The CU Boulder area (Boulder and Denver) are considerably smaller in population than the location of his undergrad school. Knowing what he knows now, he would still definitely choose to attend CU Boulder, but he is aware that there seem to be fewer “big” gigs out there than in larger metropolitan cities. Not a deal breaker, mind you, but something to know beforehand. Of course, compared to smaller locales, there are very likely more gigs, not less!</p>
<p>Anyway, this is a great school. I’m kind of surprised it’s not more frequently discussed here on CC. I know very little about the undergrad experience there, though I would imagine that it’s equally as good based on how well-run and how professional the School of Music seems to be. And I know less about the grad school experience than I knew about my son’s undergrad experience – naturally, seeing as he’s a fully grown adult and operating completely independently. Nevertheless, based on what he has frequently shared with me, and based on what I’ve seen for myself, I highly recommend that you check out this school to see if it’s right for you.</p>
<p>Best of luck in your college searches! :)</p>