<p>How would you approximately rank the difficulty getting accepted to the following music conservatories in Jazz Music Performance?
Juilliard
Manhattan School of Music
NEC
USC
Eastman
Univ of Miami/Frost
North Texas
Hart
Indiana
U Michigan
Suny Purchase
NYU
William Paterson
Rutgers Mason Gros</p>
<p>add Oberlin Conserv too</p>
<p>Do not overlook Temples Jazz program in your search.</p>
<p>Not enough experience to compare the schools on your list. I have a friend who was rejected by Juilliard who got into NEC with a nice scholarship for jazz percussion. That was some years back. Have another friend who this year got into North Texas jazz program as a vocalist. It was the only school she applied to, but she seemed quite confident.</p>
<p>I would expect the free programs to be more competitive than the more expensive ones. (Juilliard used to give full tuition to it's jazz students - I have no information on whether that is still the case.)</p>
<p>Most folks make their "chances" list based on their own personal contacts - trial lessons - and teachers' reactions, instrument, slots open that year, cost / scholarships. It is very individual with many variables.</p>
<p>If the schools offer an admit rate to the program on their websites, that might be a place to start.</p>
<p>I would say the most difficult on your list are Juilliard and Eastman. Both schools have only 1 or 2 jazz bands, and are not really looking for many more people than that. Eastman only accepts about 6-8 jazz majors a year (that's majors of any instrument, so not like 6-8 jazz sax players, 6-8 jazz majors period); when Juilliard started its jazz program it only had 18 kids (enough for 1 jazz band), and I'm not sure how much they've increased the size. Juilliard gives free tuition to grad. students still Binx. Being a sax player won't help your son, as that is probably the most competitive instrument in jazz schools, at least that's what NEC informed me.</p>
<p>I would say the next level of difficulty would be NEC, Oberin, and Manhattan, I've known people who have gotten into Manhattan and not NEC or NEC and not Manhattan. </p>
<p>Your next level would probably be your university jazz programs, Umich and Umiami being the hardest, with North Texas following closely behind (North Texas has one of the best programs out there, but it is also a huge program so it may be a little easier to get accepted). USC and Indiana (although this one might be a little harder, it requires a classical audition to) probably falls in this category, with NYU's jazz department most likely a little easier to get into (because most of the "top" players end up going to New School, Manhattan or Juilliard if they want to be in NYC).</p>
<p>Great schools with less recognition would come next, like Hart.</p>
<p>This is just my experience, especially having seen a lot of my friends go off to music schools in the past few years. Have you looked at Berklee at all?</p>
<p>As with any performance program, it boils down to how you nail the audition, the level of competiton for your instrument, and how many openings there are for the coming academic year. It's a pretty competitive list of schools, some with very strong jazz programs. A trial lesson is a good way of pre-rating chances as binx suggested.</p>
<p>I agree with Jazzguitar, with Juilliard and Eastman being the hardest to get into. I know they certainly consider themselves as the two competitors for best jazz program. (For whatever that's worth.)</p>
<p>Thanks for all your replies. I was curious how my perceptions of difficulty of acceptance contrasted with all of yours. Part of the difficulty of Juilliard, aside from name recognition is its tiny size. Most of the other conservatories have about 100 kids in the jazz studies(undergraduate) I think. I may have underrated Eastman, which is apparently also small, based on my son's friend who goes there. He thought my son's abilities were comparable to the other sax players there. My son got into NEC with a merit scholarship, but not into MSM. I'm still not sure if they are comparable or not. My son thinks he screwed up his audition at MSM, but he often is disappointed in his performances. Some of the sax professors at these programs (such as Miami, NEC, Wm Paterson) said about 50+ saxes auditioned for 7 or 8 acceptances (and then only 3 or 4 would actually attend.)<br>
The reason I posted this question was I thought, having an idea of difficulty of acceptance for these jazz programs, would be helpful to people applying next year. My son tried to apply to at least one school of each level of difficulty, based on what other musicians/teachers felt. He also took a couple of lessons with sax teachers at conservatories, to see what they thought of his chances at their institutions (and learn a little about playing, too!) He didn't take a lesson everywhere he applied. Actually, at NEC he could split up his studio time between more than one sax teacher. Maybe half with Bergonzi, and half with a classical teacher, or different style teacher. In jazz, I don't think you study with one sax teacher the whole four<br>
years, because you can learn improvisation from piano, trumpet professors as well.
Maybe some posts like this for strings, voice etc like this would be helpful to people applying next year, to get an idea of levels of difficulty of acceptance, rather than worrying which is the "safest" safety school. Of course, extreme difficulty of acceptance, doesn't tell you whether the school fits your son or daughter.</p>
<p>It also, of course, depends on your instrument and your playing level going into a school. I have a bassist friend who got into MSM but was rejected from NEC, but in the end chose Michigan State University (which should be added). He wanted to go to NEC he said, so I naturally assumed he would choose MSM since he wasn't accepted to NEC, but then opted for the university feel.</p>
<p>I also think Berklee needs more credit than it is due. Although Berklee does accept a whole lot of people (a whole lot of people who will inevitably end up jobless, back in school, or working as a salesperson at Daddy's Junky Music), it truly is a fine department if you are at a level comparable to NEC, MSM, etc... If you can get into NEC, you can probably get a pretty nice scholarship to Berklee, and it has the most resources for a jazz student, as well as the most famous visiting artists and such. A friend of mine once told me he thought that the best kids at Berklee were the best kids anywhere, because a lot of them had the talent to get into a Juilliard or an Eastman, but chose Berklee for the networking possibilities, and networking is of prime importance when you're a jazz musician. </p>
<p>Just some more thoughts to people out there looking, which includes myself. Good luck to your son at NEC, tenorsaxdad.</p>
<p>Eastman requires all jazz musicians to do a classical audition too (I think it is the only one on your list which does). That automatically will eliminate a number of potential candidates, but it is extremely competitive.</p>
<p>Also, several of the other schools don't have a pre-screening round. I think those schools with pre-screening are even more competitive.</p>
<p>Berklee is getting harder to get into. It is old news that just about everyone gets in. And it is also old news that most kids don't graduate.Worth looking into. And of course it is in a great college town</p>