Like the prescreening we are getting conflicting info from various coaches and DD’s university teacher as t what school to attend. DDs teacher says teacher is most important and has given us a list of people he thinks would be a “good” fit, and DD has been coached by a couple of them who are telling her they want her but they, and most of the others on the list teach in HUUUUGEE programs and DD is not wild about that. Not sure why, but she doesn’t like cattle calls. Others, including an internationally known opera conductor have told her to cast a wide net initially and not worry if a school seems “unattainable” and that if invited for auditions, often times, post audition whatever teacher is potentially interested in having her in their studio will do a call back lesson and that is the way to winnow things down. There is not a particular teacher she really wants to work with other than Faulkner.
For grad school, wouldn’t the current voice teacher she has an undergrad in her current program and those in the department be encouraging her to study with specific faculty in specific schools as best fits for her voice and future opportunities?
Now that I read your post again, I see your concerns more clearly. I think as with undergrad, you do have to cast a somewhat wide net however that wide net should encompass those programs her current faculty and coach think that she is the best fit for. Schools and situtations change and you never know how many openings there will be.
Hi Bookmama22-the problem we are having is that no one is really recommending a particular school or program other than programs with profs her current teacher has great relationships with, and I fear, although I know he has her best interests in mind . . . for undergrad her voice teacher steered her towards the conservatory and also the university she had attended for her MMUS she had attended and although DD was accepted and offered full ride + at the conservatory,(did not apply to the big university) she declined because she just did not “click” with anyone there and felt she would be stifled. She won’t have the luxury of a long look-see for grad school (or even knowing current students most likely) DD chose attending a small state school to work with a teacher whose philosophy and personality have been a better than great fit and it has been a great experience and she appears to have made more progress than some of her HS peers who attend lala $$$$$$ conservatories. But we know that grad school connections and visibility are important.
A couple suggestions:
She may want to consider a few of the HUGE schools if teachers are interested in her. There are fewer graduate programs so fewer offers. My D had friends who got offers for all schools applied to for UG…and none outside their UG school (which had a grad program) for graduate studies.
Another reason to consider a school like this is because she doesn’t like cattle calls. If she is interested in performance at some point she will need to get used to that. It is a bonus of a big program that you are “practicing” what you will experience after graduate school.
She can certainly look at smaller schools where she doesn’t have connections (and avoid some of the cattle call business). A graduate program like Rice for example comes to mind. It is quite selective however … but could be a fit since it is smaller. Then she will need to use her “networking” skills amongst peers and teachers to find out information. I think it is common to have schools with connections and not on a list of grad schools. At the grad level, it is a lot of peer to peer for information (from summer programs or upper classman auditions the year prior etc). My D developed her list with her teacher and on her own based on conversations with peers and other teachers. And as said above, she used the audition and any follow-up lessons to decide fit.
I hope this helps.
Just one other thought…my D did have a grad school on her list that her teacher did not like - didn’t like the sound of voice from that school. It was in a city (a big draw to my D) and of course her teacher didn’t say “no”. She was accepted there…and then her teacher sat with her and read the bios of the teachers…and in the end said to my D…I really don’t want you going there…I can’t find one teacher I think is good for you. My D did end up at a school with no prior connection but her teacher liked the teachers background and my D’s report from the trial lesson. My D showed her things she had worked on. She approved of the teacher and thought it could be a good fit. And…her teacher thought my D should change schools for grad school to widen connections. So all is well that ends well.
I am not familiar with VP but in another area of study, peers (meaning mostly current PhD students at the undergrad school or fellow students at summer programs) provided a lot of information on programs and teachers. Of course a conversation with current teacher was helpful too. Visiting and talking with someone in the prospective schools is key, as well as looking at bios, websites, course requirements and so on- and funding! Location and size may matter, and perhaps most of all the prevailing aesthetic of the program- and the teachers. (My daughter ended up only applying to two schools actually.)
DD has done a lot of competitions, including overseas and has done extremely well so she does have cattle call experience, and has been at the receiving end of the diva intimidation stare down, and worse, just not wild about having to deal with it in grad school. I guess it does make sense to apply to a few larger schools. She has three standing offers thus far to state schools, one huge, one large and one small, the large school is her backup school, and it does have a decent program. We have explained to her that funding will need to be a large part of her decision as we are only kicking in so much and student loans could put a damper on what should/could be the next step after grad school.
We did not find talking to former or present students productive when looking for an undergrad school. At the school she is doing her undergrad work there is a voice teacher who was highly recommended by many voice teachers, whose students rave about, and who was super nice to DD (I called it gag a maggot sweet) on audition day who would have been the worst person possible for DD as she tries to turn ALL her students coloratura, and an experienced poster here cautioned us about someone at a conservatory that was initially DDs first choice, and whom many people raved about; DD got to see this person in action at a summer program and the caution was well founded. And many others have advised to apply to biggest name schools and automatically go if accepted.ugh-more difficult than undergrad.
Peers played very little role for UG for my D. But peer experiences and networking were very important for grad school. My role was greatly diminished for grad school as her teacher, coach and peers played the primaries roles…except when it came to money…of course.
And yes it’s a lot about money for grad school! My D knew she needed a good offer with money or would not continue. So she did throw a wide net and said she’d take the best deal she could get.
Happy it worked out for your daughter.
Just repeating that peers,and especially the PhD students at the school where my daughter was an undergrad, were really helpful for grad application choices. I am surprised your daughter does not have teachers she wants to work with. It sounds like there are specific issues to be on the lookout for in VP, which, again, I know little about.
I also know that funding for master’s level programs is iffy and variable. May be a stupid question but is it possible for her to apply for DMA level or PhD level where funding is more certain (and teaching is part of the deal)?
I am new to this thing but this is quite different from the process of choosing a grad school for myself (engineering). And in terms of funding-she has been counseled over and over-if you cannot get a full ride SOMEWHERE you don’t belong in the business and I agree. It is just tough figuring out how to maximize our application and audition travel $$$ so that she doesn’t miss out on a great opportunity. We decided to use a studio for her prescreenings and that alone will be 1K by the time we pay her collaborative pianist and the studio. She does have a full tuition offer with a .2 FTE TA position, there is a prof she “could” maybe see herself working with there and good performance/role opportunities but it is not a school she is in love with. (it does have a good rep BTW) She has been a number of masterclasses with singers she adores and she will be the first to tell you that she did not “click” with all of them despite who they were and how hard DD wanted things to “click” so I think for her it is like meeting someone for the first time and just knowing they are the person you are meant to marry.
and you have to have a MMus or an MM to get into a DMA program and she really does not want to teach. Her undergrad prof is advising her to get her MMus, and if she cannot get into a young artist program after, get a performance certificate and then do the young artist thing. It is just so different than engineering
That’s great that she already has a full tuition offer. Maybe she would fall in love after getting to know it better or after, so to speak, dating a few others during the application period 
I wish I could help with voice schools, there are some people with real experience on here with voice experience who may be able to help. I don’t know how good Rice is for voice, for example, but their tuition is low and they also have a reputation for giving good money, so it might be worth checking out. A lot of this comes down to fit with a teacher, and I agree that if you don’t click with a teacher or program, that may be good reason not to go there, even if the money is good. The biggest thing I have been told be voice parents and some professional singers is going to be performance opportunities, especially in grad school, and that kind of thing may be tricky to find out , might take some digging on Google. I would be careful about throwing out larger programs, they might seem like you get buried alive, but the real question there is the studio, in a program like that you may have 1 or 2 top studios that are really selective, and then a bunch of studios with generally kids sliding down the ability scale, but if she could get into a top studio at one of those, it could work out well for her. BTW, I would also be careful with teachers and fit and basing it on a current teacher, sometimes that is based on other factors other than how good the teacher is, professional jealousy can play a role, or said teacher once slighted them in some way (one of my S’s former teachers absolutely told him not to study with the teacher he will be with in grad school, turned out to be a personal grudge, not about teaching), in the end the student has to figure out what ‘clicks’, and while input from a teacher is great, keep in mind things like styles come into play, said teacher might have learned and teach one particular style, and the other teacher might be of another school, you never know.