Help on Deciding Where to Go for Music

College Majors Music Major
1

<p>Hi,</p>

<p>I recently finished all of my college auditions for music schools/universities with strong (for the most part) music programs. (Yay!) But now, the next step is to decide where to go. I'll let you know a little bit about me which may factor into the choice.</p>

<p>-I am a soprano
-I love choir, a cappella, and ensemble singing
-I want to become a high school choir director/college choir director/professional choral conductor someday (even sing in professional choirs) - which means I am majoring in music ed
-I want to have an intelligent, experienced, knowledgeable, nurturing voice teacher while in college
-I want the teachers to care about their students
-I want the atmosphere of the school to be vibrant, the voice majors to be talented, and the students to be happy and enjoying themselves
-I want to have a solid liberal arts foundation along with my music studies
-I want to be able to study piano privately in addition to my voice lessons
-I have taken lessons at Westminster Conservatory for the past three years and have loved it
-I am in the top 10% of my class and have been extensively involved in my school's music department. I am a serious student but I know when to have fun</p>

<p>Now, I have a latent interest in communications - specifically Radio/TV/Film. From early on until this point in my life though, I have focused only on music, so I have considerably less (hardly any) background in the field. Thus, I have to make the decision whether or not I really only want to do music ed or both. </p>

<p>The schools I have been accepted to for music ed (in order of reception of acceptance letters):</p>

<p>Ithaca College
Mason Gross School of the Arts (part of Rutgers University)
Westminster Choir College</p>

<p>The schools I am waiting to hear from:</p>

<p>Eastman School of Music - my interview and audition went extremely well
Northwestern University School of Music - " " and I loved the campus and the surrounding city!
NYU (Steinhardt)</p>

<p>Looking back at everything, I realized, Westminster Choir College has been right in front of my face the whole time - it is a CHOIR college and has a great music ed program. A part of me has wanted to get away from home, and I have taken lessons at their conservatory. WCC is very close to my home, which is why I applied to other schools. </p>

<p>Parents and students, what are your opinions on each of these schools specifically for voice/music ed, and where do you think I should go?</p>

<p>Thanks very much; eagerly waiting responses. Good luck to all with their own college decisions!</p>

2

<p>My D is a soph voice major at Rice. When she did her college selections, she was NOT impressed with Northwestern's voice program/music school. She thinks it is a lot better for music theater than vocal performance. She didn't even apply. Eastman is good but it does not have as close a relationship to U of R as they pretend.</p>

3

<p>I agreee with MomofWildChild -- Northwestern is way overrated for undergraduate voice. My D visited, had a sample lesson, and never applied. Facilities were very poor as well. However, you seem to have an interest in communications and Northwestern is very strong in this area. I somehow remember that there was an application option allowing students to enter both the music school and the communications school. I don't know if it still exists. I also agree that Eastman is a good conservatory -- i.e. MUSIC, MUSIC, MUSIC -- but options for other classes are difficult -- Eastman and the University of Rochester are some distance apart and scheduling could be dicey. Both schools tout their relationship but, practically speaking, you would need to be a motivated and committed student to make it work for you. </p>

<p>Westminster sounds like a good fit for all your objectives - except it is close to home. You sound like an excellent student -- could you take courses at Princeton? St. Olaf would have been a good choice for you, too -- however, it is far away -- but does have an excellent choral program. My D looked very hard at Ithaca -- she loved the teacher there -- but was not impressed with the liberal arts (though, with some motivation, she could have taken classes at Cornell). She chose Lawrence University in Wisconsin for their double-degree 5 year BM/BA program - there is both a conservatory and college - and she loves it.</p>

4

<p>A word about Eastman - my son is currently a junior there. He says that a large portion of the Eastman students take classes at UR. The classes are set up at times that make it more convenient. He has taken classes there most every semester. He does state that there are very few double degree students, mostly due to time constraints. However, I find this true of most performance students regardless of where they attend. If you are interested in taking a classes outside of music, it is not too difficult to do at Eastman. In addition, my son reports that the Eastman School of Education claims 100% placement rate of its graduates. If you have more specific questions regarding Eastman, I will try to answer them.</p>

5

<p>Singer 86,</p>

<p>Since you say that you are live close to Westminister Choir College, I assume that you are a fellow Jersey resident. It is interesting that you took classes there and enjoyed them. We went to visit the campus during the fall and my d decided not to apply there. </p>

<p>My daughter has elected to enroll at Mason Gross for their vocal performance major. There are several factors that made this a good decision for her, including the fact that Rutgers itself is well regarded nationally and that Mason Gross also garners a great deal of respect.</p>

<p>In your case, there are other factors that might influence your decision towards Mason Gross. In particular, I do recall that they have 100% placement of their music education majors. Additionally, you could decide to look at other degree programs within the university if you felt that your other talents interested you more. </p>

<p>Good luck with hearing from the other schools you applied to!</p>

6

<p>Dear Singer, don't know if this will be any help but here goes. I am an Ithaca graduate, Theater not music. Ithaca was a wonderful school I cdon't think I could have had a better educational experience any where else. I now work in a high school where 3 out of 4 music teachers are from Ithaca. My son is now looking at Ithaca in Music, and I am sure he will love it. Ithaca has a very strong network of Alumni. They are very supportive, and are always ready to help out grads. Now on the otherhand my older son is at NYU Tisch. He has many friends at Steinhart who are very happy there. The school carries a lot od prestige, and once again it is a great school to make connections. It is a very narrow conservatory program however and does not offer many chances to branch out into other areas. Well hiop this helps... GooLuck!</p>

7

<p>Yale, Johns Hopkins ?</p>