Indecisive about what college to go to (music ed)

<p>I was accepted into Ithaca, NYU, Hartt, and Eastman School of Music. I pretty much ruled out Hartt because they gave me very little money.
Right now, I'm leaning towards going to Ithaca because of its incredible music education program and also the fact that they gave me a lot of financial aid.
But I've been hearing some really amazing things about Eastman School of Music, considering it IS ranked one of the top music schools in the nation... they gave me a little less money but I think I'd be able to deal with it if I went there.
I haven't been thinking much about NYU but I'm not feeling SO inclined to go there because I haven't heard much about the music ed program and the main reason I applied is because of its great academics.</p>

<p>Now, I'm a straight-A student and academics are pretty important to me. Sometimes I'm completely in love with Ithaca, but then sometimes I think I might be shortchanging myself because the academics program isn't the greatest. And sometimes Eastman seems like the best thing ever that will make me into such a good musician, but then sometimes I feel that I might not survive the competitiveness and intensity of the conservatory.</p>

<p>I'm kind of torn. Anybody have any advice or even firsthand experience?
Thank you all. :)</p>

<p>So it’s really Ithaca vs. Eastman? Both are great schools!</p>

<p>Are you more interested in music ed or performance?
What is your instrument?
Have you had lessons with the person who would be your studio teacher at each school?</p>

<p>BTW, congrats on your acceptances!</p>

<p>@stradmom: Thank you! And I guess it has come down to that. I’m definitely more interested in music education. My primary instrument is piano but I think I want to concentrate on vocal music education. And I have not had a lesson yet – I’m actually going to visit Ithaca tomorrow, but I will be unable to visit Eastman as it’s pretty far away.</p>

<p>itsasunnyday, I am adding your acceptances to the <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/1260441-master-list-music-school-acceptances-fall-2012-a-61.html#post14277760[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/1260441-master-list-music-school-acceptances-fall-2012-a-61.html#post14277760&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>From your posts, these would all appear to be for Music Education with piano as your primary instrument. Please let me know if anything needs to be corrected. Also please let us know where you decide to go for the decisions thread.</p>

<p>Eastman is actually only about an hour away from Ithaca - if you can rearrange your travel schedule, you might be able to visit both schools.</p>

<p>Ithaca is well known for music education. In my mind, Eastman is more associated with performance but that could just be my own misperception. ;)</p>

<p>Eastman is a phenomenal place for music ed. I don’t know Ithaca, but Eastman is fantastic. Eastman students are very supportive of each other, I don’t see competitiveness, just dedicated, happy, nice students. Intensity, yes, but in a joyous, positive way. The T-shirts say EAT SLEEP MUSIC. That does say it all, but I don’t think you can get a better music education. The education students and the performance students are very much integrated. While it’s true that the piano studios for ed majors are different than the performance studios, they are still great teachers. The music ed majors take plenty of classes with the performance students, and many of the piano ed majors take extra performance classes. If you can manage to swing Eastman financially, I encourage you to go for it. I hope you can visit, it’s about an hour away from Ithaca. PM me if you want more info. Good luck, and congratulations, they are both great schools!</p>