We are in Florida and my son has been accepted to BOCO as a composition major – does anyone have input on how worth it the program is? We would spend little to nothing at FSU or Stetson University music schools here in Florida. But his dream has always been to go out of state - preferably the northeast. Intellectually, I feel that it’s crazy to spend $55,000 plus per year for undergraduate… then again, I am not the artist in question. I am also concerned about the pandemic. Are people from out of state really shelling out this much money to go to BOCO – especially during these uncertain times? I will feel like a real idiot if he passes up the Florida school offers and ends up at home doing online classes!
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My son is not a music major at FSU, but he is a snare in the marching chiefs, and many of his friends are music majors. He says the music program is excellent and very competitive. Many students get cut from the 420 person marching band every year because of the musical strength of the students involved. He loves it at FSU.
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Oh wow well my son just enquired about that today as he played quad drums in high school band and would like to do so if possible at FSU too! Maybe he could talk to your son about his experiences…would be great if he could connect with someone before he makes his big decision (and may make FSU go to the top of his list- you never know!)
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Would you need to take on any debt at all to attend the Boston Conservatory?
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He might want to take a deep dive into the curriculum of each school as well as the background info of the teachers to see if the difference justifies $50K+/year for 4 years. It may or may not but the research in itself is very beneficial for the student to have a reasonable expectation of what college life would look like and if it would be a good fit.
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Yes…about $100,000! 2 years are paid for with college fund…we can afford it but still don’t like throwing money away! Then there would be graduate school…and if it weren’t for the pandemic concerns I think we would just go with it if he really prefers it -but that’s really throwing a wrench into the whole thing for us. And then we know FSU has an excellent music school- in fact, many Boston/Berklee faculty went there- and Stetson too!
Good idea!
A career in music is tough and he’ll need your financial assistance down the road even if he gets a grad school scholarship. No way I’d borrow $100,000 for BOCO over FSU. I’d do all I could to get him interested in FSU. Tour the school and talk to music majors. My son is a VP major at FSU and chose it over USC-Thornton. FSU was completely free and USC would have cost us/him about $150,000 over 4 years. He chose FSU and has not looked back. He’s received a great education, improved tremendously in his music, made great connections, studied under incredible teachers, and is well set for graduate school.
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So glad @vistajay posted! There is no way a composition degree at BoCo is worth that much debt. No way.
Clifton Callender, one of the FSU professors, attended Peabody and U. of Chicago after BFA at Tulane. Ellen Zwilich is very well-known. Liliya Ugay got all her degrees at Yale. This is a great combination of teachers and there are many theory teachers who no doubt teach composition as well.
Summer programs will enhance opportunities.
I don’t know a single composer who succeeds after a bachelor’s. Grad school is a must. And funding does not cover living expenses.
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I was waiting to see if @vistajay would respond as well. FSU is top program. BOCO will be a lot more money for a similar education…but a different locale. Many people have answered questions already but I’ll add a few comments not touched on yet. My kid is done with her MM.
1.) Kids talk about what they pay for their education once they get to the school. One or two parties into the school year and everyone will know who’s paying full freight or not. Will it bother your kid that others have scholarships and he doesn’t…and most people know it?
2.) Kids may not care now about “money” at 18 (or fully understand it). They may not even care Freshman year. But the discussions about getting “ripped off” by a school or program is prevelent for upper classmen (who finally understand debt) and grad students. I’m not saying that they are “ripped off”…but you know 20 year olds and colorful language. Conversations (usually at parties with low inhibition) about who is paying for someone else’s education come up. Full freight kids are paying for someone else to have a scholarship. Is he OK subsidizing his roommate’s education? I’m not saying it will happen for sure…but my D figured out really quickly at her first summer program who had scholarships and who didn’t…and being around grad students who lectured on it (don’t be taken advantage of in the music world and “go where they give you money”)…she never forgot that lesson. Her UG teacher also spoke about this consistently.
3.) The pain over the next 6 months (sadness, disappointment, adjustment) may be easier to overcome, than the pain from years of debt, imho. Once he’s at a school like FSU, he will get busy (it will be competitive!) and may quickly forget the shiny object of BOCO (except at the first Xmas when your kid may need to dump emotions on you…it is the “I picked the wrong school time” but that’s normal). I don’t want to dismiss the disappointment and pain of losing a dream school/city (for him and for you), but equally, you should not dismiss the long-term pain of debt. It can also ruin dreams. As a parent of an older musician, we (as a mom you are always involved emotionally) have taken our knocks. It IS hard. I just think debt is harder.
4.) A music education is a marathon. You are at mile 13…half way. He’ll need resources over many years. Maybe with the savings, he can do summer programs each year to get a taste of other parts of the country and the world (and hear students complain about debt…and know he was the wise one). Maybe grad school is where he can move somewhere else with a nice scholarship.
Final note: while not supportive of high debt (that’s me), I do not know your family or son. So if in the end you decide to go for BOCO, I’m sure you will all find a way to make it work…and his happiness DOES matter. I just wanted to add some perspectives that I would have never known. At 17, my D was mad at me (for quite awhile as I recall) bc I wasn’t going to spend a boatload of money on her to go to NYU. Once at IU (definitely not in NYC), I never heard about it again (except maybe when she was stressed and dumping on me)…and over the years, she began to see herself as smart with her money…and she graduated with an MM debt-free. I have been thanked by her many times for that. Being debt-free (or low debt) is really important for musicians. She has had a lot of flexibility and opportunity.
I hope that this helps…and does not create additional anxiety for you. No matter what, he will get a great education! And, congrats on his acceptances.
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$100,000 in debt is just a big NO. You definitely should NEVER take on this much debt for a bachelor’s degree in music.
I used to have a guitar teacher who started at the Berklee College of Music. He ran out of money and had to drop out, then finished his bachelor’s at the University of Massachusetts. He would have been WAY better off to just start at the University of Massachusetts (which like FSU is very good for music). He was giving a lot of guitar lessons to pay off his debt.
There is no way that you should be taking on ANY debt at all for a bachelor’s degree in music. Five years from now if you and your son choose FSU you and your son will be very glad that you did.
I have a daughter who seriously considered attending a university that would have been full pay at a private university, and would have required a lot of debt. I said no. She went to a public university with a good merit scholarship that fit our budget. She graduated four years later and found a great job that was essentially a dream job, but that did not pay very well. She was able to take it only because she had no debt at all. This led to a second great job which she is still doing. Both of these jobs was a major part of what has now gotten her accepted to an excellent graduate program. She is very thankful that I would not let her take on any debt at all. Five years from now your son will be very thankful if he has no debt at all.
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Looking back when my son’s college acceptances were coming in, we realized that most of schools he applied to (private conservatories) didn’t consider EFC…Well, we now know that EFC is just the lowest possible numbers but very unrealistic to count on, especially at private conservatories that give away scholarships to students heavily talent-base. So I came up with a back-up plan if my son couldn’t get enough scholarships to attend a school he likes (He didn’t have a dream school but he wanted to go to Northeast, far away from home)…I was going to convince him not to go to the expensive school which would cause huge student and parent plus loans but choose the cheapest school to get education and degree. The trade was, to offer him the summer expenses ($5000) to go to any cities / countries he likes to play music to learn and get inspired.
Very fortunately, I didn’t need to tell my son the idea since he got accepted to a school he likes most with very manageable costs to us. He still takes federal student loans though. I think that it is a good idea for him being responsible for his own chosen education / path.
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Thanks for sharing your wisdom! Whatever we decide - this forum is a fantastic resource and I’m so glad to have discovered it
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I posted on this topic on another thread and also sent you a PM. I cannot find the thread about whether BoCo is worth it. The site is giving me a lot of trouble today. Here is what I wrote:
FSU offers individual composition lessons from the start if qualified or after the first theory class, depending on qualifications. The curriculum is indeed immersive. Note that the liberal arts classes include music history.
I am trying to post with an ad banner across my page. So forgive any typos. I feel like you are trying to convince yourself that BoCo is worth it and I really don’t think it is. Again, for composition, you have to take the long view financially. Here is the info on the site:
BM Composition-Fall 2019.pdf (fsu.edu)
BoCo is small and all students are studying the arts. FSU is not immersive in that sense.
The curriculum and faculty at FSU look great. I was particularly impressed by the page where they ask students to think about what option fits them best because so many composers are now using daws to compose electronically (without notation) and really belong in commercial.
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Hi new friend! We’re back from FSU - I responded to an email link about the “personal message”… let me know if you received my post FSU assessment - I just hit “reply” so it would have gone to your email address!
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Hi there! I am curious to read what your impressions were. However I did not receive the message. I will send you another private message, which will show up as a green number on the top right, next to your avatar. Then you can maybe send it there in response.
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If you respond to the email it won’t go through. You get the notification but you have to respond via private message on the CC site. I sent you a PM to respond to or you can continue our previous exchange.
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OK did you get it?!
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Oh yeah got it!
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I wrote a long post that was meant to be private. Deleting!
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