Personally, I am looking forward to studying jazz (performance, business and therapy) at a university, but many of my friends may to prefer studying at a conservatory. To me, the best jazz schools in the country are Thornton (USC), Frost ([]_[] Miami), University of North Texas, Berklee School of Music, Julliard, The New School (NYC), Manhattan School of Music The New England Conservatory and, maybe Steinhart (NYU). Since I want to study at a university, I would rank the schools that I am interested in the following order: Miami; USC; NYU and North Texas. What do you guys think? What do you see as the pros and cons of university vs. conservatory? My biggest reason for preferring the uni. setting to a conservatory is that I think that I will get a much more rounded education at a univ., be better able to broaden myself and learn more about the business end of the music industry (as well as have something to fall back on). The biggest con to a uni setting is that it is much tougher to get into a quality school, in that it takes more than just raw musical talent.
You should head over to the Music Major Forum and read many of the past jazz threads. It’s the right place to post your questions, too.
THANK YOU! I will repost there.