MY son is a jazz trombonist and trying to decide between NEC and the New School. Any advice? He got a lot more money from NEC, but really REALLY wants to be in NYC. Thoughts or advice?
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NEC is an excellent program and I think I responded before with a link to the “gig office.” I also wrote that I know a very talented jazz sax player who went to college in Boston for a BS, nor BM, and played around the city the whole 4 years.
Personally I think NYC is great post-undergrad or for grad school but Boston might be a good place to develop.
The money issue is pretty important for musicians. Would he have debt at the New School?
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Though I don’t know the jazz trombone faculty, both schools have excellent jazz programs, and Boston to NY is an easy train ride. If the difference in price matters to you as parents, then NEC. If you can afford the extra cost and don’t mind him going to New School and being in NY, then let him choose his preference.
FWIW, my son got offered non-trivially more $$$ from New School and would’ve happily gone there, yet Peabody’s jazz program was definitely the better fit for him for lots of reasons (in the opinion of both my son and us as parents). Fortunately, our family could afford the difference, so Peabody was the call. Pre-Covid, he took two trips from Baltimore to NY (one via train, another via bus) to see concerts, meet up with a friend who attends Berklee, and hang out with his cousins in the city.
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Did your son check both schools’ jazz trombone faculty? New School has a bigger program (but not many trombones) and it seems like less structured. NEC probably has a much smaller jazz program and it can be more structured. Some do well at a large school and some do better at a small school. Some 18-year-old jazz musicians do well in NYC but some aren’t quite ready yet.
Did you appeal New School and show NEC offer? If your son really REALLY wants to be in NYC and only $$ is an issue for you, you can ask New School if they can increase an offer. You still have a time until end of May 1st. Good luck!
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That is also interesting. He got into Peabody and when they learned NEC had offered more money, they said they would up their offer. Why was the fit better at Peabody for your son? I know Sean Jones is doing a lot of great things there. My son just wasn’t keen on Baltimore.
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Yes. We’ve appealed to New School and should hear today or tomorrow. I agree with your structured/less structured comment. The finding your own teacher from their list of faculty (at New School) really stresses me out.
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The short answer to “why Peabody over New School “ for my son comes down to 2 things:
- Sean Jones, Warren Wolf, and some of the other faculty
- He really wanted a university with elite academics to go with an awesome jazz program.
Peabody won on both of those. There are some other specific things which I can DM you about, none of which are bad things about New School. He doesn’t have a problem with Baltimore itself, plus it’s easy enough to get to NY when he wants to go, plus he used to go to DC regularly before the pandemic. So there’s lot of variety in cities musically, culturally, and socially within easy reach.
I should add that @JeJeJe made some excellent comments. My son didn’t apply to NEC because of qualification #2 above, but we heard similar things about the school from friends whose kids applied there and researched it thoroughly.
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NEC has corss-registration with Northeastern which is next door. There may also be other cross-registration opportunities, not sure, but I know for sure that NEC students can take classes at Northeastern and vice-versa.
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