<p>Most major State universities now have a strong jazz program so I would say that a preference for private teacher and location of the college may be key. University of North Texas and William Patterson U in NJ are two of the most famous and well regarded jazz programs in colleges. Many of the big conservatories such as Julliard, Manhattan School of Music, New England Conservatory and Eastman are well regarded for jazz as well along with the New School for Jazz and Berklee. DePaul in Chicago is in a very safe residential area and has a good jazz program. Three schools with strong jazz programs not mentioned yet that I was very impressed with during my visits were UNLV in Las Vegas, Rutgers in NJ and Duquesne in Pittsburgh. I would spend some time on the web sites and see who teaches your instrument at these colleges and see if their style fits in with your style. IU does not have any jazz concerts the week you would visit but know at least one of the four big jazz bands rehearses each day so you may be able to arrange to watch for a while to see if it interests you.</p>
<p>For what it’s worth, just wanted to correct that Oberlin Conservatory’s Jazz studies major was begun in 1989. It is a long-established program, with a beautiful new jazz building that will open May 1.</p>
<p>Again, the student who is interested in New School will probably not be the same one interested in Eastman, since the predominant styles are entirely different. Similarly, Berklee is very large for some instruments (great opportunities for some kids—not all) and Peabody has a very small jazz program (great for some kids, but some will outgrow it). Northwestern still doesn’t have all its instrumentation (maybe this year it does? Last year it didn’t). </p>
<p>It’s awesome that there are so many jazz programs now, but they really vary tremendously in style (more traditional to more innovative), caliber of student (a huge difference), location (for gigging opportunities) etc. Different students’ needs will not be met in all settings, so it is really important to do lots of research. And ask a lot of questions!</p>
<p>The approach we took was to start with the Peterson’s Guide for Performing Arts Majors which lists many of the college jazz programs. After that, I thoroughly read the thread on this forum called Best University Jazz Programs (which I would link to if I knew how). Obviously, not all of the programs mentioned were appropriate to what my S was looking for, but as said before, this is a journey, and those names provided a starting point for further research. After we had names of specific schools in mind, another resource we used is the education link on the Jazz Times website. It lists way more programs than you need since I think it must include every college that has a jazz band, and a lot of the information is outdated. Nevertheless, what I thought was most helpful was that it includes the number of jazz majors each program has relative to the total number music majors. From the school websites, it’s often hard to tell what size the program is. Once we had a list to go on, my S and I did research on the school websites.</p>
<p>The link jazzkat mentioned, and a couple more:</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/154774-best-university-jazz-programs.html?highlight=jazz[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/154774-best-university-jazz-programs.html?highlight=jazz</a>
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/807072-looking-good-jazz-studies-performance-program.html?highlight=jazz[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/807072-looking-good-jazz-studies-performance-program.html?highlight=jazz</a>
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/714814-jazz-studies-pros-cons-these-schools.html?highlight=jazz[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/714814-jazz-studies-pros-cons-these-schools.html?highlight=jazz</a>
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/651411-liberal-arts-colleges-w-strong-jazz-performance-programs.html?highlight=jazz[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/651411-liberal-arts-colleges-w-strong-jazz-performance-programs.html?highlight=jazz</a></p>
<p>University of Wisconsin Eau Claire Jazz Band I has been nominated for a Grammy and has won the best college big band award in Down Beat magazine several times. UWEC is a good bet. Beautiful campus as well.</p>