Hi! My son has been accepted to so many great schools. Our top pick is Mannes, second is Purchase. Obviously one is way more affordable than the other but we are hoping for some financial aid. Apart from the cost, can anyone share their thoughts on major differences? While he has not had many years of serious training, he is a very hard worker and I have no doubt he will survive at either. I love the idea of a smaller school, it would suit his personality and social skills best. He loves multi media projects. He’s not really the big college type. Any insight would be great. Thanks!
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Tough one! Assuming that so far Purchase is more affordable, but that you have appealed at Mannes.
Mannes is small, but part of New School. Then again, music within the larger Purchase may feel personalized. I don’t really know but that is something to explore.
Locations are obviously different with Mannes right in the city.
Would his interest in multi media projects fare better at Purchase?
Purchase of course offers interdisciplinary work with dancers, theater, film. Mannes does too, in collaboration with the Graham dance company and their site says:
“Don’t just learn how to play your instrument, learn how to perform. Develop your talent alongside peers from the College of Performing Arts, Parsons, and across The New School to create multi-disciplinary projects with theater directors, designers, and media students. Record an album with jazz students. Improvise on your instrument along with actors. You’ll never run out of opportunities to grow and showcase your talent in new and original ways.”
But if his interests go beyond performance on his instrument, Purchase has many programs he might be able to take advantage of in multi-media projects Academics • Purchase College Their programs in studio production, new media and interdisciplinary arts might offer resources for him.
I think it depends on cost, his preferred location, and what kind of mix he wants for performance as well as any other interests like multi-media work. And new School may offer the same resources in a less centralized fashion so it will need some research and communication.
Others may know more but I just wanted to share some thoughts until those with direct experience come on to help.
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Clearly Purchase is much cheaper. Although not in the city it is only a 30 minute train ride to Grand Central. I would look at the faculty and see where the similarities or differences are. My D is in the Opera program and at least one of her professors teaches at both Purchase and Mannes. The reputations are similar so what does your S want ultimately. Many people discuss need not to go into big debt in education vs opportunities available. For Opera program saving money and clear opportunities made choice for us and now money for grad school is not a limitation.
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Thanks! Yes, we have appealed at Mannes. I’ve been trying to find out more about Purchase but it’s not easy. Mannes has had some great interactive events with the faculty and other students asking questions. It really gave me that small personalized feeling. The faculty and the Dean have reached out to him to answer any questions we had. He’s already been assigned his teacher and gotten to talk to him. They also put him in contact with one of his students to email questions to. He’s reached out to one of the teachers at Purchase multiple times with no answer. No specific teacher assigned, no student to talk to. Mannes has joined with Parsons and Eugene Lang and they told us that the students collaborate, doing projects. They said that lately many of the students have been cross collaborating and they encourage it. Plus they can take select classes at the other schools if they want. Just the difference of the communication is making me feel like he will be in a sea of students at Purchase, whereas at Mannes, he will have a more personal connection with the school.
We live in Florida, so he doesn’t know anything about either area. I lived in NYC many years ago and loved it. I know that the first year dorms for Mannes are minutes away from the school in a nice area. He loves Broadway so that’s a bonus.
I don’t know anything about the area where Purchase is but I heard it’s beautiful. Hoping maybe I can find someone to chime in about the city where it is and surrounding area. We can’t get up there before the decision date so I’m going by what I know about NYC and trying to find out all I can virtually, which has been really tough! Websites only give you so much.
Thank you for all your input!
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Purchase is in a beautiful area but there is not a town as such right at the campus. Basically the campus is surrounded by trees. You need to drive or take the bus to the surrounding areas. White Plains is the closest big city - around 15 minutes but there are lots of little town close. Greenwich CT is s few miles away as well. Not sure why you are not getting a response. Try sending email to Dean of School as well as professors directly. The music conservatory is on campus right now (the rest of school (non conservatories) are not on campus but online). Your kid most likely will live on campus all 4 years. The area around Purchase is one of the most expensive in all of the US and therefore close apartments are expensive. My kid has a car to get around. Happy to discuss more if needed but I can’t really discuss directly a double bass major.
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He had gotten an email from one of the teachers asking if he was yes to talk and my son responded several times and never heard back. He does not have a car and will not have one while he’s there. He would live on campus at Mannes if he went there for the 4 years as well. Room and board is about the same price believe it or not.
I know from the website some of the dorms at Purchase will be closed for freshman next year. For some reason I had a hard time figuring out what was in the dorms. I know Mannes has a small kitchen shared by 2 rooms (4 people). Do they have the same thing in the Purchase dorms? I love the idea of a kitchen. My daughter has one in her dorm at her school and it made a big difference.
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He received some scholarship money and we are hoping for a financial aid appeal due to extenuating circumstances so if that happens, it will put the cost between the two schools pretty close. We were hoping for some kind of aid from Purchase but got nothing.
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It sounds like Mannes is a good choice given what you have written, as long as the price comes down enough.
Several years ago we looked into Purchase- it is an excellent conservatory for both music and dance, and relatively affordable for out of staters. But we also heard it is a “suitcase” school meaning many leave for the weekend, but don’t know if that is true. We did not find the campus “beautiful” and did not explore the surrounding areas much because we were dealing with a clear preference for the city (and no car). But also know some people who have loved Purchase and thrived afterward.
Mannes is a top notch place and they have really added a lot of pluses since we looked, including moving, dorms, interdisciplinary work and generally a more progressive outlook.
These schools do share faculty, as someone above wrote, but I think there are such clear differences in location and vibe that it might be a clear choice, one way or the other, if the financials are equall.
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The dorm set up is 2 student per bathroom. Currently incoming freshmen will be housed in upper classman dorms. Purchase has about 900 students on campus right now (basically the conservatories) as they need to have in person classes. Currently plan in fall is to double this as a transistion to bringing everyone back. If vaccination rates looks good they may switch to full in fall but right now plan is to transistion. There is a campus loop that he can take off campus to get into White Plains, train station, grocery etc. No kitchen for freshman - he will need a meal plan.
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Thank you. I actually had no idea what everyone meant by a suitcase school! That’s definitely something to consider since he’s coming from Florida and doesn’t know anyone and will not have a car.
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No kitchen at all in the dorm? Not even one for the floor? What about a fridge/cooktop…anything?
Also, I know Mannes is requiring vaccinations, everything in Fall is in person. My son already has his…is Purchase requiring them? I would hope they would at least require the students living in the dorms to be vaccinated?
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But check this with posters who know…I don’t like to pass on hearsay as truth 
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Sorry - there is a shared kitchen if you want to cook - there is not a kitchen in each room. You don’t need a car to get around because of campus bus. Purchase is NOT requiring vaccinations. Remember they are part of the SUNY system which is NOT requiring vaccinations. Difference between private and public school most likely. Though every kid in my D conservatory has the vaccine or on their way. Purchase organized transportation to vaccination clinics nearby in White Plains.
You can rent a fridge/microwave so there is “cooking” possibility.
As for campus emptying out on weekends - not our experience pre-pandemic. Of course people go into the city but plenty of people also stay on campus. Sl different this year but I fully expect next year to be more open. There is a center on campus the students can hang out and just like any normal college there are clubs and activities (which again I expect to be more active next year but not this year).
Check out the website - lots of useful information here and other pages - https://www.purchase.edu/covid-19-updates-and-plans/fall-2021-plan/
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Glad to see my “hearsay” corrected . Direct experience is what should be trusted here
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Thank you! I’ve been searching for videos and info and for some reason it’s hard to find. Looks like not all the dorms are going to be open. One last question. I saw something that said there’s no air conditioning in the rooms. Is that true??
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I’m going to throw one more thing out there if any of you have comments…he has also been accepted to Queens college for music. Pretty much the same price as Purchase. Their website is absolutely horrible. Most of the links I click on take me to an error page. This school has also given nothing for financial aid. It looks like the housing is apartments that look like dorms, and they look pretty nice. This is another school that we can’t get in touch with anyone, and even if you call, you just have to leave a message and no one calls you back. Can anyone weigh in on the program/campus, etc.?
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Look at this page for housing - Upperclass Residence Halls • Living On Campus • Purchase College The upperclass housing is what the freshman will be housed in. Yes there is no air conditioning in some dorms. Its NY and they are only really warm in Aug/Sept and then again in May. We had a small fan for our D room and that was fine. My Fla native husband recommends a good coat!!
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The campus itself is not beautiful but it is surrounded by a nice tree area and the local area has lots of nice parks. The buildings on campus leave something to be desired but my D picked because Opera program is world-class.
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I lived in NYC and had no AC and by March/April it was brutal. It was a long time ago and it seems like it stays colder there longer so hopefully that’s the case!
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