<p>@Bassdad, don’t get me wrong, you’re doing a great service for everyone on here. For most music majors, it’s the package that counts - but it sure is helpful to separate out financial aid, academic scholarship, and music/talent scholarship dollars and I wish people would state it that way. For example, one can get in a music school with no talent scholarship, but academic only which they probably could have gotten at other similar schools…very hard to do objective assessments.</p>
<p>@StoneMagic, yes, Hartt also has a GigLine. And I know Peabody posts job openings and gigs through their career services office.</p>
<p>StoneMagic,</p>
<p>You are welcome to make that request. Personally, I am not certain how much good it will do you, even if a reasonable fraction of the people who post here comply.</p>
<p>I think there are so many variables involved as to make an objective assessment pretty well impossible. Need-based awards are distributed on the basis of multi-page forms that appear to have been designed by the IRS in league with the Office of the Inquisition. The outputs of these financial dossiers are further massaged by some schools, with the amount of determined need quite often reduced by some arbitrary percentage and then parceled out in allotments of varying size, some of which require financial repayment involving different interest rates and repayment schedules, some of which do not require repayment, and some of which involve part-time employment of an unspecified nature that may or may not turn out to be relevant to the curriculum. And heaven help you if you are divorced, happen to own a farm or your own business, or even worse all three. I would never expect anyone to divulge enough information here to allow others to draw any valid conclusions whatsoever concerning need-based aid, so I don’t even bother asking.</p>
<p>Talent-based awards begin with a series of subjective judgments made from listening to applicants playing a variety of pieces on a variety of different instruments over a period of several weeks to several months, then are subject to adjustment according to the expected needs of the school for the upcoming year, only to be further tweaked by political infighting among studios, the various areas within the music department and other departments within the school as a whole. </p>
<p>Academic awards may or may not have a component that is formulaic ($X for a certain GPA and SAT score, $Y for the next tier, and so on), but there are generally other components that are offered or withheld at the discretion of the financial aid officer based on the perceived desirability of the applicant and their likelihood of matriculation. There can be awards for community service, for being a legacy and for just happening to meet all the criteria set down by someone who endowed a very specific award decades ago.</p>
<p>Consider further, that when setting the amount of need-based aid, many schools will take into account the amount of any talent-based or academic-based awards already received. In some cases, there would be little difference in the overall cost whether or not the talent and academic awards were given at all.</p>
<p>Finally, as recent events have suggested, not all of our data is valid. Some falsehoods are obvious, others may not be so easily detected. Personally, I feel that the best we can do is pool information to get an idea of which schools are willing to offer discounts and which are not, and to get a feel for the range of what they have offered over the years. Trying to make comparisons between schools or even between offers made to different applicants at the same school is more likely to lead to frustration than enlightenment.</p>
<p>Just tagging onto BassDad - what we also found when D (3 years ago) went through this process (non-talent based) was that there are “merit” awards that are based on financial aid. D received the “Presidential” at her uni only to find out that a student that was not nearly as strong all the way around - received double the award, also called “Presidential”. After she called her admission counselor, it was explained that D had received the maximum allowed for a non-need student. The other was based on financial need and sure enough, there it was on the finaid website. So the point is - each school distributes “merit” differently and just looking from the outside would have told you that D was not as strong a candidate as the other student. Probably too hard for even the posters here to know for sure when they receive the awards.</p>
<p>Just and fyi for music students/parents - son was contacted by finaid at MSM for not applying - in that email he was informed that the most he could get for merit was $7k. If he applied for aid, the potential was up to full tuition.</p>
<p>Well said BassDad. Also keep in mind, if the school does not have money in one area and they wish to attract the student, they may find and offer funds from another. S had three schools come back with additional scholarships, not FA, after their first offers. I believe this is important to note as it gives you an indication of which schools are willing to add to the kitty and gives future applicants an idea of the potential flexibility of awards at those schools.</p>
<p>I wanted to apply to the top music conservatories for a major in piano performance, but I didn’t have the time to memorize more pieces because I decided a little too late to be a music major:(</p>
<p>The only ones I applied to were Chapman, CSUF, CSULB, CSUN, & SDSU; got accepted into all of them for music. </p>
<p>I posted this in the CSUF section, but I’ll post this here too. </p>
<p>I wanted to get some advice for music (piano performance) major with Eduardo Delgado ([Eduardo</a> Delgado - Pianist - Home](<a href=“http://www.eduardodelgado.com%5DEduardo”>http://www.eduardodelgado.com)) as my piano teacher. I will be going to Cal State Fullerton in the fall as a college freshman. I was wondering if it would be better to finish all 4 years and get my Bachelor’s of Music, and THEN apply to music conservatories for my master’s? Or would it be also okay to transfer in 2 years to a music conservatory?</p>
<p>Thank you:)</p>
<p>@emilyyt- this question really should be moved to its own thread, but since I’m here, we’ll try this and it can be moved later on.
Switching teachers half way through your 4 years can be very disruptive and if you are getting on well with him and making good progress, then I wouldn’t consider transferring. Attending a conservatory for grad school is certainly possible, but also keep in mind that you might have to “make up” some music theory and music history courses then- but it all depends upon how the curricula of two schools mesh. It’s done all the time though, so try to look ahead and plan your undergrad schedule to make optimal use of what’s available to you.</p>
<p>Congratulations to emilyyt. I have you listed as accepted to the BM in piano Performance program at each school you mention. Please let me know if that is not correct.</p>
<p>My son has been accepted as a jazz bassist at Berklee ($10k award) and New School ($0). He really wants to be in NY and I can’t blame him. However, when I mention New School to some music people, they wrinkle their nose. I have been trying to research why this is. The few things I have read here are; inconsistency in private instruction and distance between dorm and class room. I would appreciate any other comments.</p>
<p>Personally, I prefer Berklee (although I am doing my best not to be too obvious). The atmosphere seemed, for lack of a better word, warmer. We sat in on an ensemble at New School during our visit and they were terrible.</p>
<p>Perhaps I would feel warmer to New School if they could cough up some more money.</p>
<p>Congratulations to nonmusicdad and son.</p>
<p>Oh I understand the differences and issues with each level of aid and scholarship - and I also agree it will be impossible to obtain (1) complete honesty and (2) a separation of “church and state” so to speak. With no way to verify anything, it will always include a bit of specualtion. I suppose in the end it’s just wishful thinking, but one can dream…and it sure would be nice to know which schools give out how much to how many students for their musical talents alone. I guess it’s what I was really hoping to find, but alas it simply doesn’t and can’t really exist.</p>
<p>nonmusicdad - I pm’ed you</p>
<p>Stonemagic - yes, there are some huge differences listed. I can only assume they are either genius level talented students (which we have seen in person!) or these schools package merit or merit based aid to attract certain students they need/want. Yes, it is a guessing game.</p>
<p>@squiggles, I hear you…well I mean I read you! It’s just…</p>
<p>Squiggles, my son has narrowed his choices down to the New School and Loyola New Orleans (for bass). I would very much like to hear from you (or anyone!) who has anything to say about either school (pro or con).</p>
<p>Sent you a PM, mommabass.</p>
<p>Mommabass and Trumpetdad-I also was accepted to Loyola of New Orleans (voice major) as they gave me a nice financial package. I have two problems-one is that I truly do not know much about the music program down there (although I have visited the campus and had a voice lesson with one of the professor). </p>
<p>The second issue is that my first choice school, the University of Illinois in Champaign gave me absolutely nothing and I really wanted to work with Professor Watts-Davis. I just dont know if Illinois is worth taking out massive loans compared to Loyola of New Orleans.</p>
<p>Any insight?</p>
<p>Sent you the same PM, hoopstar.</p>
<p>Accepted to Eastman with 19k scholarship per year!</p>
<p>Congratulations lovetheviola. I am going to assume that this is for viola Performance unless you tell me otherwise.</p>
<p>D accepted to Eastman - 18K scholarship! Thought that D was close to making a decision until this latest acceptance - hopefully the decision will be made by the end of this week.</p>
<p>Congratulations to all the wonderful musicians on your hard work, dedication and talent and to all the parents whose love and support have made the dreams of studying at all these fine schools a reality!</p>
<p>BassDad, thank you for all that you do!</p>