<p>I'm sharing solely for the purpose of helping others plan realistically. D is not conservatory level. We purposely looked for schools where her violin would be considered an asset perhaps worth paying for. A notch higher and we would have been more concerned about getting in at all, rather than getting merit. Even with this merit, note the cost of attendance left to us. A notch lower may have yielded higher scholarships. We chose a compromise we were comfortable with. It is an inexact science. We scoured websites for quality violin teachers at lesser known programs. We visited campuses looking for a certain sparkle or exclamation at the news that D was a violinist. "Oh! We need violinists!" was music to our ears.</p>
<p>Miami U of OH - $8500 violin, $7850 out of state merit
Furman - $10,000 violin
Allegheny - $12,500 merit
St. Olaf - $7500 merit, $4000 violin
Denison - $15000 merit, $1000 violin</p>
<p>All great schools. Cost of attendance at Miami will be significantly less than the others, ($16k vs. $25-30k elsewhere) hence she is going there. All these scholarships are annual, renewable all four years.</p>
<p>This process has been very different from our conservatory son's - In his case, it was all about the music, and his goal was to get in to the very best school (for him) possible without concern for cost. He also received merit at his schools, for which we are thankful. He is also attending where he received the most (Juilliard) but it was also his favorite, which made the decision easy.</p>
<p>Great thread and this will helpful to all. </p>
<p>You mention that you scoured websites for quality violin teachers at lesser known programs. My question to that is, how does one know IF a teacher is quality? We will be going thru this same process as you describe (cello teachers) and other than what I glean from the school's website, how would I know?</p>
<p>I would suggest you arrange for a lesson and see for yourself the quality of the teaching. It is also interesting to "google" the names of a teacher -through that we learned who my son's prospective and now assigned teacher studied with -and who some of her students are and have been.</p>
<p>Because of parental salaries and FAFSA - my son was not eligible for any need-based aid. WE were thrilled to get a $12,000/yr merit scholarship at MSM - which pans out to be ~ 40% of the tuition costs for the year</p>
<p>I got started too late in the process to really do a good job of finding a variety of schools with teachers that might be of interest, but I have used Google repeatedly to search out information on the teachers at the schools on my daughter's radar. I've looked especially for websites of musicians who list that teacher as one of their principals as well as websites with evidence of professional activity outside of the university, both in performance and in professional associations. And for anything else that pops up which gives information about a potential teacher. </p>
<p>This research has definitely informed our decision making process. I only wish my daughter had decided on this path earlier so we could have been more thorough and sought out other potential teachers. This would have been especially helpful for us as she has different performance and academic goals than a musician whose goal is successful audition for a top orchestra.</p>
<p>Since my D had specific requirements for her second major -- desiring a variety of foreign languages, linguistics, and/or creative writing -- we first looked for schools that had good offerings there. Then we narrowed the list by looking for schools who would let non-major musicians play in their programs. Then we checked the faculty bios. Then we visited (all but St. Olaf, whom we chose by reputation alone) for trial lessons. Each step produced a shorter list.</p>
<p>Two years ago, daughter was offered $12K/year each by Oberlin and Peabody, no scholarship at all from NEC. The Oberlin award is renewable for up to five years for double degree students.</p>
<p>I finally got around to digging up S's results from 2004. Here they are:</p>
<p>CIM - $10,000
CCM - $9,000 academic (and was promised a music scholarship, but he declined admission before we learned what it would be)
Juilliard - $18,000</p>
<p>U. of Denver/Lamont School of Music: $4000 merit, I think the music portion was an additional $8-10,000.</p>
<p>Hartt- Peforming Arts scholarship- initial offer was $11,500 (half tuition) for five years (double major). They actually increased this to $13500 and $16000
for years 2 & 3, significanly more than the increase in tuition; years 4 & 5, auditioned for and made Honors chamber ensemble, Performance 20/20, which is full tuition, about $24,000. Thank the gods.</p>
<p>Oberlin- Accepted at the College, conservatory acknowledged receipt of his audition tape. We had to call them to find out admit status. They actually lost the tape, and would not accept a resend after me sending a fax copy of their acknowledgement letter receiving the tape. It took almost three weeks to get to someone to authorize a refund of application fees for what was their mistake.</p>
<p>Without this forum, as a first timer, how would we have known we actually would have been better off to audition in person? It would not have been easy financially, but knowing now what we didn't then, the money could have been found.</p>
<p>Actually, my son has had good luck with taped auditions... it worked back then for Lamont, and has brought a few fellowship opportunities since.</p>
<p>The wondrous part of this forum is (a) the pure willingness and (b) the depth of insight and time so many posters spend to offer advice in what is an extremely competitive field. Having lived through this flying blind, I'm more than happy to provide whatever I can of our experience.</p>
<p>Binx - Is that out of state merit at Miami based on SAT scores, or is regular merit money? I was thinking about the scholarship my son got at Ohio University. Thanks.</p>
<p>rudysmom- Looking for teachers: does son have a preference for orchestral, chamber, or solo work? Look for a teacher with the proper focus in that regard. Does he have a few favorite current performers whose style he likes? Find out who their teachers were, and who their students were and are teaching now.</p>
<p>Ask his current teacher, orchestra conductors, youth symphony administrators their thoughts and recommendations. </p>
<p>Once you've got a short list based on that type of criteria, financial aspects, potential distance, but most importantly student/instructor interaction will be your deciding factors. Sample lessons with the short list is pretty much a given.</p>
<p>^ On that topic, it is quite normal for a student to request the bio of a music teacher. Expected really. I'd want to know what schools they went to, what ensembles they've performed in, and what recordings (if any) they've done.</p>
<p>Weenie - All my D's acceptance letter said was that she would be considered for merit scholarships including NMF (which she wasn't even in the running) and "high achieving out of state" scholarships. They have never given us any details about cut offs or criteria. Someone on CC told me they were told it was guaranteed for any OOS student with an ACT of 29+ or SAT of 1280+ and top 15% of class. Technically, the OOS is $6850. The additional $1000 was from the Oxford Scholar Program (which is 1250 SAT and top 10%). That one burns me a bit, because I think she belongs in the Honors program (which is $2000 and preferential treatment.)</p>
<p>These scholarship offers to DS are from spring 2007, but may still be of interest this year:
Boston University CFA BU Grant $14100/year
Boston University CFA BU Performance Award $7500/year
Chicago College of Performing Arts Music Conservatory Scholarship $10k/year
Eastman School of Music Howard Hanson Scholarship $12k/year
Eastman School of Music Anne T Cummins Voice Scholarship $1k/year
Eastman School of Music Arthur Assum Scholarship $1k/year
Eastman School of Music Degaetani Scholarship $1k/year
Indiana University Jacobs School of Music Faculty Award 10k/year
University of Massachusetts Amherst Chancellors Talent Award full tuition</p>
<p>Sorry pressed the wrong button before completing the post.
...and full out of state tuition +$2000 Alumni Scholarship both for merit and an additional $2,000 for music at LSU
and Presidential Scholarship (full tuition, fees, and housing) for merit at University of Utah and a $400 music scholarship</p>