<p>Another perspective....</p>
<p>While I agree that Juilliard has the best reputation amongst non-musicians and Curtis among musicians, from overwhelming personal experience I would have to disagree with mamanyu that students choose top tier schools over teachers at lesser known schools. Amongst my child's friends, (she has very talented friends-I don't know of one that wasn't accepted into that circle of 4-5 top conservatories), quite a large minority chose to attend "less prestigous" schools, many of whom turned down some sensational monetary incentives. Note, I did say minority, not majority. But I, thinking at the time that no one turned down those schools, was stunned at how large this number was.</p>
<p>While I would also agree either of these 2 schools at the top provides the best music performance preparation to the largest number of students, it does not provide the best for everything. I specifically know of a recent graduate from one of these 2 schools that applied to a grad school at a lesser known school and was not accepted. That person intends to reapply again next year, stating that they think their best chance of a future on this instrument, lies with this teacher.</p>
<p>Which brings me to my conclusion. Forward-thinking students study with the teacher they feel will be best able to prepare them to win that audition at the orchestra job of their dreams. No matter where they are.</p>