<p>I am a junior in high school and have decided that I want to pursue a viola performance degree in college. This being said, I am also a twin to another violist (who intends in majoring in viola performance). We have decided that separate colleges would be best, but needless to say, two going in at one time is going to have a huge financial burden. Are there any schools that are pretty much gaurantees HUGE scholarship? We are both at the top of our all-state orchestra, and are enrolled in a very intense preparatory program. We are also very skilled academically.</p>
<p>We have looked into school such as : Boston University, Depaul University, Carnegie Mellon University, Indiana University, University of Maryland, Roosevelt University
, Lynn University</p>
<p>(We are leaning towards not going to pure conservatories, preferably in an urban environment)</p>
<p>Any suggestions? </p>
<p>Thank you! (Please feel free to ask me any additional q's)</p>
<p>The Hartt School gives generous scholarships and has a terrific viola program, although the academics at University of Hartford leave something to be desired.</p>
<p>Southern Methodist University located in Dallas has a very good music program. Both viola teachers play in the Dallas Symphony and are outstanding teachers. SMU gives generous academic aid in addition to talent and need based aid.</p>
<p>If there are two of you in college, you will qualify for more financial aid, unless your family has enough money they can afford to send you both to college at full freight. I wouldn’t worry about the money aspect until after you see the offers - both for merit and for need. Private universities in general are more generous with aid, but there are always exceptions - especially for academic and musically gifted students. Instead at this point you should focus on the best music program for yourself. My advice is to apply to a range of schools - from large to small, public to private, in state and out. For instance, the best possible aid is from the Ivies such as Princeton and Yale - neither of which offer a BM in Performance, but both of which offer a serious musical education with top-quality peers.</p>
<p>The University of Southern California, home to the Thornton School of Music, offers a range of merit scholarships. These are highly competitive. If admitted, National Merit Scholars receive a half tuition four year scholarship plus a $1000 per year NMFoundation Scholarship. If a student qualifies and fills out the financial aid forms by the deadline, he/she can also receive a financial aid package.</p>
<p>The Thornton School has some scholarships for particular majors. Ticheli and Lauridsen have donated composition scholarships. There are the new Alice Schoenfeld strings scholarships just announced this week. Offered also are some memorial smaller scholarships as well as alumni scholarships.</p>
<p>Some of the strings faculty at Thornton are:</p>
<p>Midori Oto-Chair
Holder of the Jascha Heifetz Chair in Violin
Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences</p>
<p>Ralph Kirshbaum- Cello
Holder of the Gregor Piatigorsky Chair in Violincello</p>
<p>Alice Schoenfeld-Violin
Holder of the Schoenfeld Chair in Violin</p>
<p>Glenn Dicterow-Violin
Holder of the Robert Mann Chair in Strings and Chamber Music</p>
<p>Che-Yen-Chen-Viola
Recipient of the Amadeus Prize
First prize winner of the William Primrose Viola Competition
Member of the Avalon String Quartet</p>
<p>Viola faculty also include Karen Dreyfus, Don McGinnis and William Skeen (Viola da gamba).</p>
<p>CIM has one of the best string departments in the country and the viola staff all hold chairs in the Cleveland Orchestra- the importance of that can not be overlooked due to the great connections it provides. Yes, it’s a conservatory but the academics are important and since it sits on the campus of Case Western, you can take classes there. Everyone gets an orchestral position immediately since there are two full orchestras as well as chamber music requirements and chances to play for the operas or conducting labs.
While no one could ever tell you that you would be “guaranteed” a scholarship, the school does provide some generous help and I’ve known of a couple of groups of siblings who attended CIM at the same time, which did provide another option for enhanced financial aid.
Feel free to PM me if you have any questions.</p>
<p>Don’t write off Texas. UNT has a very good viola teacher and though not a private institution, has a reputation for finding ways of making things work. Be sure to keep your academics up and don’t settle for OK ACT or SAT scores. Most state schools max out with music merit aid pretty fast but offer academic scholarships that can make things affordable. With a little research on school web sites you can figure out who is going to have money next year and who is going to have openings. We are waiting for audition results and packages from schools and in the end we figured out one thing: this process is not as opaque as it seems when you start.</p>
<p>RE: UNT…When my daughter was auditioning 4 years ago if you got at least $1000 scholarship it made you eligible for in state tuition…big saving. Is this still available? My daughter did receive this but not until way late in the process…In fact She did’t get her notification until she had already accepted another school…which was fine as she had decided the conservatory route was best for her.</p>
<p>I echo the suggestions for UNT. S just auditioned there this past Saturday and they have great financial packages. And there are an excellent music school. Also don’t forget you own state schools. Not only are they cheaper but they also give scholarships.
And we too are now in that awful holding pattern known as the waiting game!!!</p>
<p>What are your PSAT scores? DO you expect to be NMSFs? CCM and ASU both have large automatic scholarships(full tuition/fees for ASU and almost that much for OOS at CCM) for NMFs and decent music schools. Don’t know anything about viola profs particularly though.</p>
<p>Also, re UMichigan, my D has a friend who was first viola in our university run youth orchestra, played in the actual university orchestra in HS and took several classes there as a senior, organized chamber music group with concerts, opera singer, etc. all by himself every summer, NMF, just amazing person. He told her Michigan really wanted him but they told him $15,000/yr scholarship was the most they were allowed to offer. That is a very nice scholarship, except that Michigan costs over $50,000/yr. It depends on what you mean by ‘huge scholarship.’ Michigan does not meet need for OOS, as they admitted in the parent meeting at auditions last month, not sure what you can get beyond a merit scholarship.</p>
<p>celesteroberts - a few years ago now, but my son was offered more than that in music merit money as an OOS student at U Michigan, and then an academic scholarship in addition - to almost cover full tuition. I think a top student - in both academics and music can find Michigan affordable.</p>
<p>@ SpiritManager- Oh, well maybe they weren’t being straight with him. Do you recall the name of the academic scholarship was that your son was awarded at Michigan? I know they have a $20,000/yr for engineering, but thought that was a newer thing. There is the $10,000/yr Jean Fairfax for diversity, the Shipman that is soooo hard to get and have to go to scholarship day to compete against other finalists if chosen. Are there others?</p>
<p>I think sometimes schools make things happen for students whom they really really want. SpiritManager’s son is a bit of a phenom in his discipline. It also matters which department you are auditioning for.</p>
<p>Ah. I see. Well, then one has to have to have a realistic idea of how one stands among one’s peers to know the probability of snagging some of these unusually large awards. I know nothing, but in our town, at least, strings and piano seem the most competitive, though there are fewer violists than other strings. But there are many really really good string players and pianists overall. Somewhat fewer saxophones and just a smattering of bassoons. Lots of trumpets, but not so many who are at the top. Anyway, if you are not the very very best, then it seems to me to get good scholarships you have to focus your sights on schools that will value you at the level you are. That is what D’s friend ultimately did. Just like with academics, getting in is one thing but getting merit money is another. I guess if you aren’t sure where you stand you can just apply to a variety of places and see who offers you money. But I’m just muddling along picking up what I can as we go. BassDad’s ‘so you want to be a music major’ thread has been invaluable and also much else I read here from experienced musical families.</p>
<p>Actually my D is wind player, applying for oboe, but also plays bassoon, sax, clarinet, et al. She did play cello in elementary school for 2 years and dabbled in guitar but decided she was not fundamentally a string player. She is stronger academically than musically, but wants to pursue music. So who am I to decide, just along for the ride. Since she didn’t aim too high, she’s been accepted at several places. But I look to academic scholarships to help pay the costs, not musical ones. If she gets anything for music we’ll be pleasantly surprised.</p>
<p>But about viola, in our university run youth orchestras they are trying to get kids to switch to ‘endangered instruments’ and have run clinics where kids try out viola and bassoon.</p>