My Situation

<p>I've been accepted into Marianna Busching's studio at Peabody (undergrad voice-soprano). I did not receive any merit money and we do not qualify for any financial aid. I have received very generous scholarships elsewhere (at schools I am far less enthusiastic about), so I'm hoping something can be done about the lack of money from Peabody if I inform admissions. Ideally, I would have liked to receive some merit money, but Peabody is basically my dream school and I was just happy to get in at all. Does anyone have any info/guidance about Busching and/or Peabody for undergraduate sopranos? </p>

<p>Other schools I've been accepted to are:
Boston Conservatory
San Francisco Conservatory (with decent scholarship)- Sylvia Anderson's studio
Catholic University of America (with scholarship- don't know amount yet)
University of Denver (with very nice scholarship)</p>

<p>Can your parents afford to send you without incurring debt? Go to the best voice teacher at the lowest cost. All are reputable schools. Good luck!</p>

<p>Congratulations on your Peabody acceptance! It seems to be a very nice conservatory. I’ve heard a few negative things about Baltimore on CC. I don’t understand that sentiment. It has its very rough neighborhoods. But it’s a really cool city, too. And I love Maryland, in general!</p>

<p>My son is, obviously, not a soprano! But we met with Marianna Busching last summer for a long voice lesson and getting-to-know-you session. My son really, really liked her and would have loved to study with her. I adored what I saw in her. She seemed to be an excellent teacher and a very warm human being. She seemed extremely knowledgeable. Like so many great teachers, she is into protecting the young voice. She is also a very interesting person with lots of unique experiences under her belt. She was also very accommodating over the phone and via email.</p>

<p>There are only two reasons my son didn’t apply to Peabody – 1) money; we heard from a good source who shall remain nameless that Peabody does not have a lot of money to distribute in the form of scholarships, and that they’re not known for their financial aid, and 2) he thought it would be logistically difficult to get back and forth to JHU for a double degree.</p>

<p>If money were not a factor, Marianna Busching would have been somewhere near the top of his list.</p>

<p>Based on our conversations with people who would know, chances are that not many scholarships were given out at all. So you’re probably not alone.</p>

<p>This is of course going to be a very personal choice for you. And a lot of it depends on whether you or your parents can afford Peabody without going into a lot of debt, or whether debt is a problem for you and your parents.</p>

<p>For us, we cannot afford much in the way of college and we want to steer clear of debt as much as we can. So, my son is going to attend a school other than his dream school in order to avoid debt. He has many very good options with many excellent teachers, so any of the schools that want him are more than palatable to him. You seem to have an extensive list of excellent possibilities as well! Good luck with your decision!</p>

<p>DD was accepted into her studio a couple of years ago, too, and we had the same issues. Between DD’s desire to be more involved in a university setting and the money, they are not known for much merit aid, she turned it down. However, Marianna Busching was the only one at Peabody that was recommended by DD’s voice teacher at the time.</p>

<p>While it is true that Peabody is one of the schools known for having a lot less money to give out, I have known of at least one instance where a student was a able to negotiate financial help from them after originally being offered nothing. It can help to let them know that you have other choices and offers of merit money at those places. Good luck!</p>

<p>We liked the U of Denver people, but didn’t apply because of distance/location.</p>

<p>My daughter is a freshman vp student of Marianna Busching’s. Feel free to PM me if you’d like some information. It’s favorable, by the way!</p>

<p>Congratulations on your acceptances!</p>