<p>This is my first post. First, thanks for all the information I have received so far by reading posts for a few weeks on music auditions, NMF, etc.</p>
<p>My D would like to study Vocal Performance - Soprano and Music Ed. She just found out she is a National Merit Semifinalist. Of course none of the schools she was looking at are National Merit schools. There is a long list of schools that give great Scholarships for NMF that have music so I would like her to add one or two to her list. </p>
<p>She is currently looking at Oberlin - VP and MMT, Ithaca - double major in 4.5 years, and our state flagship. There are a few other small private schools that have sent her the free app letters, but given audition schedules, there are only so many that can be on the list.</p>
<p>Has anyone else in music been in this position and researched which schools on the NMF list would be a good choice for VP and Music Ed?</p>
<p>USC (Southern California) offers automatic 1/2 tuition plus a few thousand merit scholarships for NMF’s. Northwestern used to offer a small $2500 per year NMF award. It’s possible that Vanderbilt offers something - I know they have a lot of merit scholarships (I have no idea how they are for Voice Performance, however.)</p>
<p>On the other hand - I’m not sure that any of the schools I just mentioned offer Music Education. Does she want to be a grade school music teacher - or is she thinking about something else?</p>
<p>musicmerit,
I can’t answer the question about merit but I can tell good things about the vocal ed/performance double at Ithaca. A good friend’s daughter is in the program as a freshman and loving it. It was her first choice and she did early decision. My s is also a freshman double cello/composition major at Ithaca this year and is very happy with the music school. We live in the area and are very well acquainted IC and I could likely answer other IC questions for you. I do know that IC music ed grads are very highly regarded.</p>
<p>There is a thread in the National Merit Scholarships forum that lists schools that offer full tuition or more to NMF. We would certainly like to consider an offer like that, but there is limited time, so I wondered if any other music majors had already looked at that list to compare music programs. Ex. West Virgina, University of South Carolina, UCF.</p>
<p>Yes, she is probably aiming for K-12 ed, but would also like to focus on performance.</p>
<p>She really likes Ithaca too and my brother lives close by. I don’t know what the final price will be, or what the audition results will be. Since some of the NMF scholarships are full rides, I feel like we should at least compare free to not free.</p>
<p>Just in case there is a question the NMScholarship at SC is for admitted students. A NMScholar, after admission, will receive a half tuition scholarship from USC as well as a NMScholarship of $1000 per year. If a student qualifies, it is possible to receive financial aid in addition to the scholarship. In the class just enrolled there were 251 freshmen National Merit Scholars. </p>
<p>There is a long list of other merit scholarship for incoming students. These are highly competitive.</p>
<p>CC did a weird thing. My post, listed at #1 was actually in response to musicmerit’s post which is at #2! </p>
<p>If USC: South Carolina offers a full ride, there is a poster on here whose son has just started there in the music school. That’s definitely one worth looking into. Florida State rather than UCF is the university in Florida we hear the most about for its music school.</p>
<p>The University of Arizona has an excellent scholarship for NMF:
Non-Arizona Scholars: $30,000 per academic year + one-time iPad + one-time $1,500 Study Abroad Award.
That covers tuition, fees and a good portion of room and board.</p>
<p>Eastman gives $2000 per year for NM and additional merit aid to all applicants. They have an excellent VP department and are very strong in Music Ed as well.</p>