Hi! I’m currently a high school junior, stressing about college (typical) and my future. Please help me 
So my ~dream~ at the moment is to be a songwriter, and my biggest inspiration is a Belmont University Songwriting Major graduate… as you can see, I was VERY convinced Belmont was the place to be. I love Belmont, the community, and atmosphere, but I have an issue… I LOVE NYU AND NEW YORK! I have always been infatuated with New York since as long as I can remember and NYU was my dreams school until I found Belmont. Now I’m super torn 
My plan is to get a Music and Communications degree, aka, be a double major. At Belmont, a Songwriting major is offered, which is so compelling and a huge selling point for me. Plus, the Nashville area is RAVED about because of the opportunities and being a beautiful, busy city after all. NYU offers a more… rigorous course by the name of Music Theory and Composition: Concentration in Contemporary Production and Songwriting. I prefer Belmont’s course (or at least what I’ve heard of it) because it’s very SONGWRITING focused and thus, you don’t “need” much more than being able to write good songs to get into the competitive program. On the other hand, NYU requires you to be able to write score and be more musically adept. I find it unnecessary to be able to compose formally with NYU’s program when I just want to songwrite/lyric write. I’d be willing to learn, however. Lastly, the location is another sucker. I love New York (already stated) but I still need to visit Nashville in order to feel for it. I love the busy city and skyscrapers, and I’m not sure if I’ll love Nashville the same. However, Nashville is said to be better for getting gigs. Any locals/people who’ve been to both who can give a recommendation?
Thanks so much! xx
No personal knowledge, but Belmont is significantly cheaper than NYU. Is that a factor for you? NYU’s calculator gives me a COA of about $71,000. Belmont starts at about $46,000 and seems to have more likelihood for merit too.
Have you read through the required course list for both majors? I find that pretty helpful, to see what courses you would have to take and how appealing they sound to you.
I am also considering Belmont for songwriting! I have seen NYU a couple times as well. I think you still have some time to think about it. I think a lot changes once you get accepted. My best friend is a senior and was greatly torn between two schools she loved as well. She said the thing that really made up her mind was going to accepted students day at each school. That’s when you really get a feel of home at your school. I think that us, as juniors, have some time to think about it and things change I guess we need to just wait and see.
Also, I know Belmont is significantly smaller, and has less of a party scene. Nashville is an amazing city, and is growing greatly. Lots of opportunities for music there, not as competitive as New York is for that. New York is also veery expensive. Money, as a college student, is very important to consider.
I have a friend that goes to NYU for fashion and absolutely loves it but she definitely faces her fair share of struggles living in a TINY New York apartment and paying outrageous amounts of money to attend (she comes from a wealthy family so if you aren’t you’ll likely need to seriously look into if you can afford it). Belmont is my friend’s dream school (she wants to be a country music producer) and from what I’ve heard it is the place to be if you want to go into the music business. Nashville is a super cool city but like NY, it just depends on the person whether they will like it. Good luck in choosing! They are both good schools and I’m sure you’ll do well at either.
Firstly, thanks so much for your help! I read through the courses and found that Belmont was very much more oriented around songwriting, lyrics, production, etc. while on the other hand NYU was more theory and scoring based… I prefer Belmont’s programs, but it’s tough at the moment haha
@ogk332000 lol if we both end of going to Belmont for songwriting IM GOING TO SCREAM :)) but yeah I hope my brain will finally decide when decisions come in thanks for the advice <3
@trump2020 yeah New York breaks the bank (sigh) but I’m so glad to hear that yeah the decision is killing me right now lol but your advice will def help me in the future :’) also, thanks so much, that’s so nice of you to say that