I don’t know what ratings you are going by, but if you are going by the likes of US News and World report, I would tell you those ratings don’t mean much. The schools you list are all very different, they are at different levels of music in some or many ways, it terms of competition to get in and so forth. Colburn is a small conservatory that has the distinction of being close to the LA Phil, and is also desirable (and competitive) because it is a full ride scholarship if you get in there. I don’t know anything about percussion there, can’t speak about the teachers and such, but because it is full ride it is going to be very competitive.
Boston conservatory is generally not as competitive as some of the other conservatories, but like them they may not be very good with aid, from what I know.
Berklee is primarily a modern music/jazz school, and is very expensive, and aid there may not be as good as you need (it will depend on your playing)
Ithaca is more known for its music ed program, it has a decent performance program, is in the less competitive tier of schools overall…I can’t speak about financial aid there.
BU has a pretty big music school, and is fairly competitive. It is a music school within the larger university, so you I believe have to get admitted to both the university and the music school. It is pretty expensive, so aid may be a problem there for you as well.
NEC is one of the more well known conservatories. It is a very competitive admit (though it varies from instrument to instrument), and they are not known necessarily for generous aid, and most of it from what I know is tied to financial need, even the merit awards. Merit awards generally are tied to your playing ability, and in many schools unless you are super talented, they may not come close to being what you need (though FA might). As others have said, most schools don’t offer undergrad conducting degrees (as far as I know), though usually you can take conducting electives.
As has been said on here before, one of the keys is going to be the teacher on your instrument. Like I said before,the rankings don’t mean much you see in college guides and such, the criteria they use is often laughably far from what music training entails (for example, USNWR was using things like class rank of admitted kids, SAT scores, etc, which for a music school have little to do with the quality of the students. I would ask specifically about your chosen instrument (IDK, do you major in Marimba, or is it percussion?), start with your teacher, then maybe people on here might know of good programs for the instrument.
Also, one more question, I am currently preparing a concerto (Paul Creston’s Marimba Concertino op.21) for CSUN’s youth philharmonic competition. I find myself getting nervous when I preform this piece for my family, and when I do I tend to mess up the piece. Any tips on how to ignore freaking out (getting nervous) while playing?