<p>I've posted this question in another thread, but would love to have an answer from experienced music parents who might not spot it there. My daughter has the interesting predicament of choosing between a very prestigious conservatory with no grants or scholarships (just loans) versus an LAC with an great reputation and almost a full scholarship. As I hate the thought of her (or us) carrying a ton of debt, this should be a no-brainer, but we are very strung up on the appeal of a world-class conservatory. I flip between thinking she should save her (our) money for graduate school and thinking she should grab that once-in-a-lifetime conservatory offer with both hands. We can help her with fees to some extent (maybe half-way), but we have other children to think of and no-one knows what the future brings. Any thoughts on this would be most appreciated. If anyone would like to pm me about it, I can share the names of the schools. We need to make a decision by the end of the week and are so conflicted! Daughter is an undergrad voice major (soprano).</p>
<p>You don’t think that she can learn to sing well at the LAC? Because grad schools ONLY care about how well she sings. </p>
<p>Take the money.</p>
<p>You need to start getting “strung up” by the appeal of no debt.</p>
<p>D has several friends from “no name” state schools who are grads in Curtis and Yale and Juilliard, for voice, and they have no debt.</p>
<p>I mentioned the latter because an offer from a conservatory is not once-in-lifetime. PLENTY of smart students take the money for undergrad and save it for grad school and the post education audition spree.</p>
<p>musicamusica, your advice is always so good, and I know that is the sensible route. We love the teacher at the LAC and it does have an extraordinary music department. I’ve read that for graduate admission, the audition is all that matters, but is that really true. Would schools rather see a prestige undergrad degree when reviewing applications? If she doesn’t get through the door for grad school, then we may be wasting an opportunity now.</p>
<p>They only care about how she sings.</p>
<p>Repeat after me - no undergrad debt, no undergrad debt, no undergrad debt. This is a lifelong expensive undertaking as musicamusica has mentioned in other threads and it never ends. Auditions, lessons, coachings, mjusic, summer prgrams, travel. IF that LAC has a good teacher that she connects well with and will grow and develop under that teacher’s care, that is what matters most for undergrad. That and as I might have mentioned graduating undergrad with no debt. Read the resumes of singers at various YAPs and competition winners. Many have unrecognized undergrad with big name grad schools and summer programs. Grad school admissions are all about the audition.</p>
<p>Think of this. After grad school: Living in NYC, (how much is rent?), going to auditions at $50 to $100 a pop, paying coaches each week ($100) and then you still need your $175) weekly lesson. You do the math.
Oh yeah…and writing Fannie Mae a check for $850-$1000 per month…FOREVER.</p>
<p>Faced a similar decision three years ago and went for the money. D has had a positive experience at the “lesser” school and will be able to afford grad school and an upgraded instrument. Or bump her professional work up to full time. Whichever.</p>
<p>Undergrad–no debt.</p>
<p>Reading this, LAC. Your daughter won’t regret it, I promise. Honestly it will make a better well-rounded person who has a broader knowledge base than a lot of musicians. Additionally, she can take time to pay more attention to languages and take classes she never could take at a conservatory. Most importantly, though, she can build a life and an identity outside of music. I was in a sorority, competed as an active show jumper, and was very active tutoring/promoting literacy in my small, rural-town community. While I have music friends, I also have friends that are becoming doctors, lawyers, and scientists.</p>
<p>Money aside, it will take her 10 years (minimum) to develop a marketable voice and career. You only get four years for undergraduate. If she has the right voice teacher, she’ll be fine.</p>
<p>Annie—I am going to PM you a link to a blog that might be helpful</p>
<p>Joining in the chorus: Noooooooo debt!</p>
<p>If your D makes good progress in undergrad, she’ll do fine in the grad school audition circuit later on. Then, if you or she decide to take out some (small) loans for grad school, it will be only two year’s worth, instead of four. </p>
<p>There are some wonderful voice teachers out there at LAC’s. Language classes might be even better than the conservatory, theory and history should be comparable. You didn’t mention whether the scholarship is academic or music merit, but either way, it seems the LAC is giving your D more “love” than the conservatory. Follow the love!</p>
<p>Good luck to your D and congratulations!</p>
<p>We’ve been in your shoes and my D chose the LAC. My D has absolutely no regrets and got into the same top conservatory for graduate school that she turned down in undergraduate. I am not going to tell you it is easy by any means because keeping up with vocal training will be like taking two intense majors, but she has no debt while her classmates that went the conservatory route are swimming in debt. Additionally she can broaden her horizons with a wide assortment of courses that will only help to make her a better singer if that’s what she still wants to be at the end of her four years.</p>
<p>We went through this, and I agree with the chorus that it may be better to go to the LAC if it means avoiding debt. In our case, we could afford the school my S wanted to go to without loans versus the financially more attractive offer, but if it had come down to a lot of debt, it would have been a different decision. Without getting into whether an LAC is a better environment than a conservatory (depends on the person and what they are doing, depends on the schools), if you think the teachers at the LAC are enough to move you forward, I would go that way. These days instrumental music is getting to be more and more like voice, where kids go on to grad school, so the UG may not be uber critical if it can prepare the student to get into good grad programs…</p>
<p>I don’t agree with a knee-jerk reaction of no debt. It’s reasonable to borrow money to pay for something worthwhile. But a moderate amount of debt, not a “ton” of debt. You have to look at your overall finances to see if you and she can carry the amount of debt that would be required.</p>
<p>Hunt, all I can say is that the eight to ten years it can take to develop a professional soprano’s voice puts a certain spin on the debt question. The undergrad years are the least expensive four years, since later there are virtually unlimited opportunities to spend money. These are not necessarily knee jerk reactions. For a freshman who is about to enter the pool of around 8000 VP majors in this country the word “worthwhile” is loaded.</p>
<p>Lolol…if these were the cheap years I don’t even want to know what’s coming. (Said from a mother whose DD is a graduating soprano…anybody have some sand I can stick my head into!)</p>
<p>opera-mom, ha-ha! I have plenty of sand but can’t seem to get my own head dislodged from it. Everyone, your comments have all been great–and we have had quite a turnabout in our house because of them. What an invaluable resource you all are! Still no final decision, but we are going to get there soon.</p>
<p>sorry Opera-mom! 
It’s just that when I hear about the outrageous expense of undergrad and grad auditions…I just want to remind people that it pales in comparison to the expense of professional audition season. Trips to NYC, SF, Houston, Berlin, Munich, Vienna, etc etc etc don’t come cheap!! I don’t know if you watch Game of Thrones but…WINTER’S COMING. 
Save your money!!!</p>
<p>and your frequent flier miles…because in a few years they will be sorely needed!!!</p>
<p>We had a pretty good idea early in the process what the road was gonna look like, and yet down it we went…lol… I have not seen the game of thrones but the description says it all…</p>
<p>I’d say the LAC if the conservatory means debt on her part, too. Particularly since she’s a singer and she won’t be needing to spend four or five hours a day cooped up in a practice room (and you say there’s a good voice teacher). I would be more hesitant about an instrumentalist, but I know so many LAC success stories in voice that I’d recommend that route in this case.</p>