<p>I think you could do yourself a big favor and read some of the threads that are on this board, do a search, about music schools and rankings and ‘which is the best’ and so forth. From the tone of your post it seems like you are operating under a misconception, one that more then a few music students make, and that it is that arbitrary ratings like this conservatory is the ‘best in the world’, ‘that conservatory is the best in the world’, and if you go to whatever people around seem to be saying is the best, that is your ticket to musical fame and fortune, and it doesn’t work like that, not by a long shot. If, for example, that were true, then the world’s orchestras would be full almost exclusively with RAM and RCM members (to use your view), almost all the great soloists would be from there, and of course that isn’t true (not knocking RAM or RCM, they are both topnotch music schools, and they have high level players all over music) and chamber music would be totally dominated by RCM graduates…which of course is not true. </p>
<p>The reality is that the strength of a school is how well they can train a student, and that has a ton of factors involved. That is the prime reason when you see people saying check out the school, do sample lessons with teachers, go to performances, to get an idea of what it is like there. Why? Because you may do very well at let’s say the RCM, because you find it works for you, and do horribly at Juilliard because the teachers you potentially would be working with don’t fit your needs. A school might have a ton of superstar performers as teachers, but many of them might not be particularly good teachers. </p>
<p>Reputations are important because they give one picture, but that is only a snapshot, it isn’t reflective other then the school has a decent reputation. Some music schools with a great reputation, in some departments, might be horrible with undergrad training in another, because they don’t give UG’s a chance to perform much. A program can be great in X areas, and be not so hot in Y…and so forth. The RCM or RAM on your instrument or area may be great, or they could be mediocre, which is why finding a fit is important.</p>
<p>Reputation does, I will admit, matter in one area, the caliber of students. Places like Juilliard and Curtiss have a reputation, as do other of the ‘great’ conservatories, and it allows them to draw from a huge pool of applicants and take the creme de la creme (Juilliard, for example, accepts about 7% of its applicant pool), and that can translate into an environment that pushes a student, at least a student where that kind of thing motivates them. If you are the type of person who thrives on competition, who thrives by watching others excel and want to catch up to them or beat them, that kind of environment is a plus, whereas a more self driven student might be fine if everyone isn’t the next Heifetz…</p>
<p>More importantly, where you went to conservatory ends when you get out the door. Leaving out things like networking to get gigs, a working musicians life a lot of the time, once out there it is about what kind of musician you are, if a soloist if you can connect with audiences, if an orchestral musician or a chamber musician can you pass an audition and be a fit to the culture of the orchestra. Unlike, for example, some jobs where if you don’t go to an Ivy, they won’t look at you, with music where you went to conservatory doesn’t get you jobs, orchestras when auditioning don’t get a pile of resumes, and say “I’ll see the Curtis People and Juilliard people”, they screen/prescreen without knowing that, and auditions are blind, for the very reason they don’t want that kind of thing to go on. The personnel manager of the NY Phil doesn’t call up Joseph Pelosi (the head of Juilliard) and say “Joe, I need a violinist, who you got coming out i should see or what kid should I hire”, it doesn’t work like that. More then a few music students believe that, I have heard some howlers from admissions people with the stuff they hear, but it isn’t true.</p>
<p>If you think the RCM or the RAM will work for you, that is great, but if you are looking at them only because of what you believe people think about them, I recommend heartily investigating schools, the department you would be in, look at what graduates are doing and so forth, before making that decision. I would be really surprised if any of the experienced people would tell you which is the better school in terms of opinion or reputation like that. They might, if you say what instrument or area you are in, tell you about the faculty in the area, but other then that, I doubt it.</p>