<p>I am working towards a BA in Cello Performance and am trying to discern between study at Roosevelt CCPA (With Tanya Carey), University of Memphis (Leo Altino), and Western Michigan University (Bruce Uchimura)</p>
<p>Background - I am a fairly good, though not prodigious cellist living in West Michigan. I have done my highschool studies with Richard Piippo and Bruce Uchimura. </p>
<p>I was accepted at Longy Conservatory, Eastman School of music, and Ithaca, along with these schools, but I ruled out Longy and Eastman as the price tags were way too high for me. (I come from a very low income background) I was offered a full ride at Memphis University, and Western Michigan University. Conversly, the Chicago Conservatory of performing arts at Roosevelt offered me about a 50% scholarship. The decision is whether to take out loans to study at Roosevelt with Tanya Carey, or just settle for one of the universities. Advice, comments, ideas? </p>
<p>Another question might be whether anyone knows of a good music fund I could apply for.</p>
<p>Have you done sample lessons with the teachers with full rides? I know one teacher had us watch a youtube video of one of his students. I thought that was helpful. And it was a state school. What does your private teacher say? What does he/she think you should do? Is your current teacher at one of these schools as well? You will hear to avoid debt as much as possible. And if you have a limited income, it might be difficult to budget for traveling home if you are studying farther away. We are not low income, but we also can’t afford full tuition at any of the conservatories either. Btw, congrats on your scholarships!</p>
<p>I’m not sure about the other teachers but I do know that Tanya Carey is an excellent and sought after teacher.
If you’re considering studying with her you should try appealing your financial aid award from CCPA and let them know that you have excellent offers from two other schools.</p>
<p>I have been studying with Bruce Uchimura (Western Michigan) on and off in Highschool, and Leo Altino (Memphis University) at summer festivals. They are both great teachers. My main concern is the locations, which are fairly irrelevant to the professional music world, and the levels of the majorities of their students. Tanya Carey has a great studio of top notch students and is in Chicago so I feel like in that respect, it is really appealing. I have appealed to the CCPA about more rewards and have now mentioned that I have the other offers. Of course, to make things more interesting, the Memphis and Western have decided to put time limits on my acceptance (as they have other students to give scholarships to).</p>
<p>Be sure to factor in living arrangements in all of the locations. CCPA has amazing dorms for the first two years- imagine having a lake view, a full health club and dining hall (also with a view) all in one building right in the Loop?! The school also provides transit passes which are a big perk when you finally move off campus.
You should also let the schools know that you are under a time constraint and compare all 3 programs to see how they prepare you for graduate school in the future. Good luck to you!</p>
<p>Thank you so much for your help! Yes I have narrowed it down to Memphis and Roosevelt. Memphis has upped their game to include a partial room/board stipend, and I am still waiting on a return on my appeal to Roosevelt.</p>
<p>Congrats. That sounds wonderful. Good luck on your appeal.</p>
<p>I live within minutes from the University of Memphis!! I’ll just say that I Memphis’s music school is very well-respected among locals, and I’m a pianist not a cellist, but I have a cellist friend and she loved Altino. Good luck, and if you end up at Memphis let me know as I’ll be going there this fall. </p>
<p>By the way, regarding location, I know everyone says to avoid Memphis because of crime, but it’s honestly not that bad. Just don’t go jogging in any sketchy looking neighborhoods and you’ll be fine. Most of Memphis is made up of beautiful neighborhoods and I personally love the city, it’s not too big, not too small. </p>
Hi @southerncharm95 - nice to hear some good news about the University of Memphis. My D just committed to attend this fall and was offered a full tuition scholarship to study VP Commercial Music under Tim Goodwin. We were both very impressed with the school, it has a beautiful campus, top notch facilities and wonderful dorms. They’re also building a new Music facility that is supposed to be completed next year.
I’m interested in your perspective, we’re coming from out of state, my D doesn’t “love” Memphis as a city but does love the school and it seems she’ll have tons of performance opportunities. Also Ben Yonas who heads Music Business there is phenomenal. He’s got lots of connections, knows the business (we got to sit in on his class last year), and has his students, plan, perform and manage the yearly Hear 901 Music festival.
Looks like this is from two years ago and they have not posted since. Maybe start a new thread with that question in the heading?