School for Violin Performance

<p>I'm looking for a good academic university/college that has a good violin professor and performance program. I've been playing the violin for over 10 years, and my SAT and ACT are 2270 and 35. Does anyone know of an institution that would be a good fit for me? I'm not looking for many specifics now (location, student body population, etc.) I'm just trying to get an idea about what's out there. Thanks.</p>

<p>Probably Rice University</p>

<p>Check out Oberlin.</p>

<p>Here are an assorted variety that I recall from past research and visits:</p>

<p>Indiana U
Blair/Vanderbilt
Lawrence University
Thornton/U.S.C.
College of Wooster
Lamont/University of Denver
U of Pacific
Bard College & Conservatory
BU
Williams College
Pomona College
U of Redlands
S.M.U.
Peabody/JHU
Hartt/U of Hartford
Schools in Arizona and Florida
U of Oregon
U of Washington</p>

<p>I am sure there are many, many more. Check out the instructors at each place and see if they are full time or part time etc.</p>

<p>I second Rice and Oberlin, with my obvious having-been-an-alumna-induced bias towards Rice. ;) Also check out viewbooks of Northwestern, UIUC, NYU, USC, Johns Hopkins/Peabody, University of Michigan, UCLA, and Yale, for starters. Those are the schools that are <em>very</em> strong in music that are also <em>very</em> strong in academics. Good luck!</p>

<p>The question is whether or not you want a conservatory. If you just want a good academic university that has a performance program, there are many more colleges than have been listed so far.</p>

<p>As a woodwind player, when I went through this process, I wanted a stellar academic university in a location that had lots of opportunities to play and hear music as well as perform on campus. For me, that place was Columbia in NYC. There are over 100 performing groups on campus as well as a program that allows for free lessons all semesters on campus and having two of those semesters count for 1 credit each (2 total credits). Being very close to Manhattan School of Music on 122nd and Julliard on 66th, there is no shortage of good music professors.</p>

<p>The Hartt School at the University of Hartford is very good, but the university in general is probably a little beneath you academically. I would strongly consider the conservatory at Oberlin. The Rice and Yale recommendations are also good ones, though I admit to knowing much more about the latter than the former. If you'd like to get into music education, SUNY-Potsdam's Crane School of Music is very highly regarded, but again, would probably be below you academically.</p>

<p>I would also suggest that you look at University of Rochester which is home to Eastman. You need to to understand that at schools with very strong music programs, you will have limited, if any, access to top violin teachers if you are not a performance major. For example, if you are not a performance major, you will not get lessons with any of the top teachers at Rice, Oberlin, Eastman, Peabody, Northwestern, or Case. If you go for a BA in music, you will have a better shot but no guarantee. At all of these schools, you can take lessons, but usually with a grad student. That is not to say that the grad students are poor teachers - some of them are likely to be excellent - but you don't get to choose your teacher. You will need to ask very specific questions about the programs available and your access to them. You also need to decide for yourself exactly what you want and how much you are willing to give up one thing in order to get another.</p>

<p>As someone posted above you may very well be better off going to school in a large metro area and pursuing study on your own independent from the college or university you attend.</p>

<p>Here is more specific list from usnews on strings</p>

<p><a href="http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/college/majors/brief/major_50-0911_brief.php%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/college/majors/brief/major_50-0911_brief.php&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Tufts students can take lessons at NEC.</p>

<p>On the same subject with a twist-does anyone have thoughts on a school with a voice,theatre,AND studio art ie Visual and Performing Arts on the East Coast? My second college bound kid is so very different from her sister. Her grades and scores are not near as good as our original poster--way to go! I guess those studies on violin being good for your brain were absolutely right!
However she is Scholastic National Gold Medal winner in Art and is accomplished in theater and voice as well. So--what are some good suggestions for the next tier down from Yale? maybe Syracuse? Thanks</p>

<p>Carnegie Mellon University
Indiana University
Johns Hopkins University
Northwestern University
Oberlin College
Rice University
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
University of Rochester
University of Southern Califiornia
Yale University</p>

<p>sbarrytown, For "a school with a voice,theatre,AND studio art ie Visual and Performing Arts on the East Coast?" take a look at Williams. It's also very selective (though not so much as Yale.) </p>

<p>For other LACs, a range of selectivity, with strong studio art programs I can suggest: Kenyon, Conn College, Skidmore, Hamilton, Wesleyan, Smith, Vassar. Some of these are also good for theater, some for music.</p>

<p>Brown, though also highly selective, is also a good choice.</p>

<p>Thank you for those suggestions-really all of those schools are excellent, but I don't think she has the academics to get in, that's why I was thinking more along the lines of Syracuse-she is a 3.0 with talent, you know what I mean?</p>

<p>To Momrath-Kenyon is an interesting idea.</p>

<p>The University of Miami has an outstanding music school...</p>

<p>Don't know if you can get in, but have you looked at the new Bard Conservatory?</p>