Hello all! I’ve recently been accepted to Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music for my MM in Vocal Performance, with a significant amount of scholarship money. I will probably commit, mostly because of the reputation, as well as being paired with a solid teacher.
However, I know not everything can be as perfect as it seems sometimes. Can anyone give me any words of caution regarding the school? I welcome any advice from anyone who has had any experience with the school, whether as an undergraduate, graduate, instrumentalist, vocalist, whatever! What are the “cons” to keep in mind? I would be moving from Austin, where I did my undergrad degree, so I’m a little bit familiar with how expensive it is to live in Houston, so I’m looking for mostly any possible downside that I might consider should I choose to attend.
Congratulations on getting into Rice! I can’t say that I’ve heard any downsides to this wonderful program and school. What is making you hesitant? Just curious…
Can’t talk about vocal in particular (someone like Mezo’s mom can probably give you specifics on it). Everyone I know of who has gone to Shepherd has loved it, supposed to be in a very college-town type of area of Houston, and has great facilities, and I have never heard anything about the students there being cutthroat or the like. The only downside I could see, besides that it is probably expensive to live there (then again, so are most cities these days), would be if the specific teacher you would be studying with is not good and/or that for example, students from their studio don’t get performing opportunities…but given a)you haven’t given the teachers name (nor should you) and b)if you had, I wouldn’t know them from a hole in the wall (on violin, different matter), that is purely a hypothetical. As long as you liked the vibes of the place, liked the teacher you would be studying with, sounds like a good deal to me:)
I don’t think you can find a true “con” to Shepherd. I think if you do hear anything negative, you need to understand it may fall in the area of “personal preference”. It’s a solid program with a great reputation from my understanding.
My D visited and decided not to audition there for 2 reasons.
1.) Environment - the area surrounding the school felt suburban and a tad conservative to her (but that’s one person’s opinion). My D was very focused on an urban feel (less campus feel) for grad school.
2.) She had a lesson with the only teacher she wanted to work with and it just didn’t click. The teacher has an excellent reputation btw. Sometimes things click and sometimes they don’t. That doesn’t mean a teacher isn’t good.
So…if you dig deep enough I’m sure you’ll find a few things to worry about! Just DON’T mix up personal preference with true issues. The bottom line is Shepherd is a selective school for VP with a stellar reputation. My understanding is that it’s a fairly small, select group of vocalists that are given a good amt of attn and opportunity. If YOU like the environment, the teacher and the price, I can’t see how you would go wrong.
Not relevant to the OP, but others read these questions and I wanted to throw out a downside for undergrads - strings - that I’ve heard a couple times. Have heard from several that the coursework outside Shepard was so demanding that finding the time for the number of desired practice hours was frustrating. This from kids who had attended elite high schools with demanding programs - they were used to studying. Students were also full scholarship studying with desired teachers, so no complaints on that end. One really disliked her entire academic 4 year time there, but at full scholarship, couldn’t consider transferring. In retrospect, a conservatory would have ben a better fit. I’m sure this complaint can be found about other schools as well, just thought I’d throw it out for those considering Shepard undergrad. Take it for what it is worth, hearsay!
It’s an interesting comment and one I’ve heard before but for a few other schools. I do think it’s more of an issue in undergrad. In grad school you don’t have those pesky gen eds (which I fully support) eating away at your time. Also for VP there is only so much time you can spend in a practice room. Of course there is book work and listening to music that seems ever present but you just can’t spend hours in a practice room - as some instrumentalists are rumored to do. I wonder if it’s harder for instrumentalists in undergrad to balance it all - tough academics and tough music study. A good thing to bring up for some kids weighing choices.
Exactly, @bridgenail. It was the gen eds that were not all of great interest and time consuming and necessary to do very well for scholarship. As well as being a conscientious student that couldn’t do less than the best in the classroom environment that expected diligence. If the same circumstance had occurred at CIM or NEC or J-yard, all options for the one I’m thinking of, the conservatory environment with the performing aspect would have helped the perspective. But student graduated and is teaching and gigging for a couple years now. Life moves on!
Thank you for your responses! I’m not really hesitant, per se. I like the program very much and know several students who have gone through the program and also like it very much. I just want to make sure there is nothing I’m missing that I need to consider that may possibly deter me or cause me to consider my other offers a little bit stronger.
@theflagmaker:
What I would tell you at this point is to look at who you would be studying with, and use that as a ‘tiebreaker’. Shepherd is a great school, but if the teacher you would be studying with isn’t a match, then that may weight heavily towards another offer. In the end, the teacher is always the elephant in the room and in the case where you are weighing equal programs, it may be wise to come down on the teacher:)