Soprano voice - community is important

College Majors Music Major
1

<p>Hi there!</p>

<p>I'm a Norwegian junior at my international scholarship-funded high school (UWC) in New Mexico. Here I study music with voice as my instrument while taking the IB Diploma Programme, and I would love to get some input on what to focus on when it comes to a college education.</p>

<p>My grades are mostly 6, and I do many extracurriculars. Also, I get a 7 in music at the moment (this is a compilation of voice, theory and history grades), and I hope that I'll keep that throughout my year next year. My voice teacher is quite happy with me, and she is also helping me finding colleges. My main issue when it comes to a college education in the U.S. is that I know that I probably won't get financial aid. I'm from Norway, and although I definitely don't have very rich parents, the economic situation is so different from here that what most colleges measure for when it comes to financial aid is what will make me non-legible for that. Therefore, I have to find merit-based opportunities, hopefully for my classical voice.</p>

<p>Also, I'm questioning whether I want to study at a liberal arts college or at a conservatory. As I live at a boarding school now, I'm used to such a tight-knit community. We also have huge amount of diversity as the 200 juniors and seniors here come from almost 80 countries worldwide. Norway, where I come from, is also a quite liberal country, and I cannot fathom myself living in a conservative community (U.S. conservative is much more conservative than in Norway, btw). So because of this, it seems as if a liberal arts college would fit me better so that I can find internationals and a liberal, tight community. I also enjoy the smaller schools compared to huge universities, so that adds to the count. However, I would really like to have my voice excel well, and I'm scared that that's not very easy in a LAC.</p>

<p>In college, my main goal is to major in music - hopefully vocal performance. Classical and opera is where I want to go. However, if that's not happening, I'm probably doing international politics/relations with focus on the Middle East/Arab region. I have good grades, but they're not all 7 to say the least. I've studied voice since I was twelve, but my real talent has "come through" this school year because I found an amazing voice teacher here in my school. </p>

<p>Qs: What type of school would you recommend? Do you know any colleges, universities or conservatories that seems suitable? And any tips on scholarships to look out for?</p>

<p>I'm a newbie to these stuff, so I really appreciate the help! And any input is helpful, to be honest, as me+US colleges is quite a new phenomenon.
-Sunniva</p>

2

<p>Off the top of my head, Oberlin and St. Olaf. I know you are interested in Oberlin from your post on the Oberlin section of the board, and I have pointed out that there is need based money for international students there as well as merit aid, but it is very competitive to get in.</p>

<p>I mention St. Olaf because in addition to a very good music program, they have cultural ties to Norway and some scholarships that I think are set aside specifically for international students from Norway. Their top choir, which is one of the best college choirs anywhere, travels abroad a lot, and may well visit Norway at least once in the time you would be there.</p>

3

<p>Here is a link to the resources at St. Olaf available directly to students from Norway:</p>

<p>[St</a>. Olaf College | Admissions | International Applicants](<a href=“http://www.stolaf.edu/admissions/applying/international/norwegian.html]St”>http://www.stolaf.edu/admissions/applying/international/norwegian.html)</p>

<p>Apparently, they have special housing for those who major in the Norwegian language and like to have RA’s in those houses who are native speakers so that everyone there can practice speaking in Norwegian as much as possible. You might receive some special consideration there.</p>

<p>I see elsewhere on their site that the choir is going to Norway in the summer of 2013.</p>

4

<p>Thank you so much, BassDad! I know St Olaf might work as I can get money there (yay Norwegians). However, is it not a more choir-oriented school, with less focus on classical voice and opera and more on choir/church music?</p>

5

<p>St. Olaf does have excellent good choral and church music programs, but many of their solo voice performance majors have done very well in recent competitions. Their vocal performance program is quite good. Check out the thread <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/1299787-st-olaf-music-program.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/1299787-st-olaf-music-program.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;