<p>FluteMomLiz: I thought maybe our recent experience would help with your financial planning. My son applied to several "top tier" conservatories and universities and received very similar finiancial aid packages from all the ones to which he was accepted: merit scholarship, small subsidized Stafford loan, and work study to meet the difference between the actual cost of attending and our FAFSA EFC. So, essentially, we will pay the same amount (EFC) no matter where he chooses to go among those top schools.</p>
<p>My son didn't apply to any of the good-but-not-great "second tier" schools, but has some very talented friends who received full scholarships or other big awards, regardless of EFC. There are some great teachers located at some of the less popular schools, however, the down-side of this situation is that your very talented daughter would probably be a big fish pretty quickly, which is usually not the best environment for musicians to grow.</p>
<p>My son's safety strategy was to apply to our 2 in-state schools that have fairly good music programs. With our state lottery scholarship, some music merit money, and a state employee (me) tuition discount, his cost to attend either of these schools would be almost nothing. His intent was to attend for one year if he had to, and try again for a conservatory next year. Thankfully, he won't have to do that.</p>
<p>If your daughter does decide to apply to the top schools, I would encourage her not to get her heart set on any one place and find 6-8 acceptable options. In addition to the really low acceptance rates, some of the schools do not even accept incoming freshmen on every instrument each year. This happened with two conservatories in which my son was very interested. Curtis did not even take applications for trumpet students this year, and CIM accepted 2 grad students and a transfer student, but no incoming freshmen.</p>
<p>I hope this information is helpful. Good luck to your daughter!</p>