<p>I'm starting my college search, and I could use some help with suggestions. Does anyone have any ideas for schools that meet the following criteria:</p>
<ol>
<li>Strong program in music; has BM (not BA) in Piano performance or Piano pedagogy</li>
<li>Urban, city location with a thriving arts/music scene (Boston or Philly-esque sort of thing), preferably East Coast, that is student-friendly and easy to access</li>
<li>Weather that has seasons - i.e., it snows, it's hot, etc.</li>
<li>Generous financial/merit aid</li>
<li>No overwhelming greek life, or friendly towards students who choose not to participate in greek life</li>
<li>Good academics!</li>
</ol>
<p>I realize that this is extremely specific. I'll take any suggestions, though, even if a school is missing one or two of the above criteria. </p>
<p>One more thing. I'm not really looking for a stand-alone conservatory, but more of a music school connected to a university.</p>
<p>Take a look at Boston University, and if you’re a little flexible on the East Coast, Vanderbilt’s Blair School of Music (Greek life isn’t really much of a presence for most Blair kids).</p>
<p>Again, not on the east coast, but CIM. It’s a conservatory, yes, but it sits on a corner of Case Western’s campus and the academic classes are taken there. A dual-degree in Piano Performance (CIM)/ academic subject (CWRU) is also possible but it will take 4 1/2 or 5 years to complete.
The school is a ten minute walk to Severance Hall, home of the Cleveland Orchestra and off-campus student housing is plentiful and affordable; it’s always important to consider the cost of living because that can quite easily run up the total cost of a less expensive school.
Financial aid is available but depends upon need, talent. etc. Almost no one at CIM participates in Greek life- occasionally someone tries (although the two I’ve heard of were girls), so that’s a non-issue. The area is easy to navigate on foot, students get free bus/train passes, and internal system busses circle throughout the campus.
As for seasons, there are definitely 4 of them! Warm summers to snowy winters…</p>
<p>Northwestern should also be on your list, just as SpiritManager mentioned. Chicago is a vibrant large city, and it’s a short 30-45 minute L ride from Evanston, where the school is located, to downtown.
Are you currently a high school junior?</p>
<p>Thank you all for the suggestions. I actually have looked at BU, but from what I’ve read it seems that the financial aid is scarce. As for Vanderbilt, I’ve heard great things but I heard the greek life is overwhelming. Apparently that isn’t true?</p>
<p>I will check out Northwestern. </p>
<p>Mezzo’sMama, CIM sounds almost perfect! How difficult are admissions, in comparison to other well-known schools, such as Oberlin, BU, Lawrence, Vanderbilt, etc.?</p>
<p>I am a high school junior. I know I’m starting my college search extremely early, but as one can see, I do have very specific wants in my future school!</p>
<p>Vtan, now is the perfect time to look at schools. It is NOT extremely early! Any research you do now removes some stress from senior year.</p>
<p>On the topic of financial aid: don’t discount BU - not sure about need-based aid, but they do give out merit aid. They have piano department scholarships and plain old music merit scholarships. Northwestern’s reputation is that they don’t give out much music merit aid compared to other schools on your list. University of Michigan has excellent piano faculty and seems to match all the criteria on your list except that it is not on the east coast, and the city is not in a large urban area, although it is in a good-sized city with a lot going on.</p>
<p>Bard and Oberlin are not urban, obviously, but have conservatory and college on the same campus.</p>
<p>Peabody is part of Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, and Eastman is part of U. of Rochester. Though I believe you have to travel a bit between conservatory and university.</p>
<p>NEC has double degree programs with both Tufts (BA/BM) and Harvard (BA/MM). You would major in something other than music at Tufts, and could major in music or anything else at Harvard.</p>
<p>NEC and perhaps Boston Conservatory are part of a consortium that allows students to take classes at Northeastern, maybe others. You can try to check this out.</p>
<p>Manhattan School of Music is freestanding but across the street from both Barnard and Columbia. Mannes is part of the New School. Just thinking about East Coast cities.</p>
<p>Are there academic areas you are interested in, along with music? A 5 year double degree might suit you. I am sure that you know that a BM will include 1/4-1/3 classes in academic areas other than music. A BA will include 2/3- 2/4 classes in academic areas other than music.Since you indicated a desire for good academics, I just wanted to make sure you knew your options.</p>
<p>You can also attend any one of many liberal arts colleges and study piano privately.</p>
<p>lastbird, I will take another look at BU. I was very interested in the school (the location, the program), but I am still worried about the financial issue. What percent of tuition could merit aid realistically cover? I need quite a lot of aid to be able to attend…</p>
<p>I notice that a few of these suggestions are of conservatories. What is the difference between attending a stand-alone conservatory versus a music school within a larger university? What are the pros and cons of each?</p>
<p>I originally ruled out all conservatories, but then again, I don’t know much about them. If anyone could clear that up for me, it would be tremendously helpful!</p>
<p>compmom, thanks for the double degree article, but I happen to have already read it! I know for certain that I want a BM degree, which is why I’m not really considering LACs. I really want to focus on music, and I don’t want to go through all the LA general requirements.</p>
<p>I have no academic ‘passions’, though I am a strong student, especially in the math and sciences. I mentioned academics because I feel that while I love music, having a solid education otherwise is equally important. </p>
<p>Also, my mother is a bit hesitant about sending me off to a BM program without a ‘back-up plan’ (I don’t blame her!). Therefore, I am considering a double degree (though I am worried about overwhelming myself and not having enough time to practice), or possibly a minor in a subject such as business (the thinking is that I could run a music school with the extra knowledge in business).</p>
<p>It is not in the east and does not get a lot of snow, just ocassional, but Rice fits the rest of what you are looking for. Conservatory level music within a renowned university. The admissions are by audition into Shepherd so not required to meet the really high academic admit requirrements of Rice. Music students are integrated into the campus, not separated and there is no greek organization. There is financial aide, but don’t know what you would qualify for, some is need based and some is merit based in the music school.</p>
<p>If you want a BM, then schools like Oberlin or Lawrence might fit the bill really well, since the conservatory is part of the college campus, with a “low wall”. Bard requires BM students to do a double degree. Hartt at U. of Hartford is in CT. Ithaca Conservatory. There are many. Others can chime in.</p>
<p>The issue of “back up plan” comes up here all the time. You really do not need a backup plan in my humble opinion, and that of others here on this board. Music degrees are respected for their hard work and discipline, and as I have said many times, as a group, music students have the highest acceptance rate at medical school.</p>
<p>You have access to jobs requiring a bachelor’s, and to grad and professional schools. Careers and majors aren’t correlated the way people think, at least not yet.</p>
<p>You can intern and volunteer during your school years and pick up other skills (my daughter has worked for an orchestra and also helped with a concert series on campus, which has given her a lot of good experience).</p>
<p>Once you have a BM, you can go on to grad school, or work in music, or work outside of music and do music on the side.</p>
<p>State universities often offer BM’s (SUNY Purchase is affordable for instance, and has a music conservatory) and some other colleges/universities but it would seem for the most part you would want to look at colleges with conservatories on campus. </p>
<p>Financial aid at freestanding conservatories is not usually generous, nor is merit aid in most instances, and many colleges have surprisingly good aid, regardless of whether you are in the college or conservatory part of the school.</p>
<p>vitan12- CIM is a top tier conservatory and has produced many winners of major competitions, including recent Chopin and Tchaikovsky Competition winners. Admission is much more competitive than the schools you compared it to but the training is amazing.There isn’t a weak link in the faculty, so you’d be happy with any teacher, but do your research and try to get some sample lessons. PM me if you have any questions.</p>
<p>The University of Maryland at College Park has a strong SOM, especially in piano performance. Also Maryland offers generous merit scholarship that is based on academics.</p>
<p>Columbia/Julliard Exchange program is another option, although the program is extremely competitive. The few students we knew in the program loved it, but have found that it’s hard to find enough time to practice on the keyboard.</p>
<p>BTW, @vtan12, it’s definitely not too early to start the search. It’s really important to find out each school’s pre-screen audition requirements so you can get your repertoire selected now, perfected in the spring, recorded in the summer/fall, and submitted on Dec. 1, 2014. Julliard, for instance, requires a video recording of a complete classical sonata and a significant romantic period work, easily 30 to 40 minutes of recording, not a small task in our experience.</p>
<p>compmom and Mezzo’sMama, thanks for the advice! Although I haven’t quite figured out PMing yet.</p>
<p>So it looks like a free-standing conservatory isn’t for me, as the financial aid is not great. Also, it doesn’t seem possible to pursue a non-music minor, or something of the like, while doing a BM at a conservatory. </p>
<p>I probably won’t go for a double degree program that goes between two schools, because when I looked those up, they all seemed to require two tuitions (one for each school). So unfortunately, financially, that’s probably out of the picture.</p>
<p>Bearsgarden, thanks for the suggestion! And the whole audition thing…that was exactly my plan.</p>
<p>I think the NEC tuition for the Harvard program s $6k or something like that.</p>
<p>So you are going to focus on conservatories/music schools that are part of a college or university, is that right?</p>
<p>In that context, BM or double degree?</p>
<p>You can always go to a school like Oberlin, Bard, Lawrence, Peabody, Eastman, Hartt, UMass, etc. and after there, apply for a double degree program (or withdraw from the double degree) so just know your decisions aren’t irrevocable :)</p>
<p>Remember that academics will be 1/4-1/3 of the classes for a BM, but they can often be really good classes…</p>
<p>Vtan, if I might make a few observations about some of your comments that is intended to be helpful:</p>
<p>• Please cast a broad net in order to get the best financial package.</p>
<p>• Please do not rule out good schools based on Greek Life presence on campus. At large schools like University of Michigan, for example, while Greek Life is robust, it has virtually no presence at the ACTUAL school of music ;)</p>
<p>• Please do not attempt to “guess” where you’ll get the most money, or at least, don’t NOT apply because of what you “hear.” You WILL NOT KNOW your package until you know your package, and there are too many variables to be able to predict accurately what may be affordable. JUST DON"T GET OVERLY ATTACHED to any one idea of a school, and give yourself the MOST possible options, including a “financial” safety, to choose from when the time comes.</p>
<p>I second what kmcmom13 said, and want to add that casting a wide net may indeed help you financially. Some schools promise to match peer schools’ offers; others are very interested in the other schools you were accepted to and craft their scholarship offers based on that. And there are always surprises in which school is generous and which is not. You never know until you have all the packages in hand. That being said, it’s a good idea not to spread yourself TOO thin at audition time. Good luck!</p>
<p>compmom, that is correct. As of now, a double degree is probably not for me. The most likely path I’ll take is a BM in piano performance/pedagogy with a business minor (or some other academic minor).</p>
<p>lastbird and kmcmom13, thank you both for the advice. </p>
<p>
</p>
<p>That is completely new to me! I’d never even thought of that…it will definitely influence my college list quite a bit.</p>
<p>So thank you everyone for clearing up these points for me. </p>
<p>Now, if ya’ll don’t mind, I would love more help in formulating a more realistic, concrete list (i.e. with reach, match, and safety). Many of you suggested top tier programs (which was very helpful). So, obviously, that takes care of the ‘reach’. Now, I would love suggestions for ‘match’ or ‘safety’ schools. </p>
<p>I’ve discussed this topic with my instructor, and she’s stated that programs like Blair at Vanderbilt and the Carnegie Mellon School of Music are appropriate ‘matches’ for my current level and repertoire (to give ya’ll the relative level that I am looking for).</p>
<p>Can anyone suggest programs that would fall in the same ‘tier’ as the programs I mentioned?</p>
<p>One last thing. I’ve read some threads around here, and I know that there are ‘no real safeties in music’. So to clarify, I am talking about programs that are easier to get into, relatively, to others (though I am aware that no admission is ever ‘guaranteed’).</p>