<p>I'll share our experience:</p>
<p>My S applied to 4 schools: Curtis, Juilliard, Cleveland Institute, and Cinncinati College Conservatory. He chose those schools after years of working a spread-sheet: Gathering advice and opinions from teachers he respected, etc. He based his choice on 1. teacher, 2. level of orchestra playing, 3. job placement after graduation for his instrument, 4. general reputation. He had no safeties -- In his opinion, since he wanted to be in performance, he needed to get top training, and said he'd rather take a year off than go elsewhere. (There were other schools that met these criteria, but for one reason or another, didn't make his list. For example, Rice - he didn't take SAT IIs. Indiana - he didn't want the liberal arts requirements. NEC - he didn't click with the teacher. This list might be completely different for a different instrument.)</p>
<p>He was admitted at all but Curtis. The teacher at Curtis and Juilliard is the same for his instrument. That teacher told S he would be happier at Juilliard, so didn't offer him admission to both. Of course, he is thrilled to be at Juilliard. The scholarship Juilliard gave him covers tuition, so financially it was a wash between the two.</p>
<p>Since my other S is in Philly (UPenn), I did like Curtis and the idea of having the boys in the same city. Especially since we are so far away. But they are only a couple hours from each other now.</p>
<p>My first choice for him was, actually, Cleveland Institute. I was nervous about NYC. And I really liked the CIM program and the teacher, and the audition process was so "kind". Everyone was friendly, they had special programs for the parents (we didn't attend the audition though,) they went out of their way to accomodate him since he was alone.... I think it was his 4th choice, though. And they offered the lowest scholarship. I saw that they just got a huge donation to build better facilities, realizing that they can't compete with the facilities they have now.</p>
<p>But we let S make the choice, and he is thriving where he's at. </p>
<p>My main advice would be to make a spread sheet for comparison, and to start early.</p>