<p>I have been so thankful for the info posted here over the past year! It has made the audition process much less stressful. My DD is interested in studying viola in a university setting in order to pursue a double major (yes, another one).As she finishes up her auditions, she has started to dare to dream. Could someone discuss how Indiana University, U of Michigan and Oberlin stack up for someone in her shoes? Thanks .</p>
<p>Congratulations, those auditions must have gone really well. My D did not "dare to dream" until she got actual acceptances. It seemed like a very long tense wait between auditions and acceptance letters.</p>
<p>Welcome. As background, my son is a fifth year double degree viola performance/music ed major at Hartt. This whole process was new to us as there is no musical background within the family and he was the first of what are now 2 kids in college. I wished that we had found this site years earlier; I stumbled across it fairly recently.</p>
<p>Your post was rather vague. Are you looking for opinions on the professors at the particular institutions, the experience of others at those schools, the viability of the double major within those schools or in general, or the observations of a violist/parent?</p>
<p>Is the double major across two seperate disciplines, or are both within music? </p>
<p>I'd be more than happy to relay our personal experiences. There are a number of double major posts on the board. If you haven't already done so, please take a minute to read them. They're full of both specific and general info. Also, BassDad's post <a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=258796%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=258796</a> should be mandatory reading for all here.</p>
<p>Welcome, violamom. Other things that would be helpful to know before we start discussing pros and cons is whether your daughter is interested in double major programs, double degree programs or both and what specific major(s) interest her other than viola performance.</p>
<p>DD is also interested in Eastern European studies, yes, another potentially lucrative field, but she loves it. All the Universities where she has auditioned have reasonably good programs in this area. She wants either Czech or Polish language, as opposed to Russian. The previous posts have been wonderfully helpful with the whole double major concern.
What I am looking for here is information on the music school's and professor's reputation, and their tract record in sending students on to good graduate schools, and, of course, your opinions on how to find the right school for our DD. We have no background in instrumental music whatsoever. Thanks in advance for sharing yours.</p>
<p>Oops, sorry. That's TRACK record. My bad.</p>
<p>Did she also apply to the Liberal Arts programs at those schools? Has she heard back yet? DD also didn't completely dare to dream til she had a few acceptances to mull over...</p>
<p>All three schools have excellent reputations. The track record for sending students on to grad schools is more a function of the teacher that the school. That is a very good question to ask the teachers that your daughter is considering.</p>
<p>Oberlin is fundamentally different from the other two in that it has virtually no grad students and it is a private LAC plus conservatory a tenth the size of the other two public universities. That makes it a very different kind of place. It offers a five year double degree program that is pretty popular among the conservatory students there, with around 40% participating at some time in their career. The end result is a Bachelor of Music degree and a Bachelor of Arts degree in a field other than music. From my daughter's experience, most of the teachers there really try to make the double degree program possible to complete. There are a few teachers there who do not want their students in the double degree program, so that is an important question to ask when talking to them. The Oberlin experience is a study in contrasts with some aspects of life being very laid back and others being quite intense. I highly suggest an overnight visit while school is in session to get a feel for whether it is the right place. Those who like it really fall in love with the place, but others go stir-crazy inside of a year and want somewhere larger. I have personally met both viola teachers, Peter Slowik and Karen Ritscher. Both have excellent credentials and seemed to be nice people to boot.</p>
<p>I do not think Indiana has a double degree program, per se. They have the degree of Bachelor of Science in Music and an Outside Field, in which you can take 27 credits worth of something other than music. Note that this is neither a Bachelor of Music degree nor a Bachelor of Arts degree in the second major, but something between the two. They have an awful lot of string students and my personal impression was that it would be easy for an undergrad to kind of blend into the woodwork if they were not either tremendously gifted or a strong advocate for themselves. To me, it looked like a wonderful place for a grad student. Your mileage may vary.</p>
<p>I am not all that familiar with Michigan because it was not on daughter's radar screen at all. From her perspective, Ann Arbor is a nice place to visit but she seemed much more at home at Oberlin. Your daughter may have the same feelings or exactly the opposite, but the two places are so different that I think the usual reaction would be to gravitate one way or the other but not both.</p>
<p>Oberlin offers a Russian language program which probably has a good track record for graduate schools (as does Oberlin generally) but it does not offer Czech or Polish -- U Mich offers Polish and Czech courses. Did she apply to these schools for non-music studies already? The course catalogs are on-line.</p>
<p>Our daughter is at Michigan and loves it, but I don't know much about the strings dept. Languages are fantastic, and study abroad opportunities abound, and are especially appealing during the "spring term" which is essentially summer (May - June) since the regular semester ends at the end of April (and there are no music courses in the summer terms). The orchestras are terrific, and the music school generally is wonderful. The new dean (since 2005), Christopher Kendell, comes from a family of string players (and educators) and has already begun recruiting some additional top teachers (cello and bassoon this year), so perhaps you'll have a chance to learn more about the strings programs. Double degree is easy. Ann Arbor is great. DD is a city kid, and in the end, Oberlin was just a bit too rural for her, but she did love the feel of the conservatory there as well.<br>
The academics at Michigan and Oberlin will generally be stronger than at Indiana, especially if she is able to do honors program at Michigan. I believe the academic requirements are stronger (I know that music students at both Mich and Oberlin must have strong academic records and SATs even to get auditions)</p>
<p>DD has applied to LSA at U/M and was accepted some time ago. She has been accepted into Hutton Honors College at Indiana and her admission's rep indicated that a double major would be doable in 5 years. Of course doable does not mean practical. She was accepted to Michigan State Honors, Illinois and Wisconsin as well. She has not heard from Oberlin, yet.<br>
Bassdad, I share your thoughts about the plight of the undergrad at Indiana. I also get the feeling that a double major or even a minor would not be greeted with hurrahs by the music faculty there. That being said, she loved the Campus and really is motivated to work hard by being with better players.<br>
She had a guest lesson at Oberlin last year and loved Professor Slowik. He made a huge impression on her. At her audition this weekend he remembered her and was very kind. She also felt right at home at Oberlin.
Michigan is appealing to her because it is in-state and because she currently studies with the viola teacher there. She loves the music school and is very at home on campus. She has only studied with him for a year so she feels there is still much to be learned with him.
Truly, we never expected to get such wonderful feedback so early in the audition process. She has already received some music school acceptences as well as interest from other Professors. Is this normal? We steeled ourselves to wait for months with nary a hint. Of course, we await the rest of the envelopes in the spring with hope and trepidation, and recognize that she did not audition for Julliard, Curtis, Eastman, etc.</p>
<p>nycm, thanks for the vote for Michigan! Is your daughter a voice major? I have a dear friend on the faculty.</p>
<p>From Indiana, Alan de Veritch and Atar Arad have highly respected reputations both as performers and pedagoues. Unfortunately, for Yuval Gotlibovich, I have no inkling one way or another. </p>
<p>Of Michigan listed faculty, Yizhak Schotten is well known. I believe he was on the faculty at Rice at some point. Of Caroline Coade, I have no knowledge beyond her listed bio. </p>
<p>Slowik & Ritscher from Oberlin are both highly respected as mentioned previously. </p>
<p>Regarding "recruitment", all my son's applications were followed by phone calls from the professor(s) at the appropriate school. I don't know whether this was the result of his credentials and auditions, or is standard practice for violists in general. They are far less plentiful than violinists & cellists. </p>
<p>Oberlin is a true conservatory environment with the benefit of being attached to a strong LAC. By comparison, Indiana & Michigan are huge. </p>
<p>Your issue might be in the language concentration. Czech & Polish may not be widely offered. Unless you have applied to schools you haven't listed, I'd say your choices may be limited given the language requirement. It's late in the process, but you may want to check Univ of Washigton (Helen Callus, strong reputation) and Eastman/Rochester (John Graham & George Taylor have strong reputations). I don't kown the institutional feelings of a dual major at either, or whether the language(s) is offered.</p>
<p>If she hasn't already, make sure your daughter has a lesson with her professor prior to committing. It's imperative that student and teacher mesh, and there are compatabilities of style and temperment.</p>
<p>For a viola general reference & discussion group, try <a href="http://www.viola.com/%5B/url%5D">http://www.viola.com/</a> if you're not already aware of it's existence.</p>
<p>I know that you did not ask for information on Wisconsin, but since your daughter has been accepted, I think it should be on the radar as well. Sally Chisholm is an excellent violist and superior teacher. My son is a grad of Eastman in cello performance and has been to quite a few summer music programs where he has been exposed to string player and teachers from all over the place. He says that he notices that Sally's students are consistently strong. He says he would recommend a violist to UW long before he would make the same recommendation to Eastman. One of Sally's high school students was admitted to Curtis last spring. She is also a wonderful person. </p>
<p>UW is also well known for languages, has a slavic languages program and offers Polish. So I don't want to confuse the mix for you, but my son was just commenting on Sally's students last night and I couldn't let this thread pass without comment.</p>
<p>Andre Roy @ McGill's Schulich School of Music is supposed to be tops, I know several students who transfered from top American conservatories to study with him here.</p>
<p>Hi violamom,
D is in the winds dept., not a voice major, but she is in awe of the voice students and faculty! I DO have the impression that all departments are just going to keep getting better and better, as there seems to be a lot of new faculty recruitment going on, in addition to the top professors already there. Let us know if UMich ultimately wins your daughter's heart. You will be fortunate to get in-state tuition rates, as for those of us non-Michigan residents, UMich matches top private school fees, unfortunately...</p>