<p>Hi everyone! This is my first post:'] I am about to start my senior year of high school, so college-wise, "the hunt is on"! I plan on pursing my undergraduate in classical voice. Could anyone tell me a little bit about the University of North Carolina School of the Arts and its voice department? So far, I really like what I've read about it: Affiliated with the UNC school system, tuition under $40,000, etc. I haven't visited there yet, but do any of you have children or friends who attend/attended UNCSA? What were the teachers like? The campus? To ask a really broad question, is it a good music school?</p>
<p>Also, if anyone can tell me about the undergraduate programs at the following schools that would be great!</p>
<p>-Belmont U.
-LSU
-UT Austin
-Butler U.
-Ohio State U.
-Rice U.
-Michigan State U.
-U. of Michigan
-Lawrence U.
-St. Olaf</p>
<p>Any other conservatory/college suggestions would be awesome. Thank you!!!</p>
<p>Welcome LizAlto17. Your list is quite a variety. Perhaps if you told us a little more about yourself. Have you been studying with a private teacher? Your teacher should help with your school selections. Also this is a good thread to start with: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/258796-so-you-want-music-major-one-familys-experience.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/258796-so-you-want-music-major-one-familys-experience.html</a></p>
<p>DD is a VP major at Rice. They are very selective, only accepting about 8 undergraduate students a year. You are accepted into a studio (there are 3) so it depends who has room and how many graduate students are there, too. In addition, you need to be accepted into Rice, unless you are really an unusual talent. You don’t have to be in the top group but you need to be in range to be able to take the other classes. Here is our link to the school information. [Shepherd</a> School of Music - Houston, TX](<a href=“http://music.rice.edu/facultybios/yekovich.shtml]Shepherd”>http://music.rice.edu/facultybios/yekovich.shtml)
Please go ahead and PM me if you have questions.</p>
<p>Hi LizAlto17! It might be easier if you tell folks what you are looking for (what state are you in, what sort of school you are looking for etc). You have lots of great schools listed, but they are “all over the map”.</p>
<p>Thanks for your replies! So a little about myself and my prefered type of school: I’m from Texas. I’ve been in choir since my freshman year. I love opera<3. I made the all state choir my sophmore and junior year (I heard that this doesn’t really matter to colleges… so much for that. lol). I do study with a private teacher, and I hate sounding like I’m bragging, but he told me that getting into the music programs at most schools would not be a problem for me.<br>
School-wise, I would like:
-Most importantly, smaller student body. Big state schools, like UT Austin, are so packed with people that I’m worried I won’t get enough attention as an undergrad. I did list some big state schools because the cost tends to be lower, which is always nice :')
-Music school is competitive. Not necessarily Juilliard competitive, but enough so that even if it isn’t the greatest conservatory on the Earth, it’s still well-respected. For example, I read on another website that Butler University wasn’t quite on tier with the major conservatories or music schools in the country, but still boasted a great music program.
-I don’t care about in-state or out-of-state, but I would REALLY prefer to be out of Texas. Location as far as states go is only marginally important. There are places I would like to live for the next four years (Anywhere on the east coast. Midwest is good too). But if there’s a great school in a place that isn’t my first choice (Anywhere in the South, Texas), I would still be willing to check it out.
-I know I just said location is only marginally important, but it would be nice if the hypothetical school were near or in a big city.
-Lastly, for college vs. conservatory, I am kind of torn. My mother and I are starting my round of college visits soon, so I think after I’ve visited some of each I will know. I’ve heard people complain that at a conservatory, there’s no “college life”, they don’t have fun, etc. But at normal colleges, they might not get as much attention or there aren’t as many high-quality teachers. And so on, so forth.</p>
<p>I have my first voice lesson of the summer with my teacher next week, so we will be discussing audition pieces and college options then. </p>
<p>Really, I would like some information on UNCSA, like personal experience or thoughts. </p>
<p>I hope my response wasn’t too convoluted or anything like that. Haha! If there’s anything else I need to clarify, let me know.</p>
<p>University of Michigan—big music school, big school and expensive for out of state. (so possibly not what you are after)
Look at how many vocal performance students there are, not the size of the U or the School of Music. An example is UCLA( also very expensive for out of state), a very large school but a very small (and VERY competitive) VP program—only 30-32 students total. Rice has a very small selective program as well. UNT is large and in your backyard, but it produces some great singers.
Sorry I don’t have much comprehensive info! Enjoy the process!</p>
<p>We are also from Texas and my daughter applied and auditioned at both UT and LSU where she was accepted to both. She will be attending CIM in the fall, but LSU was definitely her second choice (she was also accepted to Lamont School at U of Denver). She auditioned at UT in the fall of her senior because she was automatically accepted and that became the safety school. I know several kids in the program–vocal and instrumental–and they are very happy. I don’t think my daughter would have thrived there even though Austin is a great town.</p>
<p>LSU is definitely flying under the radar and there were only two things that stood out as problems. The first was it has a heavy choir component and that is not her interest–though you may love it. Ken Fulton is the head of that department and he is tremendous–one of the most respected choir directors in the south. We really liked the voice faculty and sat in on a master class where we got to hear graduate students. The opera program is very exciting–two productions and lagniappes!</p>
<p>The only other thing was that freshman did not get full time lessons with teachers–they were taught part time by graduate students. This may not be an issue for you, but it was for my daughter. </p>
<p>The campus is really nice and it truly was a hard decision–especially with tuition covered!</p>