<p>Long-time lurker, finally posting for the first time so here goes! First of all, thanks to all the forum participants for all the great advice, and congrats to everyone who's recently received the good news of their acceptances!</p>
<p>This year my daughter got started late, and ended up unsuccessfully muddling through her grad applications, so she's trying to get a better start on the next round after gap year.
She's narrowed the list to CIM, Eastman, IU and Rice (although I suspect that may be a reach) and now we would value any information about which profs at these would be good for her to set up a test lesson with. Also, if there's a grad school for violin that's conspicuously missing from her list, we'd love to hear about that too.</p>
<p>We're in Canada, so hoping for schools not to far south (Rice notwithstanding) and scholarships will be a must for us too, so that eliminates some other good schools.</p>
<p>Looking forward to any and all advice, thanks!</p>
<p>You might want to add NEC and Juilliard to the list. Because Rice admits fewer students than Juilliard, it is possbly more competitive. Both NEC and Juilliard are excellent for strings. </p>
<p>As for teachers, consider Winkler and Kantor at Rice, Fuchs at Indiana (he is formerly Canadian and seems to have a soft spot for Canadians–always seems to have some in his studio; my son worked with him at a summer program and says he has an excellent ear and is an excellent teacher). At CIM almost any teacher is good, so fit is more the issue.</p>
<p>I should also have mentioned that Mannes and Manhattan both have some well-reputed violin instructors (several of whom also teach at Juilliard). While Mannes and Manhattan aren’t known for their financial generosity to undergrads, I think they are somewhat better with grads (someone please correct me, if I am wrong).</p>
<p>Thank you! That’s exactly the kind of information we’re looking for! FWIW we had crossed all the NYC (and Boston) schools off our list because of the expense of living there, but maybe there are ways around that we don’t know about either…? </p>
<p>Our D is graduating from McGill this year, and plans to spend her gap year teaching and performing, work she already has lined up, as well as continuing private lessons to help with the next round of auditions.</p>
<p>violindad - a tremendously talented pianist I know about to graduate from Rice with a Master’s was accepted to Mannes to study with Richard Goode when he was applying to Master’s programs two years ago, and received zero financial aid from them. He didn’t even apply there when he was applying for doctoral programs this spring because of their lack of money.</p>
<p>You might consider checking out the Glenn Gould School in Toronto. It is an incredible school for piano, and I am under the impression that it is equally good for violin.</p>
<p>Another plug for Rice and violin… with Kantor there, I have a feeling that it will go from great to unbelievable.</p>
<p>Hi colliemum, it’s not easy to make blanket recommendations of teachers without knowing slightly more about the student’s background and aspirations. However, I’d add to the good advice above that Kevork Mardirossian at IU is worth a look – a bit under the radar, perhaps, but excellent and rising in repute. Charles Castleman at Eastman is a fine pedagogue.</p>
<p>fiddlefrog is quite correct- knowing more about the student can help with making recommendations for fit. What kind of teacher is she more comfortable with, nurturing, didactic, illustrative, etc? I know there are a few Canadian students currently at CIM, including an incredible violinist, and the school does give financial aid. If you want to PM me, we can talk about the teachers there.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone for your replies! Mezzo’sMama I have PM’d you, but I may as well mention that our D is a quiet but tough-minded student (with a quirky sense of humour) who would benefit from forthright criticism more than nurture, if that helps bring any reco’s to mind. Thanks again!</p>
<p>Mannes -my son got his MM in cello there in 2009 and did get scholarship money - enough to cover 3/4 of the tuition costs. He had to dicker for it, though. He still ended up borrowing quite a bit for his living costs, but he got to study with a fabulous teacher and made contacts in the NYC music scene.</p>