<p>My DS wants to be a vocal music teacher. We are currently researching vocal music education programs in the Mid-Atlantic geographic area (NJ/PA/NY/CT/MD) and looking for thoughts/feedback on strengths/weaknesses/characteristics of the several programs. We are looking to both quality of program as well as total cost/value.</p>
<p>I created 3 groupings (A - Top Tier; B - Good and lower cost; C - Good and higher cost) and tried to find the best programs across these groupings. Please comment the programs in the list as well as any programs that should be there but are not ... thank you!!</p>
<p>(A) Top Tier Programs (faculty, students, performance opportunity, near major metro. area, etc.). Both happen to be expensive ($50K+ annually)
* Westminster Choir College (Rider University)
* Peabody Conservatory (Johns Hopkins University)</p>
<p>(B) Good Programs - not "top tier" but are reasonably priced (less than $30K annually)
* Cali School of Music (Montclair State University)
* Indiana University of Pennsylvania
* Mason Gross School of Music (Rutgers University)
* Rowan University School of Music
* Westchester University of Pennsylvania</p>
<p>(C) Good Programs that are relatively expensive ($50K+ total annual cost) ... so why consider these for vocal music education if they are not as good as the "A" group and are so much more expensive than the "B" group?
* Hartt School of Music (University of Hartford)
* Ithaca College
* Lebanon Valley College
* Susquehanna University</p>
<p>As always, ignore list price. It’s a meaningless number unless the student has absolutely no financial need, and there is no thought on the part of the institution that they need to be lured in any way by the offer of merit money. Certainly it’s smart to have one safety school in terms of finances and admissions - where no matter what is offered, or not, the student could afford to attend.</p>
<p>You mention NY but do not seem to have many NY schools on your list. Eastman (University of Rochester) should certainly be considered top tier for music ed. They are in the $50+ category but as SpiritManager indicates, list price is kind of meaningless. </p>
<p>My son is a performance/Ed major at Eastman. He loves, loves, loves his music ed stuff. He wants to teach. The music ed dept is great and no we do not pay $50 grand. </p>
<p>I would take a very serious at Ithaca College. There is a lot to like about that school and their education degree is very respected. The students get a lot of attention from the faculty and the classes are fairly small. I do not agree that all of the schools that you have in that category with IC are equal at all. I would tend to compare IC more to Hartt. </p>
<p>My son would have attended Ithaca had he not been admitted to Eastman. They offered generous money but so did Eastman. Ithaca does get a lot of respect in regards to music ed especially here in NY. They graduate some really great teachers. </p>
<p>Any insights or opinions on vocal music education at Rutgers - Mason Gross, Montclair State - Cali School of music, Rowan, Westchester of PA, or IUP? </p>
<p>I expect to qualify for little to no financial aid so I want to know the level of program quality of the lower priced schools. I’d like to understand whethet the additional $100k over 4 years would be worth it. </p>
<p>Hi JerseyJoe. The final price you pay will not just be factor of your need for financial aid. Merit awards have a huge impact on the price of the schools and that is usually income independent except for some of the elite conservatories. DD had quite a few substantial awards and we did not qualify for any financial aid. You will not know the real price until close to May 1st when the offers are in and the negotiations are done. It does not make sense to eliminate shcools based on money now, but make sure she understands that unless the merit awards come in, the school will later be off the table. That way you can help with the “fell in love with school and can’t afford it” discussion.</p>
<p>Hi JerseyJoe. Agree completely with Singersmom re: cost. Our daughter received a decent amount of money from Ithaca - if she hadn’t she would never had gone there (and was told that from the outset). Btw she loves it there - outstanding music ed. program and the level of performance is quite high.</p>
<p>I also disagree with your contention that the some of the schools in your B and C groups are “not as good as the A group”. Peabody and Westminster (and Eastman was mentioned), may be at a higher level in the area of performance, but for vocal music education, I’m inclined to say that some of the schools on your B and C list, along with a few that were not listed (SUNY Potsdam and SUNY Fredonia come to mind) are top-notch as far as music education is concerned. For many of these schools, music education is the bread and butter of their music departments.</p>
<p>Thanks for info re: SUNY schools. Potsdam and Fredonia sure look like cold weather areas!! </p>
<p>Thanks also for insight into merit aid. I plan to keep all options on the table for now and see how it plays out. Made me wonder, do more males or females apply for music ed degrees? I believe that education degrees in general have many more females. If this is also true for music ed, does it “help” to be a male and do schools look to “increase gender diversity” by attracting more males into music ed? (I’m not trying to start a flaming discussion on gender diversity - just trying to get facts for current situation in music education). </p>
<p>Thanks again… You have all been very helpful! </p>
<p>Wow… I was able to find out that 75-80% of education majors are female. This statistic was across all of education (not limited to music education) and has been fairly consistent for a few decades. I expected it to be high, but that is even higher than I expected. </p>
<p>Any students / parents currently in music ed programs seeing similar enrollment? </p>
<p>At son’s school, SUNY Potsdam’s Crane, it is about 60% female and 40% female. I don’t think admissions discriminates in favor of males or females. Quick plug for Crane. It may be cold but they do stack scholarships for academics and music. We were pleasantly surprised with the scholarship money offered. The Crane alumni network is outstanding. We are impressed with the quality of their teacher preparation program. Son hasn’t done his official student teaching yet. However, he has taught in the local catholic school for one semester, local public for one semester and has taught National String Project students for 3 semesters as well as leading one of the NSP orchestras. He is well prepared for the upcoming student teaching semester. The Choral ed majors and Band instrument ed majors are also offered similar preparation. </p>
<p>My other daughter is a senior violin major at Crane (and her father and I are both Crane alums and music teachers), and she is student teaching this semester. She had a very thorough preparation for it - see momofbassist’s post (they probably know each other, momofb. : ) ) - and is presently receiving fantastic support while she student teaches. Yes it is cold - not gonna lie there, but the very warm and caring environment makes up for the chilly temperatures outside. It’s worth a look JerseyJoe. Best of luck to you and your son! PS - My daughter is very friendly with a lot of guy vocal ed. majors, who seem to love it there!</p>
<p>You might also take a look at Temple U’s Boyer College of Music. My daughter’s high school choir teacher went there and he is amazing. This school had a legendary choir teacher who retired two years ago after 37 years in the district (top school district in Philly suburbs), so hiring his replacement was a huge deal and they chose a Temple grad. Our middle school band teacher also is a Temple grad and is wonderful. I also know a private voice teacher (female) who graduated from Temple many years ago, and her daughter is there now for vocal music ed. and loves it. </p>
<p>You should also think about where you want to teach. Many schools prefer to hire grads from within their state. When you are talking to admissions people ask them how well their grads are doing in finding jobs. Most will tell you. </p>