West Coast Safety Schools-need info please

<p>Now that we have D’s short list of dream schools, it is time to look at safeties. Can anyone out there please comment on any of the California State University programs, University of Redlands, or University of the Pacific? How about the Oregon or Washington schools? We can research the teachers later, I was just curious about overall strength of music programs, performance opportunities, caliber of musicians, diversity of course offerings, etc. The schools should have reasonably strong academics, as D is considering a double major. She is not interested in a music education program.</p>

<p>(If any of the schools I mentioned are tough admits, and not exactly safeties, please let me know!)</p>

<p>Many thanks (as always).</p>

<p>Are you California residents? CSU Long Beach’s conservatory is worth checking out. CSU Northridge has a good jazz program. Not sure about the academics at either. A number of my son’s friends are in the music dept at San Francisco State. That’s a fun safety. And there are some interesting things happening in the music department at San Jose State. All the CSU’s have their specialties. It’s possible one of them would be really strong in the area of your daughter’s interests.</p>

<p>For private I’ve heard good things about Redlands’ music program, as well as their academics. UOP has a strong jazz program - not sure about classical but it’s been around a long time. Many Bay Area local musicians went there… However, one would have to live in Stockton. You should also look at Chapman. They give good merit money for music. And have some good faculty.</p>

<p>University of Oregon in Eugene has a strong music dept. (They also have an Honors program for academics and give scholarships.) One of my son’s friends is going to a summer New Music festival there - for composing, improvising, performing, and conducting! Washington is good for ethnomusicology - but is not a safety for out of state, and is expensive. Good school, though. I’ve read some things on this Music Forum about Western Washington’s music program. You might do a search for that.</p>

<p>Also look into Santa Clara - a very solid school. Not sure whether it could be termed a safety but it’s not as difficult as some.</p>

<p>University of Oregon has a very good music program. We have a friend at the Universiy of Puget Sound in music who is very happy there. Willamette University has a small but good music program. Both UPS and Willamette are private, give good merit money and are on the selective (but not highly selective) side.</p>

<p>Could we have a little more information, i.e. instrument, voice, classical or jazz, etc. That would help to narrow down some suggestions. Also, even though we all hate to mention it, is money a really huge factor or not quite so important?</p>

<p>Oh - well I see by your name it must be clarinet…should have paid more attention!</p>

<p>I am familiar with OR and WA schools. If you are a CA resident, I would stick with those. The out-of-state tuition is very high in both OR and WA. The Univ. of Oregon in Eugene has a pretty good music dept. I have heard the the Univ. of WA has gone downhill over the years - it used to be highly respected. Western WA Univ. actually has a better dept. in many ways. As far as private schools, Pacific Lutheran in Tacoma and UPS (Univ. of Puget Sound) have decent music depts. But I can’t recommend them over Calif. schools so unless your daughter is adamant about getting out of CA, you would be wise to search those schools. As mentioned, Northridge and Long Beach are probably your best bets for the state schools. Actually, Humboldt State (where I went…) has improved over the years. But HSU is not for everyone. It’s very isolated.</p>

<p>Privates - USC of course, and Redlands and Univ. of the Pacific - both have pretty good music programs. I would definitely start looking at teachers - that would be your first priority. You have many options being a CA resident. Good luck!</p>

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<p>Very small music department. My guess is that admission to the music department would not be highly competitive…but you would also need to be admitted academically to the college.</p>

<p>Send my a PM and I can tell you more. DD plays in their orchestra (as a non-major).</p>

<p>Violinmom- I forgot about Humboldt. Thanks for mentioning it. It should definitely be on the list to check out for a CSU. Also, I know some music kids who’ve gone to Chico and been happy…</p>

<p>What about Chapman?</p>

<p>I appreciate all the advice. Sounds like we will stick to California and look more closely at a few Cal States, Redlands, UOP and Chapman.</p>

<p>thanks again!</p>

<p>Sacramento State has a good jazz program as well. For a more ‘conservatory’ approach, the Jazzschool in Berkeley has just started its 4-year degree program. The faculty is superb and the courses are varied and excellent. They’ve just paired with Yoshi’s, the great west coast jazz venue, and players get multiple chances to perform there. This is a school that is just starting (and therefore alot less expensive than other places like Berklee), but I predict great things for the school.</p>

<p>My opinion? - None of these are a given, but are much easier to enter than UCLA/USC, etc. </p>

<p>CSU Long Beach -Bob Cole Conservatory is excellent/university academics aren’t bad, either.</p>

<p>CSU Northridge - OK Music Department, better for Jazz than Classical, academics are OK</p>

<p>San Jose State University - Quality Music program, new director of jazz studies is very good - academics are better than other CSU’s</p>

<p>CSU Easy Bay - Under-rated music department (very helpful and encouraging) and getting better each year - OK academics</p>

<p>All CSU’s are “relatively easy” to get into (although Long Beach is toughest for music) and each is a bargain</p>

<p>Santa Clara University - OK music department and very expensive/ very good academics</p>

<p>University of the Pacific - Fine department, very expensive without 50%+ scholarship/ superior academically to many CSU’s</p>

<p>Redlands - Nice small school, decent Music Dept. but expensive without generous scholarship</p>

<p>Check out the Western undergraduate exchange program. [WICHE</a> - Student Exchange Programs](<a href=“http://wue.wiche.edu/]WICHE”>http://wue.wiche.edu/)
Residents of western states qualify for tuition rates at about 1.5 times in state tuition. The web site has the participating schools listed.</p>

<p>I hate to hijack this thread, but violinmom, what do you mean by “Univ. of WA has gone downhill over the years,” and in what ways does Western have a better department?</p>

<p>My S goes to University of Washington school of music. It is a fairly small music school. The violin professor was a student of Heifetz, the viola teacher a student of Atar Arad and the cello teacher a student of Leonard Rose. Piano, voice and harp is very good and there is a strong composition program. I did not respond to violinmom’s comment yesterday because I don’t know how good UW’s music school is in wind and brass.</p>

<p>Again, thanks for all the feedback, especially to Thumper1. And Steve, I was hoping you were out there, I did recall your son is in California somewhere. Your comments pretty accurately reflect what is out on the “grapevine”. And wel, thanks for the great tip about the WICHE. I had not heard of it. We probably will not use it but I am going to forward that to our school counselors.</p>

<p>Not to also hijack my own thread, but I would love to hear from anyone out there who did undergrad in a non-music subject, then went on to grad school for music (someone else on the board is asking about a similar topic). How did that turn out? Did it lead to any gainful employment in music? maybe I should start a new thread.</p>

<p>If you are willing to look a bit east, had a friend who graduated from University of Northern Colorado in music (flute player). She was very happy there and is now in grad school. This school is also part of WUE. [WICHE</a> - Student Exchange Programs](<a href=“http://wue.wiche.edu/profile.jsp?id=184]WICHE”>http://wue.wiche.edu/profile.jsp?id=184)</p>