<p>Our D is home for the summer and is taking private lessons with one of her favorite profs who also happens to be head of the music dep. in our local U. He has taught her privately for the past 8 years. Well, at this evenings lesson he wanted to talk about her plans for Master Degree. She will be doing her senior year in BMus (perf) in Sept at her US college. Anyway he gave her a written offer that if she comes back here she will have more than a full ride. COA here is about 17,000 / yr including room and board. He has offered her with the presidents signature a $20,000 / yr scholarship with the caveat being a minimum 3.4gpa which she is not worried about as right now she has an overall 3.9. The problem is that this is not her dream school. It is not very well known for music but is quickly building its reputation . She wants to go to NYU for lots of professional reasons, our local U was going to be her safety but now they have sure raised the stakes for her. We will try hard to not put the money pressure on her but it would be nice. $75000 (NYU) if she gets in versus money in your pocket if you go here.</p>
<p>You might want to post this on the music forum, which is very active.</p>
<p>Your right is there a way for me to do that</p>
<p>Not having big loans for graduate school which will free her to follow her heart to a job,instead of restricting her to earning enough to pay loans which might even require a second job at times.</p>
<p>What could NYU possibly offer over that,that is worth $75,000+?</p>
<p>I am not in your shoes, but my very first thought was that many many music majors likely are forced to take a second job to pay rent while they are climbing the ladder of musical success (maybe that should be “scaling” the ladder! Ha!) </p>
<p>75K carefully budgeted could buy her a lot of practice time - rather than supplementing her income initially with a secondary job, she could be continuing to grow and develop adn have the luxury of (for example) taking a part time job that she was truly passionate about. Just sayin’ -</p>
<p>You should try starting a thread with this question in the Music Forum [Music</a> Major - College Confidential](<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/]Music”>Music Major - College Confidential Forums) </p>
<p>If the music scene in NYC will help her get a start, introduce her to influential musicians, conductors, et al, then she will have to weigh those mentorships, introductions against the $$. Best of luck.</p>
<p>I expect her university has contacts across the country, you don’t need to live in NYC to know people in NYC ( or Seattle, or Boston, or Dallas)</p>
<p>Also as a sought after student at her local university, she may get much more involvement and support from that music dept over a school that isn’t apparently offering much if any merit aid to her.</p>
<p>If completing her Masters in the U.S. will give her job opportunities in the U.S. that would NOT be available to her with a Masters from your local U., then that’s a consideration.</p>
<p>But why the rush to decide? She certainly has time after returning to school this fall to discuss this with people she knows and trusts at her current school. So, yes, you can repost this question in the music subforum, but you should also give her the chance to discuss it with her mentors at school.</p>
<p>What a generous offer and a testament to how highly regarded your daughter is! Would it be possible for her to go ahead with audition season as planned and see how things work themselves out in a few months, or would that be seen as “burning her bridges” by the school?</p>
<p>She is not making a decision yet and has told them that she is proceeding with all of her planned applications. The opportunities in Canada are not as great as in the States so that is one of the big draws for her. She is already starting to make out her applications for Grad School because the audition requirements are extensive and she needs to be fully prepared. The local U has told her that the offer is open and they will not pressure her. If she decides to go somewhere else they will understand but that this offer will stand until she makes her final decision. The reason I say what a decision is because she knows the stress we have been under to get her through the B Mus financially and that most US Unies do not offer much aid for international students and scholarships are very limited. We do not know what may be offered to her so we want her to go ahead as if this was never offered and we will see what happens at that point. We will do anything we can to help her. She loves the local Prof and he has even paid for her to come home at one point to take part in a masters class because he felt she could learn so much and wanted her to perform for his students. We are just really concerned that the money thing is going to play too much on her emotionally. We have never blamed her or tried to make her feel bad but she knows that we have not been able to take a holiday in the last 4 years and I was to retire 2 years ago but did not so that we could pay her OOS fees we have not and will not dip into our retirement fund and she knows that, she has worked as much as possible and has put away a fair junk of cash to help out as well. We understand the OOS fees and such but what really killed us the first year was the convertion, we lost $4000 which is equal to a full years tution here at home. Any way I am not complaining and we are so proud of her, her drive, dedication and just plain commen sense.</p>
<p>For a performance major the biggest issue should be getting good instruction on her instrument. Of course the next biggest issue is money. I would go ahead with the planned auditions and compare the offers.</p>
<p>Yes, by all means, have her go through a normal audition season. The local U is putting their offer out this early because they expect her to get other good offers from more competitive music schools. Wait and see what all of her offers are before making your decision. We told our D when she was going through the audition process for her BM that she should choose the best value for her money which isn’t always the cheapest COA nor is it necessarily the most prestigious school. Now that she is a junior and is looking forward to her next audition cycle, our advice will be the same. Her BM choice was ultimately not her "dream” (private) school, (which even with that school’s highest ranking scholarship offer was more $$$ than we felt we should commit), but her 2nd choice (state) school which even with a lesser scholarship the COA was better and at least close to her best financial offer which was from her “safety” a less competitive private school. I think the only real difference at the graduate level is that the teacher/school’s reputation and the potential for employment connections will weigh in a bit more. On the other hand, given the economy and the financial reality for musicians, graduating debt free or nearly debt free will also be a very important factor that will be weighed into our decision. Congratulations on your D’s offer and Good Luck! Maybe you’ll be able to use this offer as a bargaining chip once your D gets all her offers.</p>
<p>Thanks for the comments and yes she is going to go through the full process of applying, auditioning for all of the schools she is looking at for her MMusc. We also think it is imprtant for her to try and she where she may be accepted and then lets make the decision once all of the cards are on the table. Our local U has even sent her a very nice electronic letter to include with her application here from the dean of music telling the application officer that she is already accepted and does not need to do the auditions and to proceed with the acceptance letter. My D cant believe it but has said that maybe they want her to start breaking the ice for them and help make their name known elsewhere. The prof that she likes so much here has also asked her if she would mind coming in during the American Thanksgiving break to play with his students and talk to the class. He has even offered to personally pay her transportation. She is a lucky young lady and what is really special we think is that she has no ego, she takes it in stride and tells everyone that she has worked hard for what she has and is proud of it. It will be tough decision though come acceptance time for Grad school</p>