Where should I freakin' GO??

College Search & Selection
1

<p>I'm going into my senior year at a performing arts highschool in NC and having a lot of trouble deciding where I want to go. I'm a vocal music major at my highschool and plan on making a professional career in performance...whether I aim towards the Met or Broadway, I'm not sure yet.. </p>

<p>Here's where I'm looking: Northwestern, U of Cincinatti (and CCM), Oberlin, Carnegie Mellon, NYU, Yale, Eastman, Peabody at Johns Hopkins, Julliard, UNCG, UNC(chapel hill), Appalachain State Univ., U of Maryland, Indiana Univ. Sch. of Mus., FSU, Emerson, and Furmon.....not sure I covered all of them but there they are.. in no particular order</p>

<p>Please help me! make suggestions, additions, whatever...just looking for some advice outside of my everyday peeps.</p>

<p>Thanks so much...if you feel obliged, please email me on the subject, because who knows when I'll get back to this site. Email: <a href="mailto:hobbitfootedewoks@hotmail.com">hobbitfootedewoks@hotmail.com</a></p>

2

<p>Hey there!</p>

<p>I think all of those schools are excellent choices. I would also add New England Conservatory on the list. It's an excellent school in Boston. And what about Curtis Institute? It's tough to get in but it's a school to look into. Are you looking specifically at conservatories? Or do you also want a collegiate experience as well? A lot of schools on your list offer a double major program where you can take classes at the university and conservatory/music school.</p>

<p>Also, what kind of environment are you looking for? NYU and Julliard (obviously both in New York) would be more urban than, say, Oberlin. What size of a school are you comfortable with?</p>

<p>Also, I would advise trimming down your list. Maybe apply to a couple of "reach," "match," and "safety" schools. I'm assuming you'll be auditioning, and that eats up a lot of time and money (traveling expenses and such). It is an overwhelming process. I went to an arts high school in San Francisco (majored in piano) and watched a lot of my classmates go through it. </p>

<p>However, I wish you the best of luck in your college search/selection.</p>

3

<p>For vocal performance- Rice.</p>

4

<p>For vocal performance, Westminster Choir College at Rider University should be on your list. <a href="http://westminster.rider.edu/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://westminster.rider.edu/&lt;/a> is the URL, I believe.</p>

5

<p>Oh, and if you're not sure about the Met or Broadway yet, look at schools with theatre and music programs that are strong, like the Hartt School at the University of Hartford (as one example, but a very good one).</p>

6

<p>St Olaf has a good music program</p>

7

<p>First of all, App. has an alternative hippy-style music program. I should know more about UNCG since I live like 5 minutes away, but I can't help you because I know nothing about it concerning music... It is a pretty good school, though. Curtis is not just selective, it is ultra-selective, moreso than HYPS. You definitely have a varied list, as selectivity/prestige (in my opinion, they go hand in hand) is concerned.</p>

8

<p>Hey ya'll, thanks for such great replys. To answer some general questions...I definitely consider myself a city kid. I love NYC and Cincinatti(my hometown). I've been warned to stay away from conservatories for undergrad because i won't get the full college experience, so i think, unless they are tied to a university, i'm going to leave them off the list. I don't really know anything about curtis institute, rice, rider, hartt, or st olaf(except that rose from the golden girls is from there...lol). in reply to gooose, UNCG has a great music program, one of the best in the country...and the cheapest.. it doesn't exactly have the name/prestige to go with it though. App and UNCG are my safety schools.</p>

<p>also, does anyone have any kind of extensive knowledge about julliard's voice program...i hear they accept very small amounts of new students every year...but i don't hear about them having a wonderful or exstensive voice program.</p>

<p>i think my #1 choice has to be Carnegie Mellon because of it's great classical/operatic and musical theatre programs...it seems to be top of the line in every area that i'm interested in and i would love to go there.</p>

<p>thanks again for all your help, please continue commenting and helping me widdle down my list. here's the whole thing as of last night:
UNCG and App as safety, Carnegie Mellon, NYU, Eastman, Northwestern, Julliard, U of Cinci/CCM, Yale, Emerson/Longy, Peabody, Oberlin, Indiana Univ, U of Maryland, New School, Berklee, Furmon, New England, UNC(chapel hill), and FSU.</p>

9

<p>There's a whole separate forum for Musical Theatre (under the "majors" section) you might want to check out.</p>

10

<p>Make sure you look at life outside of the classroom at all your schools, especially Carnigie Mellon. Many are impressed about Carnigie Mellon as a school, but are turned off by the campus life.</p>

11

<p>I strongly agree with the_wallflower. New England Conservatory should be at the top of your list. New England Conservatory has the top string program in the United States. They also have a world class jazz faculty. Jerry Bergonzi, Danilo Perez, George Russell, Bob Brookmeyer, and Bob Moses all teach there. I believe Gunther Schuller started the jazz program when he was president of NEC. Also check out Manhattan School of Music in NYC and Julliard.</p>

12

<p>Last time I checked, Yale was only really good for graduate school for vocal performance, etc. Yale doesn't have an undergraduate program in performance or for anything at all. Only a B.A in Music, and I've heard it is difficult to study with the voice teachers that are with the Graduate Opera program for applied study.</p>

13

<p>New England Conservatory is a dump.</p>

14

<p>Really? A lot of people I know love it there. It's also fairly prestigious.</p>

15

<p>Few of these places are safeties. A lot is based on your audition. In same cases, places like Yale, CMU, Rice and Oberlin aren't safeties for anyone. Even Cincinnati is very tough.</p>

16

<p>NEC- D knows a lot of kids who have left or have not been happy. There are some wonderful faculty members, but the place really is a dump.</p>