TheHappyPianoMan

I know that Northwestern's music program in general is better, but there's many things to consider here:

1. UCLA is way less expensive than NU
2. I'm only really concerned about the piano performance program
3. I'm already in NU's School of Music, but I actually got into UCLA as a neuroscience major, which means I still have to audition for the piano program
4. I'm also double majoring in neuroscience at both schools, if that has anything to do with it

Where should I go...any ideas?

Any help would be greatly appreciated

theorygeek

Personally, I think it all depends on whether you are planning on Grad school. If you are, then UCLA could save you some big bucks. Otherwise, Northwestern is a perfect choice, congrats on your acceptences!!!

mamenyu

UCLA's performance department is in the College of Arts and Architecture, while the science departments are in the College of Letters and Sciences -- so you would need to be accepted at the other college in order to do performance; you might not be able to count on that being an easy thing to do -- you should check carefully before making a decision. There is not a program set up for doing a dual degree, though it may be possible.
The piano department at UCLA is very small -- two teachers, one in his 80's.
The UCLA music department was just given a huge donation by Herb Alpert, and is apparently reconfiguring -- so it looks like lots of changes ahead. At present, it is divided into performance (in the College of Arts and Architecture), ethno, including jazz performance (ditto), and music history/theory (College of Letters and Sciences).