<p>I agree with lorelei and cartera. Being in NYC for grad school, especially taking in significant debt while doing so, is not a prerequisite for success by any stretch of the imagination. Sure, maybe it was true at one time, when being close friends with Toscanini’s 2nd oboist in the NBC orchestra meant that he would you up on Thursday morning for for you to take that night’s gig because he was feeling ill. But those days are long done, and it is a much more formalized audition based world out there. The whole ‘having-connections’ mentality is a still important but really kind of a bit old fashioned. If you can beat out other singers in auditions, you WILL get the job, no matter if you have good friends on the Upper West Side or not. </p>
<p>That said, MSM is indeed a fantastic school, certainly as worthy of consideration and with as much strong points as any other school in the nation. (Although I realize that since this thread is outdated, that might be moot…)</p>