My daughter is a music Ed major (clarinet) graduating this year from JMU. She applied to PSU and UD as well. UD was very generous and PSU have next to nothing. My son also auditioned at PSU (Euphonium performance) and was told they don’t give much scholarship so they encourage you ton look for outside scholarship. I don’t know if how much the money will factor into your decision but you might want to be prepared.
Looking like my daughter will be at Jacobs too—voice. Most affordable package for her and a great program. Still waiting on a financial appeal elsewhere before hitting the commit button, but I’m guessing she’ll be a Hoosier.
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That’s what the PSU students told us, that we could look for outside scholarships. The only merit scholarship is like 5k given to 1/3 of freshman. Not good odds. I think we are more waiting to see if UDel meets or beats PSU’s in state cost.
When my daughter applied to UD in 2020, the largest scholarship amount available was $20k which was a combination of academic and music (they did not separate values).
Sarah
Will Julliard match Colburn financial aid offer?
The profs at UMich are pretty amazing as well, doing a lot of contemporary ensembles and have developed a pretty tight studio. Can’t lose with either studio.
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This may depend on how close you are to a full tuition offer at Juilliard to begin with.
Tagging @TooManyViolinists
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I have this question as well. Professor works at both Juilliard and Curtis and tried to emphasize that he works at Juilliard as if we should apply there next year or as if he was pushing us in that direction. But if a student gets into Colburn (pretty sure we will) and/or Curtis (possibility), then I could never justify paying Juilliard prices.
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Well, my son’s decision has been made. He’s taking the full scholarship at Juilliard. We’re excited for him, but it was hard declining the offers at the other wonderful schools; especially considering the wonderful studios he was admitted into. But he thinks this is where he should be and so we support him.
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Thanks for that info. The professor would only say most students get over half tuition. It’s nice to see an actual $ amount. And your amount would put it close PSU and UDel at similar cost.
Generally, nobody will match Colburn’s offer, with few exceptions. If you are awarded Kovner scholarship at Juilliard, that is close to the same. Generally Curtis and Juilliard will match the full tuition, but not the living expenses. Curtis (and I believe Juilliard) will provide financial aid for living expenses if it is needed, but not merit aid. My son was also told by NEC that they would go higher than full tuition if he would commit, but we didn’t pursue that, so I am not sure how much higher.
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Professor may have been alluding to the fact that Curtis (and Colburn for that matter) have far fewer openings in any given year compared to Juilliard. For smaller studios at Curtis there may be 0-1 openings per year. Entire student body at Curtis is around 150, and Colburn is even smaller.
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That’s probably true. The range of ability in our instrument is rather wide at Juilliard, and that may be just down to taking those who can/are willing to pay in the end. I know they contacted at least 2 kids off the waitlist last year asking them to attend, but those kids had already had cheaper options elsewhere that they’d accepted.
We visited USC’s open house yesterday and my DD decided to commit. It was always her dream school and they are very supportive of her adding a 2nd major or minor when she is ready. So nice to be done!
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Also @Kpatterson Similar situation for us. The same teacher for my D’s instrument teaches at Curtis and Juilliard, D auditioned for both. She didn’t make it into Curtis, which would have been her first choice and ours (as parents) because of the cost. They had 12-ish kids audition for 3 positions. Why so many I don’t know. We know 2 of the 3 who were accepted and they are bona fide great musicians.
Anyway, she auditioned for the same teacher at Juilliard and was accepted into his studio with some merit money. We’re appealing for more, but even if we don’t get it we can make it work as is.
Conclusion: she’s going to Juilliard and very excited! She will officially commit after she hears from the financial office.
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But did all 3 accept the acceptance so to speak? Does anyone ever get into Curtis off a waitlist? Or is there no waitlist?
Also worth factoring in that Curtis is often a multi year process - at least one you mention was v v close last year and it was expected that they would make it in this year bar a disaster; nothing wrong with that at all and its a highly supportive approach, just noting that sometimes there are less open places than it may seem
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Yes, there are cases when people get off waiting lists at Curtis. I don’t have personal experience with this, but I know at least two kids (one cello, one violin) who ultimately went elsewhere. The cello situation is not ideal right now at Curtis, so that has been happening quite a bit. The violinist ended up going to Kronberg.
Curtis is also very strange in that some years there will be many spots for an instrument and other years none – especially for winds and brass. They do encourage people to either audition early (as a sophomore or junior) or take a gap year and audition late for those positions.
We also know one person who was accepted last year but they did not have a spot, so they will be starting next year.
Moral of the story: Curtis is just weird with admissions due to small size and limited positions.
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I don’t know if all 3 spots were filled and if they were, who got the 3rd spot. I know 2 auditioners were offered spots and accepted, only because my D happens to know those 2 kids. I don’t know if there’s a waitlist.
In larger studios at Curtis, there may be a short waitlist in the event that an accepted prospective student declines.
For small studios (winds and brass) I have heard of a prospective student placed on a waitlist because a current Curtis student is not sure in the spring whether they will continue in the fall. For example, a current fourth year student might plan for a fifth year (not uncommon at Curtis, especially with this current cohort having one pandemic year) but if that current student lands a job in spring and opts to leave then the waitlisted student is offered a spot.
Agree that the openings are quite variable from year to year. Especially for small studios (5 total for each woodwind instrument) Know that at times there may be HS aged students who will hold a spot for more than 4 years. I believe currently there are 3-4 in the flute studio who are under 18!
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