I’m personally insulted. So my kid is 2nd rate because she goes to Juilliard? She is also a double bass so we are the same instrument. Top kids turned Juilliard down? In my experience, the top kids got into Curtis and the rest found the best deals and schools that worked for them. You are on a public forum of music parents, you know that, right?
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I was wondering given the JHU cuts!
Everyone knows Juilliard is the best. I just want to know if anyone has any tips for Jacobs or Cincinnati. Do they ever offer more scholarships? The out of state fees are really pricy for us.
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Has anyone received notification of scholarship from UT Austin Butler School of Music?
My son is a freshman at Jacobs and we’re OOS. we went back and forth negotiating aid last year and they did give us more- I think in the end it was about $2500 more than the original offer. Hope that helps!!
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My daughter is a sophomore at Jacobs. We appealed and received $2,500.
I think in this season of decisions, that negativity about any school is going to be hurtful to someone. Information is helpful but I hope everyone can support the choices folks on here make- it is so difficult. For some, money is a big factor to be considered and honored too.
As a long time music parent I know young musicians in well-known ensembles who went to a lot of different schools. And I also know quite a few who have been quite entrepreneurial in their careers. And some who have gone on to grad work or jobs in other areas (while still playing). Lots of paths. Here’s to all the kids entering music study in the fall and hope they thrive!
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Before my sons UNT committment, i emailed and called IU for a cost comparison, and no one at Jacob’s has yet to respond to me!!
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Thank you for saying this. I come here for information because I can’t find it anywhere else. Most of the time it makes me feel worse, but I’m desperate for info.
I was very naive about this whole process and would definitely do things differently if we were starting over today. My son came to jazz drumming rather late and has only had a proper jazz teacher for 2 years. I’m now realizing that he may be behind others because of this. We cannot afford to pay top $ for schools and I naively thought that, with his high gpa, high ACT and many awards, that he would get accepted to every school with $.
Well, here we are, waitlisted for DePaul, his top choice. I have read very disparaging things about DePaul’s program being not top tier or a “safety”. And that hurts. So, yea, maybe think about everyone who is reading the comments. I am blown away by the talent on here and how most of your kids are getting into top tier schools. Congratulations to all of you.
I hope things work out for my kid. He has worked so hard. He has a great #2 choice with a top tier professor who calls him regularly and is excited to have him. So, I’m not even sure he would go to DePaul. We are just hoping he has the option before we have to commit to a different school.
That being said, if any of you did get into DePaul, have you received financials? Just hoping for some movement on the waitlist.
Thank you!
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Please don’t feel this way. As someone with a son halfway through his undergrad jazz I will tell you with 100% certainty…there are SO many other factors than “where” you go…he will find a great program for HIMSELF. Mine gets alot of work because 1. YES he is an outstanding musician ( SO many are) BUT also 2. people like to work with him because he is hardworking and humble, he is EASY to work with. Word travels. They find their way. My son chose NOT to go to Berklee (simply because it wasn’t for him) but every time he tells someone he is in school for music he gets “why didn’t you go to Berklee?” lol… Hang in there…it’s not easy
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I’m sorry that you feel this way too. My D is a working professional (performing and teaching) at 32. I try to be honest on here that her path has NOT been the straight and narrow. She got no huge scholarship at a top schools. For grad school, she stepped down to a less selective school (not even in the same category as DePaul) and still made it. One of the reasons I stick around here is to say: there are many ways to make it in music and many schools. Do not think you have to follow the straight and narrow. The teachers at any school will be BETTER than your kid so they will grow. Classical instrumentalist trying to get an orchestra position are different. But I KNOW that vocalists, contemporary and jazz musicians come out of all kinds of schools. My D’s best friend is a vocalist from a no-name school and one of the best in the area now for MT and hired all the time. When I go to shows now and look at the Playbill…I always notice the variety of schools. So please, please have faith in your kid as he is now…and don’t compare…and I know that’s hard.
And, at my D’s first school visit, I went in with her to meet the teacher thinking that was normal. When the teacher hinted at her to sing I thought…oh no, that’s so gauche, I don’t want her parading herself about…that’s not right. I was so…stupid. I also thought that she would get a big scholarship…maybe even a full ride! Silly me. I was naive too. And still, my kid made it.
Here is the dirty little secret: it’s up to your kid in the end…not you and your knowledge…your bank account…the school…or even the teacher. At some point, it’s up to your kid. My silly kid will NOT stop…even though at times when she was singing opera in noisy bars or outside with a scant audience with planes flying overhead, or in a small production almost making no money…I certainly thought…oh boy maybe time to get a real job. She did over 30 auditions last year for 2 shows and a couple small projects. It’s a LOT of rejections. Sometimes that’s harder on the kids that got to the top…and then have to fight for scraps with everyone else. Bc my D is going to fight for those scraps!!! So there is a lot more to success than school name. And you do get to define success. For me and my D, it’s being self-supporting in the arts.
Just support your kid where he is at. Tell him that you believe in him (and practice that in your mind…I do that!) and he’ll do it…if he really wants it. That I know!
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THIS! 100%
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Last year, DePaul was very slow to notify on merit aid. Like mid April? Hopefully that will not happen this year!
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When you put your success outside of yourself, it’s harder to be successful imho. It also cause bitterness, anger etc. When you put your success squarely in your lap…that’s when you have a shot. It does take time to learn that in college and in life. My D is still learning it…and talks about it a lot.
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I also like what you said about defining success for yourself. I never thought about this but it is SO true. What you as a parent “think” success is for your child may be very different from what they define it as! SO true.
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And their perceptions evolve over time with their experiences in life and music. They learn to trust what is inside themselves. It is a beautiful thing. 
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Thank you! This helped. My son is the same. Very easy going and lots of teachers have told him that’s huge in the music biz. And my son also got into Berklee and everyone was very impressed. He didn’t really want to go there but probably would have if they gave him good $, which they didn’t.
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Thank you! This really helped. And it’s true, I am more upset about it than he is. Or at least he doesn’t show it. He is very resilient and that will serve him well. I just wanted him to not have to learn the hard lessons so early on.
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We are trying to figure out how much debt for a student is financially worth it to go to a conservatory-type music school like Jacobs and Cincinnati vs our local in-state school that’s not known for music. D wants to play horn in a an orchestra in a city one day. We just don’t know enough about the orchestra world, and i would love input. Is it possible to make it into the orchestral world without being at a music school for college? D is in the top five players in the state each year. So not number one, but not lower either. Thanks
This is one of the best posts I have seen in a long time and I totally agree with the entire thing. There are a lot of factors that go into being a successful musician, and IME one of the biggest factors is the person themselves and how driven they are. No matter the school, whether it is Juilliard or Curtis or some ‘other tier’ school, the school doesn’t do the work, the student does and so much goes into making it in music (whatever that is for the kid), things that the school has little or nothing to do with. A student might work better with a teacher at “option 2” then they would with a teacher at Juilliard or Curtis, there are so man factors.
And please, please, don’t let what other people say about a school influence your decision. It is different when someone has specifics about a program, like if your son was applying on let’s say french horn, the school had a really great horn teacher who left, and the person who replaced them is new and untried. Often though it is based on perceptions of how good a school is, rather than specifics, or worse, it is based on the notion of “Get into school A or School B, or bust”, which is to be blunt idiotic. All schools have their strengths and weaknesses, schools like Juilliard and Curtis are great schools, but does that mean they are the best choice for any music student? No, because they have downsides, they may not simply fit what the student is or what they want to do. The other thing is to keep in mind with music that it is a journey and students often end up studying with multiple teachers at multiple places. A student may go to a school that is not at the top of the perception pyramid, like it, have a great teacher, then find themselves doing an AD at some ‘top’ program. The other thing is kids don’t come out of music schools and boom, they are in the NY Phil or a top soloist or the member of a top chamber group. It is a journey, it is a path, and no matter how good they are, for most it will be having to grind through to get to the promised land, whatever that is. For soloists, it is being on the competition circuit, and hoping they finally break through. For people pursuing orchestra as a career, it often means cobbling together a living, perhaps working for part time orchestras and groups, and constantly auditioning to try and break into an orchestra that pays a living wage. Chamber music? It is a long slog to establish yourself, to get into the level of gigs where you are being paid enough to live decently. When establishing yourself you often are doing performances that basically pay enough to get you and your group there and pay for a hotel, some don’t even pay that well.
It is tough, and that doesn’t change whether you go to Juilliard or some program that is considered less competitive or whatever. Just IME, but sometimes kids who go to the top programs seem to have the idea just being there will make it work, whereas kids who go to lower tier schools kind of say to themselves “I need to work hard so I can improve, maybe go to grad school at a top tier school”. All I can tell you is that even from the top tier programs, if you do a 10 year look at what happens to music students, are they still in music, that even at the tippy top program the numbers still in music is staggeringly lower (when I say in music, I mean trying to make that their vocation).
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