I think that where she is struggling. Is it crazy to turn down Rice if you are aiming for an orchestra job? Even if you aren’t excited about Houston? We are still waiting to hear if the other two contenders will match Rice’s full tuition offer, so in the end it might be decided by that.
Just called USC. Found out that any merit received from Thorton School of Music will negate the financial aid received.
So if you receive $50K in financial aid and you receive $25K in merit from Thorton, you are still only receiving 50K total money. (Aid will be reduced to 25K and 25K in merit for a total of 50K)
My daughter (not musian) was an Owl and loved her time at Rice. My son (violist) has several friends (all string players) at Shepherd and all loving it. Houston weather is nothing to desire. Rice campus and the surrounding area is relatively safe, food options (on and off campus) are good, and IAH has direct flights to almost everywhere (going home or auditions). It was my son’s top choice for MM before the professor announced retirement. Now he needs to rethink.
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Is there still hope that there will be any merit coming from Thornton?
Finally saw our appeal result from Peabody and they increased his scholarship by 10k. Still doesn’t even come close to his offer from UM Frost or Berklee and at this point I’m just not even sure it’s worth a 2nd appeal. I know this is a business but they didn’t even try to meet us half way in any way. I asked for 30k originally just to get us at the full tuition comparison but 10k is just sad.
Stacking. Some allow but most don’t. You need to check school by school.
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get around a bit safer than the transportation
Is this at Peabody?
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Yes
Oh, that is what stacking is! Thanks for letting me know.
I understand your feelings in this, but I would look to the crazy system that we are all dealing with, rather than the decisions other parents are making in their best financial and opportunity interest for their child.
We will let go of a few offers this week, but hold on to more than one as long as we need to.
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Oh my. We were told that their transportation was very reliable and safe. That would be super concerning to hear, especially in that area
I have a daughter at Eastman . . . it has been a wonderful experience and we have no regrets. Excellent curriculum, students, faculty, opportunities, support staff. I also had reservations about the surrounding environment before starting, but she has been fine. She doesn’t have a car, so takes the UR shuttle to and from River Campus when needed (not dual major, but has had a few classes over there). As a senior, she rented a house off campus and takes the city bus without incident. They just learn to schedule their time based on bus schedules, or catch a ride from friends with cars. That being said, it is a city, and you will get what you get with any city . . . cars being broken into, adjacent crime, possibly uncomfortable interactions, etc. I have visited by myself and felt completely safe.
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We live south of Rochester. It’s not a large city. That part of town is a bit grim, but I would not think dangerous. Since the glory days of Eastman Kodak and Xerox the city (like most of upstate) is a bit run down. Though in the last couple decades Rochester has become the medical research and service center for Western New York. The economy there seems to be on the upswing.
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I’m not aware of any documented safety-related incidents regarding the Peabody shuttle. And we talked to numerous students there who said it was fine. I’m sure there are other students there who feel less safe. But that will be true at any urban university, not just “that area.”
I suppose feeling safe is relative. My DD is not accustomed to taking g public transportation in a large crime-ridden city. She has been chased by a man on drugs while she was waiting for a bus and on a separate occasion was groped by a pervert on a bus. She said she constantly hears sirens from her dorm room. I will say that safety on the campus is a high priority for the school with a lot of security. It all depends on your kid’s ability to handle a big city with all that goes on in one. We live in a very nice and safe community, so my kids have not had constant exposure to crime, homeless and drug ladened individuals.
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Chiming in on the Peabody “safety” situation. I remember on our tour them mentioning that a new dorm is going to be across the street. I have no clue if there will be some special walkway to go from the new dorm to campus but that might be worth finding out.
I should say these incidents occured on public transportation, not school shuttle. A student will likely be fine if just staying on campus and going back and forth to JHU. But for my DD she gets a little stir crazy. She takes public transportation to church. But we are going to buy her a car, which eill help tremendously.
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Our DD is a Peabody dual degree student. The JHU shuttles are safe, and she uses them a lot, sometimes multiple times a day. The area around Peabody is a bit grimmy, but safe, and she has favorite walks she takes to get exercise. She chose between Peabody and Eastman, and we did worry that her penchant for walking would be more problematic in the area around Eastman. Peabody bought the Waterloo apartments next door to campus last year and it opens this fall. It will be GREAT for the students, and they can walk across the street safely without a bridge. A real plus in my view. Ultimately though focus on the substance of the program and fit. And of course affordability.
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When we appealed to the school our daughter currently attends (it was her 1st choice), we sent a spreadsheet summarizing offers from comparable schools (ex. school type: Conservatory/LAC double degree option). The spreadsheet showed total COA, academic merit, music merit, and net COA. They ended up matching our best net COA offer as opposed to scholarship amount among those comparable schools. Of course the in-state option (CU Boulder) would’ve been less expensive, but that scenario wasn’t comparable in our eyes. Looking back, we could’ve probably even appealed again for a little more, but our daughter was so thrilled with the new very generous offer, we committed immediately. She is thriving and exactly where she should be.
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Sorry this is so late, and I understand how devastating that is. One of the things about teachers is that it isn’t just about how good they teach, but how connected they are to the music world as it exists today. My son had a teacher that was a principal of a pretty high level full time orchestra, and to be honest it was only after my son switched teachers that we realized how little they knew. They had graduated around 1980 from a pretty top level conservatory and got into this orchestra and by the time my s started studying with her, had been there like 20+ years…and I think literally assumed it was the same as when they went to school, and the music world had changed a ton. It could be his teacher didn’t know the level of playing out there, the reality, it happens.
If your son is still thinking of doing music (and I know how heartbroken he must have been), I can suggest a couple of things.
The first one would be if at all possible find a teacher at a high level music school, and ask if they would be willing to do an assesment on your son’s abilities. music is a pretty subjective thing, but having someone else listen to them can make a big difference. My S had a teacher who was a tough demanding teacher who also thought their job was to kill his ego, and some of their comments were cruel. But he also worked with a kind of violin guru teacher who knew his teacher, and explained his playing was fine, that his teacher was nailing him for his musical choices, it helped give him an outside perspective.
This can give your S an outside appraisal that can let him see his way forward. If the assesment is generally positive but points out issues that can be fixed, he might consider getting another teacher and taking a gap year.
I am just sorry you and your S are going through this, music can be very, very cruel, and knowledge and information is so important. My spouse and I knew nothing about music and in a sense we got very lucky my S got on the path he did, for people like us who didn’t know anything it was like blindmen’s bluff.
I wish your S well, and again sorry for the delay.
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