Depauw vs St. Olaf

bridgenail
Fri, 22 Jan 2016 17:44:45 +0000

Well…that’s for you to decide.

They are both good music schools. I’m not that knowledgeable on the instrumental side of things so someone else may have more concrete comments on that.

I suggested that my D make a list of important factors for all schools and rank them with a score bx 1 - 10. She never did. I did and it was interesting! I made a list with items like:

Teacher (I actually gave this one a x2 factor)
Performance Opportunities (for grad school this had a x2)
Music school reputation (do kids go on to grad school)
School Environment (was more important for undergrad - type of education/size)
Local Environment (social/other performance outlets etc)
Cost of programs
Cost of living
I think just a general feel/connection - you can put what’s important to you on the list - and I can’t remember my list exactly but it was something like the above.

In the end, I should have given the teacher a x8 as that was the primary deciding factor for my daughter. Even with a list, in the end, it’s some gut instinct. But it showed that no school was perfect. And it gave me, at least, an objective way to look at the schools during the process. Maybe this would help you.