Great question! My son is a junior and has kept his car at home (same issue as you- we are in LA and he needs it at home). He’s been able to get by without it because lots of kids have cars there and he’s always been able to get a ride or borrow if needed. He goes into Cleveland for a church choir job twice a week and there are others who go as well and one or two have cars.
That said, he’s thinking about bringing the car for senior year and we’ll see where he ends up after graduation- if we need to bring it home or if he’ll need it where he is for grad school or whatever comes next.
Most of what they need is in Oberlin or close by but there are shuttles that go to the area stores and markets and always friends who have cars for trips around. There are also several ride services that operate in Oberlin if they’re really stuck for a ride.
For the airport, Oberlin has a shuttle service that operates during the days surrounding the holidays and end of semesters. And Uber or Lyft for the way back to campus is the easiest although the shuttle does run from the airport as well.
Please let me know if you have any other questions about Oberlin!
Thank you, that is incredibly helpful! We both just love the school - the size is great, the program seems incredible, and she loves two of the teachers she’s done lessons with. But the town seems SO TINY, LOL. It’s good to know that there are transportation options. I’m also hoping she’ll get a church job while she’s in school, so it’s good to know she can probably get to Cleveland for rehearsals and services without having her own car.
And yeah I figured Hartford is more than 2 hours from the Manhattan Jazz clubs especially with traffic. I’m sure on the “perfect” rare day it could be 2 hours but definitely not going to happen the days my son wants to go into the city that’s for sure lol
FWIW my son didn’t tour most of the schools he applied to in UG or grad. He figured he would get an idea when he auditioned there what the school was like. One post was interesting, that a tour might discourage someone from going someplace for something trivial in the scheme of things (if age of facilities was one of them, lot of good music schools might be off the list IME).
So from some of the tours we’ve been on my son really focused on things like practice rooms and how easily accessible they are. Every school appears to handle them very differently so that was probably the MOST important thing for him besides seeing things like places where he’d perform. What’s funny is he actually appreciates the schools with older buildings like MSM over the ones that have newer buildings like New School
Practice rooms are important. Before Julliard did their massive renovation it was a common problem, at NEC before the new building, same thing (came too late for my son).Then again that was true at a lot of schools, when I went to NYU, and my Brother earlier went to Columbia, the physical plant there wasn’t always the best either. There are also music schools I won’t name here that have great facilities, lot of money in them, and aren’t good IMO . Depends on the age of the school and how big their endowments are and so forth and doesn’t necessarily reflect on the teaching,might be better to spend on top flight faculty then whizz bang new facilities for example (assuming the two are orthagonal to each other, lot of the times they are IME).
We toured NU and Vanderbilt in junior year because the plan was to ED to one of them (meaning he was committing to go if he got in). We also toured Oberlin in the summer before senior year because I wanted him to be able to visualize another place outside of the prospective ED schools to look forward to in case they fell through. So Oberlin was kind of a proxy for all the other schools. He really liked the vibe at Oberlin and was super-impressed with the fact that Sonny Rollins donated his sax to the school. (My son was only interested in universities that had good dual degree opportunities so that helped in culling the list.) The plan was to check out the other schools once he got invited to audition as it was really not possible to visit all the schools beforehand with his school schedule (non-arts public school with very strict attendance policy and we needed to save up the allowed absence days for all the potential auditioning in the spring).
One thing we found out during the tour (and subsequent research) was that the jazz department at Blair is TINY. We also heard on the tours that Bienen was expanding its jazz program. So that helped in deciding on NU for ED and he got in this year to start in the fall so we are very happy with the outcome.
I remember my kid being pretty focused on the physical aspects of the school too…in the early phase. She didn’t mind older either. In looking back, it seems that the understanding of the schools takes time as each layer is analyzed…and some of the physical aspects are first…buildings, location etc. That’s good as they need to figure it all out.
From my experience (and seeing it many times here), kids do change their opinions over the year…particularly during auditions. My D was really looking closely at LACs. They felt the best to her even though she wanted a more urban environment…she started to really like the LACs. But during the actual auditions, she took a hard turn to a big U with a music school. She was concerned by the smaller size and the amt of support, honestly (thinking she would be more independent than maybe what was implied).
She is also bi-racial…and began to worry about the fit at LACs as they all seemed to want to point out (looking at her) the houses for POC. At the big U, it was never mentioned and the music school seemed to have a lot more people that looked like her. Note - I do know POC that went to LACs and loved it. This is simply what was going on my D’s head…and I don’t question that. It was her experience…and others could be completely different!!
I did push my D to have some variety in schools…and that is why I usually recommend keeping a variety of schools if possible (note my D did not fight me on it…but seemed a little annoyed). I do know other parents on this site (for many different reasons) that have kids change their opinions during auditions. So keep things flexible and fluid (particularly if you are the type that wants it DONE and set in stone…I’m a bit that way…so I get it).
Sure. We visited Bienen in June 2023 and when we inquired about the size of the jazz program the music school rep who was giving the tour said that she didn’t have the exact number but she knew that the jazz department was adding another big band soon.
I just saw this comment, but wanted to respond that USC has a fantastic jazz guitar program with large faculty. They are listed under the studio guitar faculty.
Thanks! Looking into it now. I wonder if he was not able to see any of that info the last time he looked and wrote off the school entirely.
Edited to add…just looked and it looks like their Studio Guitar only mentions masters and doctorate, not bachelors. Would it be correct to assume that my son would be able to do lessons with one of the guitar instructors from Studio Guitar even as someone gettin their bachelors in Jazz Studies?
I am pretty sure he can. My daughter has a friend in undergrad Jazz guitar and he takes individual lessons with faculty. I took a screenshot of the current schedule and jazz guitar listed with all of the other instruments.
Thank you soooooo much! Going to mention this to him as soon as he gets home. Although I have a feeling he will tell me he wants to stay on the East coast lol
Can you tell me anything about deciding on ED or not for Bienen? Specifically wondering if the talent “bar” is higher for ED auditions? Our counselor is telling us that NU ED odds are 3x as good overall as for RD, but my guess is that is not necessarily specific to the Bienen School. I’m not sure those increased odds translate on the music performance front?
ED at Bienen definitely gives you better odds. Of course you have to be at the playing level they are looking for, but the fact that you are willing to commit if accepted is attractive to them.
I know personally of two voice majors who applied ED and were both accepted. They are both highly talented with good stats but not necessarily stand out stats for RD to NU. Although I do believe the bar is a little lower for Bienen.
Meaning the academic bar may be a little lower within Bienen?
Is your perception that the talent bar is higher for ED auditions at Bienen? My musician is an NYO-level trombonist and should be on par, but you never know with live auditions.
Yes, I believe the academic bar is a bit lower for Bienen. Not a lot- NU does have high stats expectations, but some.
And no, I don’t feel that the talent bar is higher for ED. It just means your student is ready to commit and that you know you won’t likely get any financial assistance or merit.
If he passed the prescreen, he’s likely good enough to get in!
I am not thinking there would be an advantage to applying ED for music performance. Maybe Northwestern is an outlier, but teachers accept students based on talent and the needs of the studio. In my mind, the teacher(s) would need to hear all candidates to rank and make offers.
It sounds like your trombonist is very high level. So one can assume he would have a strong audition. But even if he applies ED, my assumption is that all candidates, ED and RD, undergrad and grad level would need to complete the audition process before decisions are made. And the down side is that he may have less opportunity for merit money if he applies ED.
Maybe the two trombonists who are currently in the studio can shed some light as to why they have their different opinions.
