<p>I know that Northwestern’s music program in general is better, but there’s many things to consider here:</p>
<li>UCLA is way less expensive than NU</li>
<li>I’m only really concerned about the piano performance program</li>
<li>I’m already in NU’s School of Music, but I actually got into UCLA as a neuroscience major, which means I still have to audition for the piano program</li>
<li>I’m also double majoring in neuroscience at both schools, if that has anything to do with it</li>
</ol>
<p>Where should I go…any ideas?</p>
<p>Any help would be greatly appreciated :)</p>
<p>Personally, I think it all depends on whether you are planning on Grad school. If you are, then UCLA could save you some big bucks. Otherwise, Northwestern is a perfect choice, congrats on your acceptences!!!</p>
<p>UCLA’s performance department is in the College of Arts and Architecture, while the science departments are in the College of Letters and Sciences – so you would need to be accepted at the other college in order to do performance; you might not be able to count on that being an easy thing to do – you should check carefully before making a decision. There is not a program set up for doing a dual degree, though it may be possible.
The piano department at UCLA is very small – two teachers, one in his 80’s.
The UCLA music department was just given a huge donation by Herb Alpert, and is apparently reconfiguring – so it looks like lots of changes ahead. At present, it is divided into performance (in the College of Arts and Architecture), ethno, including jazz performance (ditto), and music history/theory (College of Letters and Sciences).</p>