My middle son is currently in Aerospace and doing great and loving it (but it's very hard, or course).


My last one, however, is taking a different route and was hoping some Aggies families might have some experience. He is a high level vocalist and will be going the vocal performance route. He will be doing Vocal Performance Classical.

Schools of interest:
TCU
SMU
Rice
DePaul
Northwestern
Julliard
USC
Manhattan School of Music
Boston Conservatory

Family is upper middle class so there will most likely be zero 'need based' financial aid. He is very okay with going out of Texas, and frankly, NY would be his dream.

We have gotten a few pointers, one of the biggest is to get as much scholarship $ and get into the least amount of debt for the undergrad. If you go the conservatory route, do that for Masters. That seems like very sound advice. That seems pretty universal, but I think is particularly important for Vocal Performance due to almost certainly needing a Masters. And the earning power early in the career is not what other majors are....

Just curious if any families here have gone through this and have any pointers.

If you're upper-middle class and are searching for scholarship dollars, then you will need to focus on schools where your student's test scores are among the top 25%. Scholarship dollars (especially merit-based) are very hard to come by with average academic metrics.

double b said:

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If you're upper-middle class and are searching for scholarship dollars, then you will need to focus on schools where your student's test scores are among the top 25%. Scholarship dollars (especially merit-based) are very hard to come by with average academic metrics.

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He is a very good student. Funny thing is, he's got a higher GPA and class rank than my son that got into Honors Engineering, but he's not as good a test taker so his SAT won't be as high. The thing is, going the vocal route, the auditions will most likely dictate how much vocal dept $ he will get.

Macarthur said:

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double b said:

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If you're upper-middle class and are searching for scholarship dollars, then you will need to focus on schools where your student's test scores are among the top 25%. Scholarship dollars (especially merit-based) are very hard to come by with average academic metrics.

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He is a very good student. Funny thing is, he's got a higher GPA and class rank than my son that got into Honors Engineering, but he's not as good a test taker so his SAT won't be as high. The thing is, going the vocal route, the auditions will most likely dictate how much vocal dept $ he will get.

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Awesome. The consideration for talent-based scholarships is very different and they are not bound to academic metrics. I do recommend that you focus on his test scores and provide support to help your child achieve top 25% scores. Below is a list of those scores.

TCU > 1340
SMU > 1500
Rice > 1560
DePaul > 1260
Northwestern > 1550
USC > 1520
Boston Conservatory > 1260

C1NRB said:

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Don't rule out the University of North Texas.
My oldest had about a 1200 overall SAT score and UNT gave her a Presidential Level Scholarship worth $24K

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Is she a vocalist?

No, she was a studio art major. But they didn't seem to care. It was a University level, not a College level, scholarship.

My cousin went to Rice and graduated Phi Beta Kappa in Music. I don't think she got a lot of money, but her husband had a very good job.
'
Has she looked at Berklee in Boston? Different model as it is geared to working musicians, but I have a friend in IT who went there and has done very well.

My niece went to Oklahoma City University and loved it. They have produced several Broadway stars, but my niece did not have the big voice you need to Broadway. Her favorite prof at OCU went to Northwestern and my niece loved her. Northwestern has a great track record with grads. Also I would look hard at UT. The state school tuition would make a big difference.

McInnis80 said:

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My cousin went to Rice and graduated Phi Beta Kappa in Music. I don't think she got a lot of money, but her husband had a very good job.
'
Has she looked at Berklee in Boston? Different model as it is geared to working musicians, but I have a friend in IT who went there and has done very well.

My niece went to Oklahoma City University and loved it. They have produced several Broadway stars, but my niece did not have the big voice you need to Broadway. Her favorite prof at OCU went to Northwestern and my niece loved her. Northwestern has a great track record with grads. Also I would look hard at UT. The state school tuition would make a big difference.

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Yes, Berklee has been on our radar. I had someone else mention OKC U and was surprised.

I've been asking around about UT's vocal program and can't really find anyone that knows much about it....maybe that's my answer...lol

Hire a consultant. My child ended up at a prestigious private college I'd never heard of, and got a lot of money.

94chem said:

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Hire a consultant. My child ended up at a prestigious private college I'd never heard of, and got a lot of money.

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Who did you use, and I wonder if there are folks that specialize in music?

Macarthur said:

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94chem said:

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Hire a consultant. My child ended up at a prestigious private college I'd never heard of, and got a lot of money.

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Who did you use, and I wonder if there are folks that specialize in music?

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We used a woman named Victoria Parra. She starts by interviewing the student. She tries to assess how well they know what they want. She tries to find a custom fit for all the things that are important, plus scholarships.

I am an educational consultant. However, I am not as well versed with musical interests but very familiar with about any other major/field of interest a student may have. Also, aggie-owned and have placed students all across the nation, including Ivy schools.

Isn't entertainment one of those things you don't need to go to college for? Either you can sing, act, play an instrument at a world class level, or you can't. I know someone who went the college entertainment/arts route and it just left them with a bunch of debt and did nothing to help their career in industry.

Just make sure your son has clear goals and objectives and can link the degree to those goals. It seems that most stars are found on YouTube these days. And if you want inroads into Hollywood it's all nepotism and who you know, you can't even get good auditions without knowing the right people. Proximity to the powerful and influential is probably the most important thing for choosing where to go or and where to be in the entertainment industry. That means Los Angeles. (Or maybe New York for broadway?)

h1ag said:

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bmks270 said:

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Isn't entertainment one of those things you don't need to go to college for? Either you can sing, act, play an instrument at a world class level, or you can't. I know someone who went the college entertainment/arts route and it just left them with a bunch of debt and did nothing to help their career in industry.

Just make sure your son has clear goals and objectives and can link the degree to those goals. It seems that most stars are found on YouTube these days. And if you want inroads into Hollywood it's all nepotism and who you know, you can't even get good auditions without knowing the right people. Proximity to the powerful and influential is probably the most important thing for choosing where to go or and where to be in the entertainment industry. That means Los Angeles. (Or maybe New York for broadway?)

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I used to live on the street behind Berklee, so I feel a little bit like an expert here. I've always heard that you have to be really good to get in there, but the best will never graduate.

It's more like a melting pot of finding similar musicians, making connections, getting set up with performance schedules than what we would think of as a traditional degree granting college.

At least that's what the blue-haired punk fusion electric violinist used to tell me....

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Yeah, there are diff avenues with these conservatories. Several of them, like Berklee, have jazz and contemporary studies and routes.

Here's a fun little video when Berklee gave Page an honorary doctorate.

MSM is a great school. My brother got his masters in performance there (low brass). While he is extremely talented, he does gigs where he can (still lives in NYC and has performed at Carnegie Hall a few times) but doesn't have a full time job. His bachelors is in music education from TX State.

I would encourage your son attending a school where he can double major with something alongside music performance or wait until grad school to pursue the performance masters. I'm not knocking music majors but I'd be concerned about job potential after graduation.

Yeah, the music business can be tough, no doubt.

Was my first thought.

Sure, UNT is a jazz school first and foremost, but their other programs are quite good, also. When I was there, there were several vocal teachers who I thought were awesome.

No, I wasn't a vocal student, but I was an experience vocalist so I went to a lot of events and visited with some of the profs.

Accepted :
TCU
U of Houston
DePaul
Northwestern
Berklee/Boston Conservatory
Manhattan School of Music

Not Accepted:
Curtis
Rice

No decision yet:
Manhattan School of Music
Rice


All decisions are in. Northwestern came in w a huge offer.