Graduate School Lookout

Hello All,
Even though I still have two more years of undergraduate work ahead of me, it's coming around that time to look at schools. Before I go on I do wanna say that when graduation ends in 2010 if I have a choice between an orchestra or graduate school, I would pick the orchestra. But I must be ready for the next step, if the Good Lord wills it. And I remember it was the summer before my junior year in HS that I began looking at schools. So I prepared a list of schools I would be interested in and emailed them all today when I literally had MASSIVE amounts of free time during a tech rehearsal today. Here is the list of schools and their teachers, and as of right now, it's only a partial, but thorough list(no particular order):

Juilliard (NYC)--Joseph Alessi, Per Brevig, James Markey
Manhattan School of Music (NYC)--Per Brevig, David Finlayson, David Taylor
Mannes College the New School for Music (NYC)--Per Brevig, James Markey, David Taylor
Northwestern University (Chicago)--Michael Mulcahy, Peter Ellefson, Charles Vernon
Chicago College of Performing Arts (Chicago)--Jay Friedman, Peter Ellefson
Indiana University (Bloomington)--Peter Ellefson, Carl Lenthe, M. Dee Stewart
Eastman School of Music (Rochester)--John Marcellus, Mark Kellogg
San Francisco Conservatory of Music --Mark Lawrence, Paul Welcomer, John Engelkes
NC School of the Arts (Winston-Salem)--James Miller

It's quite a list, but nothing compared to my undergraduate looking (info from 40 colleges, visited 12 of those). However, there is much that goes into finding the right school. Two men I respect quite highly have written articles on choosing a trombone studio and teacher/student expectations. It would be great to maybe get lessons with a few of these guys listed above before I actually audition at particular schools 'n all.
Like I said, I sent emails out today requesting info about some programs, and some schools already emailed me back. San Francisco had an actual admissions person email a detailed note about the trombone program and ways to get in touch with the faculty. So they get a couple points in my book. Wouldn't that be something--an East Coast boy, going to a Midwest college, ending up at a WEST coast graduate school. Whelp the Good Lord has done stranger things :)
But we'll see all that the Good Lord has for me in the very small beginnings of a new transition. Gracious me!!! I still have junior and senior recitals to get through!!! But heck, those will be loads of fun and I can't wait.
In the meantime, I'll keep ya posted on all that goes on with grad school and/or when that BIG gig comes.

From
J-man (Ps. 31:14-15)