Graduate School Update

Hello all,
Just wanted to update everybody on where I am applying to graduate school for Fall 2010 (which is QUICKLY approaching!!). After briefly looking at info from over 18 schools I narrowed it all down to 5 schools:

Northwestern University
Carnegie Mellon University
Duquesne University
Depaul University
University of Maryland

All have great teachers and good programs. Then as I started getting into the process of applying, I realized that I would not be able to afford the fees for all five schools plus traveling to all the audition sites. So then I narrowed it down to three.

University of Maryland
Carnegie Mellon University
Northwestern University

Why these three schools? Maryland has a great trombone faculty (trombone section of the National Symphony and Baltimore Symphony), plus my current teacher used to be on that faculty, and our Dean of the School of Music has his Master's and Doctorate from there. It is also in a central location along the East Coast for opportunities to play in gigs and is not far from Philadelphia or New York and other large cities. Plus, so many concert opportunities in D.C., with the NSO, and the military bands.

Why CMU? I have had a great opportunity to have a few personal lessons with Pete Sullivan, and find him to be a great teacher. Plus, the Pittsburgh Symphony is no slouch of an orchestra (sometimes I think they don't get enough recognition for how well they sound). And Pittsburgh is just a great city!

And finally why Northwestern? Well you have a great trombone faculty (members of the Chicago Symphony). It's Chicago so there are many great concert opportunities and chances to perform. Not much needs to be said about Northwestern...it's that good of a school!

All in all, I picked these schools primarily for their teachers, in that they are still performing in major symphony orchestras. They are in large cities (much larger than Warsaw, Indiana), and all three have great academic reputations. So we will see where the Lord takes me now. A lot will happen in the next few months, and I will keep you posted. Please pray for me, and that God would give me wisdom about where to go. I would greatly appreciate it :)

Back to the applications!!

From
J-man (Hebrews 13:21)