Choosing the Perfect Grad School: Part 2

In Part 1 of this series, we looked at faulty assumptions that many musicians make when seeking a graduate school.

So, if you decide to pursue an advanced degree in music, what question should you ask above all others?  In my opinion, this is the most important one:

How will this next degree advance my life goals?   

Many musicians never ponder this angle before applying to schools, let alone attempt to answer it.  They just try to improve on their instrument and cross their fingers that life will magically work out.  As a result, they garner degree after degree, yet have no realistic idea how to create a viable life through music.  Upon graduation, these individuals are barely closer to having a career than they were as a high school student. 

Finally in the real world, without the benefits and resources of a music school, these musicians have no choice but to start from scratch to build their career.  They are forced to develop essential skills that were neglected during the college years.  Or give up music altogether.  Hmmm…maybe it’s time to go back to school in another field…

Yet music graduate school can absolutely propel your career and life goals, positioning you for greater success. At least if you’re a savvy student.

Many of the resources available through music school cannot be found in any other environment.  Obviously, they provide a framework for focusing intensely on art and craft.  They allow you to improve weaknesses and hone strengths.  There are ample opportunities to network.  Faculty members, even ones with whom you don’t study, are readily accessible.  Student colleagues are often willing to rehearse for long hours without compensation; if you’d like to become a professional chamber musician, this is an ideal place to start a group that will continue beyond the school years. Academia is the ultimate environment for experimentation, as the consequences for failure are low. 

In fact, most skills that contribute to success in the outside world–marketing, attracting new audiences, developing your voice, differentiating your work, exploiting technology, colloaborating with others, using music as a tool for transformation and change, etc.–can be developed within the pearly gates. If these things are not part of the requisite curriculum (and they often aren’t), it just takes vision, creativity, and pro-activity on your part. (In future posts, I will outline specific activities and approaches that savvy students can take.)

Graduate school can be a wonderful and valuable experience.  Personally, I loved my graduate years.  And when approached in a savvy way, it can be one of the best tools for propelling your career and life in music. 

So before contemplating where you should attend, what would look most prestigious on your resume, and who’s the best teacher, do some soul searching. Ask some different questions.  What do you truly want to do with your life, and how can an academic experience help you realize those aspirations?  How will your studies help position you for future professional and personal success? What will make your graduate experience significantly different than your undergraduate one?  If this is your point of departure, you may make a very different kind of decision about where to study and how to approach the experience.

Only after answering these queries should you begin considering schools.  The “perfect grad school” is one that has the potential to help you achieve those objectives.  

The specific school you choose is important.  The people, culture, experiences, and resources that surround you will undoubtedly have a lasting impact. 

But, in all honesty, it’s possible to attend an ”imperfect” institution and benefit immensely. Also possible (and all too common) is signing up for Heaven University, but not using the experience to the greatest benefit.  Because even the best school can’t make you successful.  Only YOU can do that.

Whether or not your graduate experience works is in your hands.  After enrolling, go to great lengths to ensure that your environment helps advace life goals.  After all, you—and no one else—are in control of your own education.

RELATED POSTS:

• Choosing the Perfect Grad School: Part 1
• Average Student, Savvy Student
• An Essential Question When Applying to Music School

6 Responses to “Choosing the Perfect Grad School: Part 2”

1. jeff says:

   November 13, 2009 at 3:53 pm

   Great series, I had been eagerly waiting for this post all week. I had recently read through downbeat list of colleges to go to for jazz, the article is mainly geared toward undergraduate jazz degrees, but it listed the important grad schools. other than the teachers and alum I looked at the ensembles, schools that had many, or unique ensembles immediately got added to my list, but schools that looked the same as everything else got dropped from my consideration.

   I look forward to your unique perspective on how to go to a grad school or their website and find out if the school will enable or help you to collaborate with high level musicians, and help guide you into taking your groups out in to the real world.

   Something that I might consider is going to a school that is missing something and starting it.
2. Valentino L. Vazquez says:

   November 15, 2009 at 9:33 pm

   Survival of the fittest! One considers deeper questions when entering grad school. Personnel and newly formed curriculum should be evaluated.
3. Grant Amadeus Giel says:

   November 16, 2009 at 1:15 pm

   I enjoyed both parts of this article, really. I haven’t really been very interested in grad school because I honestly don’t know what I’d attain out of it other than the ability to willfully ostracize myself from the work world. I obviously still have some time to decide on what to do, but these articles have helped to assure me that NOT going to grad school isn’t necessarily a bad choice.
4. Andrew Ward says:

   November 21, 2009 at 11:47 am

   Thanks for writing these interesting articles. I actually find the financial consequences of attending a prestigious institution terrifying.

   I have many friends taking undergraduate and graduate degrees at one of the top conservatories, and people are talking about leaving school with $100-150K in student debt.

   That sort of number is terrifying enough if you’re a doctor or a lawyer at the end of it, who is pretty much guaranteed to earn a substantial income… but I find it incredible that many musicians, with very uncertain financial futures, are starting their careers with such a huge burden on their shoulders.

   And as you say, an unwillingness to face up to this reality is a big part of the reason people choose to stay in school longer… which just makes the problem worse!
5. David Cutler says:

   November 21, 2009 at 3:48 pm

   It can go both ways. The incredible resources of a good music school can absolutely help propel your career on both financial and artistic levels. For many savvy students who take advantage of their environment, the financial and time investment is often absolutely worthwhile.

   But for the average student who simply completes courses, practices hard, and avoids asking the difficult questions, grad school can be an terrifyingly expensive form of life procrastination.

   Everyone has to find their own path. Personally, I think every penny and minute spent in grad school was absolutely worthwhile. Best time of my life (tied with many other wonderful periods since). But I must admit, I milked those schools, and got my money’s worth…while giving a lot back in the process. 2 way street.
6. Grace says:

   February 19, 2010 at 12:08 pm

   I find these articles on grad school most helpful! I am finishing an undergrad degree focusing on jazz. However, I entered with shaky playing skills, although good academic skills. My performing skills have improved immensely, but so have my peers’ skills. Some grad students at my university seem to lack direction and have little idea what they will do with their degree. There are others who play in no ensembles due to limited opportunties, not lack of skills. The music business course (only one offered) this semester did not even fill up. If I ever go to grad school, it will not be before I am getting a foot in the gigging world with really good musicians (I have had my share of mediocre gigs), have continued at least a year with private lessons with my excellent teacher and the work of practicing, have my own website developed with some original songs, have really learned by memory a good number of jazz standards, have developed some idea what sets me apart, have at least a year’s experience of teaching students, and have participated in a music project dear to my heart that is more about community service. There are grad students here who have these real world experiences, and they seem to benefit more from the grad school experience because they already have the skills and experience, and have a lot to give back. I would welcome the grad school experience, but I personally have work to do before I get there.