Question to students studying in US Conservatories

[rohansahai]

I'm planning to apply to Juilliard, Curtis, Eastman, Manhattan and Cleveland. For those of you who are studying in similar institutions , I would like to know how the financial side is managed:
1. What would be reasonable to expect as Scholarship from the institution itself.
2. How much can be made by part time work etc.
3. Performance oppurtunities - If they are reimbursed, then how much.
I'm from India, and do not have much idea on how much is 'enough' as a starter to manage education funding in the US. Thanks for the help.

[mrchops10]

I'm planning to apply to Juilliard, Curtis, Eastman, Manhattan and Cleveland. For those of you who are studying in similar institutions , I would like to know how the financial side is managed:
1. What would be reasonable to expect as Scholarship from the institution itself.
2. How much can be made by part time work etc.
3. Performance oppurtunities - If they are reimbursed, then how much.
I'm from India, and do not have much idea on how much is 'enough' as a starter to manage education funding in the US. Thanks for the help.

OK, I go to Mannes, not one of the conservatories you listed, but close enough. Like Manhattan and Julliard, it is in NYC, so there are many financial similarities.

1. What kind of scholarships were you thinking of? All the NYC schools run upwards of 35,000 a year with housing (you can reduce this by finding your own apartment, maybe). They offer need-based and merit-based scholarship, but many schools are more tight-fisted than others. I know Mannes offers hardly any scholarship at all, and MSM is the same way. Julliard is a little more generous, Cleveland is too and in a much cheaper city. Curtis, of course, is free. From the NYC schools, I would expect to pay a very heavy tuition.

2. Mannes offers 20(!) dollars an hour for accompanists. Ushering and other such jobs receive much less money.

3. I wouldn't plan on many paid performance oppurtunities your first few years. You might get one from time to time, and gigs can certainly be had in NYC especially, but I would not plan on this as being a real compensation for the huge amounts of money you're going to spending.

Basically, conservatory is expensive, like all American schools. Good luck!