What! There are NO gratuate student using this forum. Thats depressing!
Well, I guess I'll step up.....I'm in my second year of graduate studies at the Univ. of Louisville. My degree is "Master of Music in Piano Perfomance with a Concentration in Jazz" (quite the title, eh?). The jazz studies program here was started by Jamey Aebersold, who many people will recognize as the "play-along" guy (he publishes a series of jazz play-along recordings). The program here is very good for jazz, but not excellent (just my opinion), but any program is only as good as the effort you put into it. At this point, it's still a relatively new program, so things are still on the rise. I'm not so sure about how good the other (non-jazz) programs are, but from what I can tell, the composition faculty must be excellent because there are some incredible composers at this school.As far as advice on searching for grad schools, I guess I would say don't limit yourself. I applied to about ten schools, half of which I figured I'd have no problem with ("safe" schools), and half of which were "reach" schools. The applications were expensive, but I figured, "hey, this is my future here! I may as well spend a little money!" I made sure, however, that every school I applied to had a quality program, and each one attracted me in it's own way. Surprisingly enough, I got into some of the reach schools, and didn't get into some of the safe schools. Go figure! In the end for me, it came down to the value of what I was getting at each school. The U. of Louisville offered me an incredibly cheap deal. As the Godfather would say, they made me an offer I couldn't refuse. Since I already owe a ton through student loans from college, coupled with the fact that it was already I program I was interested in, I let my wallet make the decision. And I'm glad I did. You can get a good education wherever you go. At the big-name schools, you're just paying extra for the school name on your diploma.As far auditions, I hate them. I can perform in a concert setting in front of thousands of listeners and be completely relaxed, but put me in a jury or audition and I totally crap out. I'm surprised I even got into any schools. Ah, maybe I'm just being too hard on myself. I will say this though, auditions and juries become much easier to deal with the more you do them. I used to get upset if I played a bad jury, but now I just say "whatever."