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The Best Colleges for Music ranking is based on key statistics and student reviews using data from the U.S. Department of Education. The ranking compares the top music schools and performing arts colleges in the U.S.
- Berklee College of Music
Berklee has some of the best music career connections in the...
- Northwestern University
The 90s were a different time. While NU is a larger, private...
- Manhattan School of Music
Best College Locations in America. 72 of 1,512. See All...
- The Juilliard School
Juilliard is an above-average private college located in...
- Curtis Institute of Music
Curtis Institute of Music is an elite private college...
- New England Conservatory of Music
New England Conservatory is a private college located in...
- University of North Carolina School of The Arts
UNCSA is a highly rated public university located in...
- 2024 Best Music Schools in New York
#15 Best Colleges for Music in America.. Manhattan School of...
- Berklee College of Music
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- Juilliard School. (New York, New York) Founded in 1905, the Juilliard School can easily be considered the most prestigious music conservatory in the country—and for good reason.
- Curtis Institute of Music. (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) Founded in 1924, the Philadelphia-based Curtis Institute of Music has produced many notable alumni—especially composers, including Leonard Bernstein, Gian Carlo Menotti, Ned Rorem, and Nino Rota.
- Manhattan School of Music. (New York, New York) Located on Manhattan's Upper West Side, the Manhattan School of Music is a competitive environment that offers its students a number of valuable opportunities.
- Berklee College of Music. (Boston, Massachusetts) Unlike many of the conservatories on this list, Berklee is firmly focused upon the study and practice of contemporary, as opposed to classical, music.
- Columbia College Chicago. Chicago. This year, Columbia’s two-year master of fine arts program in music composition for the screen, headed by Kubilay Uner, welcomes a new full-time addition to its faculty in Lee Sanders, lead composer for CBS’ long-running reality series The Amazing Race.
- USC Thornton School of Music. Los Angeles. USC Thornton blends the disciplines of a conservatory education with an unbeatably close working relationship with the motion picture, television and music industries in Hollywood.
- The Juilliard School. New York City. Juilliard has always boasted some very powerful connections to the world of movie music, from alumni including Michael Kamen and John Williams, who recently endowed Juilliard with his collection of written scores in the form of a John Williams Library at the school.
- Berklee College of Music. Boston. Berklee offers bachelor’s degrees in film and media scoring and game and interactive media scoring, as well as options to minor in screen scoring or take a specialization in video game scoring.
- Northwestern University. Evanston, IL. Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type. 156 Music Degrees Awarded. $29,755 Median Starting Salary. It's difficult to beat Northwestern University if you wish to pursue a degree in music.
- Rice University. Houston, TX. Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type. 87 Music Degrees Awarded. $28,275 Median Starting Salary. It is hard to beat Rice University if you wish to pursue a degree in music.
- Yale University. New Haven, CT. Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type. 141 Music Degrees Awarded. $20,839 Median Starting Salary. Yale University is one of the best schools in the United States for getting a degree in music.
- University of Southern California. Los Angeles, CA. Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type. 182 Music Degrees Awarded. $22,775 Median Starting Salary. It is difficult to beat University of Southern California if you want to pursue a degree in music.
- Oberlin College & Conservatory
- Bard College & Conservatory
- Lawrence University Conservatory of Music
- UCLA – University of California at Los Angeles
- Indiana University Jacobs School of Music
- University of Miami Frost School of Music
- The New School
- Vanderbilt University Blair School of Music
- Manhattan School of Music
- Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins
Oberlin is a small liberal arts college based in Ohio. With less than 3,000 total students, the population at Oberlin is best described as left-leaning. The genres available for study at Oberlin are predominantly classical as well as jazz. One thing that makes Oberlin interesting is its almost entirely undergraduate student population. This means n...
Like Oberlin, Bard is a primarily undergraduate liberal arts college specializing in classical performance and composition. Unlike Oberlin, all students in the Bard Conservatory program must double major in both music and an outside subject. Completing the program at Bard’s Conservatory takes typically five years to complete to account for the musi...
Fittingly starting our list with liberal arts colleges, Lawrence, like Oberlin, Bard, and Ithaca, are primarily undergraduate colleges. Founded in 1894, Lawrence Conservatory of Music is among the oldest schools of music in the country. While the school may be over 125 years old, that does not mean they are not continuing to make news today. Recent...
UCLA has a distinguished reputation for, of all things, musicology and ethnomusicology! However, UCLA is far more than just a school for studying music history. UCLA’s faculty lineup includes Richard Danielpour, a composer and longtime faculty member at the Curtis Institute of Music, Grammy-winning jazz trumpeter Terrence Blanchard, and distinguish...
Frequently ranked among the top music schools in the country, Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music has three leading classical music, jazz, and music education programs. Additionally, they are home to a well-established music production program. Historically, IU has produced several influential musicians, including jazz educators Jamey Aeber...
The University of Miami has made strides in recent years with its classical music faculty. Current appointments include violinist Charles Castleman, one of the most successful violin teachers who was previously on the Eastman School of Music faculty, and conductor Gerard Schwarz. Outside of classical music, Frost has vital programs in contemporary ...
Although named only once on this list, the New School has two music schools with different focuses. For classical music, the New School is home to the Mannes College of Music. Formerly in uptown New York City, in the last decade Mannes moved downtown, upgrading its facilities and making it closer to the heart of the arts scene in New York City. Onc...
According to the Princeton Review, Vanderbilt University ranks among the top 5 “happiest schools” in the nation. With its location in Nashville, students at Blair gain close contact with the music industry itself. Indeed, many of the nation’s top music companies and venues find themselves headquartered in the aptly named Music Row, a historic distr...
Manhattan School of Music is an urban conservatory; based in New York City, students at MSM have access to everything the Big Apple offers musically. Although a “small” conservatory, MSM boasts several impressive performance and rehearsal facilities. They include the Ades Performance Space, which hosts all music genres, from operas to chamber music...
Ever since Mayor Michael Bloomberg donated nearly $2 billion to Johns Hopkins University, JHU has made significant changes to its programs, including, of course, its prestigious music conservatory. In recent years, Peabody has allotted substantial money for scholarships, attracting top talent from around the globe. Connected to the Baltimore Sympho...
Berklee is proud to be regularly recognized among the top music colleges in the world by respected publications such as Billboard, The Hollywood Reporter, and Forbes.
Berklee College of Music's ranking in the 2024 edition of Best Colleges is Regional Universities North, #39. Its tuition and fees are $50,270. Located in Boston, the Berklee College...
