Posted by Sean Chisham on November 03, 2001 at 09:58:01:
In Reply to: Second-guessing myself...(long) posted by Ted on November 01, 2001 at 23:33:25:
You need to do whatever you think is best for your career. If you do land a gig someday, it will almost certainly be far away from where you grew up. Having grown up in the area it is sometimes difficult to think out of the box, but distance should be low on the list of priorities for something as specialized as music performance studies. Good music education degrees can be had just about anywhere, but to find the performance environment to cultivate your abilities may involve a longer trek.
If this is your first year in college, then I would say to make an effort to either get into a summer festival such as NRO or NOI or to attend something like the Summit Brass Institute in Cincinatti for the summer. You'll get a good opportunity to get feedback from other top pros and hear promising students from around the world.
Relying on just the word of mouth from a few fellow students at your school is not enough information to really make a decision as to whether to transfer to another school. Don't plan on just waiting until you start a Masters degree to change schools if you really believe that you will have better advancement and opportunities at school B. If you practice and have good leadership in a musical environment, then you should have a good chance of never making it to the point of even getting a Masters before landing a job.
Get more information and then decide. Most people here have said to stay put and work hard. If that is the optimal answer than I say do it. If you find out that school B is a better environment for you, then don't hesitate to change schools. Also keep in mind that if you change schools you will loose a lot of credit hours which will add another year or so to your scheduled graduation date. Not an issue if you have strong financial backing, but can be expensive for some.
sean