Miguel, you shouldn't base your future on our limited knowledge and biases.I believe you would grow and have a great time at any one of these schools. Each has some wonderful teachers and some duds. Some great fellow keyboard students and some annoying ones.
The best solution would be to go visit these schools. Otherwise, don't fret this decision. A big part of these years will simply be living in a new country for you, the famous US of A.
Excellent advice !!!!!!
Miquel - I don't know what part of the world you currently live in, but if you aren't used to dealing with extremely COLD weather on a day to day basis the locations of some of the schools you are considering might be challenging.
I'm going to put in a plug for my alma mater (MM '73) the University of North Texas. Yesterday, I received their annual magazine highlighting the recent accomplishments of selected faculty and alumni from the School of Music. Very impressive !!!! The piano faculty has always been strong there. When I attended, it was fairly easy to get a graduate teaching assistantship (I taught private and class piano), scholarships, etc. (however, I don't know how easy it is now) and opportunities to play chamber music, accompany instrumental recitals, etc. were plentiful. There's lots of of musical activity in Dallas (half hour's drive) - The Dallas Symphony, Dallas Opera, Meyerson Sympnony Center, etc. and Fort Worth (40 minutes drive) - Cliburn Competition, Fort Worth Symphony, Bass Concert Hall. The music school facilities are excellent. Granted, the weather gets hot and humid in the summer - and sometimes you get a dusting of snow and ice in the winter - but otherwise it is fairly mild - and the cost of living in Denton is quite reasonable. Back in the day, I was accepted for grad studies at both Northwestern and North Texas. In retrospect, I'm grateful that I chose North Texas.
