January 11, 2006
8. "Top" Schools
U.S. News & World Report publishes an annual issue in which the editors of the magazine rank American colleges and universities by various criteria (go here to see a FAQ list which the publishers provide to explain various aspects of this ranking process). Of course, not everyone will agree on the criteria, the ranking methodology, or even the value of such a ranking process. For those who may find this information of value, I have taken the magazine's most recent lists of Top Liberal Arts Colleges and Top National Universities and correlated them with the list of institutions which responded to the survey. The accompanying graphs indicate the results of this process.
Click on the small image to the left to see a larger version (depending on your browser, another click on the larger image may further increase the size).
Click on the small image to the left to see a larger version (depending on your browser, another click on the larger image may further increase the size).
Top Graph
The bars represent numbers of schools within a given category. U.S. News & World Report includes 120 schools in the Top National Universities category. Of the 120, 86 responded to the survey. The numbers of users of Finale, Sibelius, the Mac OS and Windows are presented as subsets within the 86. Similarly, there are 104 schools in the Top Liberal Arts Colleges category. 74 of these responded to the survey. Finally, from within the total group of 668 schools which responded to the survey, I produced a list of what I believe are considered to be among the most highly regarded music schools. There are 23 schools in this list*.
Bottom Graph
The bars represent ratios expressed as decimal numbers, based upon the numbers of schools given in the top graph. Example: within the 86 "Top Universities", 80 use Finale. That translates to a Finale usage rate of 93% (80 divided by 86 = .93). For comparison, a look at the total U.S. averages, provided at the right end of this group of graphs, shows that the national average for Finale use is 83%.
NOTE: See the Conclusions at the end of the report for a continuation of this discussion.
*Top Music Schools**
Berklee College of Music
Boston Conservatory
Boston University College of Fine Arts
California Institute of the Arts
Cleveland Institute of Music
Curtis Institute of Music
Indiana University School of Music
Lawrence University Conservatory of Music
Manhattan School of Music
Mannes College of Music
North Carolina School of the Arts
Oberlin Conservatory of Music
Princeton University Department of Music
Rice University - Shepherd School of Music
San Francisco Conservatory of Music
Stanford University Department of Music
SUNY - Potsdam, Crane School of Music
SUNY - Stony Brook Music Department
University of Hartford - Hartt School of Music
University of North Texas College of Music
University of Pennsylvania Department of Music
University of Southern California - Thornton School of Music
Yale University Department of Music
**Unfortunately, several of the most highly regarded music schools in the country - The Juilliard School, The Eastman School of Music, The New England Conservatory, The Peabody Institute - did not respond to the survey.
NOTE: See the Conclusions at the end of the report for a continuation of this discussion.
*Top Music Schools**
Berklee College of Music
Boston Conservatory
Boston University College of Fine Arts
California Institute of the Arts
Cleveland Institute of Music
Curtis Institute of Music
Indiana University School of Music
Lawrence University Conservatory of Music
Manhattan School of Music
Mannes College of Music
North Carolina School of the Arts
Oberlin Conservatory of Music
Princeton University Department of Music
Rice University - Shepherd School of Music
San Francisco Conservatory of Music
Stanford University Department of Music
SUNY - Potsdam, Crane School of Music
SUNY - Stony Brook Music Department
University of Hartford - Hartt School of Music
University of North Texas College of Music
University of Pennsylvania Department of Music
University of Southern California - Thornton School of Music
Yale University Department of Music
**Unfortunately, several of the most highly regarded music schools in the country - The Juilliard School, The Eastman School of Music, The New England Conservatory, The Peabody Institute - did not respond to the survey.
# posted by Scott Fessler @ 5:43 PM 
