Illinois State University

Date: Sep 05 2013
Major: Music - Performance (This Major's Salary over time)
I would like to start off by saying that I encourage all high school students to contact me about this school. I am observant, intelligent, and honest. I abhor this school and anybody considering Illinois State University needs to hear my story. Most of this review is about the School of Music. However, the university itself has negatively affected my life too.
One-thousand pages could not entirely depict my experience with ISU. This is a summary…
I am a very experienced musician and a seasoned scholar. During my childhood and teenage years, I was very successful. I do have the expertise, experience, and the credentials to back up my claims. I have been a part of a variety of both musical and intellectual programs throughout my life. At Illinois State University, most of my experiences were through the School of Music. By far, moving myself to ISU was the worst decision that I have ever made in my entire life.

First of all, the ISU School of Music is an interesting one. It started out modestly. It was a cute little Illinois Music School that eventually grew up to be a powerhouse for potential music educators and certain devoted wind ensemble performers. I would say that this school had a great run for about ten to fifteen years (from the mid 90s to about 2005). During these years, my peers and I truly looked up to this institution and were proud to have it in the state.

Currently, the ISU School of Music puts way too much effort into recruiting. More effort goes into prospective students than current students. They promise every single one of their freshman tens of thousands of dollars of scholarships. They promise everybody fair chair placement. They even promise prospective students that this department is honest, transparent, intelligent, and kind. Trust me, anything that these people promise you is false. They seldomly hand out scholarships to anybody. If they do, it is typically $250 to $750 per semester. Plus, they never give the best players any money. They only give it to average players who think they would like to teach. Also, graduate students take up all of the top seats because they pay them salaries to be here. The graduate students rarely practice because they have permanent performing opportunities. This department is corrupt, opaque, dishonest, unintelligent, and condescending.

Today, the ISU School of Music does nothing but harm the music world. These people give us musicians a bad name. The entire department is a complete joke. Chair placement is like running for an office in an already corrupt government. At ISU, they do not care how well you play at all. All they care about is their image. As far as I know, there isn't a Political Science in the Music Industry degree offered here.

The kids who stay here who claim that they like the school are brainwashed by the faculty. They will not realize how royally screwed up this program is until they grow up and/or leave here forever. The quality of the performances are poor too. Not very surprising seeing as nobody practices since chair placement is entirely political. Some of the worst performers in the entire school are in the top ensembles. The only concert that consistently has a large crowd is

Music for the Holidays.

(Yes, just like a high school holiday season concert.) All other concerts have only parents and relatives in the crowds.

>>>Stay away from the Illinois State University School of Music. In fact, run! Run as far and as fast as you can and never look back!!!<<<
This next part may be funny, but it is a great description of a person likely to be chosen by the ISU School of Music for a top ensemble.
I will outline a politically sound candidate for chair placement… (Somebody who is consistently placed above the people that actually practice and have talent.)

white

good looking

male

perfect teeth

Christian

single and a virgin

overly straight

has not had a single negative event occur in his life

emotionally immature

has never been to a party in his entire life

watches Rules of Engagement, Golden Girls, and Pawn Stars

has never stuck with an instrument for more than 3 years

does not play his instrument every day

buys all of his teachers lunch once a week and talks about how much he adores all of them

doesn't know any orchestral repertoire or music history

has never given a recital off-campus before

never watches the conductor

listens to pop music every day

is in TBS (co-ed music service sorority)

As far as the university in general goes, it isn't very good. During the day, the campus is safe. At night though, it is dangerous. Muggings happen regularly. Every once and a while, a student is threatened by a non-student with a gun or even shot at. The university loves to waste your tuition and living expense money on events, programs, and publications that are completely irrelevant and are solely "pro-U." You must live in the dorms and purchase a meal plan unless you are pregnant, live with your parents, and/or are 21 or older. That will cost you between $10,000 and $13,000 for 9 months. The food is unhealthy and does not taste good at all. The dorms are not worth what you pay for them either. They are unmaintained, small, too hot all year (including winter), and RA's are paid to be your enemy. RA's rarely do anything to benefit these students that are forced to live in cubicles.

Generally, the academics here are average. The departments that are above average are Nursing, Information Technology, Education, and Business. Everything else is either average or below average. The School of Music is definitely the worst thing about this school if you haven't noticed yet.
During my time here, about half of my non-music courses were with professors who could not speak English very well and were still learning how to teach properly. The other half were actually enjoyable. Surprise! The non-music professors I had here that were very proficient in English were mostly great at teaching also!

All in all, ISU isn't THAT bad. It has an average quality of academics, but they waste your money. The surrounding area is hybrid (both urban and rural qualities), but it is very dangerous at night. A couple departments are quite nice, but the corruption of the School of Music ruins the entire university. Nobody has legitimate concerts to look forward to here.
Please, do the world a favor and pretend that the ISU School of Music doesn't even exist.
Remember, contact me if you want to hear more. I have a lot, lot more. You may read about it in a book someday too.