Manhattan School of Music

Private · Selective · NY

Photo: ajay_suresh (CC BY 2.0)

School data & stats

TypePrivate

LocationNY · Northeast

SettingUrban

Undergrads539

Student:faculty6:1

Outcomes

4-yr grad rate67.1%

6-yr grad rate78.3%

Drop-out rate7%

Study abroad—

Cost

In-state tuition$57k

Out-of-state tuition$57k

Application fee—

Community

Racial diversity63.1%

Gender diversity50.3%

International34%

Identity—

Overview

Manhattan School of Music is a conservatory in the Morningside Heights section of Manhattan, training performers in classical, jazz, and musical theatre at a highly specialized, performance-first institution. It is built almost entirely around one-on-one studio instruction with a working artist-faculty, and students are immersed from day one in New York's professional concert, opera, and jazz-club world rather than a conventional undergraduate campus experience.

Academics

The core of the education is private studio lessons with a single principal teacher, paired with ensemble work, chamber music, and juried performance evaluations rather than a conventional lecture-course curriculum. Jazz and classical performance are both long-standing strengths, and the school also offers strong opera and orchestral-training tracks. Students are expected to perform constantly — in required ensembles, degree recitals, and informal readings — building a performance résumé well before graduation, with academic coursework outside the major comparatively light.

Campus & student life

Located directly in Manhattan near Columbia University and Morningside Heights's other cultural institutions, the school has no traditional large campus; student life happens in practice rooms, recital halls, and the city's concert venues rather than a quad or student union. Housing is in city-style residence halls, and the setting gives students unmatched proximity to working professional musicians, major ensembles, and the city's audition and gig circuit from the very start of their studies.

Getting in

Admission runs almost entirely on a live audition rather than academic profile — the audition is the central, rigorous filter, evaluated by the specific studio faculty a student hopes to study with. Applicants are judged on technical command and artistic maturity on their instrument or voice, and competition for spots varies studio by studio depending on how much space a given teacher has open that year.

After graduation

Graduates go on to orchestras, opera companies, Broadway pits, and jazz ensembles, with an alumni network deeply embedded in New York's professional music scene and beyond. The school's location and faculty connections give students an unusually direct pipeline into working professional careers, though as with any conservatory, the field itself remains highly competitive regardless of where a student trained.

Worth knowing

Because study is organized around a single principal studio teacher, the specific faculty member a student will study with matters as much as the school's overall reputation — prospective students often choose MSM for one teacher in particular, and should research studio faculty before applying. The Manhattan location also means the intensity and cost of a major-city lifestyle are real factors beyond tuition itself.

msmnyc.edu ↗

Admissions

Acceptance rate40.8%

Enrolled mid-50%—

Test policynot used

Rec letters2

Deadlines (2026–27 cycle)

Regular decisionDec 1

Applying (2026-27 cycle)

Apply through Own application.

Priority / scholarshipDec 1

Financial aid formsJan 15

Verified from the school’s admissions pages ↗