Where Curtis trumps Juilliard

Readers Comment of the Day in our ongoing debate comes from a recent graduate:

Having graduated Curtis I can tell you the most important aspects:
…and why it doesn’t compare to an education at any other musical institution….

#1. Your student colleagues are the people you forge your most important musical and social relationships with. Your career is based on these relationships. These are the foundation of your career. You share with them and the other graduates something very, very, unique. The graduating classes were never over 40-50 people in the 20th century.
#2. The teachers treat you like you already are or will be imminently a professional musical colleague…because at this school it is true.
3. MOST importantly, Curtis has (or had) a distinct style of playing. The wind players and string players all had the same teachers for orch rep class every week.
Orchestra was treated by the vast majority of the students and teachers as the most important aspect of the education.
And it is free.