IU in Bloomington is where we sent our eldest daughter (we are in the Seattle area). She just graduated from there in June with a degree in Music Performance - Oboe. We were very pleased with the music education that she received, but I was amazed at how much work goes into being a music major. As my daughter told me early on, "this place is about no excuses".
Yup. "Music major" means a whole range of things from BA Music, which can mean mostly appreciation, some theory and musicology to the BM (Performance) curricula at the top music schools and conservatories, which are incredibly demanding. (There is a reason the conservatories have easy liberal arts classes). Bloomington is a truly great music school. It was pretty high on my daughter's list. Had she not been admitted to the Butler/Geyer trumpet studios at Northwestern, John Rommel's studio at Indiana was serious possibility, and he's in her top 5 'wish list' for graduate school. She really liked all the students and faculty she met at Indiana. Financially, it would have been more affordable than NU, but almost no one ever turns down a chance to study with Barbara or Charlie (their usual cross-acceptance hard decisions are Juilliard or Curtis-which is tuition-free).