what are the best jazz music colleges in America?

berklee
north texas
miami univ
indiana univ
rutgers
manhattan school of music

Well you've certainly got a lot of time to think about this! If you're serious about jazz in college, start studying jazz now absolutely.

There are a whole bunch of top jazz schools in the States. In and near New York City, there's the Manhattan School of Music, New York University, Purchase College, William Paterson University, the New School, and many others. In Boston, there's Berklee, the New England Conservatory, and others. Besides those, there's Indiana U, University of Miami (in Florida), Rutgers, North Texas University, and soooo many others.

But don't limit yourself to just the USA. Check out the schools in Europe. There are a whole bunch all over there that have absolutely fantastic programs and in some ways, Europe is on the forefront of jazz today.

Best Jazz Colleges

Well I go to college in Boston and I can tell you that students from Berklee College of Music are usually some extremely good musicians. It's pretty much impossible to walk through their campus without seeing someone playing an instrument or carrying one on their back. It's a hard school to get into, but if you get in then it's definitely going to open lots of doors for you. Good luck.

Berklee in Boston. There are LOTS of professional jazz musicians on the scene who came out of Berklee. I don't know what they are doing up there at that school, but they are turning out some real artists.

I agree that there are many great schools out there with many great jazz programs. The three powerhouses, in my opinion, are Berklee, University of North Texas, and University of Northern Colorado, but even smaller and lesser-known universities can have an incredible faculty and can give you a great jazz education. Do you take private lessons right now? If you do, see if your teacher can teach you any jazz right now. If they can't, or if you don't, maybe try to take a lesson or two with a local jazz pianist, even to just get you started. And, above all, listen to as much jazz as you possibly can. Even try to play along with the music. If you can full-on transcribe some jazz music, that will cause your abilities to skyrocket. Learning jazz is not a quick or easy process but just keep at it and it will come to you over time. Plus it is the greatest and funnest music out there :)
Good luck!