The New England Conservatory of Music (NEC) is a private music school in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the oldest independent music conservatory in the United States and among the most prestigious in the world. The conservatory is located on Huntington Avenue of the Arts near Boston Symphony Hall and is home to 750 students pursuing undergraduate and graduate studies, along with 1400 more in its Preparatory School as well as the School of Continuing Education. NEC offers bachelor's degrees with majors in classical performance, contemporary improvisation, composition, jazz, musicology, and music theory. The conservatory offers additional graduate degrees in accompaniment, conducting, and vocal pedagogy. Also offered are five-year joint double-degree programs with Harvard University and Tufts University. The New England Conservatory's faculty and alumni, which comprise nearly fifty percent of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, include 6 members of l'Order des Arts et des Lettres, 14 Rome Prize recipients, 51 Guggenheim Fellows, and prizewinners at nearly every major respected music forum in the world. As of January 2020, 11 MacArthur Fellows have been affiliated as faculty or alumni.