Advice please! music math economics simultaneously?

College Majors Music Major
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<p>I really did not know what I should do when I applied for colleges last year. I got into a top 30 university this April. Now I kind of figured out what I want to study at college. I think I will double major in either math/music (composition) or economics/composition. But at my school it is not very easy to double major with music. Although I know transfer app could be pretty hard, I will have a try. I am considering about transferring to a university or a LAC that can offer me great education in these 3 subjects and enable me to graduate in 4 years. (Is it even possible?) (Does this mean that the music department must be within the arts and sciences college?) </p>

<p>Is it even possible to triple major or design my own major for a transfer applicant in these schools listed below?</p>

<p>Any help would be appreciated!</p>

<p>Schools I am considering about:
U Penn
Duke
Rice
Cornell
Brown
Tufts
Vanderbilt
Northwestern
Columbia
U Chicago
Georgetown
Swarthmore
Amherst</p>

2

<p>What is your music background? At Rice the only way you can major in any music, including composition, is to be admitted to Shepherd School of Music as a music major. Then you work out the rest of the academics as your schedule permits. You are not admitted to other majors. You cannot go into the BA in music until you have been in the BM program for a year. Note the audition/portfolio requirements and the instrument proficiency requirements. [Shepherd</a> School of Music - Rice University](<a href=“http://music.rice.edu/undergraduate/composition.shtml]Shepherd”>http://music.rice.edu/undergraduate/composition.shtml) Transferring in would be hard to complete in 4 years if you have not had a lot of music.</p>

3

<p>296, I’m a little lost. you indicated that you got into “a top 30 university”. </p>

<p>I am assuming that you currently are enrolled in a “top 30” college. Then shouldn’t you just be considering that university and not all of those that you listed? Why do you expect to transfer? Do you have a specific need to transfer? Why didn’t you just enroll in the college that you want to graduate from?</p>

<p>And why would you want to major in music comp or math if your goal is to be a banker in China?</p>

<p>It may be too late to major in music unless you already auditioned and were accepted into the music school. Generally it is going to take 4 years of being a music major to get a BM degree, so it is very possible that regardless of a second or third major, if you don’t start out from the get-go as a music major, it will still take an additional 4 years on top of any transfer credit or previous college before you decided to major in music, and regardless of where you transfered from/to.</p>

<p>Maybe you should just take the direct educational route to what you want to do - major in international business or finance, and forget about all that other stuff.</p>

4

<p>The Penn music major is not a performing major-- it’s theory/composition/musicology. There are some applied music courses you can take for credit. I know many double majors (music + another subject) at Penn. So that would be doable, but it would not be a conservatory style major. As for transfer credits, Penn (and many other colleges) is notoriously picky about accepting them, so be aware that you might not be able to finish in 4 years with two majors.</p>

<p>imagep, I’m confused-- where does 296wxt mention the goal of being a banker in China? (Maybe in another thread…)</p>

5

<p>Now come on. Everyone wants to be a banker in China. Don’t you?</p>

<p>No seriously, it was mentioned in another thread.</p>

6

<p>

Why don’t you tell us what school you’re actually going to first.
I doubt it’s any more difficult to double major than any of the other schools on your list. Eg. Rice, Vandy, N’Western all have schools of music – and no, most folks can’t double major at a school of music (but they can DUAL DEGREE, in 5 years, etc) because of the regulations on a BMUS degree.</p>

<p>If however, you’re talking about an arts & science, non-audition program, then that would likely be roughly equal everywhere as a double major or major minor.</p>

<p>Triple majors another story and I’m not sure I see the point exactly. You might be better off double majoring in math and econ and then simply pursuing music on the side, since it does not appear to warrant a “major focus” insofar as you didn’t audition/plan to pursue it before.</p>

<p>Most music students have known they’d plan to pursue music for many years before college, and prepare accordingly. As such, it’s quite competitive to get into late in the game. But as a “college arts and science pursuit” as part of a BA, which is far less intensive, there’s no reason not to pursue the courses yet no real need to declare it as a major either (not likely to assist you professionally, for example.)</p>

7

<p>296wxt -</p>

<p>Since you have changed your focus, why don’t you defer enrollment for a year, and think about making a whole new list to apply to. If you run any of the college-matching search engines, you should find a whole bunch of colleges and universities where you could double major in math and music, or economics and music. Usually these institutions do not have conservatory-type music programs. Sometimes admission to the music major does not even require an audition.</p>

8

<p>I think that anyone would need more information on what you are planning to do, and the OP shows come confusion. Glassharmonica and others have pointed out the first one, that majoring in composition depends on where you do it, At U Penn it is an academic based music degree, so you could dual major the way you might dual major in math and economics, whereas studying composition at a conservatory program like NEC would require a dual degree program like Harvard/NEC, Peabody/Hopkins, or a dual program in the same school like Rice/Shepherd, Indiana U or Bard, and none of those is easy and on composition, is not an easy admit.</p>

<p>If your ultimate goal is to go into investment banking, then why the need to transfer? Do you feel your current school isn’t highly ranked enough to get into banking in China and you want to get into a more elite school, like U of P would be? </p>

<p>More importantly, if you want to go into banking, why do you want to dual major in composition? If you love composing, you could always study privately with a teacher and learn things like theory and such working with him/her or maybe even taking classes as a non major basis. I hope your interest in majoring in composition is because you love the idea of pursuing it as a hobby or sideline, rather then some notion that coming out with a double or triple major with composition would make you more attractive to employers, because if that is it, there is no basis in that (coming out of a top program with top grades? In Banking, almost a total requirement. Composition as a hook? I can almost 100% guarantee you won’t do anything for you in terms of landing a banking job, in China or anywhere else). If that is the idea, you would be better off IMO majoring in economics/math (I would assume heading to a quant based position) and doing composition on the side.</p>

<p>The other thing with composition is if you already are not doing it, it usually is a tough admit, probably worse as a transfer. From what I know of composition, it is not an easy admit, academic program or conservatory based, you usually have to apply with a portfolio of work, already demonstrated some ability and desire, it isn’t like adding math or whatever to your major, which normally involves talking to an advisor about dual majoring and making sure the department is okay with space and such, it is very different, it would be more like transferring to another school and trying to get a bs/ba in let’s say math and applying for auditioned admission to a BM degree. </p>

<p>I am not trying to discourage the OP, only trying to point out that based on their stated goals, there may be better alternative then trying to dual or triple major in composition and transferring></p>