An Opinion? I want to attend UPenn+Curtis

Colleges & Universities A-Z University of Pennsylvania
1

<p>I'm an Indian (well, half) male in Georgia, attending a small/mid-sized public school that rarely sends students to top colleges. we offer a handful of APs. </p>

<p>I'm applying to Columbia, Harvard, UPenn, Emory, Tufts, University of Rochester, and University of Cincinnati. All of these colleges are affiliated with conservatories of music (except Emory) that I will also be auditioning for. I've been studying piano for over 7 years and will be sending in a supplemental CD.</p>

<p>Top 10% of class
4.32 GPA (high unweighted, but I don't know specifically...only 1 'B')
SAT I- Imagine 2100+
SAT II- U.S. History 690 (taking Literature, Math, and Latin)
by end of senior year: AP English Language, AP U.S. History, AP U.S. Government/Politics, AP Literature, AP Calculus, and AP Physics (B)</p>

<p>Various awards in piano, mock trial, school, etc. Will be competing in a few international piano competitions that include college students. I'm also going to compete in a few concerto competitions in hopes of playing with an orchestra. I'm auditioning for From The Top, as well as sending in my CD to be played at the area's local radio station. </p>

<p>I have $8,500 in college scholarships through a state talent competition so far. </p>

<p>ECs:</p>

<p>Pianist and Alternate Percussionist for the Atlanta Youth Wind Symphony since 9th grade. We've performed at the Midwest Clinic in Chicago, Dallas, Texas with the DYWS, and the MENC national convention in Milwaukee, WI. The year before I was able to join they performed at carnegie hall and on From The Top Recently, we performed with claranetist Richard Stoltzman. </p>

<p>Mock Trial Team Captain and Attorney: mock trial was started my sophomore year, and I began as a witness. My junior year I was accepted into the UGA Law Academy and successfully auditioned for the Cross Examination Attorney role. That year in mock trial I was the defense attorney and team captain and I received an 'Outstanding Attorney' award. </p>

<p>Founder and President of Students.Against.Victimization.Everywhere (SAVE): I created this in 10th grade in order to bring awareness to various world issues. My first goal was to shed light on the genocide in Darfur, Sudan. The club participates in community service every two weeks, and participates in events such as the AIDS walk (where we raised over $800 in one month) and Relay for Life. </p>

<p>Debate Club (student congress and prose/poetry divisions): Participated in debate since 9th grade. Specfically in student congress and prose/poetry since 11th. Won a competition in prose/poetry and hoping to qualify for nationals in student congress next year. </p>

<p>co-Editor-in-Chief for school paper: Planning on majorly reforming the paper and bringing the opinion/expose column back! Participated in journalism since 10th grade. Asking teacher for a recommendation. Will qualify for Quills and Scrolls. </p>

<p>Program Director for Math Club: I organize the topics that we will discuss and explore for each session. I gave a lecture on the mathematics of chord structure in music, and will be doing a follow-up. We also tutor.</p>

<p>President of National Law Society: I am organizing a political rally at my school to register voters and inform them of the upcoming November election. My goal is to increase voter turnout. I'll also be volunteering with the local Obama staff team. </p>

<p>I'm starting a Peer College Counseling club where everyone meets for breakfast and talks about their progress with the college applications, edit essays, brainstorm, comfort each other, and explore misconceptions and stuff like that. An informal meeting area where we can all vent our frustrations and fears about college without an adult over our shoulders. I'm not sure if I'll even put it on the app--it's just something I want to do.</p>

<p>and then I have a couple of little clubs like academic bowl, film club, national forensic league, and national honors society. Stuff like that.</p>

<p>I don't have a huge amount of community service. whatever. </p>

<p>I've been participating in the Walter Hautzig master class since 5th grade (am not attending this summer). Last summer I was accepted into the Adamant master class with Andre LaPlante in Vermont. This summer I am attending the Brevard Music Center for piano on a non-need based scholarship to study with cincinnati conservatory professor of piano Elisabeth Pridonoff. This November I was selected to perform in a masterclass with Claude Frank (faculty of Curtis and Yale). </p>

<p>My teacher recommendations are going to be amazing. I can't wait to get them. </p>

<p>I think my essays will be pretty strong. I'm not going to try too hard; I'm just going to be genuine, which I think will be original enough. </p>

<p>I'm going to double major in political science/piano performance. I hope you could tell from reading this.
Thanks for all of your imput.</p>

2

<p>I think it would be really hard to get degrees from both Penn and Curtis concurrently. I think there are programs so that Curtis students can take classes at Penn, not sure if conversely, but I don't know of any that allows you to earn degrees from both. If what you really love is music, I suggest you apply to conservatories (Curtis) and then perhaps take some classes at the associated university (Penn). I didn't look at your stats in a lot of detail but you seem like a competitive candidate. What is your reportoire?</p>

3

<p>I understand what you are saying; however, if I do not get into Curtis, I may still want to look at UPenn and reapply the following year. It definitely is not a converse agreement.</p>

<p>My audition repertoire is:
Bach Prelude and Fugue (4 voice)
Waldstein Sonata (entire)
Prokofiev Sonata no.4 (entire)
Chopin Scherzo no.3
Chopin Nocturne in e (posth.)</p>

<p>That's all that Curtis requires...for Juilliard I'll be playing L'Isle Joyeuse by Debussy in place of the Chopin Nocturne, and for Eastman and NEC I'll be performing a Chopin Etude (op.25 no.1? I haven't decided which one yet.)</p>

4

<p>Wow. When it comes to piano, I wouldn't know the difference between Chopin and Chopsticks, but it sounds very impressive and I wish you the best of luck! :)</p>

5

<p>have you thought about johns hopkins and peabody ?</p>

6

<p>I have, but there are specific teachers at other conservatories that I would much rather study with than at peabody. I may still apply, but most likely will not.</p>

7

<p>Ditto what Rudess said. Follow the path that suits you best and do not, under any circumstances, attend a conservatory unless your passion for piano and music outweighs all else. </p>

<p>Perhaps there is a joint degree program? That is a far more realistic goal than completing degrees at both schools. Forgive my presumption, but it is absolutely inconceivable that you would be able to bare the workload of an Ivy League school and progress musically at the rate that would allow you to legitimately compete with conservatory trained pianists. In my estimation, your academic success would be detrimental to your musical growth, as is often the case. My boyfriend is currently a senior at Juilliard and the last few years have truly been hell for him; no amount of forethought could have prepared him (or his peers) for what awaited and the level of performance that is expected constantly. The general consensus for joint degree programs between elite schools and top conservatories is that the students are very obviously [musically] weaker than their peers who are only enrolled in the latter.</p>

<p>In any event, I strongly suggest doing a joint-degree program rather than trying separate degrees, as your divided focus will not help either interest. </p>

<p>Does Curtis not require Mozart?</p>

8

<p>Warward: I am not intended on pursuing a degree at both schools, primarily for the reasons that you listed. If I am accepted at Curtis, then I will simply take classes at UPenn in the fields that I'm interested in. If I don't make Curtis, I may still attend UPenn, find a private teacher, and audition the next year. I am looking at the Columbia+Juilliard program as well, but that seems to be too intense. Do you know anyone that has gone through that program, seeing that your boyfriend currently attends Juilliard? </p>

<p>Curtis requires a classical sonata, which may be Mozart, but does not have to be. I chose Beethoven instead.</p>

9

<p>I do not know anyone personally who is in the Juilliard/Columbia exchange, but I will do some investigating.</p>

10

<p>I spoke to two people at Juilliard who know others in the exchange and they generally agreed with my prior assessment: It is an unbelievably intense degree program, hence why few choose to or are able to pursue it. Musicians who are pursuing it clearly lag behind their Juilliard peers and come to steer towards more academic endeavors as they progress.</p>

<p>Ergo, if you are more academically inclined (i.e. not planning for a career in music), but would like to keep your chops up in college, the exchange would be perfect for you. If you want a career in music, go for the conservatory training and immerse yourself completely in it.</p>

11

<p>I know (knew) a woman who was in the Columbia/Juilliard program about five years ago. Her experience matches the template described by wayward trojan: it was a slow ease out of music and into academics. Nothing so wrong with that, though. She had an interesting path. She wound up dropping Juilliard to spend her junior year at Oxford, graduated from Columbia with a degree in sociology, worked as a journalist (print and public TV) for awhile, then fell in love with landscape architecture based on reading some books. She taught herself to draw, then talked her way into the Penn graduate program long after the application deadline had passed.</p>

<p>In other words, a really smart, really competent, self-confident, very artistic, intellectual person. She didn't regret her time at Juilliard at all.</p>

12

<p>My D is a music major at Penn. There are no music performance degrees at Penn. The music program is a liberal arts program although there are some performance requirements for the major. As best I can recall the only Curtis class a Penn music major can take at Curtis is a conducting class by special permission. Curtis students can take individual classes at Penn but can not matriculate with a Penn degree. I think I am correct but you may want to double check this with the powers that be. This could substantially change your plans. Good luck!</p>

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<p>^ Incidentally, Penn's music department is generally ranked among the top 10 in the country.</p>

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<p>^i think thats more for ethnomusicology and music history rather than performance.</p>

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<p>^ You're right, it has nothing to do with performance. But I was just following up on Saintofme's post about the liberal arts music major at Penn. The music departments at schools like Penn are ranked as academic departments in such rankings as those by the National Research Council (NRC), in which Penn was ranked #7 in the country. These are not rankings of performance programs or conservatories (like Curtis, Julliard, Peabody, etc.).</p>

<p>Incidentally, Penn's music department is also very strong in composition. Several Pulitzer-Prize-winning and/or nationally/internationally prominent composers have taught and/or been students in Penn's music department.</p>

<p>Also, Penn's music department just hired one of the world's foremost musicologists away from Harvard:</p>

<p>Carolyn</a> Abbate Joins University of Pennsylvania Faculty as Professor of Music : University of Pennsylvania</p>

<p>Pretty cool. :cool:</p>

16

<p>Yes, that WAS a nice steal from Harvard now wasn't it!</p>

17

<p>With hopefully more "thefts" to come, thanks to the ongoing Making History capital campaign:</p>

<p>[browne_donation[/url</a>]</p>

<p>Speaking of which, the campaign includes some nice plans for the Music Department:</p>

<p>[url=<a href="http://www.sas.upenn.edu/home/campaign/music/index.html%5DSchool"&gt;http://www.sas.upenn.edu/home/campaign/music/index.html]School&lt;/a> of Arts & Sciences - University of Pennsylvania](<a href="http://www.sas.upenn.edu/home/campaign/news/browne_donation.html%5Dbrowne_donation%5B/url"&gt;http://www.sas.upenn.edu/home/campaign/news/browne_donation.html)&lt;/p>

18

<p>Just to underline Saintofme's point, to my knowledge there are no Penn/Curtis joint degree programs. There are substantial reciprocity arrangements, although I think those mainly work in favor of Curtis students (who can take courses at Penn not offered at Curtis, without receiving a Penn degree, and use all the Penn facilities). Penn students can take courses at Curtis not offered at Penn, but most of the courses at Curtis ARE offered at Penn, except for courses with very limited enrollment that are extremely hard for anyone, especially a non-Curtis student, to get into.</p>

<p>The presence of Curtis, and of Curtis students, definitely enriches the music environment at Penn a whole lot (and vice versa for the intellectual environment at Curtis). But I don't think there's anything like the Columbia/Juilliard program there, or what's available at Oberlin or Johns Hopkins (and probably elsewhere).</p>

19

<p>This thread has been dead for a while, but I just wanted to throw it out there: Penn's music program is dreadful. I don't mean to say that I don't enjoy it or that it is completely without merit, but rather that the performers (few as they are) frankly blow and there are too few full-time faculty members in the department. I have been asked several times by professors: "If you want to do music, why are you here?" No joke.</p>