Bachelor of Arts in Music & Computer Science

[merc81]

quote=momrath

[/quote]

Do the Steinway grands at Williams differ in character from those available to students at other colleges?

[ChillDad]

@nextstepcollege - Look at Worcester Polytechnic Institute - https://www.wpi.edu/academics/study/music-minor; https://www.wpi.edu/news/infusing-stem-music

[retiredfarmer]

The somewhat flexible WPI program would be an excellent program for this combination of interests. WPI does not have a music major, but has well developed and flexible music minors. Robotics can even be invovled

Your unweighted GPA carries more weight in admissions than standardized scores. They focus on projects, student research and strongly encourage interdisciplinary thinking.

[swimchris]

Your son would likely not get merit and it doesn’t look like a lot of the other schools that you listed, but as a contrast if you might want to consider Northeastern in Boston. Their computer science college has been bringing in big gifts related to bridging computer science to other areas of disciplines. It has one of the best Music Industry programs in the country and has really unique partnerships with New England Conservatory and Berklee College of Music. Also co-ops are great at helping students explore intersections of different areas. There could be a data science co-op at Universal or he could work at Spotify as examples.

[nextstepcollege]

@momrath

@nextstepcollege, Williams has excellent music and CS programs. It’s fairly common to double major, and there are ample music performance opportunities for non-major as well… The overall culture and environment is very similar to Hamilton, though I would give Williams an edge on performing arts. (Plus they have beautiful pianos.)

Williams doesn’t offer merit aid, but as a general statement, the expected family contribution estimated on the NPC is usually reliable, even for ED applications.

Your son should definitely submit a music performance supplement with his application. Many colleges have detailed supplement instructions on their websites and will be happy to answer your questions about their music program.
https://music.williams.edu/special-admission-informationhttps://music.williams.edu/visiting-williams/

Thank you! We do plan to submit a music supplement for both vocal and percussion. We have left this task for last as it presently the most daunting. We are very unsure the best way to put one together. Plus, the fact that each school had their own preference for how it is done, makes it even more overwhelming. We definitely don’t want to submit the wrong thing.

[thumper1]

Skidmore has a nice music opportunities for all…even those who are not music majors. Worth applying.

I know you said northeast only, but I would urge you to look at Lawrence, and St. Olaf’s. These schools both are very welcoming to musicians who major in other fields.

For a place where he might get merit aid…Susquehanna. I don’t know anything about computer science there, but they welcome all majors in their music ensembles.

Boston University has BUMO (Boston University Music Organizations) which are ensembles for non-majors. It’s doubtful that he could study with the applied faculty BUT he could study with one of the many very talented masters or PhD students.

[nextstepcollege]

@thumper1

Skidmore has a nice music opportunities for all…even those who are not music majors. Worth applying.

I know you said northeast only, but I would urge you to look at Lawrence, and St. Olaf’s. These schools both are very welcoming to musicians who major in other fields.

For a place where he might get merit aid…Susquehanna. I don’t know anything about computer science there, but they welcome all majors in their music ensembles.

Boston University has BUMO (Boston University Music Organizations) which are ensembles for non-majors. It’s doubtful that he could study with the applied faculty BUT he could study with one of the many very talented masters or PhD students.

Thank you! I’m familiar with St. Olaf and encouraged him to take a look at it, but I sadly couldn’t sway him to consider going that far away. I’m not familiar with Lawrence, though. Where is that?

[thumper1]

Lawrence is not that far from where St. Olaf’s is located.

I guess that is out of his comfort zone.

[aquapt]

Any reason that Stony Brook isn’t on his list of SUNY’s? They’re particularly strong in both CS and music.

Case Western Reserve U in Cleveland is farther east than Oberlin, and seems to have what your son is looking for curriculum-wise. Students in the BA program in music get conservatory-level training through the partnership with the Cleveland Institute of Music, and there’s a BA in Computer Science, so he would have multiple options for combining the two: https://music.case.edu/ugrad-academic-programs/double-major-dual-degree-program-information/

Have you looked at Canadian schools at all? Dalhousie, for example, is quite affordable for US students, has strong music programs and several CS degree options (CS and Applied CS which seems to be more Data Science-y), and is in the beautiful Northeast city of Halifax.

[nextstepcollege]

@thumper1

Lawrence is not that far from where St. Olaf’s is located.

I guess that is out of his comfort zone.

I wanted him to look at that one too, but it was also further than he wanted to go.

[nextstepcollege]

@aquapt

Any reason that Stony Brook isn’t on his list of SUNY’s? They’re particularly strong in both CS and music.

Case Western Reserve U in Cleveland is farther east than Oberlin, and seems to have what your son is looking for curriculum-wise. Students in the BA program in music get conservatory-level training through the partnership with the Cleveland Institute of Music, and there’s a BA in Computer Science, so he would have multiple options for combining the two: https://music.case.edu/ugrad-academic-programs/double-major-dual-degree-program-information/

Have you looked at Canadian schools at all? Dalhousie, for example, is quite affordable for US students, has strong music programs and several CS degree options (CS and Applied CS which seems to be more Data Science-y), and is in the beautiful Northeast city of Halifax.

He has applied to Stony Brook, but they don’t have Early Action so we won’t hear until April. I suggested he look at Case Western after someone on this forum suggested it. He just recently went to Oberlin in Ohio and it would have been the perfect opportunity to visit, but they didn’t bite on my suggestion. I will mention this to DS again. He did really like Oberlin.

I’ve thought about Canadian schools, but had never heard of Dalhousie. I was considering looking at McGill and Concordia, but stopped because DS said he didn’t want to go to a college out of the US.

[merc81]

I agree that CWRU makes a good suggestion for your son’s interests.

[circuitrider]

Wesleyan tops this national CS competition (Cyber Security Awareness Week - CSAW) Not bad for an “artsy” LAC:
https://csaw.engineering.nyu.edu/policy/finalists

[nextstepcollege]

@Oyster11

How ever you define it, creating an emotionally or intellectually engaging work of art requires innovation, creativity and imagination. It turns out that those qualities of an artist are good qualities for a computer scientist to have too. They help us to come up with new ways of doing things, or new things to do. Thinking like an artist can lead to new forms of engagement both with computers and even between humans.

Artists with computer science skills are very special people.
Computer Science and Art | Teaching London Computing: A RESOURCE HUB from CAS LONDON & CS4FN

Thanks for sharing this! It’s inspiring. I didn’t see the connection before with the arts and CS, but this makes complete sense how an artistic/creative mind can have a positive impact on a CS career.