My son is a junior and just starting his college search. He wants to major in cello performance, and may consider a dual degree. He wants to be in a large or medium sized city in the Northeast, MidAtlantic, or Midwest. He knows about NEC, Eastman, CIM, Juilliard, Northwestern, Oberlin, Michigan, Indiana. What’s missing from this list? What about Mannes (at New School NYC) or Roosevelt (in Chicago). Do those schools have good cello programs/teachers? Carnegie Mellon? Peabody? CCIM? Any help is appreciated.
@chellomom (nice variation on the name, by the way!), I sent you a message via PM!
Felix Wang at Vanderbilt has a good reputation for cello, I don’t know how easy it is to pursue a dual degree there. If your S decides not to go the dual degree route Rice U has a strong cello department but they do not allow students to pursue a dual degree. My S took lessons from the cello Professor from CMU at a summer festival and spoke very highly of her. Lawrence U is very supportive of dual degrees, they have a well defined program for it and the cello Professor has a good reputation, seems to be well liked by her students. My D has taken lessons from her as a non music major there. Don’t know anything about it personally but Bard is often mentioned on this forum for dual degree students. There’s a mom- cellomom6 who has been posting this year and I believe her son decided on CCM so maybe she will check in sometime and can give you info about the program there. If you have specific questions about UM, my S will finish his dual degree there next fall- cello performance and math so I’d be happy to answer any questions I can about UM.
I don’t know anything about cello but other conservatories/music schools might include Ithaca, Hartt, Boston Conservatory, Lawrence as someone else said, and Bard (which requires a double degree from conservatory students). My daughter liked Manhattan more than Mannes (but again, we do not know about cello teachers). Manhattan is in the old Juilliard building right across from Columbia and next door to Barnard. SUNY Purchase (affordable too). Rice, Vanderbilt may be out of the geographic range he wants. Tufts and Harvard both have double degrees with NEC (Tufts is BA/BM and Harvard is BA/MM). Seems like you have a pretty good start!
I have a son starting a dual degree at Oberlin this year. I’ll share the results of our investigations: NEC with Tufts or Harvard is not a “if you get into both institutions, you can pursue a double degree.” We toured NEC and our guide said was only 4 or so students per year are allowed to pursue a dual degree, and neither institution facilitates it in any way–the student is on his/her own. We crossed it off our list after the visit. As cellomom2 said, Rice does not allow the dual degree. We liked Peabody/JHU (though JHU is going to be a reach–even for the strong stats kids. We also liked U Rochester-Eastman. At Eastman, you must make a separate application to be considered for dual degree, but I don’t think they put any quotas on the number of students who can pursue it–you just had to defend your reasons.
Hi @dec51995,
You are correct in indicating that admission to both NEC and Harvard or NEC and Tufts does not guarantee admission to the dual degree programs. We typically select the finest 5-6 of the roughly 20-25 admitted each year to both NEC and Harvard; this program culminates in a master’s degree from NEC after five years, so the selection must be extremely rigorous. We typically admit the top 10 of the roughly 15-20 admitted each year to both NEC and Tufts; the program results in two bachelor’s degrees, and not every scholar/musician is ready for the demands of this program.
Students in both dual programs have individual advising support at both institutions. The scheduling of everything takes planning, so this advising is an important component of the program. New students are also assigned a Peer Advisor Leader (a returning student who assists with the transition) who is in the same dual degree program. There is a shuttle that runs between NEC and Tufts eight times per day to facilitate the commute, and Harvard is just 25 minutes (okay, 40 when traffic is bad) up Mass Ave. on the #1 bus line.
These are both amazing programs for the right type of student, so I encourage others here to give them serious consideration.
Best,
Alex Powell
Assistant Dean for Admission
NEC
To be honest, we decided that private study with an NEC teacher while at Harvard accomplished much that the double degree offered, and was more affordable. It is an option for any musician to do a BA in music or anything else and study privately. Harvard gives credit for lessons and certain ensembles/orchestra. In the long run, the student might want to do a master’s elsewhere or enter a PhD program directly.
Some of the Harvard students we know who went on to doctorate for their instrument (or composition), did do the double degree, others didn’t.
The double degree program was a big draw in terms of applying to these schools but the reality seemed stressful and unnecessary. Double degree programs on a single campus, such as Oberlin, Bard or Lawrence offer, might be a different story.
@chellomom my D was a dual degree cello performance/statistics major at Carnegie Mellon. Music department and music profs frown on this because of the workload. Many students start out as dual degree and probably well over 50% drop because the academic workload is brutal and the long long hours required (orchestra, chamber etc) of music students. Plus it will take 5 years for sure, so if your son gets a scholarship, you need to make sure it will be good for all 5 five years because CMU is quite expensive. My D realized that her earnings potential were far greater graduating with a BS in stats from CMU, so she dropped to a minor in cello but still plays in orchestra and such. It was the best decision for her.
The cello teachers at Roosevelt are good, but it is very academically weak
I don’t think it is a good choice for a dual degree. Maybe look at Depaul??
My son is not getting a dual degree at ccm.
You can double major at DePauw and get a scholarship for all 5 years that is very generous. I can pm you with my honest opinions about every school.lol. the cello world is small and I don’t want to offend anyone.
Does Indiana have dual degrees? They were very organised and a beautiful campus. My son had a sample lesson there I can tell you about.
My number one advice is to reach high and only have a few lesser schools.
Don’t forget university of illionis, my son loved the cello teacher there, and academic standards are high.