Chance Me + School Search Advice - Prospective Viola Performance Major

College Majors Music Major
1

Reposting from the Chance Me forum, only including some academics + music-related things since I assume it is the audition that matters much more for music majors (if I am wrong about that or if there is some nuance please correct me!)

~~

Demographics

  • US Citizen, born in Australia
  • Residency: SF Bay Area, California
  • Current school: Public high school
  • Race/ethnicity: Taiwanese
  • Other special factors: First gen in US

Academic Summary
3.7 UW GPA, 4.03 Weighted (UC Weighting)
1560 SAT (790 Reading, 770 Math)

Intended Major(s)
Primarily BM Music Performance (Viola), strongly intend on Business/Econ/Finance double major or dual degree later

Relevant Coursework
AP Music Theory (5, self-studied) + 3 other APs taken (all 5s) + 8 other APs coming up this year

Music-Related Extracurriculars
President of Tri-M Music Honor Society at my school
Over 300 volunteer hours in music tutoring
2 Years Summer Chamber Music Academy
2 Years High School Chamber Orchestra Manager + Director’s Assistant
2 Years Youth Orchestra (2nd Highest Level Co-Principal, Highest Level 5th Chair)
Currently forming a 501c3 for music tutoring and volunteering, will likely not have anything tangible at the time of application submission

LORs
Physics teacher: 8/10, was very engaged in class but turned down an opportunity to TA in favor of…
Orchestra director: 10/10, helped out in basically every way possible, fundraised nearly $1000 for orchestra program, coached viola and double bass sections for string orchestra
Counselor: 6/10, apparently they don’t write letters that stand out all that much, sent a brag sheet which may booost it a little bit

Essays
For Common App essay, wrote mainly about music, tied it to responsibility in the community/world, English teacher with 30 years+ of experience liked it a lot, probably 8/10

Cost Constraints / Budget
EFC ~$130,000 because my parents are affluent, but they refuse to pay anything over a one-time flat $30,000. I don’t mind student loan debt but need to make sure I’m getting good value out of it. Leaning on merit scholarships since I’ll unfortunately get basically nothing from need-based.

Schools

MUSIC SPECIFIC INFO

  • Viola Major
  • Technique 7/10, Musicality 9.5/10 (self-assessed)
  • Only had 4 months of private lessons, was self-studied for last 4 years
  • Excel at sight-reading, chamber music, interpretation, communication
  • Lingering form issues from years of no teacher to correct them
  • Audition repertoire is Bach Cello Suite 5 (Prelude and Courante), Forsyth Viola Concerto Mvts. I and II, Clarke Viola Sonata Mvt. I
  • At the level where most of the core chamber music repertoire is very doable, can play Bach Violin Sonatas/Partitas fairly capably, and Walton Concerto is a work in progress but was coming along nicely before audition season
  • Super dedicated to making music performance and education a major part of my career, hopefully comes across in auditions/interviews
  • Teacher has BM from Juilliard and MM from IU Jacobs

Any help with evaluating my chances at my current choices + finding other schools I can apply to would be greatly appreciated! My main priorities in a school are a strong music program, secondarily a strong business/econ program, and affordability (but less pressing).

1 Like
2

You need to look at each university website for the “nuances” of admission. Portfolios/auditions are optional at UCSD, for example. And some performance BM’s at universities require admission to the university as well as the music program, so academics can be important. For a conservatory BM, yes, audition is all important.

It is unclear whether you want a BA or BM, looking at your list. You can be a music major for a BA as well, but some BA programs have performance as extracurricular.

I hope you will read the Double Degree Dilemma essay in the Read Me thread here on the music major forum. It is about the different ways to study music, using hypothetical students. Basically BM, BA in music, double major, major/minor, double degree and I would add the option of doing a BA or BS in something else and continuing lessons and extracurricular performance.

You can certainly apply to different options if you are not sure yet, but right now I find your list a little confusing!

Some performance programs will have prescreening and auditions, or portfolios. Some won’t or they will be optional. For a BA in music you can submit a supplement with recording/video (cued to an excerpt), a music resume and LOR’s.

As the parent of a PhD in music I strongly caution you against accumulating any debt for a degree in music. In fact, avoid significant debt for any area of study. Are you saying your parents will contribute $30k/year or is that the total for 4 years? I hope you and they know there is a limit on what a student can borrow so they will have to sign any other loans.

1 Like
3

Agree…check the requirements at the colleges to see if academic admission is also required. It is for music performance majors at some universities.

I’m not sure how you plan to fund any of the colleges on your list that are not part of the CA public university college system. You won’t receive need based aid. Any performance award would be based on your audition (so make sure it’s really great).

I strongly encourage musicians to pursue their dream. We need artists in our world.

Having said that, for any program that requires an audition, it cannot be viewed as a safety. Your audition will be compared to others doing auditions on viola. There is no way to predict the strength of the applicant pool from year to year.

I think your affordability should be more pressing…because you can’t attend if you can’t afford the costs. But that is my opinion.

It sounds like you have a wonderful private viola teacher now. That person would be a great gauge on college choices for you. That person, and your other music involved people.

You also need to check to see how supportive any of your choices are for double majors with music performance as one. Some colleges are very supportive of this…and at others it’s very challenging to do (especially in 4 years).

You have strong SAT and GPA. This might help you get academic merit aid someplace.

This implies that they are giving you $30,000 ONE time and that’s it. Is that accurate?

2 Likes
4

@eddythenerd unless you’ve already auditioned and basically been assured a spot in the program, no way UT Austin is a Match. OOS and ranked Top Five nationally for Music Performance makes UT a hard Reach.
Also, check double majoring at UT; Business and Econ (2 different colleges) don’t allow double major.
OOS will be a lot more than $30k, unless you get a hefty scholarship (which won’t be easy). Are you NM s/f?

1 Like
5

Definitely look at the music forum. I dont know much about viola performance but have a hard time figuring out if you would qualify for music merit or need to apply for lower level schools. Schools that tend to be generous with merit are Gettysburg/Sunderman, Oberlin, St. Olaf, and Lawrence. Schools that offer generous music scholarships (but it may be too later if you are a current senior, are you?) are Emory, Vanderbilt, Davidson.

6

I am sorry you are in this situation.

You’re a talented violist, who wants to major in music, but who has only had 4 months of private lessons. You are 5th chair in the highest level youth orchestra in your area. Consider that hard fact - there are probably a hundred or more youth orchestras in the US (above and beyond high school orchestras), with a hundred or more first violists. You’re 5th chair in your youth orchestra. Yes, getting in is all about the audition, and I’m sure you’re going to prepare like crazy for your audition. You could also get a lot better, now working with a teacher, before auditions next early fall. But the fact is that you’re starting from a position of great disadvantage.

Can you get into and attend a summer music institute or music camp? Are your parents willing to pay for that?

You eventually intend to double major in something that will enable you to earn a living, like business or finance.

Your parents will only give you a flat 30K total for your 4 years of college, but you won’t qualify for any financial aid. Understand that without their filing a FAFSA, which they may refuse to do, you would not even be able to take the total 27K over four years in federal unsubsidized student loans. They would also have to cosign anything further in private student loans, or take PLUS loans. You can only take 27K in loans without them cosigning, and only if they’re willing to file the FAFSA every year.

Again, I’m sorry. You’re a very strong student, and obviously you’re a talented musician. But by the time that you’re applying for conservatory, needing at the least a full tuition merit scholarship, you’re beyond the point where they’re going to make allowances for your having been self-taught. I don’t think that they’re going to say, “Wow, look at how far this young person has come with only 4 months of private lessons. She has so much potential. Let’s take her, and give her a full scholarship.” They’re going to listen to your audition, compare you to others who audition, admit or reject you. But they’re not going to give you a full tuition merit scholarship.

So, what is your ultimate goal? To be able to earn your own living, to support yourself, to gain independence from your parents. I don’t see how you can say that affordability is less pressing, unless you think your parents are going to come through with paying for college for you in full, which it really doesn’t sound as if they’re going to do.

BYU is not a safety for you unless you are an active member of the Mormon church. They won’t give you merit money. It would be a very odd place for you to go, since it is very much a church school, in a very Mormon area of a very Mormon state. But even if they would take you, and even if you were willing to attend a school that is the epicenter of Mormonism, unless they give you a merit scholarship, which they’re probably not going to do, a 4 yr BYU education would cost 120K in total.

None of your schools are affordable for you, with the budget you’ve given, and a total sum of 30K for 4 yrs, or maybe 57K for 4 yrs, with you borrowing 27K in fed loans if your parents are willing to fill out a FAFSA. Even the least selective college with a music school will probably not give you a full tuition scholarship.

Your best bet, financially, is to continue living at home for college (minimal living expenses). Start at your nearest community college and then transfer to UCB. Get as many free credits beforehand, starting now, that they would accept by doing dual enrollment, AP, and CLEP (look at modernstates.org). Check carefully on what CLEP the community college and UCB would accept, before you do them. Take as many credits as possible each semester at the community college, beginning the summer semester right after high school, and attend straight through. You will probably be able to get your 60 credits needed for transfer to UCB in time to enter UCB in the fall of '25, as a junior, having spent only one year in community college. You can then get your degree from UCB in 4 more semesters, but could stay longer if you have the money to do so, to do a double major, with a BA in music in addition to your business/finance degree. You can continue to pay for lessons with your current teacher for now, and through that community college year, and then at UCB they have a BA in music, plus they have 5 violin teachers listed, who could also teach you viola.

Community college in the Bay area is very inexpensive, even free if you live in San Francisco. Tuition for UCB is just over 15K/yr. If you were to get into UCB for fall of '24 as a freshman, I’d say borrow the money if your parents are willing to file the FAFSA, work two jobs the summer before you enter, take the max unsubsidized federal loan, work a bit during the school year, live at home and commute, and you might be able to swing 4 yrs tuition at UCB. If you don’t get into UCB as a freshman, then plan for the one year community college route to transfer to UCB, and still borrow the max FAFSA money if your parents are willing to file for it, because you’re going to need that money for the years at UCB.

This is unfortunately your only option that is financially feasible, unless your parents are willing to cosign private loans for you. If they are, then I would add on several private small liberal arts colleges that might give you a lot of merit money for your high academic credentials. U Hartford, Bard, and some others come to mind, but you’d have to do the research to see which might be willing to give you massive merit money. The problem is that your achievement in music thus far is unlikely to bring in massive merit money for study of music.
Your academic achievement is very good for less academically selective schools, but you’re applying for music.

You can also ask on the music thread on college confidential, and poke around on that. People there will tell you stories of massive merit offers for highly accomplished musicians.

2 Likes
7

I am also confused by this statement. If your parents will fund only $30K total, it limits your list to SJSU if you could live at home. Even if you received the top merit scholarship (full tuition which is extremely rare) at one of your audition based schools, living expenses and travel would far exceed $30K over 4 years.

If your parents are funding $130,000, it opens the door for other options.

I second the poster above that you will want to avoid student debt if at all possible as a music major. And working a lot during college as a music major (let alone a possible double major) is daunting. It is a very time intensive major.

Please clarify your budget. Thanks!

2 Likes
8

Have you heard of Robert McDuffie Center for Strings in Mercer University’s Townsend School of Music? They offer Bachelor of Music with electives in Business.

9

OP had a different thread yesterday and I responded on cost - assuming the $30K was yearly.

I can’t speak to music but I will tell you about cost.

Unless there’s music scholarships i’m unaware of, you can’t get to $30K at IU, UT, UWM and BU or Rice. As an example, depending on major, UT is between $60 and $70K a year.
Northwestern doesn’t offer merit. It’s over $90K a year.

You can’t take loans - not for the amount you need. Only $5500 the first year.

So you’ll need to redo your list - basically, all of the non-UCs/CSUs.

And for you that’s a good thing - you don’t want loans of a crazy amount, especially for a major like music.

Look at WUE schools. There’s 32 under music performance. These are West Region schools where you get a big discount from OOS tuition. They may make or get you close to budget.

When you have a budget, you have to select schools based on price and not simply desire, etc.

There are schools with huge merit in the SE or MW of the country - but they likely wouldn’t meet your needs. A U of Alabama would be low 20s all in for example with automerit. A Miami of Ohio likely in the 30s…but if a large asian population mattered to you, they’d lack that.

Best of luck.

I’ll add after I posted @anotheroboemom noted she knew of three who got in under $30K - including IU Jacobs - so academically I think this student couldn’t get to $30K - but perhaps in musical performance they can…

WUE Savings Finder - WICHE

2 Likes
10

And to clarify, I meant $30K per year. And this is very much a long shot and would likely mean that the musician is the top candidate on their instrument in that year of auditions.

2 Likes
11

Rice Shepherd school of music and Northwestern Bienen school of music do give merit scholarship but the recipients I know are all at least in all-state orchestra if not NYO or youngarts.
Maybe OP would consider going for business major at a school where good viola teachers are accessible. If you could get to local youth orchestra 5th chair without a private teacher, you have great potential; however, you have a big disadvantage due to the lack of personalized training. Applying to music major at this time is not favorable. On the other hand, if you enroll as business major and carve out decent amount of time for viola, you’re likely to make great improvement in a year or two. Maybe you can then apply for a transfer.

1 Like
12

Maybe but not according to the Norhtwestern or Bienen website.

Graduate - yes. UG - need based only.

I’m not disputing - I’m just looking at their website - so I’m not saying you are wrong - just sharing what’s publicly available.

But if OP needs to get to $30K a year or $7500 a year - it’s irrelevant anyway.

13

They absolutely give merit for Bienen

2 Likes
14

Yes you all are correct - just found this in their text:

Each year, the Bienen School of Music will also award selective merit-based scholarships to those whose musical auditions demonstrate remarkable excellence. Since Northwestern is a need-based financial aid institution, merit scholarships will be a factor in calculating offers based upon a family’s demonstrated financial need.

15

Even if the $30,000 is per year, and not just a one time contribution, I still don’t see how any of the UCs will work. They might if you live at home, but if you have to dorm, the cost will likely rise above $30,000/year. Most aid to UCs is need-based - there is very little merit available.

Here is our estimate cost of attendance for UC Berkeley as a point of reference (we are in state, so this is with in state tuition):

image
image766Ă—478 19.5 KB

Yes, this includes things like personal expenses and books and supplies, which you might be able to save on, and you may not need the student health insurance, so you can save there. But even still, $30,000/year isn’t going to get you there, unless you are able to live at home. And that might work for you for UC Berkeley if you live in the Bay Area, but it won’t be possible for the other UCs on your list, which will likely be rather similar in terms of costs. So what is the plan for that?

16

WUE has 32 schools for performance. I don’t know how many for that instrument - but I bet some could work and the student would be well under $30K at Bama, Ms State, UAH and more…W Carolina, S Illinois, C Michigan, Truman State.

I’m sure they’re not on their “desire” list but from a price point, they could work if the programs work.

17

Yes, so these might be more financially viable options than the UCs on her list which will likely not offer much if any merit aid.

18

Plus the 28 in WUE - if I have the major right - music performance. I thought was 32.

Which would work for Viola I don’t know - the $$ are tuition only. Some are in-state CA so need to come out and 2 year schools - so less but there’s some options at some fine schools and they’d come in under, at, or just over $30K all in.

OP - give money a serious thought. Yes, your parents can take out big loans on your behalf - but how will you pay them back. It’s a wonderful major but the earning potential is in many cases going to be muted. Budget needs to be that first consideration!!! And primary consideration.

Fairbanks, AK

See Programs

$13,005

6/15/23

Flagstaff, AZ

See Programs

$17,028

Contact School

Phoenix, AZ

See Programs

$4,365

Contact School

Turlock, CA

See Programs

$8,613

1/31/24

Durango, CO

See Programs

$11,340

Contact School

Fort Collins, CO

See Programs

$20,670

Contact School

Grand Junction, CO

See Programs

$19,029

Contact School

Boise, ID

See Programs

$8,912

12/15/23

Moscow, ID

See Programs

$9,810

Contact School

Pocatello, ID

See Programs

$8,988

6/1/24

Billings, MT

See Programs

$7,208

Contact School

Reno, NV

See Programs

$5,198

Contact School

Reno, NV

See Programs

$11,813

4/7/24

Albuquerque, NM

See Programs

$12,756

Contact School

Grand Forks, ND

See Programs

$13,856

Contact School

Ashland, OR

See Programs

$14,513

Contact School

Corvallis, OR

See Programs

$17,190

2/1/24

Portland, OR

See Programs

$13,973

8/1/24

Spearfish, SD

See Programs

$10,718

Contact School

Vermillion, SD

See Programs

$11,283

Contact School

Orem, UT

See Programs

$8,421

8/1/24

Salt Lake City, UT

See Programs

$13,655

12/1/23

St. George, UT

See Programs

$7,901

7/15/23

Bellingham, WA

See Programs

$11,993

1/31/24

Cheney, WA

See Programs

$10,941

2/1/24

Ellensburg, WA

See Programs

$10,532

Contact School

Olympia, WA

See Programs

$11,768

5/1/24

Laramie, WY

See Programs

$7,470

5/1/24

2 Likes
19

Fortunately, this is not a bad option. The music department at SJSU is quite good, and I have known multiple music performance majors there who have done very, very well.

7 Likes
20

I could be wrong, but my understanding is that it will most likely require 5 years to double major in Music & Economics at Northwestern. Both of these majors at Northwestern are demanding & tough.

Auditions for Northwestern are very serious.

2 Likes