Chances as a music student

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Southern California
1

<p>Hi i'm an international student looking to apply to study music as an undergrad at USC.</p>

<p>I will will have one bachelor's so technically i will be taking my second. My first bachelor's (nearly graduated) is majoring in Economics and Finance and i'm expecting just above a B+ average ie a 3.5
We use a different GPA system here at the University of Auckland, New Zealand so i'm not sure if thats right. </p>

<p>I will be applying to the pop music major and the music industry major on the drumset and as a song writer.</p>

<p>I'm hoping my talent will get me through. I won't list my web address with my resume because i think that may be against the terms of CC, so what I will say is search my username in google and pick the first myspace that comes up.</p>

<p>Thanks alot guys!</p>

2

<p>(Sorry- I don’t know anything about this.) It will probably be tough to get any good info for chancing you because we mostly know stats for incoming freshman. You seem like you have a lot going for you and will do well (the New Zealand accent will also go far!) </p>

<p>You’ve probably already done this but contact the music department at USC and see if you can connect with a counselor.<br>
[USC</a> Thornton School of Music : Admission: Contact](<a href=“http://www.usc.edu/schools/music/admission/contact/index.html]USC”>http://www.usc.edu/schools/music/admission/contact/index.html)</p>

<p>You might find useful info on the CC site about Music Majors-
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Good luck to you!</p>

3

<p>I’m too old to judge talent and the speakers on my computer aren’t working, so for a lot of reasons I won’t try to judge probability of you getting in. But, my son is a new freshman in the Popular Music Performance program so I can give you some insight on the process and the program. They have about 20 in their class of which 2 are drummers. Quite a few are songwriters and most of the songwriters are also singers but there is a mix of singers, keyboarders, bassists, guitarists, etc. and many play a couple instruments. My son had to move 2000 miles from long-time girlfriend and yet is very happy with the decision. Loves everything so far. </p>

<p>Process is to send a cd with your music as a part of the application. If they are interested they will invite you to campus for an audition (Everyone auditions pretty much one weekend. The audition will likely last 30 minutes. You should plan some other time in California if you are going to have to come that far. Not sure if they would make an exception for you since in music live assessment is pretty important, but you can ask).</p>

<p>Son’s audition had 5+ people in it. Everyone was very friendly and they were running behind so he had to pick two songs to perform. They did ask some questions about his interests etc., but I don’t really know what. He left cd’s with more of his songs with the audition group so they could evaluate a little more.</p>

<p>Anecdotes that are cool to me.</p>

<p>Lamont Dozier was a part of the audition process and very interactive which my son loved.</p>

<p>Peter Erskine is drumming professor. </p>

<p>He has a weekly private lesson on voice and keyboards with Anne Farnsworth who has traveled and performed widely and written a book about singing. He is happy with her guidance so far.</p>

<p>They have a “jam out room” or two where a keyboard, drums, mics, amps etc. are set up so if you want to get a band together and practice you don’t have to lug drums or keyboard across campus on a bike. These are pretty heavily scheduled by the students, but a great asset.</p>

<p>A lot of talented people. One month in and he is in a funk band, working with two other guys on what I think would fall in the “adult alternative” grouping and has collaborated on writing songs with 4 or 5 people. </p>

<p>Good luck and hope this helped provide a little more color on the program.</p>