S24 arranged a trial lesson with a teacher at a conservatory associated with a large university (need to keep all the options open). Once in contact with the teacher do you send a resume even if they don’t ask?
A teacher at a conservatory can recommend admission to admissions but there are other factors for admission to consider at an LAC. So music department support can help but isn’t decisive, in my experience. Athletic recruitment works differently.
I would not send a resume but bring it in person just in case. If interactions are virtual I would wait for the teacher to ask.
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dd has been sending a short resume as part of her request emails; i can’t see it does any harm and it saves some time in the lesson explaining background/interest etc. btw lots of trial lessons now been offered after the silence except in one school where no one responds 
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Great to hear! This is his first one at a music school. The lacs have been great. Has to decide if he will add one more for another mid size university with a conservatory that allows double major or degree. He doesn’t like Oberlin or bard so the options are pretty limited
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Me, too! Everyone was so helpful last year. 
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We live far from most of the schools my son applied to last year, so he did a lot of trial lessons over Zoom. The funny part was that sometimes when he actually made it to the campus, the cello prof who was supposed to be available wasn’t that day. He ended up matriculating where he had had one Zoom trial, one in person when visiting(the day before the EA decisions came out, which was a bit odd but worked with our schedule), and then a follow-up discussion when making his final decision.
Some of the profs responded but then didn’t follow up. You might want to take that as a sign of an over-full studio, or a lack of coordination at the admin. level.
Hi there. My S24 is a percussionist and hopeful music education major. He has narrowed down his list of schools. We were able to get 2 lessons done this summer and unfortunately a family emergency caused us to miss lessons at 2 of his other schools. We are trying to figure out time to travel to the one school, without messing up his school and band schedule too much.
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Hi there – I am new to the forum (actually to CC as well). S24 is crazy about music (plays drums, electric guitar, bass, etc). Intends to apply for commercial/popular music programs (drums). After months researching, currently on his list: Berklee, USC, LoyNO, Belmont, UC Denver, Frost. Are we missing any other school (the list seems too short)? Not sure if it’s worthwhile also applying for colleges offering jazz majors (UNT, New School, etc). Any comments, advice, suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!
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I’m not as knowledgeable in commercial/popular music. However, I have been on this site for awhile and your list does seem to hit many of the top schools. I know NYU is another one often listed (but it is an expensive school even if you get a scholarship so I understand why you may skip it - we did). I think I’ve seen schools like Columbia in Chicago and Shenandoah as well. Sometimes students pick their local state school as a safety too.
As for your question on number of schools, it is not uncommon in music to have only 6 - 8 schools. That is usually sufficient. Most people cannot audition at more schools than that. Hopefully your student has some experienced teachers/mentors giving advice on schools. Teachers that have seen kids get into similar schools with similar skills can be very helpful. In that way, you can feel pretty confident with a shorter list of schools.
If you don’t get a response in the next week or so, you can start your own thread with the same question and see if that catches some eyeballs.
@Music2 your list has the major schools often cited for popular/commercial music. It is not too short at all. (New School has both jazz and contemporary programs: which would he choose? Perhaps that is a good test case…)
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Is a bachelor of musical arts the same as a bachelor of music? BGSU keeps emailing me to apply and I’m trying to decide whether to try adding on another safety
I dont know what school that is but at Blair (Vanderbilt) and Oberlin there are bachelor of musical arts degrees that are BM “lite” programs. They have auditions to enter but the requirements for the degree are less and intended for students who want to double major/double degree.
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I don’t know what the program is at Blair, but at Oberlin, the musical studies major is separate from the Conservatory and is a BA degree, not a BM degree. At Oberlin, it is not intended for double degree students. Double degree at Oberlin means a BM from the Conservatory and a BA from the College in a non-music discipline/subject.
My impression (from my Blair kid) is that most/all double majors at Blair are doing a bachelor of musical arts major, which can still be performance focused. Vanderbilt doesn’t offer a 5 year dual degree, so I think it’s the only way to reasonably fit in a non-music major…but they still have to audition into Blair and they still have lessons with the primary prof on their instrument and all that. And if you have your primary major at Blair, there are some arts and sciences requirements you don’t have to do, which also makes it easier to fit everything in. Blair doesn’t cap AP/dual enrollment credit, either, unlike the other Vandy schools.
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Oh. Sorry. I thought it was the same as Blair.
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That was what I was thinking of.
I am having a really hard time sorting all of this out for S24 who is now going to apply to Blair since their BMA program seems so perfect. Are there any other similar programs? I know other schools allow double majors/degrees but it is so hard to sort out if any have similar reduced loads to make it possible to do both majors in 4 years.
I would think you could do a double major at Oberlin in 4 years, just not easily a dual/double degree (although some highly motivated students do!). You could do the musical studies major along with another, non-music major in the college.
Does that make sense? In that way, it sounds similar to Blair, but you’re just not a Conservatory student at Oberlin. But some of your classes in your major are conservatory classes.
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Johns Hopkins have dual degree program. It’s possible to do in 4 years if the student have many AP credits and can survive sleeping 5 or fewer hours everyday and parents can pay extra tuition for overloading courses.
Northwestern has dual degree program and quite some flexibility. It’s possible to complete in 4 years but some summer classes may be necessary.
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I thought Hopkins program was very difficult to double degree. He is definitely interested in northwestern but I thought that was a 5 year degree also