College is stressful.

College Majors Music Major
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Butler has a School of Music and though it offers a BA for instrumentalists and vocal performers, only a BM is available to composition students.

Personally, I think composers may benefit more from a BA program. Composition involves development over time and does not require the hours of daily practice that instrumenalists must do. Composing is greatly enriched with studies in art, literature, history, technology, anthropology, classics- all kinds of subjects. And many BA grads get into grad school for composition. A BA music major will take composition, theory, music history, musicianship, ethnomusicology, some electronics etc. More burden is on you to compose outside of class and build a portfolio for grad applications (three pieces)which means getting performances.

If you want to do a BA with the flexibility it offers for science classes as well, you will still have many options open as your interests may change. A BM is a bachelor’s like any other, but 2/3-3/4 of your classes will be music, whereas a BA program will usually be 1/4-1/3 music. Some BM programs will entail playing an instrument, others won’t. BA programs often do not require audition or portfolio, but you can enhance your application with an arts supplement to the common application, with scores, CD, music resume, list of works, and music teacher recommendations.

If you do want a BA, usually ( not always) it really is a good idea to avoid colleges that have music schools or conservatories (at Butler composers cannot do BA’s anyway, as I said). Many of these schools will have BA’s in music in addition to the BM, and the BM’s get attention, good teachers and performance opportunities. But make sure to check this out before excluding anything- some schools are exceptions (Bard for instance, which has a BA in music and great science).

I would suggest picking a school based on size, location, academics, and “vibe” and then checking out the music. You can do composition almost anywhere. And I still think the aesthetic of the department is very important. That choice requires some sophistication on your part, so do some reading (Alex Ross’ “The Rest is Noise” for instance) and listen to a lot of music, including faculty.

p.s. Have you considered Cornell?
pps I sent you a private message :slight_smile:

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To demonstrate the diversity of choices and the need to investigate each school individually, here are some examples from your list. You can visit, e-mail or call and the departments will talk with you about whether or not the presence of BM students means fewer opportunities with teachers or performance for the BA students. Go to concerts if you can.

Northwestern’s Bienen School of Music has a Bachelor of Arts in Music option (with the same distribution requirements as arts and sciences majors)
http://www.music.northwestern.edu/academics/degrees-and-certificates/bachelor-of-arts.html
http://www.music.northwestern.edu/academics/areas-of-study/composition-and-music-technology.html
I noted there are no private lessons in composition for non-majors.

Indiana Jacobs has a BS in composition and another field:
http://music.indiana.edu/degrees/undergraduate/requirements/BSOFComp.2014.pdf
This seems like a very serious composition path and might be arduous with science but high quality.

For St. Olaf’s, scroll down to composition here: http://catalog.stolaf.edu/academic-programs/music/#header They require composition applicants to audition on an instrument of for voice, and you have to study that too.

College of Wooster http://www.wooster.edu/academics/areas/music/major-minor/, Oberlin, Lawrence, Bard and Ithaca all have both BM’s and BA’s. Any of these schools will talk with you about the differences in opportunities for composers in the two degree programs.

An LAC like Grinnell http://catalog.grinnell.edu/preview_program.php?catoid=14&poid=1541&returnto=3144 considers music “one of the 7 liberal arts” and has a general music program with the opportunity to focus on composition, with a curriculum that is offered to every student in the college. However, you would have to find out if there are composition lessons, because it looks like “applied music” faculty do not include composers so probably not!

There are many many LAC’s with general music BA programs that include composition but you would want to find out whether a teacher is available and what performance opportunities there might be. But you would also want to look into the sciences or whatever else you might be interested in. You can enter med school with a BM- I assume you know that- if you do the prerequ’s between college and med school or manage to do some during undergrad years. There are post grad programs for the prerequ’s.

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I looked at the Grinnell link out of curiosity. Not offered every year, but they have a Composition Seminar intended for serious composition students, and they have a course called Introduction to Composition. And they teach Aural Skills, Harmony, Counterpoint etc. http://catalog.grinnell.edu/content.php?catoid=14&navoid=3141 I think Grinnell could be a great option for the OP. They actually have two composers on faculty - not as adjuncts. https://www.grinnell.edu/users/rommer and https://www.grinnell.edu/users/mcintyr2

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Not exactly midwest, but you also might want to take a look at Gettysburg. They have a true conservatory, but it looks like the walls between it and the rest of the campus are quite porous (a lot like Lawrence, it sounds like). For instance, anyone can audition for their ensembles. Not sure about their composition offerings, but with a true school of music, there are bound to be some. Also, they have strong academics but probably still offer merit aid to kids with high stats. Sounds like a fairly preppy and heavily frat-influenced campus culture, so if that sounds like a turn-off, then it might not be a great fit. Just putting it out there…