My younger son is a sophomore in HS, so we are getting started early. I don’t know what is gpa will be, but I’m guessing somewhere between 3.5-4.0 (could be higher - he is taking some APs next year, one honors this year). Music is his passion (playing, music theory, composition) so he definitely wants to be in a university with a strong music program, but he isn’t sure he wants that to be his major or only major (he’s very practical). We are in CA. He is a good student and can thrive in any academic environment, very mature, and is open to going out of state (although I don’t know that I am!). How we do go about evaluating music programs at universities that are also strong in other (yet unknown) areas? What is a good source for information about the various music programs? Thank you!
Based on your son’s interest in pursuing music in an academically diverse setting, Skidmore, Wesleyan, Hamilton, U Rochester, Oberlin and Lawrence are a few out-of-state schools that he may want to consider. For in-state options, try UCLA, USC and U of the Pacific.
Thank you. We will be touring UOP in the next few weeks. UCLA and USC are on the radar, but so hard to get into! I will check out the other ones, thank you!
Chapman could be a nice California option that’s more competitive than UOP but less so than UCLA and USC. Excellent music programs.
In the midwest, both Lawrence U and St. Olaf are terrific for students who want to combine musical pursuits with an academic majors - music is central to the culture at both schools.
U of Puget Sound and U of Denver could be worth checking out as well. If he has a strong leadership bent, look into UDenver’s Pioneer Leadership Program (an honors cohort program that adds a Leadership minor to any major), as well as the Lamont School of Music.
If he becomes more serious about composition, check out the music composition major within the College of Creative Studies at UCSB. https://ccs.ucsb.edu/majors/music-composition
There are also excellent music opportunities at some CSU’s. Northridge has a particularly interesting range of majors, from performance to jazz studies to film scoring (“Composition/Commercial & Media Writing”) to music therapy and music education.
Seconding St. Olaf.
Definitely check out Lawrence
One of the “forks in the road” is whether a student prefers a Conservatory program degree or a “typical” BA with a music major. The former requires very competitive auditions etc. whereas the latter is “regular” college admission including consideration of availability of ensembles, lessons etc. There are detailed discussions of those alternatives over on the “Music Major” board.
Broadly, for the “regular” route, Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin is a wonderful opportunity for students who don’t want a Conservatory degree but still want to be in an active performance environment with the ability to audition for all ensembles. Lawrence has both a Conservatory and a “regular” college program but opens its ensembles and many private lessons with Con faculty to all students, not just Con students. Historically, Oberlin – which also has both Conservatory and College – has been less flexible in making Con opportunities available to “College” students. However, as part of its strategic plan, Oberlin is now opening up more music opportunities to “College” students and not limiting them to “Con” students, so it will be interesting to see how that works going forward.
Based upon this from the OP:
I think pure conservatories would be the wrong direction. Those schools which allow students to potentially double major in music and something else would be the sweet spot.
I would look at your state universities (in CA you have many as discussed above) or public universities in other states. University of Iowa is excellent (my daughter is there) as are many of the Big 10 schools ( e.g., Northwestern, Michigan, Ohio State, Indiana, Wisconsin, Illinois). Western Washington has some excellent composition faculty. U of Colorado Boulder and Arizona State would be others to look into. On the music major forum on this website, there is an excellent essay called “The Double Degree Dilemma.” You will see a thread there and it will give you and your son some good information to consider. Best wishes!