<p>hey, thanks for the info - i forgot to mention my instrument/track. i play piano very well and have taken two semesters of lessons in jazz piano at nyu in addition to my former training, but i’m more of a singer/songwriter and general musician - i play guitar and sing as well. i’ve taken lessons in both, but in terms of training they are certainly secondary to piano for me.</p>
<p>for this reason, i was more interested in a BA in music that would allow me to develop my musicianship in a more well-rounded manner, and prepare me for a career more geared towards the music industry, academia, or grad school for something incorporating both my psychology major and the music major i’d hope to have. </p>
<p>part of the reason for my switch is a slight processing disorder/learning disability that has started to heavily weigh on me in the past few years since starting at nyu. actually, i initially began as a pre-med student with a psych major focus freshman year, and had straight A’s, but the manner by which i had to do it was absolutely exhausting, as i couldn’t keep up throughout the semester and every 3 or 4 weeks once midterms began, I’d stop functioning in all other manners besides studying, memorize all of the cumulative information in a series of several all nighters, get A’s, and then be so off track with sleep and health that it would be impossible to ever stay on top of the new work that came in the next few weeks… lather, rinse, repeat for 5 semesters and i’d turned into a zombie who hated school and had no idea what i even had initially wanted from school after coming to nyu as the excited salutatorian of my very competitive highschool… starting music was the most unbelievable life-saver for me when it came to school, as before last year i’d never really considered it in an academic sense and it had just been my hobby that i’d get lost in in the summers off from school. </p>
<p>i’ve had all of the psych. assessment tests done and it’s so ironic that i can’t really represent myself properly in school - my IQ was a few points below the mensa IQ range when tested at a point my psychologist said was still “far below my potential” performance due to my horrible sleep hygiene and general hazinesss immediately following my last spring semester - i’m smarter than the majority of my pre-med friends and get the same grades my studying in a few days what they’ve been trying to grasp all semester, but i simply cannot get the grades i’d need to go anywhere longterm because it’s not possible to continue in a track that requires such specific work that i can only handle in such a specific way. the last two semesters have really reflected this. my psychologist said that the reason everything’s seemed to fall apart since college is that high school was moat likely so easy for me that it was easy to overcompensate and not even realize a problem as i still always got everything done easily despite an irregular work method, but it’s simply not a successful method when there’s such little breathing room in the demands of a competitive college curriculum. i ended up in the emergency room for the first time in my life last weekend from some scary problems as a result of overexhaustion… it’s been exhausting and confusing, and i have no drive to do anything medically related anymore sadly, and as much as i love psych, i see no reason to stay at nyu for 4 more semesters and another $112,000 in tuition when there is nothing so necessary for me there anymore, especially as i’d like to begin a new major that would require an extra semester or two beyond that.</p>
<p>music is the first thing i’ve actually been energized and excited about since graduating from high school a few years ago… i’ve taken two semesters of it as a minor here with a few in depth theory classes and electives under my belt, and i’ve realized that it’s one of the few things that I love outside of school that I’ve loved every second of in an academic setting, deadlines and exams included, a feeling i’ve usually always lost once i started studying something on a college schedule while trying to juggle so much at once. oddly enough, the way i work actually works best with music, because i enjoy it so much that i tend to hyperfocus and work faster than I can with other subjects and i’m generally very musically inclined, so I take less time simply for that. i’ve always had a small amount of trouble reading music as I regrettably squeezed by my teachers with how well I can play by ear and never really had the right teacher to drill the reading into me when I was doing well - so i’m a little slower with heavy reading and tend to prefer jazz just because I have so much more fun with its large focus on improv, which I can do very well with. </p>
<p>for all of those reasons (sorry for the novel! trying to explain my transfer situation) I was really happy to have the CUNYs sitting right here in nyc when I began to consider possible options, and I’ve been so relived and extremely excited realizing that I have so many options to do this in my own way. It’s a huge relief that they are so inexpensive in comparison to what I had expected ultimately owing to NYU, so I can take my time doing maybe only 3 courses a semester for a slightly more flexible schedule/lighter workload to handle as I dont have to stress so much about how much money every semester is costing (at NYU this first semester I’ve taken with 3 courses is still the full tuition, and I’d need to spend an extra semester here too for the few credits I’d be short) and could finally give myself the slight wiggle room I’ve realized I absolutely need. </p>
<p>The BA programs looked great for that, and I especially liked the specific tracks available for the BA at city college like jazz and sonic arts, and all of the great music events going on on campus all of the time. Brooklyn seemed nice for the location, however, as it would be cheaper to live in Brooklyn, and seemed like it had a great program for theory that I think I’d still be able to explore different styles with through electives and private lessons, and could possibly eventually matriculate into the B.M if I’d like to pursue that further. I figured I would spend about another 3 years in school taking a few classes in the summer, as the general requirements that I can transfer from NYU should let me start getting down to music relatively soon. </p>
<p>I couldn’t really find any specifics for Hunter, and it seemed mostly that the music department didn’t really have a huge reputation - good or bad. Since I’m not likely going to be on the east side of manhattan and would either be living on the UWS or in brooklyn anyway, I didn’t end up putting a huge amount of effort into considering Hunter after my initial findings.</p>
<p>With all of that in mind, would you have any recommendations for me or just general advice for transferring into a music program from here? Do you think that CCNY or Brooklyn College could be healthy environments for me to accomplish the degree the way I’d need them to be? I’ve got all of my friends and I’d always love meeting new friends in my classes and would be making an effort to do so, but a nice comfortable aspect of my transferring is that I’ve got all of the same friends and steadiness of staying in the same city where they’re all settled into apartments as it is and the exact place we study during the day wouldn’t affect my already very developed relationships - I can really focus solely on school for what it introduces to me music wise, rather than worry about any social or community necessities that would be significant in a school decision I would have made 3 years ago.</p>
<p>If you were able to read all of that and have anything that you think would be helpful to consider, I’d appreciate it very much!</p>