<p>I had an "interview (more of an informational arrangement than one that affects admission)" with a representative from University of Miami, and I inquired about what would happen if I were to not get accepted into their Frost School of Music. The representative told me that those applicants are generally rejected from the university in general, even if they have a second-choice major in mind and the grades, test scores, etc to make it in normally. This seems wildly unfair to me, as undecided students are accepted without a problem. Is this a normal situation at most universities? Or do most still grant you admission to the university if you are a competitive applicant and you didn't make it into the music school?</p>
<p>It is that way at RIce. Undecided students do not get into the Schools of Music or declare music as a major without auditioning. It may be different for other schools. </p>
<p>I think it’s pretty common. I know it’s like that at UCLA. But not like that at Bard College - where if you don’t get into the conservatory you still might be accepted into the college.</p>
<p>Can I suggest something? Talk to the admissions departments at the schools you are interested in and ask, it depends on the school.Was the representative of U of Miami an admissions person, or was it an alumnus, or someone from the music school? The reason I ask is because usually admissions people have the most real, direct answers, and they are there to answer these kinds of things. It all depends on the school, with Rice I am not surprised, because if I remember correctly even though you have to apply to the university to get in, the admissions is really about the music school (for example, I believe Rice either doesn’t allow or frowns on dual degree programs), so if you don’t get into the music school you in effect never applied academically (that is just my take on it), whereas for example, if you apply to Bard you are required to dual degree, so if you don’t get into the music school you still can do an academic degree.</p>
<p>It also depends on what your academic credentials are applying. If you are up there, well above 2000 SAT, high gpa, APs, etc (the kind of things academic students would need to get in there), I suspect it would work better than if you are applying as a music student where the academic credentials are not quite as good. The reason is that with music school admits in colleges, they generally give the music students a bit of leeway with the academic credentials, so if you don’t make it through the audition, they in effect (in my view) will reject you from the academic side for not making the grade other academic students have to face (and that is just that, my opinion). But the real answer is to talk to admissions and see what they say.</p>
<p>Thanks for your suggestions; it was an admissions person conducting the interview. My main issue is that even if I didn’t get in for music, I’d still love to go to any of the schools I’m applying to in order to explore other fields (and I have the grades and test scores to get into most places). Since I was planning on applying for music at all of my potential schools, it worries me that I could potentially get rejected from every school just based on my composition supplement and/or audition.</p>
<p>If you could still take the music courses you’re interested in if you apply undecided for a BA in the general college/university - or if you’re allowed to declare your major later, or audition later into the music major, perhaps that would be a better route for you - since you’d be happy at those schools even if you weren’t a music major. If majoring in music is not essential to your choice, it seems to me you might be happier with a BA in music anyway.</p>
<p>Gorg, I can’t speak to other schools, but if Unversity of Michigan is on your list and your stats are strong enough to get in AND you apply to both the SOM and the regular school, it is possible to get into UMich without getting into the school of music. My son had been accepted to the university and offered academic scholarship before he’d even had his audition – eg. Before Xmas, and his interview/audition wasn’t til the end of Feb ;)</p>
<p>Same with IU/Jacobs School. And for Rutgers/Mason Gross I believe you have the option to apply to both.</p>
<p>Ditto the experience above at UMich, including an academic scholarship before the music audition. Daughter also applied to music and engineering schools at Northwestern, JHU/Peabody, Case/CIM, and CMU. All of these gave independent acceptances/rejections for each school - sometimes one before the other and sometimes they came in the same notification, but they were separate decisions. </p>
<p>Florida St is separate. You have to be admitted to FSU to be admitted to music but not the other way around.</p>