Just to add to the mix, in addition to double BA/BM (or BS/BM) degrees, some schools like Northwestern/Bienen and Miami/Frost, have “double majors”-- but the BM is the degree, regardless of the other major (i.e. if you are in Frost for instrumental performance, and want a second major in, say, history, you get a BM with a double major). This is the only route at Miami. At Northwestern, you can do either a 5-year dual degree or a 4-year double major, again with the degree being a BM.
Whew. And even more fun? As @MomOf2TeenGirls noted, at Carnegie Mellon (home of the BXA program) it’s called a BHA or a BSA, if you want to double major, and the dual is either “bachelor of humanities and arts” or as noted above, “bachelor of science and arts”… , and CMU’s music degree is a BFA (rather than a BM)…because musicians who want to pursue an outside-of-music interest don’t have enough to deal with, right?
Based on @compmom’s description of the Harvard/NEC program, it sounds like they do it a little differently than the Columbia/Juilliard program, even though both are BA/MM double degree programs. With the Columbia/Juilliard program, you do the exchange program for the first three years, where you’re full time at Columbia, with lessons and ensemble work at Juilliard. In junior year, you can then apply to the double degree program and, if you’re admitted, you spend the next two years at Juilliard, so you’re really done with Columbia in three years (and have to satisfy all your Core and academic major or concentration requirements in those three years).
You then get Columbia credit towards graduation for your two years at Juilliard, so at the end of the five years you get your Columbia BA as well as your Juilliard MM, but you generally don’t take Columbia classes and you’re not eligible for Columbia housing after your third year. My son has a friend in the Columbia/Juilliard exchange who decided not to apply for the double degree program because he didn’t want to lose his senior year at Columbia (precisely the issue that @SpiritManager mentioned earlier). He plans just to continue in the Columbia/Juilliard exchange in his senior year - and may think about a masters program (whether at Juilliard or elsewhere) after that. I don’t think that’s an uncommon decision, though there are also plenty of kids in the exchange who do go on to do the double degree program.
Does anyone know what the merit scholarships prospects are for some of these dual degree programs? We are not candidates for any financial aid, but the price of these programs will be out of reach without merit aid, which I know schools like Harvard do not offer.
Bard offers up to full tuition merit 5 year scholarship - and, for certain instruments - a full ride. Oberlin offers merit scholarships, as well, and Lawrence University. However, schools like Harvard offer extraordinary financial aid. If you don’t qualify for aid there, I would imagine you could afford to pay for the program.
Merit aid varies by the university. Some, like JHU/Peabody, coordinate their aid for dual degree through one of the schools (JHU handles all merit aid for dual degree). In others, like Michigan, you may get merit aid from either, neither or both majors. (Whether they are stackable depends again on the university. ) At many of the schools the typical award is only four years. And it probably goes without saying that you need to stay in the major to keep the award (I.e. If you are dual degree engineering and music with a music scholarship, you can’t typically drop music and use the scholarship for engineering).
SpiritManager… I used the “Net Price Calculator” for Harvard, and it came up with $63,150. Living in an expensive area of California, with two kids in college/retirement to save for, and a no-debt philosophy, that is just not an option for us. Thank you for the other suggestions!
Just for general information: Harvard used to give aid to those making over $180K, it may be $150k now.
Another financial point to a double degree program like Harvard’s: during the undergrad years, you pay some tuition to NEC as well. Several years ago it was $6k.
Clark University in Worcester MA offers a 3/2 program with Columbia’s School of Engineering. They have an excellent music program, and offer merit scholarships. Clark is one of the “colleges that change lives” and well-respected, at least in the Northeast.
The University of Hartford has generous merit for its engineering majors - so you can get the benefits of having the Hartt School conservatory type experience with the UHartford engineering merit aid if you do a dual degree. You can’t get merit from both schools though.
My S is also interested in pursuing a dual-degree in music and engineering. Many of the schools already mentioned, U of Michigan, Northwestern, etc. are where he applied. I also wanted to mention University of Wisconsin-they describe it as a double-major with a professional degree. This is their website http://www.music.wisc.edu/double-majors/.
Also, I just wanted to mention that he applied to Oberlin in hopes of doing music/engineering but was told this was not a viable option because of the eventual transfer to another school for engineering. You can do a dual-degree there with music, but not in combination with engineering. You could choose another science or math field however, which is probably what my S would do if accepted there.
Best of luck—this is a tough road, but the right one for some.
@Violet4 - I looked at that link you posted for Univ. of Wisconsin. It’s interesting. However, I did not see an offer for a double degree program, only a double major with a BA/BS. I did not see an option for a double major with a BM, but I couldn’t be sure about that.
“In music, the BA/BS and the Bachelor of Music differ in the number of total credits required. The BM, a professional degree in music, consists of 130 credits of which 90 are music courses. The BA/BS liberal arts degree with a major in music consists of 120 credits of which 40 or more credits are music. It does not include some of the more advanced music courses or the music elective credits available in the BM curriculum.”
And then for the professional engineering degree it appears one only gets one degree (in engineering) with music courses showing on the transcript: “Students will work toward the degree in their professional area while fulfilling the 40-credit requirement for a Letters & Science Music major (BA/BS). Courses in the second major will be reflected on the transcript not the diploma.”
This is not to say that it matters if one obtains two separate degrees - double majors are common in all other fields. However, it does not seem like a classic double degree program where one fulfills all the requirements for a BM, in addition to all the requirements for a BA/BS.
@Violet4 - I looked at that link you posted for Univ. of Wisconsin. It’s interesting. However, I did not see an offer for a double degree program, only a double major with a BA/BS. I did not see an option for a double major with a BM, but I couldn’t be sure about that.
“In music, the BA/BS and the Bachelor of Music differ in the number of total credits required. The BM, a professional degree in music, consists of 130 credits of which 90 are music courses. The BA/BS liberal arts degree with a major in music consists of 120 credits of which 40 or more credits are music. It does not include some of the more advanced music courses or the music elective credits available in the BM curriculum.”
And then for the professional engineering degree it appears one only gets one degree (in engineering) with music courses showing on the transcript: “Students will work toward the degree in their professional area while fulfilling the 40-credit requirement for a Letters & Science Music major (BA/BS). Courses in the second major will be reflected on the transcript not the diploma.”
This is not to say that it matters if one obtains two separate degrees - double majors are common in all other fields. However, it does not seem like a classic double degree program where one fulfills all the requirements for a BM, in addition to all the requirements for a BA/BS.
@SpiritManager-Thanks for the insight on the Wisconsin program. I agree, it’s not really clear whether you can get a BM/BS or just a BA/BS. I just wanted to bring it people’s attention who are interested in pursuing both music and engineering because it looks like it’s possible to study both at UW. It also appears that the music school acknowledges and encourages students with multiple interests to pursue them, which isn’t the case at every school, so it might be worth looking into.
As we went through the process, we found several things to be important in terms of how “doable” double degrees really were. First, does the university offer the desired program(s), and have a track record of graduates with these double degree programs? Second, how do the administrative processes work (everything from paying deposits, to AP credit, to orientation sessions, to advising, to course registration)? Third, how supportive is the music professor with which the student intends to study?
We made my D handle pretty much everything so she would get as good a feel as she could for 2 and 3. She was surprised at the variations in how hard/easy it was to navigate the administrative side at different schools. She also found professors ranged from bring very jaded by poor past experiences with dual degree students to extremely encouraging and touting positive examples - sometimes at the same university. She found talking to current dual degree students at each university to be extremely insightful.
