<p>I'm trying to decide which college I should opt for in SCEA, and I can't decide which one to choose. I'm looking to pursue engineering and music hopefully as a joint degree program, or double major. </p>
<p>Keeping in mind location - I need to stay on the East Coast and need financial aid.</p>
<p>Here's my resume: https://<strong><em>/document/d/1jaeT_RkfSowjU98jtHcdYGWwRvjUAAndUSLONmisGuw/edit?usp=sharing
Music Bio: https://</em></strong>/document/d/1FqxiFfHtt45z4y0SBGb7XwYnOqCQ5C-PC6BbycjM8PI/edit?usp=sharing</p>
<p>I'm mainly looking at Princeton or Harvard. These are the schools I want to apply to overall: Harvard, Yale, Princeton, MIT, Upenn, Williams, Swarthmore, Cornell, Johns Hopkins, Carnegie Mellon. Tufts.</p>
<p>Although I want to pursue engineering, I like the Ivies because they provide a more liberal arts educational environment. Any ideas?</p>
<p>We just visited MIT, and one interesting factoid was that while 60% of the college undergraduates are engineering majors, the most popular minor was music. They are required to take 8 humanities/arts courses, four of which are in one discipline, and apparently music wins. Also, MIT engineering is higher ranked than either Harvard or Princeton. Cornell engineering (another school on our list) is not very liberal arts minded, though they do require some liberal arts. It is a completely different school from the College of Arts and Sciences. A double major there (engineering + music) will require 5 years, according to a Cornell rep at their engineering info session.</p>
<p>Just wondering, if you want engineering, why are you focusing on Ivies so much? The Ivies have many superb programs, but engineering isn’t usually their strongest suit. (Cornell is definitely highly rated, though.) Is it the financial aid, perhaps? If you are a NYS resident, consider the STEM free tuition program for SUNY schools. However, I don’t know how much opportunity you’ll have for music there. That’s a topic for ongoing research in our household.</p>
<p>We are in a similar situation: DS with high stats wants to study engineering, but musical theater is also a strong passion of his. We also need excellent FA. Combining the three isn’t easy.</p>
<p>You might want to consider UMD, @mdcmom, since it’s nearby, but double majoring there is very difficult. Still, there’s enough theater and music going on there to perhaps satisfy your S’s jones.</p>
<p>@mdcmom Some of the Ivies have the best FA, and engineering combined with the other classes they are known for as well as the cultures there have a huge appeal to me. Of course, each school has its own unique characteristics. But yes, combining the three isn’t easy at all! (hope the links work now, though!)</p>
<p>Depending on the type of Music (presumably more symphonic and opera) might consider the Peabody School (Johns Hopkins) and Shepherd School (Rice) which are great programs and offer strong engineering programs and liberal arts. Rice, in particular, encourages double majors - although you would have to be admitted into the Music program for your requested combination (for other double majors it doesn’t matter which program you enter in and they can be changed back and forth easily - but the Shepherd School requires you to be admitted as a Music major if you want to be a Music major, later tacking on another major or minor is common). See <a href=“Double Major in Music and another field? - Rice University - College Confidential Forums”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/rice-university/752007-double-major-in-music-and-another-field.html</a></p>
<p>So, OP, it sounds like we’re in the same position. Our list right now: MIT, Cornell, SUNY Buffalo, SUNY New Paltz, SUNY Bing for solid safety (free tuition and commuting distance makes this free for us, but definitely DS’s last resort choice), possibly a couple of far away schools like Alabama (guaranteed merit $$), University of Virginia (meets full need for OOS). We talked about the other Ivies, but other posters have said that most of those engineering graduates don’t actually end up as engineers. YMMV but that’s something you might want to confirm. </p>
<p>Other suggestions that folks have made to us, and that we need to consider more fully: RPI (DS has been awarded the Rensselaer Medal, but even so, it is a stretch according the the NPC), Olin, Rochester (also doesn’t work for us according the the NPC). </p>
<p>I only have anecdotal evidence about the feasibility of doing music and engineering at these schools, though. My general impression is that double majoring is difficult and usually would mean spending more than 4 years.</p>
<p>You should know that Princeton doesn’t allow students to double major. So you wouldn’t be able to do a double major for engineering and music. However, you could major in engineering and get a certificate (Princeton’s version of a minor) in Music.
Other schools that have both good music and engineering programs are Northwestern and Michigan</p>
<p>Given the intense nature of an engineering degree with it’s heavy courseload, not to mention just the general difficulty combined with the practice requirements of a music degree, I’d say this just sounds like a bad idea for all but the most accomplished student. I can see doing a minor, but an actual major in music and engineering at the same time? OP should understand exactly what they’re in for before attempting it unless they’re bringing a whole lot of AP credits with them.</p>
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. I think it is probably too far from us, but the OP might want to take a look.</p>