European conservatories, diploma requirements

<p>I have posted about this in the Music Majors section before, but I thought I'd post here, too, in case some Europeans who frequent this form might be able to point me in the right direction.</p>

<p>Our family lives in Italy, having moved here from NYC last fall. Our daughter attends a supposedly good conservatory here, in violin, at the high school level. She did the same in NYC. We would like to look into having her attend a European conservatory, though not necessarily in Italy, in a couple of years. She's currently a high school junior, in the US system. But given all the music she's doing, she may need extra time to graduate.</p>

<p>I'm on this site today for two reasons: 1) To get a good short list of violin European conservatories that feed into good job opportunities (maybe in England, the Netherlands, Finland, or Germany) but also 2) to see if anyone else has ever figured out what a homeschooled American student (or any American student) can do to show the equivalent of a European exit exam. </p>

<p>What I know so far is: Most European schools require the equivalent of an extra year for a high school diploma, compared to the US system. I've heard anecdotally that there are a few conservatories in Switzerland that will take an SAT or even a GED. I've heard that some in England want to see several APs. I've heard of exceptions to the diploma requirement for talent, but I'm assuming any good school has plenty of talent. And all our conservatory in Italy will tell me is to contact the Ministry of Education! </p>

<p>I know the IB is not an option for us at present, as that requires school for the junior and senior years, our daughter is already a junior, and the local American school is quite expensive. It's also a bit late to study for the Italian maturita'. We need some kind of test or tests we can take within the American system. (In addition, of course, to an audition.)</p>

<p>To make matters more confusing, the faculty at the conservatory here is suggesting that our daughter go ahead and sit for the university entrance exam here next fall, since they think she could probably pass it and it would open up more classes at her level. (The issue with the high school diploma in Italy isn't that she couldn't get in, it's that she can't graduate.) It gets even more complicated than that, but I'll spare you the details, as she'd probably rather transfer eventually to another country.</p>

<p>So, does anyone here have any idea how this sort of thing works, or any idea how to find out this sort of thing? Perhaps the proper order is to get the schools first, and then contact each one, but since my efforts in that direction so far haven't yielded much, I thought I'd ask here, too.</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

<p>I just checked a few conservatories in Germany and discovered that they are public and have the same general admission requirements as other public universities. That means that your D would have to present a high school credential deemed equivalent to the German ones. Last time I checked (~ a year ago), American applicants had the following options:</p>

<ul>
<li>attend an American college for two years, then enroll as a first-year student in Germany</li>
<li>have a high school diploma with a 3.0 GPA, 1200 on the SAT and participate in a year-long pre-college program (Studienkolleg) in Germany</li>
<li>complete the right combination of AP exams (for non-technical majors, that was 1. English language or literature, 2. a foreign language, 3. calculus or a science, 4. an elective)</li>
<li>the IB Diploma</li>
</ul>

<p>If you want, I’ll try to dig up the official source of this information again.</p>

<p>Thanks very much! That’s a good start. It looks like number 3 is our option, and no matter where we go, it wouldn’t hurt to have those classes (2. and 4. are already under way). My daughter sat down and made a chart this morning outlining how she could get them all in along with at least part-time triennio (college conservatory) attendance in order to prepare musically. </p>

<p>If you happen to have the link handy, great. If not, I’ll keep looking for it. Thanks again!</p>

<p>As far as I know, the top place for music performance in the UK is the Royal College of Music in London, and there is also a branch in Manchester (Royal northern college of music).</p>

<p>Entrance requirements</p>

<p>[Undergraduate</a> programmes | Royal College of Music](<a href=“http://www.rcm.ac.uk/applyoverseas/minimumentryrequirements/undergraduateprogrammes/]Undergraduate”>http://www.rcm.ac.uk/applyoverseas/minimumentryrequirements/undergraduateprogrammes/)</p>

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