Evaluating My Options...

College Majors Music Major
1

<p>Well, after just finding out that I've been rejected at Yale (not a surprise) and waitlisted at JHU (which destroys what slim hopes I had of getting into the Peabody-JHU double degree program), I'm feeling quite depressed. I've already been rejected from Bard, Eastman, and Indiana, and I'm starting to feel like I was a serious fool when I made my college list in the fall. Fortunately, I have been accepted by St. Olaf, Wheaton, and CMU, so it's not as if I'm in the horrifying situation of being rejected everywhere. I highly doubt that Peabody will accept me, so it looks like I'm down to these three.</p>

<p>My biggest regret is that I didn't apply to colleges with the same outlook that I have now. Then, I was focused on getting a double major in piano performance and math. Now, my interests have slightly shifted. On the musical side, I've found that I would want to focus on musicology/composition or collaborative piano. On the academic side, my passions have broadened to include physics and philosophy in addition to mathematics. So, considering everything, I've come up with two options:</p>

<p>1) Go to one of the schools that has accepted me. This means either St. Olaf and CMU, as I was never too interested in Wheaton. I like CMU for their BSA program, composition faculty, cool Mathematical Studies curriculum, and intense conservatory environment. But it's expensive, I'm not sure about their piano faculty, and I didn't fully mesh with the campus when I was there. I liked the feel of the St. Olaf campus better; the faculty were very friendly, music was well-integrated into the life of the college as a whole, and they do have renowned music and mathematics programs. But I don't like their composition teacher and I would miss the opportunities to take more specialized courses that I would at CMU.</p>

<p>2) Take a gap year and reapply to a different list of colleges more in line with my newfound interest in musicology and composition. (Like Chicago, which I felt quite passionate about but didn't apply to because of their lack of performance.) I would get a job, find a local composition teacher to work with, put together a composition portfolio, and see how I would do a second time around. It might go better, but I don't really know if I want to go through yet another round of college applications. And - can I really give up my dream of becoming a pianist yet?</p>

<p>If anyone has any advice as I try to make this difficult decision, I would appreciate it. Of course, I really posted this more to be able to vent my feelings and thoughts at this moment. Thank you in advance for taking the time to listen.</p>

2

<p>I really think you're better off going to CMU or St. Olaf, rather than taking a gap year. You can apply as a transfer next year, if you seriously don't mesh with the school you're at. But school will help keep you focused and polished. And even attending a school you don't love will help you better define what you're after.</p>

<p>It does sound like a difficult decision to decide between St. Olaf and CMU. They are both great schools, and very different from each other. </p>

<p>I went to Pitt, so I am somewhat familiar with CMU. Outstanding in both the music and technical/math areas, it would definitely match what you're looking for academically. And the fact that it is in a big city means you aren't limited to the school faculty if you don't want to be. I love Schenly Park, too.</p>

<p>I can understand why you might prefer the smaller, "friendlier" campus of St. Olaf, and they do have a great music program, but I am not sure it has what you want academically. And if you're not firm yet on a major, a larger university will give you more options.</p>

<p>If you think of attending CMU for only one year, does the money seem more do-able? By the way, when we were looking for music schools for my S, our piano tuner (in Georgia) really pushed CMU. </p>

<p>You're kinda running out of room for more visits. I think you should make a couple lists -- positives and negatives for each school. Just the process of listing things should help you organize your thoughts. Maybe get a clue by how hard you work at finding negatives for one school, and positives for the other to sway yourself? And save the lists for those times you want to second-guess yourself after you make your decision. It will help remind you of the logic of your decision.</p>

<p>I do think you have two great choices, and it would be a shame to throw away these options in hopes of a better lottery next year.</p>

3

<p>bachlover,</p>

<p>welcome to CC. I have a daughter doing a double degree program at Oberlin (BM in performance on double bass and BA in math). CMU was one of the schools on her list too. One thing to watch out for there is that the BM program has a high percentage of required courses and not much room for electives that could be used to "double dip" in satisfying some of the requirements for a math degree. If you are serious about the double degree there, I would encourage you to put together a list of courses from their catalog that would get you through both sets of requirements in five years. I think it is possible to do, but it takes some careful planning.</p>

<p>We did not look at St. Olaf, but my daughter has a friend there who is a vocal performance major. She seems to like it a lot.</p>

<p>I agree with binx that you have at least two great choices. Beyond your composition/piano lessons, there is probably not going to be a lot of difference between one college and another in most of your first-year courses. You can learn stuff like music theory, music history and calculus from just about any competent teacher. The more specialized courses tend to come along in third year and beyond. Unless you need to do a gap year for financial reasons, I would suggest choosing from among your acceptances and considering a transfer if things do not seem to be working out.</p>

<p>Don't give up entirely on Peabody/JHU if you have not yet heard from Peabody. My daughter was not considering a double degree program until after sending her acceptance in to Oberlin Conservatory. She found that it was not necessary to apply to Oberlin College seperately, because it is relatively easy for Conservatory students to transfer into the double degree program once there. You might want to check and see if that is also a possibility at Peabody (plus, an acceptance at Peabody might help get you off the wait list and into JHU.) My daughter did not think her audition went well at Peabody (she practically got into an argument with one of the teachers), but she was accepted with a decent merit aid offer there.</p>

<p>Good luck, and please let us know what you decide.</p>

4

<p>Peabody may still be an option, but the double degree possibilities are very doubtful. In fact admissions to both JHU and Peabody does not necessarily permit a double degree. I understand there are quite a few applicants who are accepted at both and must make a choice. Only a very small number are approved for double degree status. A DD will generally take 5 long years with 20+ credits/semester.</p>

5

<p>Well, I may need to take a gap year for financial reasons, as my parents have just informed me that they will pay only 5000 a year towards college. My EFC is 26000. Ouch. My mother is heavily pushing either trying to see if I can still get in to one of the state schools such as ASU which have offered me a near-full tuition scholarship as a National Merit Finalist, or going to the local small state school, which has a decent music ed program but is far, far weaker both musically and academically than I would like. My perspective has been that I'd rather be happy and in debt than miserable going to college for free, but... I'm not sure how I can deal with this.</p>

<p>My biggest concern about taking a gap year is that, with a year out of the music loop, my chances of making any type of perfomance career will completely evaporate. And if that happened - I would feel like the last few years of my life have been wasted. Ever since the age of 12, I've been trying to work hard at making up for my late start in serious music study. I don't want all that to go for nought because of finances. Sigh... I'm really not in a good mood right now.</p>

6

<p>What state are we talking about? If ASU = Arizona State University, the music department there is very good. Perhaps a small step down from some of the others you mentioned, but still quite respectable. A near full-tuition scholarship there would be well worth considering at this point.</p>

7

<p>Well, my financial aid packages from St. Olaf and CMU just came in the mail. Not counting loans, their awards bring the total cost down to $34,813 (CMU) and $14,600 (St. Olaf). I'm quite happy that I got a larger than expected package at St. Olaf, one that brings it to within the realm of possibility. Although I think I would prefer CMU, it's not worth paying twice as much. If St. Olaf really doesn't work out, I can always transfer. Thus I think I'll be attending St. Olaf in the fall.</p>

<p>This, of course, assumes that I will be rejected from Peabody.</p>

8

<p>All the best to you!</p>

9

<p>I'm so glad that will work out for you! I was feeling bad about the idea of you not going anywhere. I agree about the transfer possibility, but who knows? You may like it more than you expect, and find it's the perfect school for you after all. My S has a friend at St. Olaf who loves it. He's graduating this year with a major in trumpet performance (and he's quite good). </p>

<p>Congratulations, and best wishes!</p>

10

<p>Good luck, bachlover! You may be wonderfully happy at SO....the main thing is that you are at a place where you are nurtured and well-taught, so that you can meet your best potential. You will know if it is right. Congratulations! Keep us posted.</p>

11

<p>Congratulations and best of luck wherever you end up. I'm glad to hear that St. O's is a real possibility after reading your second posting.</p>

12

<p>bachlover: Congratulations on the great award from St. Olaf's!</p>

13

<p>In the mail today, I got the expected thin letter from Peabody. I must say that I like their rejection the best of the ones I have recieved. They don't pussyfoot about the issue like the others ("We carefully evaluated your admission materials and unfortunately we cannot offer you a place in the Class of 2010... etc.") They get right to the point: "We don't like sending rejections letters, but we must reject you because you're not good enough." At least they're honest.</p>

<p>On the positive side, the mail also included notice of acceptance into Bard College (not that I care about that) and an academic scholarship at Indiana (not that I care about that either). What I do care about is the notice of my acceptance at Brevard for this summer with a $700 merit scholarship. Amidst all my horrible auditions and conservatory rejections, my audition for Brevard, which impressed the auditioner so much that he accepted me right in the audition room, is the one bright spot. I may be an uneven and underdeveloped pianist, but if I work very hard in college I may still be able to make a career in music.</p>

14

<p>Did you also apply to the music conservatory part of Bard? Indiana? The Brevard news is great! Congratulations! How lovely to get the immediate feedback. Where does the auditioner from Brevard teach? He/she might be a contact for you, even now...... Good luck.</p>

15

<p>"I may be an uneven and underdeveloped pianist, but if I work very hard in college I may still be able to make a career in music."</p>

<p>Bachlover, hang in there! You sound a lot like my son, although the trumpet is his instrument. He didn't realize that he wanted to major in trumpet performance until his senior year in high school. When he started applying to college, he was still thinking possible pre-med. He was accepted to Indiana as a trumpet performance major by the grace of God alone. (long story there) After he had been at IU a month or two, he overheard someone ask his trumpet instructor about the freshman class. The prof. said they were good, except for one who was behind, but working hard. My son knew exactly who that one was!</p>

<p>My son's philosophy is that many trumpet students have more natural talent than he does, but that, if he works really hard he can surpass those who try to get by on talent alone, without putting in the hard work needed to excel. And he has made amazing progress in his few months there so far--because he practices a lot and takes any opportunity to learn more and apply it to his playing. I know he will make a career in music--if not as a symphony player, which is his goal, in some other area--because that is where his passion lies, and he has the determination to follow through.</p>

<p>You can make it, too. Take pride in the Brevard acceptance. Wherever you end up going to college, work hard and follow your passion. You may not be the best piano player now, but you can become an excellent player if you continue to work hard. Perhaps when the time to apply to grad school comes around, those schools that rejected you this time will be begging you to come! :)</p>

16

<p>FYI, a twenty-one year old senior trumpet major at Northwestern was just made Associate Principal of the New York Philharmonic (a position that had remained unfilled for 7 years). Imagine being 21 and gettiing the best job you can ever hope to get in your field. BTW, there were better trumpet players than he was in CA in high school, so it shows what hard work will do.</p>

17

<p>lorelei2702: Yes, I did apply to the Bard Conservatory and the IU School of Music, and was rejected from both. Bard was a extreme reach to begin with, so it didn't come as a shock. I expected to get into Indiana, on the other hand, before my audition, as I had been awarded a scholarship there after auditioning at Interlochen last summer. But my audition was a disaster, with my auditioner pointing out all the mistakes I made.</p>

<p>The Brevard audition the following week provided some needed support. (It's providential that I even got there; I had been thinking it was Saturday only to find out the morning of that, no, it was Friday after all.) My auditioner was Bruce Murray, Dean of Keyboard Studies at Brevard College.</p>

<p>Susantm: Thanks for your encouraging words. I've saved my rejection letters in the hopes that when I apply to grad school, I'll be able to replace them with a quite different letter.</p>

18

<p>bachlover: I admire you for your plans to use your stumbles as a launch. With a given level of talent, for an instrumentalist, hard work is the determining factor. That being said, it is like paying a price for something, the expense being your time and effort toward where and what you want to be. Being thrifty would mean getting the most for your time and effort, in terms of efficiency, concentration, technique. Each of us gets to have our own priorities about how to "spend" our lives. Much good luck to you! Lorelei</p>

19

<p>A bit of advice: give a serious look to ASU. Not only is it a very good music program (better than St. Olaf, by most accounts, except for choral music), the honors college is really superb.
Good luck to you!</p>

20

<p>I should clarify that I have not applied to ASU, and the deadline for the music school has passed (though I might be able to apply to the college and then transfer in). It's a moot point now, though; since St. Olaf has offered me their National Merit Scholarship, I won't be able to get anything from ASU.</p>

<p>Anyway, since post #7 I've become increasingly enthused about CMU and increasingly less enthused about St. Olaf. I've decided to do an overnight at CMU this weekend and then I'll decide if it's worth biting the bullet and taking on the debt.</p>