<p>I’m a violinist, as some of you may know, and I am applying to four universities (at the moment). I’m a high school senior with a 3.96 GPA and a 33 composite ACT.</p>
<p>The schools I am applying to are:
Boston University (ED)
Tulane University
University of South Carolina
University of Maryland</p>
<p>I adore BU and if I am offered a place there, I will jump on it. However, if I don’t get in, my college counselor suggested that I have a couple of backup schools. My questions are:</p>
<li>How good are the music departments at Tulane and USC?</li>
<li>Jewish life… Tulane and USC…</li>
<li>How is the quality of life at any of these four?</li>
<li>Would you suggest any other schools for violin performance with a strong Jewish presence and a non-overwhelming surrounding (I can’t handle NYC or LA)?</li>
</ol>
<p>You have great grades and scores. You may be a shoe-in at Tulane, BU and USC, and UMD will be a target--at least, just looking at your stats. I went to UMD--very strong Jewish life there, big Hillel chapter, and Jewish fraternities and sororities. Tulane as well, is very strong for Jewish life. The strings people will comment on the violin programs!</p>
<p>If you're planning to major in music at BU, your audition will determine whether or not you are offered a spot in their music program...not your GPA and other stats. Perhaps Fiddlefrog will comment (a string player at BU). The same is true for UMD....if you are auditioning as a performance major, there are usually limited openings in the violin studios...and again, your audition will be the major determining factor for admissions to the MUSIC program. </p>
<p>U of South Carolina has a nice music program, and good performance opportunities, but I don't think it's as competitive for admissions as the others. I do know that you should absolutely fill out the honors college application as you could be in the running for a McNair scholarship with the stats you posted. Also if accepted, your application will also be evaluated for the other scholarships they offer (McKissick, Cooper...are you instate or out of state, because if you are OOS, these also reduce tuition to the instate rate). </p>
<p>U of South Carolina doesn't have a huge Jewish presence. If you want a large Jewish presence at a state school in SC, you should look at College of Charleston.</p>
<p>What about Indiana, Oberlin, Bard or Rice? You should have no trouble getting in any of those places academically. I'm sure Oberlin and Bard have a strong Jewish presence. I know Indiana at least has a Hillel. I don't know about Rice, but I believe you have the academics to be admitted there and the strings program is top notch.</p>
<p>If you are planning to study violin in a well-known BM program you will need to look a more schools than BU, as your audition is the determining factor. I would recommend adding Eastman School of Music or CIM. Both are affiliated with larger institutions, University of Rochester and Case Western. You can apply to University of Rochester and Eastman as double degree. Rochester has an active Hillel, although not as large as either BU or Maryland as both those schools are much larger in # of students to begin with. If you are a BA Music at Rochester you can continue lessons at Eastman by audition at no extra cost. You do have an annual jury, and the lessons are with DMA students. Students at CIM can also take classes at Case Western as the campuses are adjacent. You can check Hillel's site for information about different campuses.</p>
<p>If you want to continue the violin in an non-major capacity you will have more options.</p>
<p>Please don't rely on your gc to advise you of your best musical options, as most just aren't familiar with performing arts admissions and programs. BU has a solid program, as does UMaryland, both with violin faculty more familiar to me than Tulane and US.Carolina.</p>
<p>Are you applying as a performance major, or another music discipline? There are a number of other options available to you for performance study. The trick is having an idea of your level of experience, training, exposure/experience to high immersion summer programs. Audition based admits are a crapshoot, and the better you can identify your level of talent, the easier it is to narrow choices.</p>
<p>Macaroni, what do you want to do with a music performance degree? If you are overwhelmed by big cities, you may not find a lot of employment opportunities.</p>
<p>I want to become a professional fiddle player, so I'll be doing a lot of work outside school. Basically, the only cities I don't want to live in are any in California and NYC.</p>
<p>I might apply to Rice... not sure. Guidance counselor suggested CIM-Case, so I'm looking into it. My violin teacher is a friend of one of the CIM instructors, so that might help.</p>
<p>I was hoping to avoid the Midwest and upstate NY, and I don't want to go to an overwhelmingly liberal school, so that's why I was avoiding Oberlin, Indiana, Eastman, and Bard. I realize that CIM is absolutely in the Midwest, but Cleveland has a HUGE Jewish presence, so that helped. Mostly it's the climate that is a huge turn-off for me. I can do cold just fine, but I'm from Montana, and it's a much less gloomy and wet cold there. :)</p>
<p>Thumper, I did fill out the honors college app. I'm OOS, but tuition isn't my number one issue. Thanks for confirming that, though.</p>
<p>Oh. And I am applying as a performance major. I'm currently studying at Interlochen Arts Academy. My repertoire includes a good bit of solo Bach, Mozart concerti 3 and 5, Kabalevsky, and a bit more. I'm hoping to start on the Mendelssohn soon.</p>
<p>I just wanted to mention Brandeis, which of course has a strong Jewish presence, is in Boston, and has a full scholarship for each instrument in a string quartet (I think it is the Leonard Bernstein scholarship?) It's probably not a BM degree but you might want to check it out.</p>
<p>Rutgers has a fine string program and a very strong Jewish community. You would have many opportunities and a good shot at funding, if your grades are also strong. Good luck.</p>
<p>I have to ask...why would you apply ED to BU as a music performance major? Your audition will be scheduled WELL after the ED decisions about admittance are made...and that audition is the key element to your admission to the music program. When my son auditioned at BU, his audition was in February. Perhaps there are a number of dates to choose from, but honestly, I can't see any advantage to applying ED. It will mean that you MUST attend Boston University if you are accepted....regardless of whether you get accepted to the music program. Is that what you want? Your ED application will be for academic consideration only...not for music department acceptance. I would seriously reconsider the decision to apply ED...unless you are prepared to take up a different major if you don't get into the music program.</p>
<p>Okay, here's a thought. Doesn't have a great orchestra, or superb music department. But look at Denison. Go ahead and visit, meet with the violin teacher, Andy Carlson. He is an incredible fiddle player and super nice guy. The campus is lovely, as is the neighboring community. We loved our visit there, and my violin D would have loved to study with Andy. (She got in with merit, but got better offer elsewhere.)</p>
<p>Don't know how large their Jewish community is, but here's a link to their Hillel.</p>
<p>thumper, there's a special audition day in November for ED applicants at BU. </p>
<p>There's a /really/ big difference between the caliber of violin faculties and music programs in general at BU and UMD (on the strong side) and South Carolina and Tulane (on the weak side). That may not be such a bad thing; given your Interlochen training and your stats, I'd say Tulane and SC are pretty close to guaranteed (although you never know, with audition-based admissions), and it's good to have schools like that. You would undoubtedly do well at either UMD or BU; I'm a little biased, being a BU student, but having spent a month at UMD and knowing the violin faculty from summer programs, I think I can feel confident saying that BU has the edge for violin faculty and also student level.</p>
<p>Vanderbilt should definitely be on your list! Nashville is the obvious place to start a fiddling career, you'd be exposed to some of the best fiddlers in the world, and your classical training would be very solid. It's a nice place, too, and the Jewish population is growing and highly visible.</p>
<p>Thanks Fiddlefrog...but I still say...I'm not sure there is a good reason to apply ED. What happens if the OP gets ED academic acceptance to BU, but does NOT get accepted into the music program? Or is there a provision in the ED contract under these circumstances that says that this acceptance is NOT binding. I think that's important. It sounds like the OP has good playing credentials...but you never know in an audition based admission what will happen. I'd hate to see this OP get an ED acceptance to BU and be bound to attend...and not be accepted into the music program.</p>
<p>There's only one admission decision. The ED decision will be from the School of Music. It is not possible to apply to more than one school of BU at once, and the admissions decision from CFA, which would arrive in December with other ED decisions, would incorporate the academic decision. It's not a question of separate academic and musical acceptances; it's one decision, based on composite qualifications and made jointly by the CFA area faculty and the university admissions committee.</p>
<p>There is a CC'er father whose daughter has just started a violin performance major at Vanderbilt who will perhaps weigh in on life there. It is a superb university from the academic side, has a music school with a rapidly growing reputation in part because of their ability to provide lots of $$. Many would have trouble being admitted academically, but it sounds like you are strong enough.</p>
<p>I know a girl, not a musician, who is a junior there this year. She has rediscovered her Jewish roots by involvement with the very active Hillel there. She is loving the school.</p>
<p>I think you should look very seriously at Vanderbilt as it seems to fulfill all of your requirements.</p>