<p>How much do you all think grades matter to a conservatory or music program. I have a 2.5 gpa and am very worried of being rejected from everywhere because of this. I would appreciate if you guys could discuss your experience and thaughts on this situation.</p>
<p>A 2.5 isn't great. But... if you can play jazz guitar better than most everyone else who applies and they want you in their program, then you should be OK. Be sure to indicate you are there for music (BM) and not for alot of other academic classes (assuming you ARE mostly interested in music). Just to let you know... I did poorly in HS and couldn't wait to get out. I graduated with about a B average or even less. I traveled, got back into my piano very seriously and re-entered college at age 20. I had straight A's after that - and all because I wanted to be there and I loved music. So don't let your 2.5 work against you. Your passion will make it happen, if you want it bad enough.</p>
<p>It depends a lot on the individual school. Rice and CMU have high GPA requirements that they do not relax very much for music majors, but some of the stand-alone conservatories only care about your playing and whether you can understand some English. Most places are somewhere in between.</p>
<p>Students from our local HS have gotten into Berklee in recent years with GPA's of 2.6 and 2.7 and SAT scores under 1000 for example. I can't tell you how much lower they go, because nobody I know has been rejected there. In general, you will have your best shot at places where the music school has its own admissions dept.</p>
<p>I just noticed on your other message that you applied to William Paterson, SUNY Purchase and Peabody. Our HS had an acceptance at WPU for someone with a 2.2 GPA and 880 SAT. I don't know if they were a music major or a recruited athlete, though.</p>
<p>You probably could have taken an SAT prep course and at least gotten up to a mediocre score. But its probably too late to audition if you retake the test in April.</p>
<p>It certainly will limit the number of programs that will consider you and lose you most tiebreakers if you and another candidate are close in talent at your auditions.</p>
<p>But as others have said, some programs where you only apply to a music department and not the main university, the audition is everything and they may not even look at your SAT or GPA.</p>
<p>Jazz probably is going to help too, they look even less at grades than Classical, or it least it seems that way.</p>
<p>A Northwestern music faculty member told me he has trouble getting kids in with D's, but C's are no problem! One has to wonder how these kids handle the academic classes which are part of the core humanities curriculum. That is the point, whatever the grade average....can you do the academic work at the level of the school? And, in going through HS with such a low grade point average, have you failed to learn how to study and do well in non-music classes? Grades represent effort, organization, talent, and learning styles. Why are your grades low, and can you change your level of success with them? If your test scores are good, it is very likely that you have not put enough time and attention into your academics, but you can do the work. Admissions offices are harder on underachievers who do not seem to be economically and socially disadvantaged. </p>
<p>But if you have great guitar chops.....it should work for you at most conservatories. Good luck.</p>
<p>You probably could have taken an SAT prep course and at least gotten up to a mediocre score. But its probably too late to audition if you retake the test in April.</p>
<p>It certainly will limit the number of programs that will consider you and lose you most tiebreakers if you and another candidate are close in talent at your auditions.</p>
<p>But as others have said, some programs where you only apply to a music department and not the main university, the audition is everything and they may not even look at your SAT or GPA.</p>
<p>Jazz probably is going to help too, they look even less at grades than Classical, or it least it seems that way.</p>
<p>It might be worth you time to try and find a program that has some remedial courses that might help your future in case the music does not work out for you.</p>