<p>Hello,
So I know that it's very early for me to be thinking about this, but I'm thinking about it so I wanted to ask if anyone had any views on what my question is regarding. I'm a first year at UChicago studying music and I'm doing very well in all my classes (A's in music, and my humanities and social science core classes), except for statistics. I have no intention of ever studying any math or science related fields after this quarter - I want to study music in graduate school. </p>
<p>I'm doing completely terribly in stats right now. Pulling a B- would be pushing it A LOT. I reckon I'm around a C right now mid-quarter. Say I do get a C in stats, first quarter, first year - Do graduate programs for music look at this grade? </p>
<p>My dream is to go to Cambridge to study music. I have no idea really how graduate admissions work. </p>
<p>Someone who is knowledgable, please enlighten me.</p>
<p>My perception of Cambridge is that they are more about musicology and composition than performance. If you were talking about a grad degree in performance somewhere, then the audition would be the thing and a C in one math course would be nothing to sweat. For a more academic area like musicology, they will look at overall GPA but they will also consider the difficulty of the program that you came from. Chicago is well-known for grade deflation so, if you get that one C in math and back that up with a lot of A's in everything else, your credentials at the end of four years will be stellar.</p>
<p>Now, if you told me that you wanted to specialize in statistical analysis of 20th and 21st century music, I would be concerned about your math skills. Given what you say above, that is probably not how you envision spending most of your life.</p>
<p>Cosmos- I know you're a bass player, but you don't specify if you intend to pursue grad studies in performance, composition, conducting or one of the music academic disciplines such as history, theory, musicology.</p>
<p>Again, like undergrad, the performance disciplines in grad school are largely auditioned based admits, and they will look at academics to a degree as well as a CV or resume, but the audition and possibly interview are the major factors.</p>
<p>The academic disciplines tend to put more weight to the academic side of your transcript, and if in a research type of program will probably want some examples of scholarly writing.</p>
<p>In the US for example, most if not all performance masters programs do not require GRE's. Academic study may or may not require it, and it is pretty school specific. I do not know the UK or continental system. You might have to prove available funding, I'm not sure.</p>
<p>One C is not going to kill your chances in my opinion provided the rest of your academic history is strong. Do your best, exercise a P/F option if you can, but don't anquish over one grade in a math discipline.</p>
<p>Many top graduate programs in music history/theory do require GRE's and high GPA's and many appear not so forgiving of low GPAs at schools that have grade deflation (e.g. Swarthmore) -- some students in that situation go to MA programs at lesser graduate schools (Brandeis, for example) and then transfer, if they can, to the top programs. But one C is not going to kill your GPA. You should strongly consider writing a senior thesis, maybe trying to participate in a student conference on music. There are some wonderful professors at U of C -- get to know them and impress them. Recommendations will be very important.</p>
<p>Do they look at your GPA for all of college or just for the last two years? I would think that if I managed to get A's for the rest of college, one C first quarter of first year wouldn't be so bad?</p>
<p>I would guess (and it is just a guess) that they look at the overall GPA (and your honors, such as whether you were summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, etc.) but are most interested in your GPA in music courses, your recommendations, your writing sample (that is why a thesis is a good idea, probably essential for getting into the top schools); they may also consider if you were an active performer -- many professors were (a few still are). The schools accept fairly few applicants, and not all admittees receive fellowships, at least at the beginning, so you want to stand out. Make sure to take courses with some tenured professors, try to work with one on your thesis -- connections help, and those professors are likely to have them (e.g., is there a prof. who is a big shot in AMS or in the ethnomusicology equivalent?). You should talk to your advisors. U of Chicago sends students to top graduate schools in musicology. Another thing, you would be admitted at some schools (e.g. Columbia) to either theory or music history; UC Berkeley does not have a theory department; Stanford does not have ethno.; at UCLA, ethno and music history are in different departments.</p>
<p>Thanks for the advice. I'm certainly going to write a thesis when I'm a senior and take a wide range of courses in the music department... I am a very active performer. I attended Juilliard for a number of years before coming to the U of C, and I'm principal bass of 3 performing groups at UC and am auditioning for the CSO training orchestra this February -- if I get into that, that would be a big performing opportunity. </p>
<p>I'm hoping to study music history or theory - likely history, but I'm not sure yet.</p>
<p>In any case, I'm glad to hear that they look mostly at music GPA. I'm getting an A+ in the first quarter of the music theory course for majors so far...Hopefully I can keep up a trend of getting A-range grades in my music courses throuhgout the rest of college. </p>
<p>I do know a bit about the UK system, having investigated it for undergraduate work. All the colleges at Oxford and Cambridge seem pretty great, I don't anticipate caring too much about which one I'd apply to.</p>
<p>All that is relevant in UK applications are things related to your course of study. It's all about focus. If you do not intend to study stats, stats will be discounted. This grade will almost certainly be ignored (and also, C is the average grade in the UK. Not a bad one). </p>
<p>Note that I'm studying Biology so I don't know anything about the music admissions process specifically.</p>