<p>What experience do students have applying for graduate school after completing an undergrad bachelor of music? My D is planning on a masters in psychology, but wants to go to Berklee for music. I've spoken with a couple of university grad programs - sounds like they'd be looking for more academic rigor at the undergrad level. Would love advice.</p>
<p>Many grad schools will expect certain undergrad classes. You might not need to double major or even minor in psychology, but they would anticipate that a prospective student would have certain key skills (research, theory) in order to succeed. That might require some extra time, perhaps a winter or summer session.</p>
<p>A Bachelor of Music can be excellent preparation for many non-music graduate degrees depending on:<br>
a) the elective courses included in the degree (music students with the requisite premed courses do exceptionally well in med school admissions);
b) the school that the courses are taken at (i.e. is it a school with rigorous academic standards–many of the best schools of music do have high academic standards or are associated with universities/colleges with very high standards); and
c) the nature and calibre of the graduate program applied to.</p>
<p>My impression (which is possibly wrong) of Berklee is that its strength is in the practical performing aspects of contemporary/non-classical forms of music and that it is not a powerhouse as far as non-music academics go. Berklee does offer about 8 courses in psychology and students can take a minor in psychology there. I think that Berklee tends to have fewer of the high-flying academics than the traditional conservatories do and many Berklee students tend to have a more exclusive focus on music. These factors suggest that the liberal arts offerings probably do not have the same challenge that they would at places like Oberlin, Northwestern, Rice, USC, McGill, etc. </p>
<p>Please note, that I am not criticizing the Berklee liberal arts in terms of their relevance, the capability of their instructors or the quality of the instruction. I merely suspect that many other music schools have liberal arts offerings that would do a better job of preparing a student for graduate work in non-musical disciplines. In other words, I believe that Berklee is good at what it intends to do, but that it does not have a priority of preparing its students for graduate work in non-musical disciplines.</p>
<p>Having said all of that, I know that strong students with ambition, strong minds, and the right prerequisite courses can gain admission to at least some graduate programs regardless of the school at which they did their undergrad studies. Good GRE scores and letters of recommendation can help compensate for a weaker undergrad school. Summer study in psychology at a reputable institution would probably help, as well.</p>
<p>If she’s serious about Berklee for undergrad, perhaps she can also check out Boston U or Emerson or other nearby schools to see if she can take some classes at those schools to beef up her liberal arts portfolio for future grad school.</p>
<p>Why not pursue private voice lessons while attending a university with a good psych program? Berklee is an expensive program, especially if you consider the resulting degree will not be the best way of pursuing her ultimate goal.</p>
<p>Emerson has an exchange program with Berklee and BoCo-- something I learned recently while on a tour with my daughter.</p>
<p>Thank you for the advice - all good. Appreciate your time! I’ll have my D check out Emerson - I didn’t know there was an exchange program. I had asked about Boston U and Berklee said they don’t allow that. Taking summer classes at a more rigorous university is also a good idea. She’s a pretty good student - good GPA, AP classes, ACT etc. Her ultimate goal is really to be in music. Psych is the back-up plan (I think we’re calling it the alternate plan) if she finds she can’t make a living in music. Her passion is music, but - I’m not sure how to explain this - I think she feels more free to pursue it knowing there’s another plan if things don’t turn out as she’d like. Berklee is indeed very expensive. She did get a small scholarship and I’m thinking housing/meals off campus might be cheaper than what’s on the website.</p>
<p>Though this is going back quite a few years, I can speak to this. I began undergraduate school majoring in violin performance. After a year, I switched majors and obtained a BM in Music History. After college, I pursued a career in information technology and worked in this feild for about 4 years when I decided to return to school for an MBA. I am in Pittsburgh, so there are two major MBA programs available at Pitt and CMU. CMU’s program is more technical and had a pre-requisite of 16 credits of college level calculus. Pitt’s program required 8 credits of college-level calculus, so I opted for this program. I took two semesters of calculus at Pitt’s College of General Studies for this pre-requisite. </p>
<p>I hope this helps.</p>
<p>Thanks cellomom - another good point. She’ll have calculus AB from high school, but I will encourage her to continue another semester. It’d be much easier to do now than later. It seems some planning during undergraduate years will be a big plus in being able to be flexible coming out of a music major.</p>
<p>Hi there,</p>
<p>I graduated from Berklee in 2007 and I know that they have a program that allows Berklee students to attend other schools in the area. If she wants to have a more well rounded transcript she can attend The Boston Conservatory, Emerson, Boston Architectural college and a couple others while she is a student at Berklee. Berklee has a very heavy course load though. Many of their courses, (music only) are worth less credit than traditional music programs. Not because’s the courses aren’t just as difficult it’s just that Berklee makes you take more of them. For example a 2 hour Conducting class is only worth 1 credit instead of 2 credits as it would be at another school because Berklee has a whole bunch of other courses they want you to take. You end up with the same amount of credits as any music major, but you took a lot more classes.
I got a liberal arts degree before I went to Berklee so I had room in my schedule to take additional courses. So, if she goes there with room in her schedule there is a wide variety of courses to choose from via the multi school program. Also, she can totally make a living in music. Berklee is all about teaching you how to make money. Leave room for some music business and professional music courses. They’ll help a lot. Also, if she wants to get out of the school more quickly or test out of some courses that will also give her more room for psych classes she should see if there is a Berklee grad in your area that will tutor her before she goes. That’s what I did and I tested out of and entire semesters worth of courses. It saved me $25,000. 
Oh and if she goes, tell her not to eat the cafeteria food…seriously. Hope that helps!</p>