Help us find a fit!

College Majors Music Major
21

<p>Fiddlefrog- Interesting that the schools you mention are on our short list!</p>

<p>Cartera- We were wondering about Vanderbilt. How easy do you think it is to double major there?
Screening CD's are made and I plan to send them out this week! DVD is made for Vanderbilt because they will allow it to count as the audition. It is not a school we know a lot about and it sits further down the list right now.</p>

<p>VicAria- I will take another look at Lawrence, D qualifies for quite a bit of aid there. I think she is just worried about being in Wisconsin, which we know next to nothing about. </p>

<p>Mythmom- Thank you! We are very proud of her. Northwestern was an initial front runner but dropped off the list due to the merit aid situation.</p>

<p>Mamenyu- We do know the odds but thank you for making them more clear.
It's good to hear from someone who has been through the process.
If D gets into Harvard it is unlikely that she would turn them down even if she was not accepted to NEC or the dual degree program. We would look for a teacher in Boston. When you say "looking for kids with management" do you mean professional management?</p>

<p>Thumper1- We have not checked on the ease of dual degree at any school other than what we have read here at CC.<br>
Here is the short list: Boston University(visited, likes teachers not so sure about the environment, merit aid is excellent) Vanderbilt (starting to hear more about it, all good so far) Indiana (knows people who attend, will audition, lots of merit aid) Michigan (knows talented alum) Carnegie Mellon (visit scheduled) Rice (knows an alum who is talented BM and went on to law school, says very good things about the program. </p>

<p>Harvard/Nec, Yale</p>

<p>Bassdad- From what I have read and heard it seems like Oberlin would be a tough one to get enough aid at. D has a friend who did not get any aid at all.
However we won't really know until we apply so we may take another look at it. Thanks!</p>

<p>Mamenyu- Yale is there! We did visit and D fell in love with it. We were told that she would be able to take lessons from a professor but that was from an admissons officer so...
We thought about Princeton if there was a way to dual degree with WCC but the program only lets you take 1 class a semester at Princeton.</p>

<p>VicAria/Bassdad- I will need to take a hard look at Carnegie Mellon. We had planned (depending on Prescreen) for an audition at the end of January. </p>

<p>Peabody/JHU is out because of the merit aid situation. From what I have read you can get aid at one or the other but not both and it would be trickey to double major. The distance between the schools is also a problem.</p>

<p>I hope I didn't forget anyone! Thanks for posting, It is good to know that we are on the right track with fit!</p>

22

<p>Also really think about the demands of a BM. DD is carrying 20 credits just to manage the ones she has to take and get one distribution class in so she does not have to go more than 4 years. Could not imagine her trying to do a double unless you are planning for 5 years. Of course she could take other classes had she taken piano before now. She has to use one class for her piano proficiency until she passes the test. </p>

<p>Do check on the success rates of the doubles and check the web sites for the mandatory courses or recommended course sequence and see how much time is open. I believe some are more prescriptive than others.</p>

23

<p>Yes, professional management (this was what the Juilliard teacher said...I'm sure it is an overstatement, to some degree -- the explanation was that it is too hard to pull off unless you are already "there" as a performer).
I saw an online list of students taking lessons at Yale and almost none had lessons from professors -- I know some of the students and they are first-rate players; it may be different after a year or two. Apparently students audition when they get there, so it would be hard to find out beforehand.
Harvard does seem to be interested in having highly talented musicians in each class; and they do listen to CD submissions and factor it into admissions, along with everything else in the mix. I don't know if there is all that much added value to doing the NEC program; you can take lessons on your own and not be tied to NEC for the MM. There are a lot of teachers in the area, too.</p>

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<p>singermom1,
my son has a good friend who was offered a half-tuition (or maybe half the entire cost) merit award at Oberlin conservatory (bass, voice) but he did not apply double-degree (is a good but not stellar student). He turned it down for another conservatory but I just thought I'd mention that substantial awards (or at least one!) do exist at Oberlin for vocal performance.</p>

25

<p>I have no idea how hard it is to double major at Vanderbilt. My best friend's daughter is there on a lacrosse scholarship and it is my D's best friend's first choice. Everyone I know who goes there seems to sing its praises. BU is also a great choice - at least for the music. I have spoken to several opera singers who think it is one of the better choices anywhere - they like it better than NEC.</p>

26

<p>singermom1: My sweet little cousin (almost a niece in my mind) is a frosh at the BU Conservatory. She is brilliant! and has an interest in writing. Her choice came down to Sarah Lawrence and BU Conservatory. She adores it! She has a beautiful mezzo voice. If you wanted, I could ask her if she would cybertalk to your D.</p>

27

<p>I just remembered that cornfed's daughter is a frosh singing at Princeton, but if I'm not mistaken, her interest is in jazz.</p>

28

<p>My DD is a freshman at Vanderbilt with a double major in viola performance and political science. She loves the University, but wishes the music school were stronger. She knew its weaknesses when she made her college selection. </p>

<p>She chose Vanderbilt over other options (Rice, Northwestern, Oberlin, among others) because she felt that for her, it would be the easiest place to complete a double major in 4 years because the level of music wouldn't be terribly demanding.</p>

<p>While she has found the level of playing at Vanderbilt to be about what she expected, the raw number of music classes and hours in those classes coupled with additional practice and rehearsals is limiting her to one Political Science course a semester her freshman year.</p>

<p>She arrived at Vanderbilt with AP credit, so she still expects to graduate in 4 years with 2 degrees. She doesn't get much sleep, however!</p>

29

<p>The course requirements for a BMus are substantial -- most schools seem to require 2 years of theory and aural skills, piano proficiency, music history; that is a big difference from the BA/MM programs which involve full time study for the BA plus lessons at the conservatory, but not the theory courses, etc., (unless the student also majors in music for the BA, which is also quite demanding in terms of the number of courses required for the major). That is a trade-off, of course. And although it would be possible to do the BMus./BA program in less than 5 years with a lot of AP credits at Oberlin, for example, it would also mean being pretty sure what you were majoring in and probably restricting the number of electives outside of music and that major. So again there is a trade-off.</p>

30

<p>It is not likely one can get an MM unless one has completed the core theory and music history courses, at least passed proficiency exams equal to these. There is no escape. NASM accredited graduate degrees require equivalent musical experiences as a prerequisite, i.e. theory, history, applied study, ensemble participation, and recital performance.</p>

31

<p>For the first few years of the Juilliard-Columbia program, anyway, students admitted to the dual degree, as Freshmen, just take lessons at Juilliard, not courses, so no theory, etc. I don't know what happens after they move over to Juilliard -- at that point they may well require that students catch up on those theory courses. This is the description from the Columbia website:
"Students can participate in a joint degree program that offers students the opportunity to earn the B.A. and M.M. in five years. To apply to the joint degree program, Columbia College students must have completed 94 points of course work, including the Core Curriculum requirements and major or concentration requirements. Students then apply to Juilliard, audition at Juilliard in their junior year, and, if accepted, enter Juilliard in their senior year. Students accepted to the joint degree program will spend their senior year as well as the following year living in Juilliard dormitories, and those receiving Columbia financial aid will be subject to Juilliard’s financial aid policies during their time at Juilliard."</p>