My daughter will be a senior next year and wants to major in music education. She has had a year each of Honors Biology and Honors Chemistry. Next year she can be in 2 honors choirs-one is classical and jazz and the other is a show choir that is more contemporary. Or, she could take a 3rd year of science and only be in one choir. What would be her best course of action for admission universities as well as the music programs. She is not planning on any ivies.
Hi there! You will need to check the admissions web pages for the HS course requirements at the schools your D is interested in. Some require 3 years of lab science and recommend four, some only require 2 etc. She should be fine at most colleges with lab sciences through chemistry.
If she is applying to programs that require an audition, that will be the most important aspect of admission, so I’d encourage her to take senior year classes that will allow her time to focus on her audition prep, as long as the required courses are out of the way. (I’d also encourage her to take what she would enjoy!)
Can she take a science unit over the summer?
Dual enrollment?
Is she planning to take AP exams in the science classes If so and she does well enough to place out of certain courses, that means fewer courses needed for graduation and/or more electives available in music ed or straight music courses.
I personally am a fan of young people doing what they love, first and foremost. Doing two choirs, one classical and jazz, and one contemporary show choir, sound like a great way to develop as a musician/singer/performer and a great way to spend senior year, which is so full of stress.
Music education is usually offered at a university music school, not a freestanding conservatory, I believe. So academics do have some role in admissions, if she has to get into both the university and the music school.
Taking two choirs shows a certain “passion” and commitment to music, which is good for admissions, but I have no idea how it would affect music ed. I know a lot of schools like to see kids make sacrifices for music.
Taking two choirs may or may not help with audition, at least in terms of experience and confidence.
I think it is a great idea to check with schools too. State schools may actually be more rigid about course requirements than some privates. Even Ivies are sometimes flexible about requirements if there is a good reason for a student not to meet them.
If she does end up needing a third science, there are several options for taking science other than taking science at school. Dual enrollment, CLEP, online,. Believe it or not, there are online labs. You would have to check with your high school to make sure they would accept credits. Online science classes can be found at Virtual High School https://www.virtualhighschool.com/, community colleges, many universities. Aventa Learning is another online program that has a lot of flexibility in terms of when things are handed in. I am probably behind the times at this point so do your own research…
I would suggest she do the science that has the least amount of work and stress if time is a problem for her with two choirs. Unless, of course, she loves science or wants to major in STEM 
There is a solution to every problem like this, and colleges will appreciate the effort to solve the conflict so as to do what she really loves to do, music.