Doing some research as our child is a junior and beginning to get some test scores back. He’s just beginning to look more at what schools he may be interested in, so we’re doing some research across different areas. School type he wants is medium-larger likely public but privates are ok too (depends on $$), and wants a school that has a BA or BM in music but will probably double major in something else like math as well. We are in NC so looking at UNC, App State but are open to other places around the Southeast or country should significant $$ opportunities be there. Though he probably wants to stay closer to NC rather than farther.
SAT: 1450 (780 math, 670 reading). He will probably take again after some prep to see how much he can boost reading. He said he wants to raise 50-100 pts.
ACT: 34
GPA: 4.56 W/4.0 UW, all A’s through 3 years
AP: Will eventually have 11, scores are 5s and 4s thus far
Dual Enr: two advanced math classes anticipated next year via NCSU
ECs: Chorus all 4 years, chorus & EC leadership positions, some drama experience. No sports. Some volunteer work.
Honors: NC Governors School, state and national honors choirs
I have seen some merit opportunities at UofSC, some at UNC but seems pretty limited unless you get a big one (Morehead Cain, Robertson). I doubt he would be in the running for Morehead Cain because they have a physical fitness component but maybe he’ll try.
Trying to compile a list of potential merit friendly schools, are they automatic or extra process required, and so on. Figured I’d start here to see what others know already.
I am going to second the University of Alabama suggestion. Auburn and University of South Carolina also offer automatic scholarships based on stats. Clemson is less generous and not automatic. Emory and Vanderbilt offer a handful of full scholarships, but of course that is like winning the lottery. Same with UVA.
There are also some small private schools such as Rhodes, Furman and Washington and Lee that are known for merit scholarships
If you are open to the southwest too, ASU would probably offer him half-tuition thanks to his stats. However, unless he gets a stackable scholarship on top of half-tuition, the total cost would be slightly higher than his in-state options.
ASU is very close to Phoenix Sky Harbor airport and one can take the light rail between the airport and the campus ($2 full price, $1 for students), so getting there is very easy.
You might take a look at the College of Charleston, a public university of about 10K students that has an honors college which awards a good number of merit scholarships; it also has a female/male ratio (2 to 1) that would be advantageous to your son.
In addition to some of the other public universities mentioned, you might look at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville; UTK has an honors programs, and it can offer some competitive merit scholarships as well (although perhaps not as much as Bama or USCe). Ole Miss can be generous in merit money also. I don’t know what East Carolina offers in merit money, but our church choir director – who is excellent – graduated from there back in the 1980s.
In terms of private (and smaller) schools, Birmingham Southern College has (or has had) a good choral music program; so it might be worth a look. I believe that they have revisited the tuition/merit money issue in the recent past, so that they may have eliminated merit awards but reduced overall tuition and fees. DePauw University in Indiana also has a strong music program; but I don’t know what its current posture is on merit awards, and it may be getting far afield geographically for your son. Furman can award some significant merit aid, but these scholarships can be very competitive; if your son received one, you would need to crunch some numbers to determine whether the COA would fall within your acceptable parameters.
What do others think about some of the major merit opportunities? Such as Foundation Fellowship at UGA, any of the Vandy options (Ingram, Vanderbilt, Chancellors), Morehead or Robertson at UNC, other?? I think our child is maybe within reach of the stats required but it’s hard to know where to focus the energy towards and it would be probably impossible to apply for all of them.
Be sure to look at the music major threads including the thread about double major pinned to the top.
As a music major, he will need to audition for entrance into all the music schools and it is not just about gpa which adds to the complexity in college decision making.
Just an FYI. A BM in music usually requires an audition. Schools that require an audition really aren’t safe bets. Plus at some, one can get music performance merit money but not need based aid as well. Music performance merit money comes in all sizes, shapes and colors!
My one kid’s second choice college was University of South Carolina. In 2005 or so, if someone got over a certain amount in scholarships, they also got an instate tuition rate. My kid surprisingly received the McKissick Scholarship which reduced the cost to the instate rate plus gave a few thousand additional scholarship dollars a year. She wanted to continue to play her instrument and this school, at that time, allowed students from any major to audition for all of their ensembles. She was even allowed to take a trial lesson from the applied faculty on her instrument. The director of music even suggested she apply for a departmental scholarship in the music department…which would have added an additional $1000 a year to her award.
I would contact South Carolina music department and find out what their options are now. My info is old info, but betting there is something similar.
If your kid applies to SC, make sure they complete the honors college/scholarship application form. Many of their scholarships are just based on the strength of the application…but some require this additional application and it’s a doozie!
@62nc , you should post this on the music board too. Getting a double major when it includes a music BS degree can be hard to accomplish in 4 years. Music BS programs have lots of requirements that he cannot test out of for the most part. Not saying he cannot do it, but some schools are better about it than others. For example, Rice discourages it. FSU would be very hard. Oberlin encourages it. Vandy says they do but in practice it depends on the professor, etc… The good news is that combining a music major with high academic stats can result in academic merit scholarships from the university and talent scholarships from the music school, which often stack. Is his instrument voice? U of South Carolina seems to really want male VP applicants and will throw money at the right kid. Miami and Furman will also give scholarships for both academic and talent. Clemson does not have a music school. Good luck!
As you are a North Carolina resident, you should definitely apply for the Morehead-Cain. As for other schools, visiting them before applying might lend some clarity to where your son wishes to attend, and thus reduce the number of separate scholarships that you would have to apply for (which wouldn’t include automatic merit awards, of course).
I think all top scholarships are a lottery. Don’t count on any one of them but you can’t win if you don’t play. Have a few safety/matches that are affordable and he’ll attend. After that shoot for the moon. You can’t hit a home run if you don’t swing the bat. That said, you have to do some research. Applications and essays can eat-up a lot of time and effort.
Right now his 34 ACT is better than his SAT. A score of 1500/34 seems to be the minimum for big scholarships from the schools my S20 applied.
FSU and Miami came to mind. S20 liked Miami. It seemed pretty open and flexible with majors. I think they have a solid music program. S21 likes FSU but he’s more artsy. He was accepted for Honors and the OOS tuition waver so very affordable.
One other thing to consider are his AP’s. It could put him in a better position to double major or at least spend more time doing something he enjoys like music. Public schools are typically more generous with advanced placement. Depending on which AP’s he has and the school he could walk on with 30-40 credits.
AP credits do help but the problem is a BS in music has so many required courses that there is little time for enough other courses to double major even where AP credits give one a head start. But each school is different. Dive into the school academic section of their sites and see what they give for AP and how many credits they require one take for the music degree and whatever else he is interested in.