I think most HS’s have a junior meeting with students and parents, we were given a detailed timeline on when things needed to be done, like signing up for testing and requesting LOR’s. My kids usually were in full college application mode the summer before senior year (my kids ranged from one application ED to 20 applications plus extra essays for honors and scholarships).
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I agree with a lot of what has been said so far. We started with local casual visits. Within 45 minutes from home, we have an urban state school and several private schools of various sizes and urban/suburban/rural locations. D20 very early on had a strong preference for type of locale and size. She also was adamant about being a certain radius from home. We went to an actual info session for a LAC and she felt they were speaking her language. Working within the geography/size/LAC vibe, we built a list of options to consider more seriously.
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That definitely didn’t happen last year for my D22, due to COVID I guess. She did request a meeting with her guidance counselor at the beginning of this year and I think that helped her more than me nagging her about it.
@alexandria1 I would have him request a college prep meeting with his guidance counselor if he hasn’t already met with them.
There is a thread here for Parents of 2022 that might be helpful to you. Parents of the HS Class of 2022
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Is he interested in being in a big marching band, a pep band, other big musical groups like orchestra? If so, he might want to look at big schools by what kind of bands they offer. Some big bands, like Stanford, can be more of a ‘jazzy’ sort and other like Ohio State more the traditional marching band. I had friend in bands at big D1 schools that were not music majors but loved their time in band and it acted as their social group (for many years after; still hanging out with those friends 50 years later).
Denver University has a big music school, but no football so no marching band. Several smaller bands of all styles play at hockey and basketball games, lacrosse and soccer games. They have many concert groups. I’m sure many schools have music groups like that and also very serious music majors too.
I’d pick Western Washington, just because it is so beautiful.
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We didn’t really have much in person school last year, so the college ball seems to have been dropped unfortunately.
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That’s a good idea! He isn’t too excited to hear this stuff from me.
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Thank you for mentioning that…I forgot to add that he does do marching band and loves it.
And Western is where my husband and I met way back in the dark ages, so I’m pretty fond of that school myself. 
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I would suggest posting on the music major forum for ideas. You do not have to plan to major in music to benefit from that forum. Of course it is helpful if you do want to major in music, too!
The Double Degree Dilemma essay linked above by @thumper1 can also be found in the music major forum in the “Read Me” thread.
One category left out of that essay is majoring in something else and continuing with lessons and extracurricular performance, as well as taking music electives if there is space. Minoring is also an option. Just want to add that that path works for many too.
BM program is 2/3-3/4 music classes. That usually involves prescreening and auditions. A BA program is usually 1/4-1/3 classes in music and may or may not have a performance component. The BA usually includes theory, composition, technology, ethnomusicology, music history and performance may be integrated into some of those classes.
Anyone applying for a BA in music or a BA/BS in any subject can submit a music supplement with a recording/video, music resume and letters of recommendation from teacher(s) or director- if justified by the talent. Again, you do not have to plan to major in music to benefit from submitting a supplement.
He can find jazz studies programs at many schools. If he truly wants to do a BM program at a conservatory or school of music, whether freestanding or part of a college/university, he will still have access to other fields, grad and professional schools, including medical, law, business, nursing and so on.
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Garfield or Roosevelt? LOL - those are the schools I think of with HS jazz and Washington state.
We’re in the Seattle area and my D19 has a friend who sounds a lot like your son. He is going to St. Olaf in Minnesota and is very involved in music there, but not majoring in it. He got good merit and music money from the school. He really likes it there - even the snow!
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If your son plays in one of the Seattle area bands that routinely make it into Essentially Ellington, then he’s really good. He can use that high achievement in music to shoehorn himself into a more competitive school, or into a scholarship at a big football school that values its marching band. I don’t know where his GPA puts him, in terms of class rank/percentile. At some schools, a 3.9 is only the top half of the class. At others, it’s top 5%. You need to find that out. Standardized test score?
U Washington in Seattle is his affordable reach/match, and a very good school for most students. He needs to choose an affordable safety in Washington State, too. The Western States consortium is an option for him, but I don’t know if it gives him in-state rates at any school he wants and can get into. You’ll have to see if this is limited to certain majors not found at Washington State schools, and whether it only gives him 150% of in-state tuition. If he can get into U Washington, is it worth it to pay more for any other Western Consortium school?
U Michigan has a strong jazz program, is an overall excellent U, has of course a strong marching band, and most importantly, they weigh the audition more heavily than the academic record. U Mich has routinely been a favorite for the strongest jazz players with mediocre academic records from my kids’ school with a high-level jazz program (also a frequent Ellington band). It’s one of the few highly competitive schools that takes B students who are A+ musicians.
He does NOT sound like a conservatory candidate. Sounds to me as if a better option for him is a good, large U with a strong jazz program, and a great teacher for his instrument, with whom he would like to study, where he could double major in performance music and something else, or continue studying and playing performance music, while majoring in something else. The reason I say go big (flagship U) is that they offer lots of majors, and he has no idea yet what he wants to do.
He’ll probably get merit money at less competitive schools, but if he wants to continue playing jazz, he probably is better off being in a large city, where there are gig opportunities, than in a remote location.
If you post in the music forum, identifying his instrument and jazz, you might find someone with helpful, recent knowledge.
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He’s at Roosevelt. Definitely a good school if your kid is a music kid!
St. Olaf’s…I wonder what made him choose that school? One thing that confuses me about this process is how students come up with these universities around the country that I’ve never even heard of!
Thanks for all the input! I think your suggestions are very sound. One of his older band friends just headed off to UM this week, and that seems like a great school. I suspect he might want to stay closer to home though, which makes UW also seem like a solid option.
And you’re right, he’s definitely not interested in applying to a conservatory. Several of the kids who graduated last year are going to those kind of schools (including Julliard and Berklee) but he is not at their level. Enjoys his video game time too much. 
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He should be aware that at some schools that do have a BM program, including UW, the best teachers and performance opportunities go to the BM students. He could, for instance, have a grad student teacher. That can work out fine. And this is not an issue at some schools. But it is one thing to check out before applying,
St. Olaf is pretty well known for music, especially I think choral.
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St Olaf is top of mind for excellent musicians who want to be surrounded by music/musicians and continue performing at a high level… without majoring in it.
They’re good for math, premed, the arts, foreign language/international study, environnemental science.
Aspiring lawyers would participate in the Great Conversation or American Conversation.
Lawrence, in Wisconsin, also has strong music/liberal arts.
UPuget Sound is closer to you and similar.
WWU, UWash would likely be on his list as long as he’s reached out to the band leaders and knows the process for music classes/lessons for non majors. Some universities with BMs/conservatories may restrict what is available.
Look into the Honors colleges at both.
He should get on the mailing list for all these universities.
Run the NPC for each university listed on this thread. To find the NPC type “zzz college NPC”. Each university will likely offer different estimates so do not assume that because the first 2 may be similar, all will be.
You could plan a trip to Whitman, UPuget Sound, WWU, and UWash. Register for the official tour, see if you can have an “honors college” session as Wwu and UW, contact admissions well ahead of time to see if you could have lunch with a student or if you could meet with music instructors.
Have him take notes about what he likes.
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I can’t help a ton as we are non musical (playing, that is) but wanted you to know that your son isn’t alone in terms of not being totally dialed into the college search. It is still like pulling teeth with my kiddo, unfortunately. He tells me he feels as if he has hardly been in HS (due to covid) so it is hard for him to focus on college.
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That is why I started the kids on musical instruments! I didn’t want them to waste all their time on video games. They were all good, all played in the town’s powerhouse jazz program, and classical too. The oldest? Despite my best efforts, he wound up with a serious video game addiction! The middle one? Obsessive Linguist, embarking on a good career. The youngest made it to an Ivy, boosted by that huge music spike. So I guess that no matter how you parent, they’re going to wind up being whoever they were meant to be.
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Lawrence, St. Olaf and Puget Sound all have BM programs so, again, you would need to check on the teachers and performances available to non-BM students, and students not majoring in music for the BA either.
Lawrence Jazz & Improvisational Music | Lawrence University
Note this: In September of 2019, the Lawrence Jazz Department introduced their new Bachelor of Musical Arts Degree in Jazz and Contemporary Improvisation , which allows students interested in jazz and contemporary improvisational music the great flexibilty to explore and develop their own unique musical path. More information about this new degree and how to apply can be found here.
At St. Olaf, BA in music and BM students audition into their music programs, and they do have jazz studies. What is available to non-music majors? Degree Programs and Majors – Music Scholarships (stolaf.edu)
Puget Sound has this:
MINOR IN MUSIC WITH APPLIED STUDIES
- Two units Theory: MUS 101/103, 102/104
- Two units musicology and/or ethnomusicology, MUS 100 (first or second year only), or MUS 123 (must be taken before MUS 101/103)
- One unit Applied Music: MUS 111 through 212
- One unit Music elective (MUS 100 may be taken only in the first or second year) or HUM 315 or 316
- Each Music with Applied Studies minor shall register for credit and maintain membership for at least four semesters in the large university music ensemble (band, orchestra, choir or Accompanying Ensemble; Jazz Orchestra for pianists and guitarists) appropriate to the student’s major instrument and ability.
All in all, in many cases, a student who does not want to major in music may do better at a school that does not have a BM program, but there may be exceptions.
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My S22 is behind on the college search as well. He is also a musician — obsessed with DCI/drumline and also plays jazz. We have looked at Lawrence, Bard, and UPS. He isn’t sure whether he wants a music major, but is 100% sure he wants to continue with it as an extracurricular.
My D20 is actually in the music program at UPS so please message me if you’d like any insights. She was a BM but recently switched to a BA Music.
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Time Line
Junior year
- Take the PSAT at school in the fall. This one will count for National Merit Scholarships.
- Apply for leadership positions in your clubs. Even if you don’t get to be President, take leadership of a project.
- Take the SAT sometime in the winter/spring of Junior year.
- Visit some local colleges in the fall/early spring like your State flagship, a smaller private school…see what you like and don’t like about them.
- Come up with a list of what you want in a college…major, location, urban/rural, size, etc etc (See CHOOSING COLLEGES)
- Based on that, use Naviance, College Board, Fiske Guide, etc. to come up with a list of colleges
- If possible, take a trip and visit more schools during spring break. If you can’t, don’t worry. Apply and then visit your favorites during Admitted Students Day.
- Talk to teachers about writing recommendations for you. Ideally, they are Junior year teachers in STEM and a humanities
Junior year summer,
- Make a list of all your Extracurriculrs (ECs), when you did them, about how many hours a week, and descriptions.
- You only get 10 slots for ECs on common app, so start categorizing them. Like you may want to categorize all music ECs together, or split them up somewhat.
- Make sure to mention what leadership you have in those ECs, even if not a formal position…and talk about what you did as a leader. Leadership can be President of a club or Captain of the Team or Section Leader in Band. But it can also be:
* Student involved in ethnic community center for years and then is asked to teach little kids
* Actual officer in a club
* Watching little brother after school and encouraging parents to sign up brother for sports team and took him to practice
* Within a club, organized an activity for that club
* Led a community service/Church activity
* Lead singer of a band sings, chooses set list, organizes transportation for other members
* Summer Camp counselor
* Boy Scout Eagle Award/Girl Scout Gold Award
* EMT Cadet
* Boys State/Girls State
* Tutors others - Write a draft of your essay this summer. Really. Believe me you will be SO happy you did this when you get back Senior year. SO HAPPY. See ESSAY Section.
- Give it to your GC/English teacher to review in the fall.
- If you haven’t already, choose who you want to ask to write recommendations for you. If your major is STEM, ask a Math and a science teacher.
- See what your HS Guidance office wants you to do for college apps…(look on their website)…Do they want you to complete a brag sheet or something else to help the GC?
- Visit some local colleges if you haven’t already.
- Find out from your parents how much they can spend on college each year
- Run the Net Price Calculator on those colleges to see if they are affordable
- If not, look at colleges that give automatic scholarships and see if they are good for you Automatic Full Tuition / Full Ride Scholarships - Financial Aid and Scholarships - College Confidential Forums
- See CHOOSING AN AFFORDABLE COLLEGE Section
DO NOT APPLY TO A SCHOOL YOU WOULDN’T ATTEND. Also known as “Love thy Safety”. Pick your Safety first. I don’t know how many stories I read about people who didn’t get into an of their reaches and what they thought were matches and are only accepted to the safety and have a fit…find one that you like.
Yes this seems like a lot of work…but imagine doing it when you have your toughest classes and ECs and leadership too!
Senior Year
- Choose a rigorous schedule, but not one so rigorous you will regret it in the spring when you get senioritis.
- Take the SAT one more time if you want.
- Apply to colleges using the Common App. https://www.commonapp.org/ See ESSAY
- Make sure you have safety, matches and reaches.
- Apply to at least one school early action…particularly the safeties so you have an acceptance in the bag.
- Continue doing well in your courses.
Essay
Read this:
Write the essay only you could write:
“It boils down to this: the essay that gets you in is the essay that no other applicant could write. Is this a trick? The rest of this guide gives you the best strategies to accomplish this single most important thing: write the essay no one else could write.
If someone reading your essay gets the feeling some other applicant could have written it, then you’re in trouble. Why is this so important? Because most essays sound like they could have been written by anyone. Remember that most essays fail to do what they should: replace numbers (SAT/GPA) with the real you.
Put yourself in the shoes of an admissions officer. She’s got limited time and a stack of applications. Each application is mostly numbers and other stuff that looks the same. Then she picks up your essay. Sixty seconds later, what is her impression of you? Will she know something specifically about you? Or will you still be indistinguishable from the hundreds of other applicants she has been
reading about?”
Choosing colleges
You should apply to Safeties (your grades/SAT is well above average AND YOU CAN AFFORD IT), Matches and Reaches. Don’t go crazy on how many colleges you apply to…it takes a lot of effort if each college
Make sure you do not apply to any college you would not attend.
Don’t always assume that going to the highest ranked college is the best.
Find out what your budget is. Ask your parents what your yearly budget is for college.
Strategies for Affordable Colleges
If you are told there is no money, or you don’t know how much money, or there is a limited amount of money you need to choose colleges that are affordable for you family. For your parents, it used to be possible to work your way through college. This is no longer the case.
Financial Need
If your family has financial need (according to FAFSA/CSS, not what you think!), you can get need-based grants.
* Look at Net Price Calculators on colleges to see if you would get need based financial aid.
* Apply to Colleges that meet Full need https://blog.prepscholar.com/colleges-that-offer-complete-financial-aid
Merit
Another way to get scholarship is through merit scholarships. Merit scholarships are used to attract strong students to a college. Ivy League schools do not give out merit scholarships because all students are strong that go there.
* Look for scholarships
* Apply to colleges where your stats are significantly above average to get merit scholarships
* Look for colleges with auto-scholarship based on gpa/sat http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com/
* Study for SAT on Khan Academy to increase your SAT score
Lower Cost School
Another way to save money on colleges is look for colleges with a lower sticker price. Also you can get credits for almost free in HS and then use them in college and attend for fewer years.
- Look for cheaper schools. In-state public schools are usually much cheaper than private/out of state schools
- Look to get as many college credits as you can in HS.
- Take AP or IB classes and do well on the AP/IB tests so you can get college credit. Find colleges that give extra credit for IB (e.g., SUNY Binghamton). If you have enough you may be able to graduate early. *Unless you want to go to medical school. Medical school don’t want you to fulfill the requirements of Bio, Chem, Org Chem, Physics with AP.
- Your state may have a “running start” or “dual enrollment” program where you can take college courses for free in HS
- Go to community college for two years, and then transfer to a state school
What about Loans?
You really want to avoid taking out big loans to pay for college. Your parents have to co-sign any loan you take over the Federal Direct Loan (Starting at $5500 and going up to $7000 as a senior). Student Loans are one of the only type of loans that cannot be discharged in a bankruptcy.
Aspects of College to Consider
There are 2000+ 4 year colleges in the USA. Think about the following to narrow down colleges to look at.
* Net Cost.
* Career goal – e.g., Architect, Lawyer, Doctor, Engineer, etc.
* Major – this may often correlate with your career goal.
* Geographic location – how far from home do you want to be? What is the weather like?
* Urban/rural/suburban
* Number of Undergraduates - Big/Small. Do you want a small Liberal Arts College (LAC) or a big State School?
* GPA/SAT/ACT scores
* Faculty Student Ratio
* % of students that live on campus
* % of students Graduating after 4 years
* How big is the department for your major? If you are majoring in something that only has a couple of professors, that does not bode well.
* Housing- do they offer all 4 years? freshman only?
* Is this a commuter school? (do students go home on weekends)
* Surrounding area - what is the nearby town/amenities like?
* Transportation - how would you get home
* AP Credits - can you get credit for AP tests you have taken
* Male/Female ratio
* Greek life - what % of students are in greek life. Do you care?
* Parking
* Diversity
* Safety
Applying for Financial Aid
If your parents are separated or divorced, the custodial parent is responsible for filling out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). The custodial parent for federal student aid purposes is the parent with whom you lived the most during the past 12 months. (The twelve month period is the twelve month period ending on the FAFSA application date, not the previous calendar year.) Note that this is not necessarily the same as the parent who has legal custody. If you did not live with one parent more than the other, the parent who provided you with the most financial support during the past twelve months should fill out the FAFSA
http://www.finaid.org/questions/divorce.phtml
FAFSA:
https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/sites/default/files/2019-20-fafsa.pdf
“I am currently in a sticky situation. My parents have been divorced for 10 years. My dad is disabled and unemployed. My mom is remarried. I live with my mom and my step-dad the entire year. My step-dad, who claims me on his taxes, makes a lot of money (more than $150,000). Unfortunately he will not be contributing at all to my college fund. My real dad will be contributing a little (about $500). When I fill out the FAFSA, do I need to include my step-dad or my real dad? Both will contribute very little. If I need to include my step-dad, my EFC will be considerably less because of the large amount of money he makes, even though he will contribute nothing. What should I do? I look like a little rich kid when in actuality, I only have help from my mom, who already has to deal with my three siblings. — Chris G. “
Since you live with your mother the entire year, your mother is responsible for completing the FAFSA. Since she has remarried, your step-father’s financial information must be reported on the FAFSA, per section 475(f)(3) of the Higher Education Act of 1965. (Your biological father’s information is not reported.) Your step-father’s refusal to contribute to your education is irrelevant. Likewise, a prenuptial agreement has no impact on this requirement. Your step-father’s information would still be required on the FAFSA even if he didn’t claim you as an exemption on his income tax return. This means you will qualify for very little need-based financial aid, as your financial need will be based on your step-father’s income.
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Yes, that is pretty much how my son feels. I’m hoping that being back in the building full time this week will help give him a nudge.