Hello,
I know that for a non-music school, Columbia has a very vibrant jazz scene. As a top student and very serious jazz musician (I am also applying to top conservatories), Columbia seems like a interesting place for someone like me. When I was filling out the common app for Columbia, one of the majors listed was jazz studies. Do they even offer a jazz studies major? What would happen if I listed it as my first choice when applying?
Yes, there’s a jazz studies major. It takes a quick Google search to find this:
http://bulletin.columbia.edu/columbia-college/departments-instruction/jazz-studies/
If you listed it as your top choice when you applied, then the admissions officers would be aware that your top choice of study would be Jazz Studies. I’m not sure what type of answer you’re looking for there
Actually, this is inaccurate information. If you read the linked page a little more carefully, you’ll see that this is a special concentration in jazz studies, not a major, and it is designed to be combined with a major either in music or in a non-music field. As it says on the page linked, “The special concentration in jazz studies is designed for music majors as well as for those majoring in other fields.” @piranhavator, I don’t think the major you list will have much or any impact on your chances of admission, but you should not list jazz studies as your first choice major, as it will indicate that you have not done your homework.
As for the jazz program at Columbia, it is terrific, but you should recognize that it’s not the same as a conservatory/music school experience. That said, in addition to the jazz resources at the school, there is a wide range of jazz resources outside the school. Including a joint program with Juilliard if you’re lucky enough to get in to that (though it’s a long-shot so you certainly can’t count on it). My son graduated from Columbia and is now pursuing music full time. If you check my posting history, you’ll find a number of posts in which I discuss the Columbia jazz program, as well as the challenges of pursuing music at a conservatory level within the context of an academic college.
Hi! Columbia freshman here. I know several professors in jazz studies, and I can tell you that we have one of, if not the best jazz studies programs in the country. Two of our profs, Bob O’Meally and Krin Gabbard, basically invented the discipline in the '80s-‘90s. However, as other posters have mentioned, be aware that this is a jazz studies program, which means it focuses on looking at jazz from various academic lenses—historical, literary, cultural, even scientific (for example, the jazz and neuroscience departments worked on studying what happens to jazz musicians’ brains while they improvise). The concentration itself isn’t aimed that much towards aspiring musicians themselves. Most of the old professors who teach classes listed under jazz were originally history/english/etc professors who switched departments decades ago when the department was created. O’Meally wrote his PhD thesis (I believe) on the references to jazz in Ellison’s Invisible Man.
Since it sounds like you’re an aspiring musician, if you’re confident that what you really want is a musical education, Columbia might not be the best place for you. You could consider the Columbia-Juilliard dual-degree program, which is excellent, but you should go to a top conservatory. If however you want to study music somewhere less good than top conservatories, but also get a world-class academic education, you could definitely major in music here with a concentration in jazz studies while getting the experience of the Core/Columbia classes and graduate with an Ivy League degree.
It’s also worth thinking about the fact that NYC is literally the center of jazz (and of a lot of other genres). You’d undoubtedly find concerts and internships more accessible here than anywhere else.