@compmom:
With experience through my son and his friends, for music schools inside rigorous academic colleges (Michigan, Northwestern, USC, etc) if the kid is going for a BM degree they likely won’t put much of a negative on the lack of AP and honors classes, for the academic admit as long as the kid has a decent GPA (meeting their standards, or perhaps slightly less than an academic admit) and decent test scores, it likely won’t work against them in the academic admit portion. From what I have been told by admissions people at a couple of those schools, what they look for with music students is that the kid showed discipline to maintain good grades so they can handle the academic load, they would be afraid of the kid who passed the audition who had a mediocre GPA and whatnot because they might not be able to handle the core classes and the theory track and such. Not saying a kid shouldn’t take AP exams (if it helps cut down on core courses needed, that is great, too), just saying not to worry that the lack of them will hurt them, it likely won’t.
I think we agree. I don’t think your post says anything very different from mine so not sure why it is addressed to me. That said, this is a student who really likes academic challenges, so I was saying it is okay to do fewer time-consuming classes in search of a balance with music.
I think the main point here is that for a dedicated musician it is not absolutely necessary to pursue both academics and music with maximum rigor. Even elite colleges understand the trade offs and there is a move among them to encourage balance. If there are academic classes that truly interest, then dropping some music activities is a good idea. If music is the big draw, then taking a few easier classes might be a good idea. For a student who loves both, a little of the former and a little of the latter : )
@compmom:
I was agreeing with you, simply concurring with what you wrote and to support what you said, not meant as a counter response at all, cause, it wasn’t:)