Looking for a possible major/college

College Majors Music Major
1

Hi! I’m going to be a junior this upcoming school year, and I am starting to explore my options for after high school. I know I still have plenty of time, but I am a bit worried about my options.
As of now I am looking for a music major/courses to study in college. I am possibly double majoring in math.

I’m hoping to take up singing as a career, perhaps in musical theatre or just as a vocal coach, but I’m not sure which courses I should consider.
My secondary career choices would be as an engineer or math teacher.

Also, this might not be the right category, but I am also wondering what colleges I might be able to get into based on my grades, classes, and extracurriculars (also with my music/math major in mind).

I have not taken the SAT or the ACT yet.

GPA is around 3.95 - 4.0

So far I have taken these courses, with all "A"s:

(2016-2017)
English I Honors
Biology
Geometry Advanced
Japanese I
Women’s Beginning Choir
Health/Fitness
I earned 3 credits in the Tagalog World Language Proficiency Exam

(2017-2018)
English II Honors
Chemistry Honors
Algebra II Trigonometry Honors
Japanese II
Advanced Mixed Choir
World History
with Fitness as a 0 period and Barbershop (Jazz Choir) as a 7th period

Junior year (2018-2019) I am taking:
English III AP
Physics Honors
Precalculus Honors
Music Theory AP
Advanced Mixed Choir
US History
with Barbershop as a 7th period

Barbershop has three subgroups (Mixed, Women’s, and Men’s). As a group we’ve performed at many venues such as school events, senior centers, community centers, and businesses.

Women’s Barbershop won 2nd place in the Large Ensemble Category of State Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA) during the 2017-2018 school year.

I took piano lessons for about five years. I have been singing for 13 years without private vocal lessons.

I have also voluntarily performed as a soloist at senior centers and my church. I also volunteered as a pianist for a small children’s theater production last-minute.

I’m also looking for possible programs I can enter during high school that would help me hone my singing capabilities and gain more experience as a soloist/performer.

I am so sorry if this is excess information! I just want to see if my experiences might affect my options in any way.

Please help! I really appreciate all suggestions.

2

If you are serious about a music degree, I would suggest looking for a private teacher to assist you. If that is not possible, you should talk with your music teachers at your school to get advice. Music degrees are not like academic degrees where a person could look at your classes/GPA/ACT/SAT and make a recommendation. So I would suggest a discussion with a music teacher as your first step. Good luck.

3

For starters, read the Double Degree Dilemma essay by David Lane, which is posted closer to the top of this forum. It really describes the different ways to study music as an undergraduate- BA, BM. double major major/minor, double degree, and extracurricular.

Many people on this forum are looking at conservatories and schools of music for a BM program, but some are doing double degrees (BA/BM) and some might be at an academic institution doing a double major in music and math. It is possible to study music as an academic subject- with or without a performance component (if no performance in the classroom it would certainly be possible as an extracurricular). Subjects like theory, music history (including classical, jazz and popular) composition, ethnomusicology and technology might be part of the curriculum.

In the case of a BA, or double degree, your GPA, scores etc would matter for admission, Also, these things sometimes matter less at freestanding conservatories than at schools of music within a university or college where you, in some cases, have to be admitted to both music school and academic school. It varies.

You sound to me like someone who might go to a university or liberal arts college and study math as a major, while taking some music classes, lessons, and performing in extracurriculars.

But read the essay and see who you identify with.