Match Me Rising Junior

Chance Me / Match Me!
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Demographics:

  • Gender: Female
  • Race/Ethnicity: White
  • Residence: Ohio
  • Type of School: Small Public School

Intended Major(s)- Undecided, Maybe (Bio)Chemistry, Microbiology, Neuroscience, Psychology, Music Cognition, Music Therapy, Music

ACT: 32, will take again next year with a goal of 34

UW/W GPA and Rank: 4.0 UW, 4.025 W, Tied at 1/123

Coursework: Unable to take AP freshman or sophomore year,

(Planned course load is all but one offered AP courses at my school)

Junior Year- AP Bio, Adv. Chem, CCP Microbiology, AP Gov, AP Lang, CCP Pre-Calc

Senior Year- CCP Physics, AP Stats, AP Calc BC, AP Lit, AP Psych, CCP Anatomy

Awards:

  • Selected for 26 virtual honor bands across 13 different states
  • Selected for a total of 5 in-person honor bands with universities before COVID
  • All-County Band all 3 years, 1st chair clarinet freshmen year
  • Published digital art in an art book
  • Most Outstanding Musician Award at school 3 years straight
  • Superior at Solo and Ensemble for 4 years
  • Various science fair awards at the district level and superior ratings at the state level 2 years, participated at state for 4

Extracurriculars:

  • Field Commander of school’s marching band
  • Member of local university’s upper-level performance youth ensembles
  • Lead Tenor Sax in school’s top jazz group
  • Internship for music consulting firm and record label (also music forum moderator)
  • Content creator (of digital courses) intern for wellness and mental health professional training organization
  • Virtual music instructor through non-profit (volunteer hours)
  • Science Club Officer
  • Student Ambassador (Like student council)
  • Member of a community band
  • Member of a chamber ensemble
  • Member of French Club and Art Club

Cost: No idea. My parents make about 170k combined, so the constraints aren’t strict, but it would still be good not to spend too much.

Essays/LORs/Other: I’m a decent writer, so I’m not too worried about essays. Not sure about a personal statement. I should also be good for LORs; I should be able to get good ones from my band director and bio teacher.

Schools: This list is not well-thought-out and needs research and work. Figured I’d put it anyway. I’m also interested in the Ivies.

Safety/Match:

  • Ohio University
  • College of Wooster
  • Oberlin
  • Miami University, Ohio

Reach:
Northwestern
UMich
WashU

I need schools that are strong in both music and science, since I want to pursue both. I’d like schools that are good for double majoring music and science or even a double degree. Any school suggestions?What are your thoughts?

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As ideas for schools to research, look into Skidmore, Wesleyan, Smith and Hamilton.

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Look at Lawrence in Wisconsin, Sarah Lawrence, U Rochester, BU, U Denver. Also the dual degree program at Oberlin is probably a reach not a safety/match.

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Do you plan to continue in marching band in college?

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Take a look at UChicago’s music program and see if you like it.

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Yes, definitely.

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Rhodes College - they also have a Music and Psychology major
Northeastern has a Psych and music major as well

OSU is worth a look, of course, as well as UMN.

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Consider my suggestions to be in need of refinement, then. (Athough they all would be excellent for science and music, with curricula sufficiently flexible to allow for the study of both.)

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Your list is solid/accurate Your safeties are safe except oberlin a match. Your reaches are that. If you are looking at Michigan then why not Ohio State so it’s in state. You have Miami. I’d probably add OSU and drop OU which is an overall lesser school.

You might add IU (safety) and U Miami (match) as other solid programs.

Others have you great ideas as well but you will get into great schools, and some with merit. Congrats.

For music therapy add W Michigan, Florida State and for a small school Evansville. ASU with Barrett Honors is also worth a look.

It’s great you are checking early. You’re well on your way to fantastic success. But enjoy your junior year. You have lots of time and a lot can change in the next year.

Research, maybe visit a few to see what size college you like. But don’t overdo it. Enjoy this year and start grinding at Spring Break with visits and then next Summer.

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I would get a better idea on your budget. While $170k/year sounds great, it’s not enough to be full pay at many schools. We make more than that and have contributed to 529s since my daughters were born and they will not be able to apply to top/elite schools - $70,000-$80,000 per year is just not doable.

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Boy, howdy, you sure were smart! I truly wish that I had been that foresighted. Now, I’m quickly having to catch up for lost time.

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There are excellent liberal arts colleges for combining music and STEM, such as Lawrence, St. Olaf, and Oberlin; but if marching band is a priority for you, you may not find what you’re looking for at these schools.

I agree that it’s unclear why you aren’t looking at OSU, which has great programs in all of your areas of interest. For OOS public U’s, look at CU Boulder and U of Utah - both strong in both music and STEM, with great marching band programs. In California, San Jose State might appeal.

In the reach category with Northwestern, consider USC and maybe Vanderbilt. USC especially tries to make cross-disciplinary programs accessible.

As mentioned above, U of Miami could be a good target. U of Denver also.

The thing you need to think about is whether you’re willing to invest the time and money in a five-year program. Studying instrumental music is time-consuming. STEM is time-consuming. Marching band is time-consuming in its own right. I don’t see you being able to do everything you’re, hoping to do, in four years. At least not if you hope to do all of it well, and have a healthy quality of life. This thread may help you to bring things into focus a little: Double Degree Dilemma essay (written by David Lane)

In your situation, I would seriously consider looking for an affordable school where taking more time to graduate wouldn’t be a big financial blow. (Which is to say that a school like USC could be amazing for what you want, but if you were stretching to pay for it, the need for a do-or-die completion of your degree in four years could negate the benefits.) Your in-state options may be difficult to beat, for this reason. The school of music at tOSU has a BA program that’s specifically designed for dual-degree students, and still gives you access to a serious music performance program of study (which is not the case with all music BA programs). There’s also a BM specializing in jazz studies. And tOSU is very well-respected for STEM, and has a top-notch marching band. They have it all; the challenge is figuring out how you as an individual can do it all, without cloning yourself… but they do make the various options as accessible as possible on their end.

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Definitely read the Double Degree Dilemma essay which is really about different ways to study music or combine it with other interests.

Your options are a BA in music, a double major music and something else, a music minor; a BM degree, double major within the BM degree; a double degree BA/BM or BA/MM; or A BA or BS in another area of study with continued lessons and extracurricular performance.

A BA in music is 14-1/3 classes in music and a BM is 2/3-3/4 classes in music.

If you try to do science and music, there can be scheduling issues with labs and rehearsals. A double degree can help.

If you don’t do a BM program at a conservatory or school of music (freestanding or within a university), you need to find out if the best teachers and performance opportunities go to the BM students. In that sense, if you want lessons and extracurricular music, it can sometimes be better to go to a school that does not have a BM program- but there are exceptions!

Double degrees are supported at Oberlin, Lawrence, Ithaca, Tufts/NEC, Harvard/NEC and many others. Bard requires conservatory students to do a double degree.

Oberlin has enhanced their BA in Musical Studies program to increase access for non-BM students to the resources of the conservatory.

If you want marching band, you would look at different schools, larger schools like state schools and maybe Ivies.

For Harvard and some other schools that meet full need, an income of $170k would be within range for financial aid and I believe the cost for a year would be around $17k.

It is good to get clear on what you want but also okay to apply to a few different degree options and decide in the spring of senior year.

Personally, I think music therapy and even the combo of music and neuroscience can wait for grad school if you prefer. Music and psychology would be a great double major within a BM and an interesting double degree for a BA/BM.

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I’ve moved on from my children to my future grandchildren’s 529, especially now that Colorado has capped the tax deduction at $15K per year/per child. Catching up could leave you without the full deduction.

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Why, oh why, would Colorado do something like this?!?

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Forgot to mention that if you do apply to a BA or BS degree program, without auditions, you can submit a music supplement with recording/video, music resume (you have a lot of awards), and letters of recommendation related to music,

Also, this was implied- but maybe post on the music major forum too. You don’t have to major in music to benefit from that forum.

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