Music and Something Else

College Majors Music Major
1

<p>You may in fact be the answer to my dreams!</p>

<p>I am looking for a college / university / whatever that has really good academics AND has a music school or conservatory attached that I can get a dual degree at. I'm about to tear my hair out, because I'm a rising senior and don't even know where I want to visit, let alone apply.
I just finished a program at the Tanglewood Institute for the Young Artists Vocal Program, if that does anything. I also have a 4.0 GPA, and have been on scholarship to a private school for all of highschool. From what I've heard, I need a degree in vocal performance (I think that's a BM) and a BA in something as well, seeing as I don't want to die poor and lonely.</p>

<p>HELP!!!!!!</p>

<p>THANK YOU!!!</p>

2

<p>Oberlin has a dual degree program. As does Harvard/NEC and Columbia/Juilliard (Which the students affectionately refer to as Jailyard :D ).</p>

3

<p>I think the University of Michigan fits your criteria.</p>

4

<p><em>note</em> These joint programs are extremely competetive and at least some of the students drop one either the conservatory or the BA because it becomes too much (especially at oberlin- I can't really speak much for the others)</p>

5

<p>University of Rochester/Eastman immediately springs to mind. Johns Hopkins/Peabody is also an option. </p>

<p>Here's some general info about double degrees.
<a href="http://www.peabody.jhu.edu/index.php?pageID=692%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.peabody.jhu.edu/index.php?pageID=692&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br>
<a href="http://enrollment.rochester.edu/admissions/academics/music.shtm#dd%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://enrollment.rochester.edu/admissions/academics/music.shtm#dd&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

6

<p>Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois has very good academics and one of the best music schools. My best friend is in the five-year program there to get a degree from the College of Arts and Sciences and from the music school.</p>

7

<p>Northwestern's classical voice program isn't that great. Northwestern is better for music theater.<br>
D looked at all these programs. She is now a junior at Rice and picked Rice over many other options. She originally considered dual degree programs, but as someone already mentioned, it is extremely hard to do that and seriously pursue your art. She also went to Tanglewood before her senior year and was an ARTS finalist. If you would like to contact her, let me know. You will need to audition into the conservatories/music schools. I would recommend seriously looking at Indiana, Rice, Oberlin and the combination of Case Western/Cleveland Institute of Music. Boston U is also a good choice.</p>

8

<p>On the musical side, the most important factor will be the voice teacher. If you have not already started your research, you need to get going immediately. Arrange to visit some teachers and take sample lessons. There is no substitute for actually meeting the teacher - if you are planning to spend the next five years of your life working with them, you owe it to yourself to meet them personally before making a decision. Talk to their current students. Find out if and where any of their past students are working as professional singers right now. If you have an intended second major, the strength of that program may also have some influence on your choice.</p>

<p>Other schools that come to mind in addition to those already mentioned:</p>

<p>Bard College
Carnegie Mellon University
New England Conservatory / Tufts University</p>

<p>I second the recommendation that you read the double degree article at the Peabody web site.</p>

<p>My daughter starts in Double Bass and (probably) Physics in about two weeks at Oberlin. She was at Tanglewood a year before you. If you want to talk with her about her college selection process, drop me a private message and I will send you her email address.</p>

9

<p>Here is the link to the double degree program at the Eastman School/University of Rochester. Eastman School is one of the top 2 or 3 in the country and arguably the very best in most areas. Renee' Fleming and William Warfield are Eastman grads.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.rochester.edu/Eastman/degrees/dd_ugrad.php%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.rochester.edu/Eastman/degrees/dd_ugrad.php&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

10

<p>Oh, a few other things. The competition for admission to top vocal performance programs is fierce, particularly if you happen to be a soprano. Pay some attention to finding a couple of good safety schools, just in case.</p>

<p>Many of the schools to which you will apply prescreen vocal majors by having them submit a CD. Make sbsolutely sure that CD contains your best work, is properly recorded and meets all of the school's specifications.</p>

<p>If you have your paperwork and pre-audition CD done in time, consider the early review program at Oberlin. You audition on the first weekend in December and get a non-binding decision about two weeks later. If accepted, you can immediately drop applications to schools lower on your list and concentrate on the remaining auditions.</p>

11

<p>Some of this will also depend on what type of voice you want to do. If you interested in classical voice, i.e. opera, then all of the above are good choices. However, if you are thinking contemporary music, then things become much more difficult.</p>

12

<p>Lindyhopper -- Is it okay if I PM you re: Northwestern's double degree program in Arts and Sciences and School of Music? My son is interested in this program but we have many questions re: admission
which are not answered on line or in the application materials. Also would like to hear more about your friend. Let me know if I can PM you.
Thanks.</p>

13

<p>Vanderbilt has the highly respected Blair School of Music plus excellently rated academics.</p>

14

<p>Indiana University Bloomington--all you need is the ability to breathe to get into the school of Arts and Sciences, but the music school is highly competative. Some say it's better than Julliard. Which, I think, has a deal with Columbia, if you're interested in NY.</p>

<p>If you want to do both without going insane, how about a smaller school where the departments work more closely together? The people at Amherst are lovely.</p>

15

<p>Definately consider the New England Conservatory/Harvard program. I believe it's considered the best in the country. You'll find that most conservatories have some type of joint program with an outside school.</p>

16

<p>New England Conservatory is a good option, they are tied with many schools in the area, actually most...avoid Berklee School of Music though.</p>

17

<p>you should post your question on the parents forum. There are several parents who have kids in music programs and can tell you about the programs they looked at, the audition experience, etc.</p>

18

<p>If you are looking for a scholarship into this mix, check out Lawrence University in Appleton, Wi. Son turned down USC, Indiana, Bard and others to study music (oboe, composition) there as well as study government. He had no preconceived views of US schools since he has lived all his life out of the country. He visited the admissions folks, the oboe prof, the town and loved it all. We shall see how it goes. His first 2 trimesters will be almost completely music courses. He has already been given assignments over the summer. He begins his government courses the last trimester of this next year and it will take him 5 years. He has many credits to transfer over from his IB diploma. I don't know how that will work with the time factor. There are many excellent music programs out there but from his research, Lawrence has one of the best organized undergraduate double degree programs in the nation. And as I mentioned before, excellent scholarship opportunities.</p>

19

<p>With the grades and the background that you have in academics and vocal, I would look into Juilliard. It can be a reach for some people, but it looks like you have quite a good background in terms of music.
Here's a link: <a href="http://www.juilliard.edu/asp/fsnew/faculty_search.php?Division=Music&School=College%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.juilliard.edu/asp/fsnew/faculty_search.php?Division=Music&School=College&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

20

<p>I just went through this process myself. Like you, I wanted to study music but didn't want to give up academics. This led me to apply to nearly exclusively schools that allowed double majors in music and something else and/or had dual degree programs involving their school of music or an affiliated conservatory.</p>

<p>I found that there simply is not a great deal of information about the different options open to someone interested in pursuing music without giving up academics. This is really quite sad, as this is quite a large group.</p>

<p>The admissions process went very well for me (I imagine this must have been pretty much a fluke, though I’m hardly complaining), perhaps too well, as I found myself drowning in choices (10 colleges and 3 conservatories, with 5 dual degree programs between them). At least in my case, being able to get into the schools that I did was no indication of what I actually knew about how the programs worked. Further, I found that the people at each college/conservatory had very little knowledge of how things worked at programs outside of their own. Sadly, for a lot of the questions specific to your own situation, you may be mostly on your own.</p>

<p>Luckily, I was able to visit each and every place at which I’d been accepted, and over the course of my own investigations I feel that I learned a lot about how the major options for those interested in both music and academics work. To my surprise, I found that what I wanted wasn't what I'd initially thought I did.</p>

<p>I’m currently in the process of writing a guide on the subject - hopefully one that will be significantly more comprehensive than those that were readily available to me – as sort of a way of giving back to these forums, which were an invaluable resource to me and made navigating the college application process seem a lot more manageable when I was at the height of my confusion. I hope to have it finished by next Saturday at the latest, and hopefully it will answer some of your questions.</p>

<p>Among other things, it will include information about what is involved with each of the major options available (BA in Music, Double Major, Double-Degree, Academic Major with a side of Music, and BM with a side of Academics), what sorts of jobs some of the people who pursued each option have gone on to hold (did you know that Metropolitan Opera Bass Jerome Hines majored in organic chemistry, math, and physics, or that Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board Alan Greenspan studied clarinet and saxophone at Julliard?), and a list of some of the more prominent programs and links to information about them with more specific notes on the places that I visited myself. I’ll post it either here or in the Arts Majors forums.</p>