music at yale

<p>how is the music department? i heard it used to be pretty good... is it hard to get into?</p>

<p>I have the same question, I emailed the music department and they talked more about how Yale is a highly selective university that focuses mostly on academics rather than giving me information about the music department. Personally, the email really turned me off from the school, I'm set on COLUMBIA WOO!!! I'm making a CD, hopefully it will win over the music department, but then again, so might the other 2000 CD's they get, haha. O well, if I don't get in, I will be happy somehwere else...</p>

<p>b u m p . . . . .</p>

<p>As I just posted in another thread...Yale does NOT have an undergraduate music performance major. You can major in music as an academic subject (history, theory, etc.) but if you are bent on a performance career, you should be looking at conservatories, not liberal arts colleges. Confusion often arises because Yale, alone among the Ivy Leagues, has a highly regarded graduate School of Music that does grant advanced performance degrees. But the music school does NOT have an undergraduate program of any kind.</p>

<p>The OP didn't say whether he/she was looking specifically for a performance major or is interested in other fields of music. Yale has a great undergraduate music school which awards an academic degree, not a Bachelor of Music or BFA (NOTE: this the same at Columbia). In addition, they have a combined 5 year program with the graduate school which awards a BA/MM at the end of 5 years.</p>

<p>There is no undergraduate Yale "music school." Music is just a regular major, like economics or political science. It has an academic orientation, not a performance one. It is utterly unlike a conservatory program that grants bachelors degrees in music performance. For more info, look in the "arts majors" area of this site; there are many discussions on this topic there.</p>

<p>For students who are simply interested in continuing an existing interest in music not as a major, just as an interest, Yale has plenty of opportunities -- chamber music, singing groups of every description, several bands & orchestras.</p>