Music ED Transfer questions!

College Majors Music Major
1

<p>I'm not even going to talk about my high school grades, but needles to say, I'm going to my local community college in Michigan in the fall before a university. My plan was to audition all over the place when the time comes, in and out of state.</p>

<p>Schools I'm looking at after CC.
Michigan State U
Western Michigan U
Grand Valley State U</p>

<p>In Texas:
Texas Tech U
U of Texas (Austin)</p>

<p>In FL:
Florida State</p>

<p>In CA:
USC
California State (is there a marching band there btw???)
San Jose State U
San Diego State</p>

<p>Those are the main ones I'm looking at at least.</p>

<p>I know how competive the Michigan schools listed are, but I'm wondering about the out of state ones I'm looking at.
How competive are the out-of-state schools I'm looking at for music ed?
How difficult is it to even get in to these as a transfer?
Which school is better?
Any info about transferring to these schools are very helpful!!</p>

<p>Music background:
Euphonium is my primary
Trombone is my secondary
I also play drums, trumpet (started on) guitar, and currently am learning clarinet.
Consistantly first chair on both euphonium and trombone.
1st division solo & ensemble rating.
Read both treble and bass clef</p>

<p>Thank you!!!!!</p>

2

<p>I would really like information please</p>

3

<p>I received a BME from FSU and a MME from WMU, so I can tell you about both of those schools. I felt I received a wonderful education from both schools and was very prepared to go out and teach. Both schools have excellent marching bands, if you are into that. </p>

<p>One really nice thing about FSU is that all out of state music majors receive a tuition waiver.</p>

<p>FSU is the third largest music school in the country. In other words, they accept more music majors than some others. WMU is more selective, but most schools aren’t overloaded with euphonium players, so you have that going for you.</p>

<p>As for MSU, they are known for their music Ed program, so I don’t think you can go wrong there. I don’t know much about GVSU, but I’ve heard good things. I don’t know about marching band, though.</p>

4

<p>Okay, first a warning about transferring to a music program from a CC – are you prepared to spend extra years? CC rarely transfers directly, even within the same state you’re not likely to get “requirements” fulfilled by transfer credits – even from a CC music program. If you’re prepared for this fact, great, but just be warned you cannot cram a BMEd degree into 2 remaining years even if your gen eds are accepted.</p>

<p>Secondly, where is it that you want to teach? It’s better, and cheaper, to pursue music ed in your home state. </p>

<p>Which brings me to my third question: Is it your college GPA or your experience level that has you leave University of Michigan’s school of music off your list? It pretty much should be tops – because UMich HAS to give you at least academic consideration under the Michigan colleges transfer agreement (provided you have strong recommendations and at least 3.5+ GPA).
As in-state, UMich also meets need. Kind of win-win, since you know your credits will transfer for at least electives, and in some cases, equivalents.</p>

<p>Re: Western – know a lot of kids happy there with jazz; Re: Mich State - likewise, but don’t know anyone there on your instrument. GVSU is a great school, and has a super fab trumpet clinic, but seems in my area to be third on that particular list among students I know for music. I think it is likely instrument-specific.</p>

<p>At any rate, are you in a position to afford those out-of-state schools??? If you are, USC has an excellent school of music (Thornton). It also meets need (as it defines your need, that is ;).</p>

<p>What had you draw up that particular list? There are unusual suspects there – and many not on your list that might be good fits. Eg. You mention two Texas schools, but left off UNT, which is by far the most popular destination in Texas for brass/jazz.</p>

<p>And being from the midwest, you didn’t mention Indianna U’s Jacobs, which is a really popular choice for Michigan/West Michigan musicians. If you haven’t looked into those, you might wish to. Good luck in your search!</p>

5

<p>@saxlady Marching band is a real important factor for me. if a U doesnt have one, thats almost a deal breaker. I did hear that FSU is real competitive about OOS transfers. Can you audition there even if you don’t get accepted in the U?</p>

<p>@kmcmom13 I am well aware what I’m risking going to a CC first. I’m really going to make sure I can get as many credits as I can over. I didn’t list every single school I was looking at. I forgot to list UNT (silly me)… & I have no interest in U of M, not because I’m a Spartan fan, but I’m not crazy about the campus or anything about it really. I haven’t looked into IU. Perhaps I should.</p>

<p>As of right now, Im looking at high school level. However, if I have an option to go OOS and teach in those areas, I’d take those opertunities. I also would love to do college level someday. Out of the above schools listed, I’m leaning towards FSU and USC… Mostly USC. CA is a long time destination of choice to live in. If I can, I will :smiley:
I’m willing to pay OOS, too, one way or another.</p>

6

<p>Check out ASU (Arizona State)
Great music school and fun in the sun with the marching Sun Devils.</p>

<p><a href=“http://music.asu.edu/[/url]”>http://music.asu.edu/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

7

<p>I second ASU! Great music school, and Phoenix is an awesome city. As for FSU, I don’t know for sure the answer to your question, but I can tell you my D’s experience. She auditioned there this past weekend. She has not been accepted yet because of academics (actually, she has a very good GPA, but a low ACT score), and so she’s been deferred until March. When I spoke to someone in the music admissions office, they made it sound like it all will come down to the audition. If the college of music wants her, she’ll get in. If not, she won’t.</p>

<p>However, at the meeting they had for the undergraduate auditioners, someone asked that question, and they said they had very little pull with admissions. They could ask for someone to be let in, if they really wanted them, but the admissions office might turn them down. So…I don’t know. But I have assumed that if my D was a normal OOS kid, she would not have gotten it in. But since she is auditioning for music, they agreed to defer her acceptance until her audition. But that’s JMHO.</p>

<p>One other thing - I have read on this forum many times how you should go to school where you want to teach. Yes, in a perfect world, that would be nice. But none of us really know where we will end up. I’m a Southern gal, and I certainly never dreamed I would end up in Michigan. I grew up in GA, went to college in FL, but never taught in either of those two states. My first job was in Texas - had to take a test to get certification - and my other two jobs have been in Michigan, where I had to take a reading class to get my certification. Yes, both cost some money, but they were also both easy things to do. So, I would worry less about where you will teach when you are 24 years old, and more about what program fits your needs, and what school might offer you some money. But again, that’s just my opinion. :)</p>

8

<p>saxlady, I totally see where you’re coming from. I really do. :slight_smile: Maybe it’s just me, but the thing I’m worried/paranoid about is that if I stay in state for college, i’ll be stuck in the midwest teaching. I know WMU is pretty crediable and so is MSU and I may be able to go elsewhere if I go there, but GVSU I’m worried is only well known in the midwest and wont be able to leave the midwest. (Correct me if I’m wrong about GVSU.) </p>

<p>That’s part of the reason why I want to go out of state. USC, ASU, FSU (read into ASU, added to list) are all crediable from what I hear, plus, it’s out west. (Well, except FSU, but it’s warm reguardless.) Plus, a change of scenery would be nice if I can. :)</p>

9

<p>I wouldn’t worry too much about not being able to leave the midwest. I know quite a few music ed grads from Northern Michigan University who got jobs elsewhere (because there are no jobs in the U.P.) - and none of them seemed to have any problems getting jobs in other states. In fact, I think it was much easier to get jobs elsewhere than in Michigan. Some of the states they went to are Montana, Nevada and even Alaska! However, I am not disagreeing with you about going out of state. I did and never regretted it. But don’t think you can’t get a job because you went to a small school. I’m not sure administrators even look at that, although I do know that they look at grades</p>

10

<p>Chitown, just so you know, many school of music students don’t actually participate in their U’s marching bands because its a time sucker and conflicts with performance schedules. So don’t be surprised if you find that to be the case.</p>

<p>In terms of in-state/out-of-state, if you are in a financial position to spend substantially more for the same education, then it really doesn’t matter. But many find USC’s $240,000 price tag quite a burden, compared to an instate cost at Umich of $100,000. Scholarships are possible but rare for a transfer. If a student is eligible for financial aid, then USC is a school the meets need (which does not necessarily mean getting full funding.) students themselves are only allowed to borrow 7,500 a year in junior and senior college years, so parents would have to be the ones to find the difference in terms of loans. If they consigned for that kind of debt, well, it’s hard for a student to repay it on a music teachers salary.</p>

<p>So these are the kinds of things that should inform your planning, depending on your circumstances. You’d want to cast a pretty wide net so you have viable options.
Academically, the student profile at USC is similar to Umich in rigor as well, so the first step is to do as well as possible at college to compensate for hs grades.</p>

11

<p>Hello, as far as oos vs. in-state: remember if it is a private school, such as USC, it makes no difference…it it the same price for everyone. USC is extremely difficult to get into for any major. I am not sure when you posted “California State” which one you are referring to…there are many: Fullerton–top music Ed school in Southern CA, Long Beach, Los Angeles, East Bay, Dominguez Hills…and on and on. Most CSU’s do not have marching bands. I think San Diego State does. I would agree with other posters that it is wise to get your degree and get your credential in the state in which you wish to teach…assuming you are talking K-12. Hope this is helpful :)</p>

12

<p>Marching Band is required at many schools for instrumental music ed majors, as it should be (winds and percussion, at least), as you may very well be teaching it. In fact, I had always planned to be just a middle school band director - not wanting to teach marching band. But that’s not the way it worked out at all! In my first two jobs, I was the middle school band director, but also the high school assistant, which meant that I had to help out with marching band. And then, during my 3rd year of teaching, the HS band director left in the middle of marching season to take another job - leaving me to have to run the marching band, including write and teach drill. I was SO thankful that I was prepared from all of my marching band experience in college. So the moral of the story is, even if it isn’t required (and it really should be), you should definitely try to fit in marching band in college if you plan to teach middle/high school band.</p>

<p>As for FSU, marching band was required, and many of us still chose to be in it after we had fulfilled the requirement, simply because we loved being in it (interesting, since I hated HS marching band). Marching band (known as the “Marching Chiefs”) is a HUGE thing there, as it is at many major universities. And it didn’t really interfere, as no other bands met at the same time. Maybe an orchestra did, but since I played sax, I never played in the orchestras. And since you play euphonium, you won’t have that conflict either.</p>