<p>Hi everyone, I myself, want to pursue music education. My parents want me to add another major because of economy today. My majors will either be Music Education and Math or Music Education and Engineering. I know there are plenty of good schools that have a good Music Performance double degree program but I am very new to the Music Education double degree program. I am very strong academically. I've looked into Northwestern, Columbia, University of Michigan but I seem to like Carnegie Mellon's atmosphere the best. However, I don't know if these schools offer a dual degree in Music Education and an academic. What schools offer this type of program? Thanks!</p>
<p>AFAIK the job prospects in music education are actually better than they are in “academic” subjects - most music ed departments report close to 100% job placement following graduation (of course, you must survive the program first!).</p>
<p>I’m looking for a school that’s good in both music education and academically</p>
<p>If you want to pursue Music Ed, it is best to go to college in the state in which you want to teach. Otherwise, you will have to spend time and money pursuing a teaching certification after graduation. Just a thought.</p>
<p>Daniel, another option at a place like UMich would be to take the performance degree on your instrument, plus a second LSA degree, and then either do the 3 Summer or the regular Masters in Education, both which lead to teacher certification. That might be a little easier to schedule than the MEI (Instrumental) Education degree paired with an LSA or ENG degree, and would probably take the same amount of time in the end.</p>
<p>Alternately, you can pair a performance degree with certification.</p>
<p>What state do you want to teach in?</p>
<p>A few comments about math vs. eng as a cognate degree:
Eng is exceptionally competitive at UMich and involves a lot of project/team work that can conflict with rehearsals, etc. From a teaching standpoint, obviously it will not certify you for another subject. If the reason you’re interested in ENG is to work professionally as an ENG…then it makes more sense to do a dual Perf/Eng degree set.</p>
<p>Math, on the other hand, of course is a great second subject in which to be certified. In that sense, you’re a “more flexible” teacher to hire. Just my $.02</p>
<p>BM degrees and engineering degrees are both very concentrated. It will likely take you a lot of extra time to graduate if you do both. Two BA degrees would be much more doable as they will tend to have lots of overlapping general education requirements and electives. You could look into a BA in music, and a BS in engineering or math, but at that point, I really don’t know what you would do with the BA in music.</p>
<p>A BM in music ed is really directed at qualifying you to teach music in public schools. If you intend on having a career in a STEM field, then you might want to consider just doing a minor in music. I think it would be very difficult to be a public school teacher and to have a job as an engineer, both at the same time.</p>
<p>If your interest in music isn’t really teaching music or becoming a professional performer or composer, you might want to look into something less than a BM for the music part of your college experience. My son’s school offers a music performance certificate which you dont even have to be a music major or minor to get (but you are expected to practice 4 hours a day plus take ensembles and do recitals and whatnot).</p>
<p>Also, if your heart is in music and your parents are just trying to push you into a STEM major, you might want to do some research into the actual employability of STEM majors. It’s not always as rosy as many people make it out to be. My wifes cousin has a degree in Civil Engineering and he says there is a lot of unemployment in the Civil Engeering field, and that the starting salary for new grads is only around $40k - thats not much higher than the starting salary for public music school teachers, plus they can get a bonus if they help out with after school programs. There is no demand for architects right now and starting salaries for new architects have dropped to less than public school teachers. Demand for nurses is still high, but not for unexperienced nurses, who on average are taking more than a year to find a job. And I have never really seen a help wanted ad for a mathematician. I suspect that mot math majors either have to purse a masters degree in a more specific field, or have to get a MAT so that they can get a teaching certificate. Teaching math generally doesn’t pay any more than teaching music and it may very well pay less. Electrical and mechanical engineers seem to be doing very well right now, but the population of electrical and mechanical engineers in college has swelled and we may find out in four or five years that there is a surplus of them, just like there is a surplus of architects right now.</p>