<p>Hi, I'm currently a junior and high school and am planning to major in music ed in college. I'm mainly interested in voice/choir, and eventually want to become a high school choir director. </p>
<p>I'm not really sure where to start, in terms of which schools I should apply to. I'm probably going to end up staying in state (I live in NJ), mainly because it's a lot less expensive than going to a private school, but I don't know much about the programs they have. I also want to go somewhere with a solid liberal arts program, so I can get a good education and have options if I decide to change my mind about what I want to study. I'm thinking of applying to TCNJ, Rutgers, Rowan, and Montclair, but I don't know know a lot about their music departments and which one is best. I hear that Montclair has a great music ed program, but I'm trying to avoid going there if possible, since it's about 20 minutes away from where I live, and it's difficult to get housing. </p>
<p>Right now, I have about a 3.6 GPA and am in the top 25% of my class. I did well on the PSATs, and am hoping to get over a 1900 on my SATs if everything goes as planned. I've never studied voice privately, (I'm getting a voice teacher though, and am starting lessons next week.) but I've been in a variety of choirs both in school and outside of school for practically my entire life. I placed 10th in regions this year (I'm a Soprano 1), and am definitely planning on trying out for all-states in April. I've also been studying piano privately on and off since I was seven, and have been playing in my school's orchestra since middle school, if this helps.</p>
<p>So, in your opinion, which schools in NJ have the best music ed programs, especially for voice? In addition, what other schools, with my statistics, would you recommend that won't completely drain my parents' bank account?</p>
<p>Thanks in advance, and if you have any other questions, just ask.</p>
<p>While we’ll be able to tell you more next year with real life experience, right now I can tell you what choice my daughter made and why. She has a very similar background to yours, with an additional year of all state and private voice study.<br>
Montclair got knocked out of the running because it’s music ed program is 5 years for a BM plus it looked like a more well rounded/therefore less specialized program (what is a minus for one could be a plus for another). She wants to truly specialize in choir/voice education, so marching band class was not up her alley.
Rutgers would have been her second choice, because the layout of the Music Ed program looked great - they allowed a choral vs. instrumental path. With Choral, you still needed to do some string and/or woodwind work, but she’s played violin for 9 years, so that worked (you mentioned orchestra). She didn’t want to look at TCNJ - but not for any solid reason, she was just steered away by other’s prejudices. We know a young man who’s wrapping up his Junior year, and loves the program.<br>
She’d been interested in Rowan initially, but found out the choir director she loved had moved on.<br>
She’s planning on attending Westminster this fall (we’ll change the accepted status once I actually write the check! There won’t be any other acceptances since she withdrew her apps) because she fell in love with the school, loves the concept of a 5 year BMus/MAT, and knows several amazing choral directors that are graduates. While WCC/Rider is a private institution, they have a generous scholarship program that is definitely worth looking at.<br>
Another NJ school that we didn’t look at, but I’ve heard some good things is William Paterson.<br>
There are others on this board that can give you more real life experience - I’m just sharing the decision making process we went through this year. Best of luck! Send me a message if you have any other questions.</p>
<p>I’m sure our master indexer, violadad, will come along and point you to lots of good information already on the board. I will add a couple of things:</p>
<p>I also live in northern NJ and sing in a community chorus that has recently accepted for membership several recent TCNJ grads with music and music ed degrees. They are an impressive group of young men and women, so I imagine the school is doing something right. Unfortunately, I am not the only one to notice that and a 3.6/1900 from within the state would make this a reach for you (assuming the 3.6 is weighted - if not and your weighted GPA is a couple of tenths higher then your chances are better).</p>
<p>Mason Gross at Rutgers is another very good school, with an excellent music faculty and likely a little bit less of a reach.</p>
<p>I know mostly instrumental grads from Montclair, but I understand they have some excellent voice teachers there as well. I realize that you might like to get away from home and the prospect of possibly having to live there and commute is not what you want. The scattergrams from the Naviance site at my daughter’s high school indicate that you probably have a very good shot at acceptance to the school - they did not turn down anyone with at least a 3.5 weighted GPA, regardless of SAT scores which ranged from 1300-2200 on the 2400 scale. Admission to the music school is by audition, so you would still need to pass that.</p>
<p>I know very little about Rowan. I was there briefly to drop off and pick up my daughter for a summer strings program when she was in high school. The facilities appeared to be nice, but I did not get to meet any of the college faculty or current students there.</p>
<p>You may wish to add William Paterson University to your list of schools to investigate. I know they have an excellent Jazz department, but am not very familiar with their classical program. Again, it is probably fairly close to home and a goodly number of their students are commuters, so it may be a situation like Montclair.</p>
<p>Westminster Choir College has a great voice faculty, but it is an extremely competitive program that will be quite a stretch for a soprano who has not been taking private lessons.</p>
<p>Within the linked threads you should additional links to other threads. (It’s an evil conspiracy, my true intent is to eventually link everything, so no one ever leaves. ;))</p>
<p>Let me also look through some of the voice threads, and I’ll try and pull some more discipline specific links.</p>
<p>Thank you so much, this really helped a lot. I have a couple of other questions:</p>
<p>Is it possible to study abroad while majoring in music ed? I’ve wanted to do this for a really long time, but it seems like it would be difficult with the classes everyone has to take.</p>
<p>Also, how is SUNY Fredonia in terms of its music department? I was looking at that school, and it seems like it would be a good fit for me, and it’s not expensive, even though i’m out of state.</p>
<p>It does look tough to fit in study abroad with music ed. The advice my D is getting is to plan well in advance. Some schools have programs they use that fit seamlessly with their programs. One school that has this in NYU Steinhardt. Fredonia seems to have a program with the conservatory in Seville, Spain–maybe that works with music ed, you should ask. And, it’s Seville!!! I wish I could do that… THAT looks really cool, and the Spanish language competence could really help you in your teaching career. There have been quite a few posts on this board that have positive comments about music at Fredonia.</p>
<p>Study abroad is a possibility for music ed majors, but it can be school specific. Course sequencing and missing prereqs can add a semester, or wreak havoc with trying to finish degree requirements. You typically can’t make up music ed classes during summers, few programs offer them. You really have to speak to the schools and music ed departments you’re considering.</p>
<p>My son had a friend who graduated NYU with a music ed degree, and he did a semester abroad. For him, there were no issues, but I assume he did the planning and had all his ducks in a row prior.</p>
<p>There is much on the board about both Fredonia and Crane (Potsdam). I’m sure some of the current attendees will chime in, but you can do a title search within the forum for past posts.
If you search by post instead of title, display the results as posts in lieu of threads. Makes finding the info a bit easier.</p>
<p>My son is a double major in music ed and performance at Crane (SUNY Potsdam). As far as I know it is possible to do a semester abroad while in the music ed department. My son plays euphonium and I beleive will try to see if he can attend the Birmingham Conservatoire in England for one of his Junior terms. We will see how that works out. I would contact the music ed department at Fredonia and speak with the Dean’s office about the possibility of studying abroad. I have a nephew who is currently doing a rotation of student teaching (not in music) in New Zealand. It will definitely count towards his degree and NYS licensure in ed. There is really no reason you couldn’t do that in music ed if the school is willing to work with you.</p>
<p>The Crane School at SUNY Potsdam specializes in music ed for public schools and is the oldest school in the country in this regard. I never checked but they may have a way to actually teach music ed abroad for a semester. Fredonia might have one as well.</p>
<p>Another thing to consider is how many advanced credits you are bringing with you from high school. My son started with 31 so by the end of this semester he will have 69. He is free from taking most of his electives and core classes. </p>
<p>Again I would certainly contact any school you are considering and ask them about the possibility.</p>
<p>I applied to TCNJ for music performance for flute and I was just accepted. My stats were similar to yours academically. I would say that Rutgers is focused on Music Performance and Jazz, while TCNJ is more focused on Music Education. You should have lessons with each of the teachers, though, to see which program best suits your needs.</p>
<p>James Madison U and George Mason U, both in VA have solid music programs that are reasonable. U of Delaware, Temple, West Chester and UNCG also have great music education programs.</p>