<p>I’ve performed pretty exhaustive research in this area. I am assuming that when you mention audio engineering, you are referring to music audio (rather than TV, radio & film). </p>
<p>You are correct that different schools use a dizzying and frustrating variety of titles for these fields. Recognize that there are great differences in philosophies and emphases. From our experience, I urge you to review websites thoroughly, request any DVDs, call the schools, visit the schools, and have appointments with the actual department profs, including seeing the actual equipment and studios. You almost certainly won’t get the info you want and need at the very general Open Houses. Unfortunately, it took us awhile to realize this. You may have to push for the appointments, but be persistent. (Belmont Univ. & Butler Univ. were extremely accomodating for appointments). If you are a solid applicant for a given school, they should be willing to have someone invest 30-60 minutes to allow you to really learn about the program. Tell them your SATs and GPA if necessary. If the school refuses, that may tell you something. Most schools and profs are proud of their programs and studios (and you want them to be).</p>
<p>For reasons which have eluded me, we have found that schools seem to have no idea how other schools have structured their programs. As a result, don’t expect meaningful comments by one school about another. School guidance counsellors were of no help for us. They, and others, only recommended schools which required music auditions.</p>
<p>You first should decide whether you want a music industry/music business (MI) program, an Audio Enginering Technology (AET) program or a combination. The majority of AET programs require a music audition, and most (about 75%) of those require a classical instrument. If you want a stand-alone AET major and don’t (or don’t want to) play classical, the number of schools is pretty small. My son’s search fits into this category. If you do not follow the classical music route, then you should decide whether you want a school that has at least some performance (i.e. jazz, rock) Many schools take the view that you’ll be better in AET if you understand what it is like from the musician’s point of view. Personally, I think that approach is wise, provided the performance requirement is capped at about 12-15 credits. Otherwise, you really getting a music degree (which is obviously fine if that’s what you want). It will help to ask for a sample freshman schedule. Try to speak with program graduates.</p>
<p>If you want music production, check SUNY Purchase and Northeastern.</p>
<p>As to the variation in programs, you really need to ask numerous questions to determine if a school’s program matches your desires. Some are 100% MI; some are 80/20% MI/AET; and some are 100% AET. With those blends, their may or may not be music performance requirements. The schools already believe they have the right blend. The real question, however, is it the best blend for YOU. Do NOT rely upon only degree titles. Amazingly, one prominent school has an AET major which have less recording credits than another school’s(SUNY Oneonta) AET minor (Oneonta also has a MI major.) </p>
<p>The only centralized body of information I could find for audio engineering was through the website for the Audio Engineering Society (AES). The website splits the country into regions. I re-organized the schools into states. My list is at the end. Note that AES does not vouch for these schools. Instead, the list includes schools that are society members (and therefore likely to have at least some AET classes). You really need to check each school to determine whether it has a major, a minor, a certicate program or simply some AET classes. Find out how AET credits are in the major, minor etc. Oral Roberts is the only Oklahoma school on AES’s list. The AES list is a only headstart.</p>
<hr>
<p>ALL COLLEGES
*Listed in AES (64 schools)</p>
<p>ARKANSAS
*Univ. Arkansas (Pine Bluff) </p>
<p>CALIFORNIA
*Cal. Institute of Arts
*Cal Lutheran Univ.
*Cal. State @ Domin. Hills<br>
*Cal. State @ Chico<br>
*Cogswell College<br>
*Sonoma State<br>
*USC<br>
–AUDITION
San Francisco St.<br>
Cal. State Monterey
Cal. State Northridge (“CSUN”)<br>
–AUDITION: classical or jazz</p>
<p>COLORADO
*Univ. Colorado @ Denver<br>
–NO AUDITION/AUDITION </p>
<p>CONNECTICUT
*Univ. of Hartford: classical<br>
–AUDITION</p>
<p>*Univ. New Haven<br>
–NO AUDITION</p>
<p>D.C.
*American Univ.
–NO AUDITIO</p>
<p>FLORIDA
*Univ. Miami<br>
–Has major & minor in Music Business & Entertainment Industry, which includes<br>
recording (Frost School of Music);
–AUDITION for Music School </p>
<p>*Internat’l Academy of Design & Tech. (Tampa)</p>
<p>*Full Sail (Orlando)
Florida State (Tallahasse)</p>
<p>GEORGIA
*Georgia Southern (Statesboro)<br>
–Has minor in Music Technology </p>
<p>Univ. Georgia (Athens)<br>
–Offers Certificate in Music Recording</p>
<p>Georgia State (Atlanta)
–AUDITION</p>
<p>Savannah State </p>
<p>ILLINOIS
*Columbia College (Chicago) </p>
<p>*Elmhurst College<br>
–AUDITION</p>
<p>*Greenville College<br>
–Music Bus. Degree w/ two reqd classes (2 credits each) in recording </p>
<p>INDIANA
*Ball State (Muncie)<br>
–Has Major and a Minor in Music Technology
–AUDITION</p>
<p>*Indiana Univ. @ Bloomington<br>
–NO AUDITION </p>
<p>*Purdue Univ. (W. Lafayette) </p>
<p>Butler Univ. (Indy.)
–NO AUDITION </p>
<p>LOUISIANA
*Univ. Louis. @ Lafayette<br>
Loyola Univ. (New Orleans) </p>
<p>MAINE
*N. E. School of Commun. (Bangor)
*Univ. Maine (Augusta </p>
<p>MARYLAND
*Johns Hopkins<br>
–AUDITION: Classical</p>
<p>MASS.
*Univ. Mass. Lowell
–AUDITION:
–Two options:
1) Music Biz major (w/ no recording classes)
2) Sound recording (w/ no biz classes)</p>
<p>*Berklee School of Music<br>
–AUDITION & interview required</p>
<p>*New England Inst. of Art </p>
<p>Northeastern
–NO AUDITION
–Really composition (versus recording)</p>
<p>Emerson
–AUDITION & interview required </p>
<p>MICHIGAN
*Univ. Michigan
–AUDITION<br>
–BS in Sound Engineering </p>
<p>MINNESOTA
*St. Mary’s Univ. (Winona)
–AUDITION<br>
–BA in Music Industry w/ core classes, then splits into (1) Music Technology or ( 2) Music
Business. </p>
<p>*McNally Smith College of Music<br>
(St. Paul) formerly Musictech")</p>
<p>MISSOURI
*Webster Univ.<br>
*Missouri Western State </p>
<p>MONTANA
*Montana State Univ. (Bozeman) .
–AUDITION </p>
<p>NEW HAMPSHIRE
*Keene State</p>
<p>NEW JERSEY
*Wm. Paterson
–AUDITION: Classical</p>
<p>Stevens Institite of Tech.
–NO AUDITION</p>
<p>NEW YORK
*Ithaca College<br>
—AUDITION: classical</p>
<p>*Mercy College (White Plains) </p>
<p>*SUNY Fredonia<br>
–Has BS in Sound Recording Technology<br>
–AUDITION-classical</p>
<p>*CUNY Sonic- commuter </p>
<p>*NYU<br>
–AUDITION</p>
<p>SUNY ONEONTA<br>
–NO AUDITION
–music industry major (biz.& perf.) and music recording minor (35 credits)</p>
<p>SUNY Potsdam<br>
–Has Music Business Minor</p>
<p>SUNY Purchase<br>
–Has Music Production Degree </p>
<p>Hofstra<br>
—No music recording (film, TV & radio only) </p>
<p>Syracuse<br>
–Multi-discipline approach for new, small program; not heavy on recording
–Audition for music industry
–NO AUDITION for Bandier (new multi-discipline program) </p>
<p>Five Towns College (L.I.) </p>
<p>SAE (NYC)</p>
<p>NORTH CAROLINA
*Appalachian State (Boone)<br>
*Barton (Wilson)<br>
*Univ. North Carolina (Asheville)<br>
–AUDITION required (for BS in Music Tech.)
Elon Univ. (Elon)<br>
–AUDITION required; program 2 years old; 24 kids in music tech. </p>
<p>OHIO
*Bowling Green </p>
<p>*Capital Univ. (Columbus) </p>
<p>—Music Technology Major splits into BA & BM (heavy music perf. + requires audition)
—BA students (NO AUDITION) can take BM classes </p>
<p>*Oberlin<br>
–AUDITION; Conservatory
*Ohio Univ. (Athens)<br>
*Univ. Cincinnati<br>
*Cleveland Institute of Music</p>
<p>OKLAHOMA
*Oral Roberts </p>
<p>OREGON
*Univ. Oregon (Eugene)<br>
–Cant confirm program via website </p>
<p>PENNSYLVANIA<br>
*Drexel<br>
–NO AUDITION:
–Music industry w/ 5 year Co-op</p>
<p>*Lebanon Valley College<br>
–AUDITION </p>
<p>York College<br>
–AUDITION</p>
<p>SOUTH CAROLINA
*Clemson<br>
–UDITION required (instrument unknown)
*Univ. South Carolina<br>
–AUDITION required, music perf. dominated </p>
<p>TENNESSEE
*Belmont (Nashville)<br>
–NO AUDITION; </p>
<p>*Middle Tenn. State (Murfreesboro)<br>
–BM degree w/ concentration in music industry
–AUDITION
*Univ. Memphis .
–AUDITION
–BM in Music Industry with concentration in either Music Business or Music Recording</p>
<p>VIRGINIA
*Hampton<br>
– Music Eng. Tech.<br>
–AUDITION on classical<br>
*Radford<br>
–AUDITION </p>
<p>TEXAS
*Univ. Texas @ Arlington<br>
*Texas State (San Marcos) </p>
<p>WISCONSIN
*Univ. Wisconsin @Oshkosh </p>
<hr>
<p>I also have two Add-On lists (including Okla. St.), as follows:</p>
<p>A.ADD-ONS </p>
<ol>
<li>From AES Section Contacts)</li>
</ol>
<p>-Duquesne (Pittsburgh)-has AUDITION (1) perf. & 2) musicianship classical or jazz<br>
-Penn State, Univ. Park-Has Minor in Music Technology (21 credits)
-McGill (Montreal)
-Worcester Polytech (Worcester, Mass.)
-Carnegie Mellon (Pittsburgh)-Classical AUDITION
-Univ. Illinois @ Urbana-Champaign, Urbana-AUDITION can be jazz bass
-Southwest Texas State (San Marcos)-same school as Texas State above
-San Diego State<br>
-Stanford
-BYU</p>
<ol>
<li>From Mix Magazine</li>
</ol>
<p>-DePaul-AUDITION
-Fairfield-Music major w/ one class in each of MI, MIDI & recording<br>
-Va. Tech (Virginia Polytech)-AUDITION
-SMU
-Univ. Texas Austin-AUDITION
-Univ. Arizona-Fine Arts Tech. degree: combines music/sound w/ visual
-Towson
-Shenandoah (Va.)
-Okla. State
-Ohio Univ. (Zanesville)
-Univ. Missouri-Kansas City</p>
<h2>-Art Institute of Phil.</h2>
<p>Once again, check into these Add-On schools yourself to verify.</p>
<p>I have also compiled a list of questions about to ask colleges about heir AET programs. If you want those questions, let me know.</p>
<p>Finally, I agree that you should broaden your geographic scope. At the least, it will sharpen your eye to differentiate between different programs. It may also help you you negotiate better for financial aid.</p>
<p>I hope this helps you and others.</p>