music major SAT score requirements?

Test Preparation
1

<p>Hi, I'm a junior aiming for top music schools in the USA (some of which are part of larger universities, such as Eastman school of music - part of University of Rochester, or Peaboy - part of John Hopkins). I just got my first-time SAT scores today, and wanted to know how I stack up:</p>

<p>Critical Reading 690 94%
Math 760 98%
Writing 720 97%
Multiple Choice 72 (score range: 20-80)<br>
Essay 9 (score range: 2-12) </p>

<p>Total 2170</p>

<p>Some conservatories say they don't care about the marks, while others say that "high academic achievement" is "very important". That leaves me a little confused. Can someone experienced with applying for music conservatories (ie Curtis, Oberlin, Mannes, NEC, Northwestern, Eastman, etc) point me in the right direction?</p>

<p>Also, the essay and reading scores are really low - what's the best way to improve them? Any good books/courses/tips you would recommend? For me, it's not so much the vocab or grammar... I just don't know what a 12 scoring essay should look like. Where can I find some to read?</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

2

<p>Your scores look great for the music schools you are considering! My son went through this same process a few years ago. He had scores very similar to yours, and he was awarded numerous scholarships, a lot of them for high academic merit in addition to his talent awards. </p>

<p>In fact, my son even had that awful 9 on his essay. He’s an excellent writer, and I’m betting you are too.</p>

<p>There are several threads on CC that discuss the ridiculous way that SAT essays appear to be graded. Namely, the longer the essay, the higher the score!! There are people who’ve posted here saying that they’ve “cheated” and simply wrote the lyrics to a certain rap song, or they simply made up fictitious sources and material and referenced them in their essays – they all claimed to recieve 11s or 12s! There are people who have experimented over a few different SATs and wrote excellent shorter essays and crappy long essays, just to see what would happen. The longest essays always seem to score higher, apparently! I’ve also seen this same topic discussed in our city newspaper and in college search/admissions books. It’s ridiculous!</p>

<p>Thankfully, the vast majority of colleges do not yet count, or even look at, the essay – because the data’s not yet in as to how reliable the scoring is. So, don’t worry about your essay. It will not hurt you and is not worth improving (particularly because there may be nothing wrong with it at all!).</p>

<p>In general, I think you’ll find that the schools you’re looking at are first and foremost looking for TALENT. If you’re at the top of the talent pool, they’ll forgive weaker academics (though your stats are strong); and in the case of schools like JHU, Oberlin, and Eastman, etc., they want to know that you have the academic wherewithall to be successful in their schools and complete your degree. After meeting those “minimums,” standardized scores translate to potential merit scholarships more than they do to admission standards.</p>

<p>By the way, check out the Music Majors portion of CC. It’s much more informative and pertinent to music majors. Scroll towards the bottom of the “Discussion Home” page and look for various majors – engineering, music, etc. You’ll see it there.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>