<p>Hey I am currently in the search for good music schools. I am a junior in high school that plays trombone. I am looking for a school that will let me major in music performance but also let me take the premed requisite classes. I do not want a double degree or a 5 year program. I already have some schools that I like and would really appreciate your input on if I could do my major and the pre med requisites at these schools. My favorite schools are Eastman/Rochester, oberlin, Indiana university Bloomington,nyu,Peabody/jhu, northwestern, and Vanderbilt. Also if u know any other great schools that u think I might like it would be very appreciated if u tell me. Thank you for any input!!</p>
<p>It is going to be a matter of logistics anywhere you go. The Bachelor of Music has an extensive required curriculum which coexists with general education categories considered basic to the academic community. The core pre-med courses: biology, chemistry, organic chemistry, calculus, physics, biochemistry, anatomy and physiology (most if not all of these plus labs) all are science and math courses. You will be expected to take, besides music curriculum, liberal arts, humanities, social science, writing and literature courses. It all adds up to a lot of required hours. If you arrive having placed out of a large number of courses and hours via AP credits, and if the scheduling gods cooperate, you might be able to achieve your goal within the four year goal. Summer school can help. Good luck!</p>
<p>If your really want to do music performance, which would be awesome for a trombone player, you may want to consider doing that at whatever school you can get in (Eastman, for example) and then tack on an additional post-bac year to sweep up any pre-med requisite classes like organic chem. You can do the post-bac year for your 5th year, or several years after you graduate from undergrad to see how you make it as a performance major in the job market. </p>
<p>Many music kids start out thinking they want to have their music cake and eat it too (double major in music performance and also something practical that can make a good salary) but as Lorelei says above, the music performance route is very time consuming. It can be done, but you end up diluting both experiences. If you are serious about music performance, you will have to consider one of those dual-enroll options that can take 5 years. If you like the idea of playing your trombone and learning music, then don’t go for performance, but instead a minor or second major in music, and you can do that at the U. of Rochester and then take private lessons at Eastman. For the playing, you can audition for the ensembles at U. of R that are open to a music majors and others (but not restricted to Eastman kids).</p>
<p>You might want to consider taking some summer classes at your college or a local community college. Probably better that than an extra year on a bachelors.</p>
<p>If you are only an Oberlin Conservatory student, you are free to take whatever courses in the college you want (since you do not have to adhere to the college distribution requirements). But, lab heavy science courses may cause time problems given Conservatory commitments.</p>
<p>I agree with others, it depends on the type of music degree, if a BA it might be easier then a performance degree (BM) to try and do a pre med concentration. I don’t know how BM’s work inside a university (as opposed to a stand alone conservatory), I don’t know how many core courses a BM student in a place like that needs to take (is it the same as regular academic students?) but a performance degree is time consuming, besides practice you have ensembles of various kinds, theory, ear training and so forth. I have heard people say that a performing degree is ‘lighter’ then in an academic track course of study, but it isn’t true. </p>
<p>With pre-med, you are taking science courses like bio, physics and several years of chem, and all of them are pretty intense, besides the studying for tests and such, all of them have lab courses, lab lectures and recitation sections (at least chem and physics did), plus math requirements, and scheduling all that and the BM classes and such is going to be difficult (heck, it was a pain doing it as an academic student:). Someone mentioned summers and that may be an alternative, though a lot of music students tend to do summer music programs, so that may be difficult. </p>
<p>It also depends on what you want to do with music, are you interested in simply being able to keep playing music, or are you seriously thinking you may want to professionally do music? If you are doing it because you enjoy it, you could major in something academic like chemistry or whatever with a pre med concentration, and be able to take lessons and play in ensembles, lot of kids play music and take lessons as a non major. If you had a good teacher, you could conceivably do that undergrad and if you want to pursue it as a vocation, go into an MM program (assuming you are playing at a high enough level, obviously).</p>
<p>The other option is more then a few med students figure out they want to go to med school after completing another degree program, complete the pre med requirements after graduating (some schools actually have programs for that, I think NYU used to…) and then apply and go to med school. If you did that, then you could get your BM degree and then take another year or so to complete the pre med requirements. </p>
<p>The key thing is it isn’t impossible, but it will be a challenge and take some ingenuity to do it, and the key is figuring out what you want to do with music and make decisions based on that.</p>
<p>I would just like to add that while it is true that med schools seem to be seeking well-rounded applicants nowadays, demonstration of a committment to medicine is a must. My young acquaintances who are applying to med schools have had experience in research and volunteering. Some have even gone to foreign countries on medical missions. You will need to plan ahead to get in these types of experiences.</p>
<p>One thing I mentioned to another poster a few months ago was to consider calling/writing this program at Cornell Medical School:
[Music</a> and Medicine | Weill Cornell Medical College | Cornell University](<a href=“http://weill.cornell.edu/music/]Music”>Music & Medicine | Weill Cornell Medicine)
They have a program for musician medical students where they put them in touch with faculty mentors and help them arrange groups/gigs. I bet if you write them they could tell you about their students, and what paths they took to get there. They could probably put you in touch with a trombone playing med student.
I just found this program randomly and have no personal experience with it.
If you find out some information please post it because this question seems to come up pretty often. Good luck.</p>
<p>Tbop, it’s not about “letting you” study both, it’s the viability of schedule. Premed is a heavy load and highly competitive. Performance is a heavy load and highly competitive. It might be doable on paper (though in two equally strong programs, I doubt it is doable in four years) but the question is at what cost. You need very high grades these days to be a desirable med candidate. It’s super tough to find the time to get an A in something like orgo when your study time is diminished by the number of practice and performance hours.</p>
<p>So the questions that you will want to examine are why you feel a need to do it in four years (when your odds of success would be better with a five year dual degree) and which discipline is most important to you. Life does not always favor those who hedge their bets, believe it or not. Sometimes life favors those who are simply focused on their passion and unstoppable. So truly, you are free to create what you want in terms of academic pursuit, but at the same time, the schools will not adjust the intensity of their curriculums to accommodate you, and that’s the part you have to work around. As mentioned elsewhere, a BMUS is a professional degree and requires every bit the focus and intensity of something like another professional track such as med/law etc.</p>
<p>Music majors have the highest acceptance rate at med school, of any group (I read this a few years ago, at least). I have also read that med schools love English majors, for diversity I suppose.</p>
<p>You can get a BM and then take prerequisites for med school, post-grad.</p>
<p>At the schools you mention, if you are in the conservatory for a BM, you cannot do premed, unless you want to do a double degree (Bard and Oberlin would be good options) in 5 years. And at many schools, of course, there is no such thing as a premed major anyway. </p>
<p>If you do not want to do a double degree then you will either be in the conservatory, or in the college, at the schools you list, meaning a BM or BA. The BA will be a general music major, not performance, and could include premed courses like biology and chemistry etc.</p>
<p>In any case, if you have these two goals, performance and premed, you are going to spend more than 4 years in undergrad or pre-med schooling.</p>
<p>along the same lines as what compmom is saying, an attorney that I know very well told me that his law school intentially sought out “non-traditional majors”. He said that virtually every law student majors in English, history or poli sci, but that the law schools are looking for diversity of educational background.</p>
<p>Not that it has anything directly to do with med school, but I get the feeling that majoring in music really doesn’t create any limits as far as grad school opportunities in other fields.</p>
<p>I am an attorney, and I earned a B.A. in music and political science (double major). The time constraints in being a performance major are real and do interfere with the ability to accomplish the other in 4 years. My son is now a double-degree student at Peabody/Johns Hopkins (trumpet perf and electrical engineering). He is taking 26 credits a semester, but is now realizing that there is no conceivable way to finish in 4 years, even with that load. </p>
<p>Any employer would be glad to hire a person with a B.M. Medical schools and law schools like musicians. The work ethic and attention to detail that musicians bring to their efforts are unparalleled.</p>
<p>Another approach could be to do a BA in music & a science in 4 years at a school with just a few distribution requirements and a strong music program (like Vassar). Just attended another great orchestra concert there Sunday- student concerto winners. The level of some of these musicians is amazing and they have tons more opportunities because the music department is smaller than a conservatory or university. (S1 has enjoyed playing in the Vassar orchestra, the wind ensemble, jazz ensemble, a jazz combo and a chamber music group over the last 3 years.) So if your interests in music are diverse, an LAC with strong music such as Vassar, Williams, Wesleyan, Skidmore or Hamilton is an excellent choice. Also at Vassar and Hamilton, you will have time to do the premed courses because there are less distribution requirements and you will be able to do as much music as you can fit into your schedule! Think about what you really want and visit the schools if possible.</p>
<p>Thank you for that good list of options. I do not know how to find a good or great liberal arts college that has a strong music culture. I have heard that St. Olaf has music opportunities that are deep and wide, and nearly every student in any major is involved in music at a high level in some way. Are there others like that? My daughter wants to be an occupational therapist and will be taking a curriculum similar to pre-med but wants to either double-major in music or minor in it. She plays the clarinet at a very high level (All State throughout high school, All Northwest, and All Nation). It is impossible to tell from the information readily available whether the school has enough music to satisfy her.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Good grief - and my son is whining about 18 semester hours!</p>
<p>Now lets do the math, 26 hours in class, 2 hours of homework/reading/practice per credit hour (actually more like 3 for both music and engineering classes), thats 78 hours a week of schooling.</p>
<p>Please don’t tell me he’s got a part time job, volunteers at the soup kitchen, and plays on the football team also.</p>
<p>imagep - I agree - 26 credits is too much. Perhaps some summer courses would help lighten the load. I took 21 credits doing a music performance and chemistry double degree at a medium sized conservatory/university and I was exhausted.</p>
<p>Clarinetmom7- We did a lot of research here on CC and also checked out the websites for concert recordings (helped to screen out schools). We looked at course offerings. The most important thing we did was to visit the colleges and attend a rehearsal or concert. You will know immediately if the level and musicality are what you need. You can see if the orchestra is comprised of all students or if community people are involved. The orchestras we heard from Vassar, Hamilton, Wesleyan, and Franklin & Marshall were all students. You can watch the conductor and see how he/she relates to the students and if you could learn from him or her. It really is worth the effort to get to schools while they are in session to hear the music groups.</p>
<p>Thanks, chemusic, for those ideas. The biggest problem we have is our location–we live in Montana, so none of the schools who may suit her interests and needs are anywhere close, and the cost of plane tickets is overwhelming. We will definitely watch and listen to concerts on line to get a feel for the quality of the program, but we won’t get to go to any rehearsals. </p>
<p>Yup, 26 credits is crazy, and we hope that he will stop the insanity next year. He is taking a course or two this summer online to take some pressure off. One major concern we have is that he is NOT working in a soup kitchen or playing frisbee–hobbies or extra-curriculars or fun that make a person feel better and balance out all the work. So, all you prospective students out there, do NOT do what my son is doing. Not healthy.</p>
<p>Not sure if you’re interested in West Coast schools, but you might want to take a look at Chapman University in Orange, CA. Perhaps a major in music and a minor in chemistry or another area in science. Sounds like you may find your fit there.</p>
<p>Peabody/Johns Hopkins</p>