<p>hey people.
i've decided to major in music, but i'm not sure how the admissions process differs.
my gpa is crap, mostly due to the fact i've gotten mostly b's in ap's and honors-which, in my school, are really REALLY hard. so it's around a 3.09'ish with freshman, sophomore, and junior years. But i know that most colleges recalculate with first semester senior grades-is this true???
my ACT score is pretty good-34; math 35, english 34, science 31 -.-', fiction and prose; 34
my ec's are OK; i'm president and founder of a charity club, we've made a decent amount of money for third world schools; i started a cancer awareness campaign in rural india; piano exams, carnegie hall etc. orchestra, the whole chizz.
clubs are a little iffy- debate, jsa, yearbook, art club, and that's it. lol.
back to the point, if my audition goes really well, will my horrendous unweighted GPA be softened in the admissions process? and how does adding on another major work? and transferring majors?
i'm applying to Rutgers, i'm in state, BU, the UC's-my UC gpa isn't thhaaaat bad, it's about a 3.8-3.9 (so ucDavis and Irvine)
also UIllinois, and UMich-reaches i feel, if my audition isn't that big of a part when it comes to my gpa.
any thoughts and advice?</p>
<p>It is very possible, as a music major, to get in with a lower-end GPA if your audition is outstanding. </p>
<p>Schools typically look for potential music majors who are passionate in their career path but also consider academics to be important. That being said, they are not looking for superhumans. Obviously, if you’re spending most of your time outside of school rehearsing, performing, and making the world a better place, you’re not going to be spending that time doing monstrous amounts of homework and studying. They understand that. </p>
<p>There always is that one kid we all know of, though - the well-liked music student with 5 AP classes and straight As who is president of 2 clubs and travels to Africa every summer to teach orphaned children. The typical reaction to these types from the “normal” aspiring music majors is somewhere along the lines of “You have got to be kidding me.” Truth is, these “freaks of nature” are more rare than you’d think. At most decent schools, if you can prove to them that you’re killer at music and can maintain at least a B average, you have a good chance of getting in. </p>
<p>As for adding a more “academic” major, it may be best to do that once you already have attended college for at least a semester and proven to the school that you’re worthy of staying. That GPA may hinder you if you decide to go into the admissions process telling the school you’d like to also have a non-music major. It is possible to do so, but I wouldn’t recommend it unless your GPA and scores are in mid-range or higher compared to the school’s average. </p>
<p>The transferring majors bit - why? Why are you already considering transferring from being a music major? The apparent unsureness indicates that you may not be the “music or bust” type that usually gets a leg up in these situations. There are kids out there with B averages who have known since middle school or earlier that they are going to jump in with both feet and attempt to become a professional musician. Their acquired skills certainly show it. Just know that you’re up against these kids when applying, whether you’re one of them or not. Also try posting your question in the music major forum if you haven’t already. PM me or ask here if you have any more questions - I’ve done in-depth research on various music majors/schools as an applicant and have just gotten accepted to every music school to which I applied, so I can probably be of some help to you. Best of luck!</p>
<p>hi, thanks for your advice! i don’t want to end up being a professional musician though. I just want to keep my options open at this point. I don’t want to lose my 11 years of piano once i hit college, but i love music and performing. I know i’m definitely applying as a piano performance major, but i would like to double major…but i’m not sure as what, so another question: are you allowed to add on another major once you get into a school? And actually, i wanted to go to Rutger’s for two years, and transfer to UC Berkeley, so I save my parents a lot of money, and get to stay close to my baby brothers and sister. I feel like my gpa just cancels any chance I have at getting into ANY college, even our crappy state school, and it’s not like i’m not mentally capable, i just took a lot of hard classes that I could have gotten at least some a’s in, but due to my horrible time-management, i got b’s in, not to mention that my grandfather died during a grading quarter last year, and i basically failed all my tests that mp, which dropped all my final grades for the year to b’s, and one c in chem honors. I’m just scared out of my mind at this point, since coming from my family, it is expected to go to an IVY. any thoughts? does my ACT score raise any of my chances? it’s a 34, and I’m actually considering raising it to a 35 and reaching for a 36…</p>
<p>“carnegie hall etc”</p>
<p>Whaaaat?</p>
<p>The schools you cited offer conservatory-level music performance B.Mus. degrees. These are pre-professional degrees that will take virtually all your available course slots. Except for a handful of places that accommodate or encourage double majors, it’s nearly impossible to get a B.Mus. and another degree in four years. If you’re not planning on becoming a professional musician, you probably won’t want to pursue this kind of a music degree - you’d be better with a B.A. in music + lessons on the side, or just a degree in any other field + lining up a teacher on the side.</p>
<p>Is that your weighted GPA?</p>
<p>Why do you want to go to a UC as an OOS student?</p>
<p>Do you have a budget or will your parents pay $50k per year for wherever you go?</p>
<p>You need to spend time here [Music</a> Major - College Confidential](<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/]Music”>Music Major - College Confidential Forums). The admissions process differs tremendously in an audition based or audition centric process. Grades matter but it depends on the school. In some, they matter far less, if at all.</p>
<p>Not wanting to be a professional , it sounds like you’re better off looking at music BA options as opposed to a BM, or possibly a minor. But you need to know what that entails in terms of applied faculty. length lessons, added costs.</p>
<p>You have lots of research to do. This process will make you crazy. Read this for starters.</p>
<p>thanks for the advice, everyone. the thing is, i’ve been playing for over 10 years, and i don’t want to stop playing when i get to college, also, i really want to go to BU, because there, i can also do the pre-med track along with piano performance. I don’t want to go through conservatory because I want my options to be open about my future career. I don’t have any financial issues because my father and mother both make about 500 k each, so when it comes to college, they really don’t mind the extra expenses. I already have a teacher in the boston area, and my grades are total crap. I’m not going to be a professional musician, but i do love piano; i practically live and breathe music. I would really love to go to UCB, but as i’ve said before, my grades are crappy, so i’m looking to go in as a transfer. Please don’t tell me it’s horrible to just go in as a piano performance major, and not want to be a professional musician, but I know i can do it, so does my teacher, and her teacher as a matter of fact. I just need advice as to how to go about-if i really want to- switching majors in college, and double majoring-again, if i want to. I’ve got my whole life ahead of me, and i know it’s slightly unrealistic to just focus on music in college, since i don’t even know what i want to do yet. I’m just trying to discover who I am, and what i’m going to do in this world.</p>