<p>i know that in order to major in music at a certain school, you have to audition for it. I'm just a little confused because what if you go to college majoring in something else and then decide you want to study music, you can't just audtion then? I've thought about studying music but i'm just not sure, then yesterday might my trumpet teacher told me if I plan to study music in college I have to decide soon, and that just freaked me out a little bit. Also, if you do get into college after audtioning as a music major and decide to change, can you do that? One last question, If you do decide to go through with it and udition for colleges, do grades, SAT scores, extracurricualrs, etc. still carry as much weight? thanks, I hope there's some one out there who knows about all this stuff</p>
<p>It is entirely possible to change your mind later. There are many schools out there where you can double major or minor in music, and the audition requirements are not that tough or are for placement only or do not exist at all. The most competitive music departments do require an auditon before you can declare yourself a music major, and you often can only take certain music related courses if you are a music major. So if you are at such a school, it is entirely possible that you are not accepted as a music major when you audition later because you are not where they want you to be skillwise, or simply because they are already full. And if you do get into the music department, you may be behind to a point where you have to do an extra year or so to graduate. The sequential courses are such that you cannot possibly get certain required ones within a 4 year period if you did not take those courses. </p>
<p>When you look at colleges, if you want the option of being a music major, choose a school where the transition is easier, where you can take a goodly number of music courses before you are a music major and can get private lessons. But I will tell you that I have seen kids transfer in even to the more difficult programs. My friend's step son transferred into Tisch, and was able to make the transition without much pain and he was not a performing arts major initially. I know several kids who became music performance majors from other divisions of CMU,and they somehow worked it out. But these are not easy transitions and are exceptions to the rule. But many colleges do allow all students to take the music courses (usually with the stipulation that private lessons have a extra payment) and it is very easy to switch to the major later. It also depends on what your initial major happens to be. An architechture or engineering major is not going to be able to squeeze in too many other courses, particularly a time consuming one such as music. But in many schools a general liberal arts major can dovetail nicely with music.</p>
<p>Wow, thank you jamimom, that pretty much answers every question I had. I plan to major in psychology, and my ideal school is brown, which has no distribution requirements. music has always been my back up if my other career options do not work out because it's the one thing that i know I'll never get tired of. I have no doubt that I will take music courses and possibly minor during college, I'm definitely hoping it will turn into a life long passion, i'm just not sure if it will be a career or not, but anyway, thanks again jamimom, that helps a lot ;)</p>
<p>Wait, I just realized that i have another question for anyone out there... If I want to double major in music and psychology, do I still have to audtion and everything? and what if the school I go to also has a school of music, will I have to transfer? thanks</p>