Music Performance/International Relations

College Search & Selection
1

Hi everyone,
I have a very specific question to ask, so I hope someone can help me with this! I am looking for a piano music performance program with good faculty, together with an International Relations degree program that is pretty good. I know about Tufts/NEC, and Johns Hopkins/Peabody, but I think as a piano student those programs are a massive reach, with ~15 students accepted a year (also prohibitively expensive). I will post my stats below, thanks for reading this.

Race: White
Gender: Male
Income: <50k
High School: Diverse public, with lots of APs
GPA: Weighted 4.74, Unweighted 3.8
PSAT- 216 (commended NM Scholar, will find out about SF + F I think in September.)
SAT I: 2180 (planning to take it again) 800:CR 690:Math 690:Writing
ACT: 34
SAT II: 750 English, 660 Bio, 700 USH
AP Scores: USH-5, Lang-5, Bio-4, Stats-3, Art History-3
Senior Year- Planning to take lots of APs (>4)
Class Rank- 5-10% in class of 325

Extracurriculars:
Music: Played violin for 10 years (5-15) at a high level, involved in orchestras, chamber groups, and solo performances. Attended two summers of music camps in middle school
Piano played for 6 years (11-17) at a very advanced level. attended the Brevard Summer Music Festival studying with well-known professors, won one concerto competition, and 3rd in another. Studying advanced repertoire including Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1, and Beethoven Waldstein 3rd. Mvmt. Also chamber music, orchestra, and solo performance.
(Probably one of my biggest passions/dedication in terms of time. Hours of practicing per day, but I don’t want to just major in music/go to a conservatory)

Debate: Public forum debate for all 4 years. NFL a lot of points. 300-500??, Selected for national tournaments from the current top ranked school in Harvard cumulative rankings, went to Catholic Forensic League Nationals, have won 4 trophies, and coached the next generations of debaters in our school.

NHS (blah blah)

NC Governor’s School 2015

2

The University of Rochester has a good international relations program and makes the Eastman School of Music courses available to all students who meet the prerequisites.

3

At Tufts, you do not need to get into the joint program to take courses at NEC and Tufts has top notch performance facilities of their own.

If you are really into pianos, Tufts and Steinway have a partnership (for a Music Engineering program) and the new Tufts performance hall has a lot of Steinways, including what is claimed (by Steinway) to be the best piano in New England.

Tufts has a number of performance ensembles. The Tufts orchestra is obviously not as good as the NEC orchestra (which also performs at Tufts) but it might be good enough to be fun for you and the practice requirements are easier to balance with the academic workload than the NEC program.

http://tuftsjournal.tufts.edu/archive/2007/february/corner/index.shtml

http://as.tufts.edu/music/musiccenter/about/overview.htm

http://as.tufts.edu/music/program/ensembles.htm

Good Luck!

4

@milocrotonus, You should look at Williams. Not a conservatory, but a very good music department with multiple performance opportunities.
http://music.williams.edu/category/ensembles/

International relations (now called Global Studies) is a concentration, not a major. It draws on Williams’ considerable strengths in political science, economics (especially political economy) and history. Dual majors are fairly common.
http://global-studies.williams.edu/program/

Run the net price calculator; most likely you would receive significant need based aid.

Wherever you choose to apply, be sure to submit a music supplement with your application.

5

Oberlin comes to mind (International Studies).

6

Bard might be a good option for you. It has a top-notch conservatory, but since it’s newer it might be easier to get into. All conservatory students are required to double-degree. Even if you decide against applying to the conservatory or don’t get in, the college has a very strong music department of its own, and you can still take conservatory classes and study with a conservatory teacher.

7

@lalalemma Bard Conservatory’s piano program is one of the toughest admits internationally, with only a few students admitted each year. Richard Goode, Peter Serkin, Jeremy Denk are some of the professors! (Not to say the OP doesn’t have a chance, of course.) However, there is also a strong piano faculty in Bard College itself, if the OP is interested in a double major, and not a double degree, or just taking lessons while in college.

This question really should be addressed on the Music Major forum page. There are many threads over the years answering all his questions. Lots of advice about strong academic schools, with the opportunities to pursue performance at a high level.

@milocrotonus I don’t advise ruling out any school because of cost, especially if you’ll be applying as a music performance major and will be auditioning. There is extensive music merit money out there - up to full tuition and more, even at the top programs. Especially if the student has financial need, which you do.