<p>I am a High School senior and have been admitted to both the Drexel Music Industry program and Belmont Music Business program. I was wondering which program has a better reputation? Which program has more career opportunities upon graduation? Which program provides access into the music industry? Which program offers more music based courses? What is overall college life like at each school? Thanks!</p>
<p>The Belmont music business program has a terrific reputation among professionals and provides great access into the industry. It’s “the” program at Belmont. Unless Belmont is wayyy more expensive than Drexel, I’d pick Belmont.</p>
<p>Thanks MYOS1634! Belmont does seem to have a better overall music environment, however, I am aware that the Music Business degree does not offer too many music classes. (I unfortunately did not get accepted Belmont’s Commercial Music Program, a top choice of mine). The Drexel program, on the other hand, is roughly half music and half business. In addition, Drexel offers two Summer internships of no extra cost. Any thoughts?</p>
<p>Our son is facing the exact same decision. Both programs have great reputations - there are several main differences that we have found:
- Belmont = smaller fish in big music pond; Drexel = bigger fish in smaller music pond. As a musician, you will likely be surrounded by more like-minded people at Belmont. The trade-off though, for example, is if you want to participate in ensembles, Belmont’s guitar ensemble only takes 4 guitarists for the full year out of a ton of auditions, and tends to favor music majors over music business majors.<br>
- Ironically, even though Belmont is a much bigger music school, the music biz program is very heavily weighted with regular business classes - even if you use all your electives on music courses/lessons, it still only works out to 33% music-related classes vs. 67% business/GenEd’s. Drexel is the exact opposite, with 67% music to only 33% business/GenEd. Plus, at Drexel you are automatically taking classes from the music school (theory, history, songwriting, instrument lessons, ensembles), whereas these would have to be electives at Belmont, and you only get about 7-8 credits for electives.
- You mention the 2 summer music industry co-ops at Drexel that are built into the program - this is different because an internship is an elective at Belmont, and it might require doing the internship during the school year when you are taking other classes; whereas it’s more of a full-time immersion with Drexel. Again, being in a bigger music pond will also mean more kids competing for the same intern positions at Belmont.
- This is the biggest difference though, and why our son is leaning towards Drexel: if you are looking to break into the recorded music scene for a career (as a musician, band, or related recording role), Drexel has their own music label, Mad Dragon Records, and Drexel/Mad Dragon have connections with the local public radio station, WXPN, which is a part of the Univ of Pennsylvania (campuses are neighbors). WXPN, being not-for-profit, makes it a bigger part of their mission to help promote new local bands… both through recorded music like their “XPN Local” CD and through XPN’s live venue at the World Café. At least 3 of the new artists on XPN Local CD are on the Mad Dragon label. Check out this link: <a href=“http://www.newsworks.org/index.php/local/arts-culture/54794-drexels-mad-dragon-record-label-turns-out-hits-careers-in-music-business-”>http://www.newsworks.org/index.php/local/arts-culture/54794-drexels-mad-dragon-record-label-turns-out-hits-careers-in-music-business-</a> </p>
<p>Point being, at Drexel you would have unique access to a potential local gold mine: Yes, Philly is a smaller music scene, but there are not that many successful student-run record labels and I don’t know of any other public radio stations that play the variety of music like WXPN… </p>
<p>Plus, Drexel’s music industry program is the most highly selective major at the school: they only take 54 freshman out of 800+ applicants (6-7% acceptance rate - so congrats for getting in!), whereas Belmont is about a 75% acceptance rate. </p>
<p>The biggest negative for Drexel had previously been their lack of student housing, but they have and are investing in a bunch of new construction projects - check out the president’s website (John Fry) and his vision for neighborhood development: <a href=“Biography | Office of the President | Drexel University”>http://www.drexel.edu/president/JohnFry/biography/</a> </p>
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<p>A problem with Drexel, though, is that it’s very expensive and, frankly, overpriced -with very little in the way of FA. Furthermore, for students who want to break into the music industry, what they need is basically a regular business major along with specialty (music) classes plus strong connections. At Drexel, the student would need to take a lot of business electives to complement the program. Of course, the internship system (especially the semester-long program) is a good way to start</p>
<p>@AJM: how much would each cost, after scholarships but before loans?</p>
<p>I think you have to consider exposure to the music industry in your decision. Nashville is a much better place to be if you want to meet people who work in the music business.</p>
<p>@AJM1996: Nashville is definitely the bigger music scene; I’m just not convinced that bigger is better - if you’ve got talent, you can often stand out more in a smaller pond.
Drexel’s list price (incl. room and board) is about $60K and Belmont is about $40K; Our son (3.7 GPA, average SAT’s) got a $12K scholarship from Drexel and $3K from Belmont - we are waiting on the final financial aid offer. I’ve read that Drexel has been more aggressive recently in meeting need - a school’s ability to offer aid is largely driven by the size of their endowment: Drexel = $590 million; Belmont = $90 million, so I’d expect the current price gap to be narrowed even further.</p>
<p>If you haven’t decided, you should go back to Belmont and ask for more money. I can tell you my S got more than that as a commercial guitar major with a significantly lower GPA. (Could be less money given for music biz since it is a bit more competitive on GPA, but still I think $3k is a pittance.) Also be aware that students can move off campus in the third year and off campus housing is a lot less expensive in Nashville than in Philadelphia. The freshmen-sophomore dorms at Belmont are fabulous. I don’t know much about the housing at Drexel. </p>
<p>The co-op programs at Drexel are great, but Belmont has a very strong relationship with the music industry in Nashville and students get excellent internships and job opportunities. Belmont owns Ocean Way studio whwre many top artists record, and students also do all the Showcase productions there which gives the music business students a lot of real world experience. Belmont also owns and operates the Curb Cafe, where music business students can work and get experience booking artists and managing the club.</p>
<p>I live in Philadelphia and my son goes to Belmont. One of his best friends is a music business student and came all the way from China to go there after researching US colleges. I know a lot about both colleges if you want to PM me for more info. Both cities are exciting in their own ways. Philly has a great music scene in terms of performing opportunities, though not much music is actually being produced here. My son did not expect much from Nashville but totally loves it and will probably stay there after he graduates. </p>
<p>Thanks for all the help guys, I have a lot to think about. @MYOS1634 Belmont would be roughly 30,000 for me whereas Drexel would be roughly 40,000. I plan to negotiate with Belmont and maybe even Drexel when I know my financial packages from all the schools I applied to. </p>
<p>In that case I think Belmont is definitely the better choice.</p>