Music Schools/Conservatories That Offer Med School Requirement Courses

College Majors Music Major
1

<p>I've already posted this in another forum but I thought I might get more answers here in the Music Major category.</p>

<p>I'm looking into majoring in either vocal performance or musical theatre, but I also have my sights set on eventually getting into medical school. I've heard of a couple programs or conservatories that are affiliated with universities but I don't know enough about them and I'm not quite sure where to look. I'm trying to compile a list of colleges to apply to, both "dream schools" and places with higher acceptance rates and any help would be much appreciated.</p>

2

<p>You should be able to take the necessary pre-reqs for med school at most schools of music which are attached to a college or university - although it may take some careful planning/scheduling. Schools like Oberlin, Carnegie Mellon, CCM at U of Cincinnati, Michigan, Indiana, USC, Northwestern, Rice etc. Usually there are electives which are required to graduate and you should be able to take organic chemistry, anatomy etc. as your electives. Some programs will have fewer credit hours available for electives than others - and you’ll have to juggle lab classes with the required classes/ensembles for your major - but it shouldn’t be that difficult. Just check out the curriculum requirements for the programs of interest and see how many options you have for electives.</p>

3

<p>Oberlin has a 5 year dual degree that would allow you to do that. It won’t be easy, but it can be done. There is a student doing that now (D is VP there and knows). Just remember at any school it is hard to manage science lab time and practice time. Why do you want to major in VP or MT? Is medicine a plan B? I know people will tell you that you can major in “anything” and that you want to “stand out” but honestly it is the science grades and MCAT that count as well as EC and med volunteer work. Go VP only if you really want the training but not to “look different” to med schools.
I teach college science and advise pre-med all the time. PM if you want to.</p>

4

<p>I have read that music majors have a high admit rate at medical schools.</p>

<p>There are programs after undergrad that focus on prerequisites for med school, or you can just do prerequisites a la carte, so to speak. </p>

<p>Do you hope to work in VP or MT? Or are you aiming to spend undergrad years on fields you enjoy and then buckle down and do med school? Why are you thinking about med school at all? (Many high school students think about being a doctor but that is sometimes a result of not knowing a lot about career options.)</p>

<p>I would apply to schools and conservatories for voice or musical theater. You can do things in sequence; you don’t have to do it all at once.</p>

<p>Your goals may change over time, too…</p>

<p>Otherwise, go for a double degree in 5 years, at schools like Bard, Oberlin, Lawrence, Tufts/NEC, Johns Hopkins/Peabody, or any other schools others have mentioned for double degrees.</p>

5

<p>@‌ clippy-
If you are looking to major in vp or musical theater as a way of enhancing your ability to get into med school rather than being you want to major in vp or musical theater because you love it but want to keep the option of medical school open, I would recommend not doing that. The reason being is that musical performance is not easy in the first place, it takes a lot of time and dedication and you may find yourself in a hole, where the music performance and the courses for pre med are not doing well. I only ask because there are cases where majoring in music does give advantages and there are parents and kids who do it seeking an edge, knowing about this, and I think that that is not a productive way to look at it. </p>

<p>If you do have the passion for VP or MT, have what you think it will take to get into a good program, and also think you may want to study medicine as well, you have options:</p>

<p>1)You can take the pre med requirements as optional classes at the college connected to the music school, as part of a second degree or not (so for example, you could theoretically take the chemistry, physics, bio and lab courses, math courses if required, as part of a let’s say biology degree, or simply take them as a pre med student. Keep in mind pre med is not a major, it is a pre professional core course requirement. </p>

<p>2)You could take the required courses over the summer at the same school or another one,if offered (remember, you need to take the required classes but as far as I know, there is no requirement you take chemistry, organic, bio, etc at the same school you are enrolled in. However, if you take it at the school you go to for music, likely would be a lot cheaper, covered by the standard tuition. </p>

<p>3)You could do what a lot of people do, after graduating take the ‘pre professional’ classes required, a number of schools have programs like that, for people wanting to go to med school who haven’t taken some or all the classes required, then take the MCATS and apply to med school. </p>

<p>If it were me, I would go with option 2 or 3 if possible. Music performance is pretty intensive, it isn’t the ‘easy course of study’ some of the academically minded make it out to be, and as someone else said, the lab courses and such can be a real pain to try and schedule with music stuff (VP majors may not be able to practice as much time wise as instrumentalists, but they also have a heck of a load with language study and other things instrumental students don’t have), and taking the courses over the summer or after graduating may make more sense. </p>

6

<p>Music majors admitted to med school tend to be highly focused students who excel in both music and science, not simply because they are music majors. Being a music major will not help you without good MCAT and science grades. You have to complete all the pre-med pre-reqs regardless of your major. English and history majors can get in too, as long as they get the pre-reqs in.
My question remains what is the ultimate goal? If the primary goal is medicine, that perhaps should be UG focus and do music as a minor. If OP wants to give music a shot then go to med school, that is a different story. I see too many students trying to find the “edge” for med school admission. The “edge” is hard work on the required courses. Most med schools require a minimum 2 semesters biology above freshman biology, 2 gen chem, 2 organic chem, 2 physics not to mention math and english. The sciences are all lab heavy courses that require a lot of time.<br>
I expect OP is well versed in the med and music requirements so should understand that 5 years may be required for UG. With the cost of an additional 4 years of medical school, it can be a long and expensive road.
Many UG schools have a pre med-honor society (Alpha Epsilon Delta) OP should contact AED sponsors and find out their acceptance rates overall and by major.</p>

7

<p>Do note that post-bacc programs are expensive and do not come with merit aid, or financial aid beyond loans. So be prepared if you choose Door Number 3. Much better to take the courses as an undergrad covered by your financial & merit aid package unless money is not an issue for your family. Also some schools seem to frown on the required pre-med classes being taken art a community college rather than a four year college - if you’re considering summer courses.</p>

8

<p>@‌ scubachick-
You hit the nail on the head with med school,that the basic answer to med school admissions is to have the high GPA in the coursework and high score on the MCAT. I agree with you, I suspect that the music majors getting into med school would take some digging, but from what I have seen I think you are right, it isn’t that med schools see music majors and say “oh, welcome”, they see among a crowd of kids having top grades, see a music major (as versus a bio major, a chem major, the usual suspects) and it probably draws their eye, in large part because it takes someone pretty darn diligent to get into a high level music program (I am assuming that when they say music majors and med school, they are talking performance, though I have never seen whether the music majors getting accepted might be BA’s in music history or somesuch, which is very different than performance), it takes a lot of work to balance out the high grades in pre med with the lab courses (oh, friday morning lab lectures, I don’t miss you one bit…:slight_smile: and the stuff for performance, and they know it in the admissions office, but that requires all else to be equal as well, it isn’t like they will take a music performance major with a B average and so so MCAT’s because they were a performance major. </p>

9

<p>I know of four students who have done/are doing this at UC/CCM. Some are doing it in four years, others in five. Looks very busy & you need to be really on top of scheduling. The ones doing it in four have taken summer courses for gen eds or had AP credits.</p>

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<p>I don’t want the music major as an edge for medical school, I wasn’t even aware that a high number of music majors were accepted. </p>

<p>Taking a post-bacc program doesn’t seem too reasonable for me, I’d rather not add on extra expenses. I read somewhere that taking the med requirements during the summer was somehow looked down upon. Is that true?</p>

<p>If so, I think managing it all in my undergrad years seems to be the best option.</p>

11

<p>I’d also focus on in state schools with medical school attached. At least where we are that’s what increases the chances of admissions for med school. </p>

12

<p>Taking summer courses at your UG school is OK. You want to avoid taking summer courses at your local college while home for summer. A class or 2 is fine, but you don’t want to do all your science classes at a different school than your UG school. It raises a flag that maybe you could not “cut it” at your main UG school. Some small colleges do not even offer summer courses, so to do music/med in 4 years may require you to look at large schools.<br>
I agree that state schools would be a good place to look as they may provide you with the most options for balance and scheduling courses.</p>

13

<p>NYU Steinhardt for Vocal Performance. (BM degree with either a concentration in musical theatre or classical voice.) I’ve seen them hand out sample programs of their course requirements along with the courses needed for med school. (You don’t have to double major.) D’s a studio art major getting a BFA there, and I’ve seen a sample schedule worked out for art and pre-med, too.</p>

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<p>Post-bacc is expensive, summer courses are expensive and a fifth year is expensive. Take your pick.</p>

<p>If you can find info on course requirements for the VP major and then the prerequisites you need for med school, you should be able to figure it out on paper. Check the websites.</p>

<p>Musician 34 knows students who have done this in 4 years but note that she also said that included summer classes or AP credits. I think it would be a tight squeeze if you are doing a BM program but might be possible if you do a BA. But apparently there are some who do it in 4 with a BM.</p>

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<p>A fifth year may have academic and merit funding, as well as financial aid. The other options probably won’t. So that would make a fifth year financially more doable.</p>

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<p>Another consideration (large vs small schools) is how often courses are offered. Science and music theory classes are usually sequences (theory 1 theory 2 : chem 1 chem 2) Small schools may offer the sequence only Fall/Spring so if you miss the Fall chem 1 due to music scheduling conflict, then you have to wait a year to start the sequence. You can investigate this now. Most schools have class schedules and course catalogs online. </p>

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<p>I’ll have to research just how expensive a fifth year is vs post-bacc. </p>

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<p>It will differ from school to school. And you won’t really know until they make you the offers.</p>

<p>For instance, The University of Rochester has a special free tuition program for a fifth year for students who want to take more courses: <a href=“Students : College Center for Advising Services : University of Rochester”>Students : College Center for Advising Services : University of Rochester; </p>

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<p>I’m a graduate of the most selective medical school in the country. I was AOA (honor society/top 5%). I can assure you that while my med school did accept music majors, they had only taken the bare minimum coursework to be accepted to med school. They really struggled to perform against students who had an intensive science oriented major as an UG. I would urge you to pick one or the other, as I believe it would be impossible to be better than “just okay” at those two disciplines simultaneously. Just my 2c</p>

20

<p>First with regard to post-bac. It can be hard to get into medical school without doing a post-bac program unless you have gone to a top college, have a 4.0 GPA and excellent MCAT scores. Many post-bac programs now feed into major medical schools so spots at these medical schools are being taken by post-bac students. Just something to consider. Among my daughter’s peers I know almost no one who is in medical school who has NOT done a post-bac, even among those who majored in the sciences undergrad. I also would strongly encourage anyone who is thinking of pre-med to think carefully and explore what their interests are with medicine before applying to medical school because medicine is changing and what specific degree you will want to have may depend a lot on your interest. If you want to be a surgeon then absolutely work hard and go to medical school. But if your interest is more towards primary care or research then other paths might be better than getting an MD. For example there is a shift to having the majority of primary care be done by nurse practitioners and/or physician assistants. Also do not rule out the fields of Social work, psychology, medical advocate, health care administration and policy. </p>

<p>I also would encourage you to maybe try not to do everything at once and risk burning out. You are young and you have time. Maybe go to a strong liberal arts school that has a good science program and a good musical theater program. Take a range of classes and find out what you enjoy most. Do a summer internship in a hospital. Work in a lab. Spend time doing community theater. Take more classes. Sort out what you enjoy and what makes you feel happy before trying to spread yourself too thin in an attempt to do it all.</p>

<p>You might spend time in a hospital and decide you hate it. You might find that you love working in a lab and looking into a microscope and doing research. Or you might find that the world of theater is where you feel the most at home. </p>

<p>I know a lot of miserable doctors and ex-doctors. I live next to one. She now has a chocolate company. Medicine is a field that is changing rapidly. Financially the incentives have changed and not all doctors are well off. As one doctor told me years ago when I was thinking of going into medicine myself, “There are many ways to be involved in health care besides being a doctor.”</p>