<p>Im going to be a senior this year, and I'm starting to look at colleges. Im thinking being a music major, considering my academics were just very average. Does anyone know any good colleges/universities that have a really good music program? I don't want to go to a conservatory... Oh also, I play violin!</p>
<p>What is your home state and what can your family afford?</p>
<p>Are you talking about music performance major? Those school would put much more emphasis on your talent than your school performance. However, it is very competitive. My neighbor has significantly below admission average stat (even much lower than the 25% in ACT for UMich) and got accepted into UMich Music School with a scholarship. You need to audit for admission and they only accept the top students into the program. If they really want you, they will find money for you.</p>
<p>Yes, what is your home state? Also, what field of music are you interested in? Are you good enough in it to pass the college audition?</p>
<p>A strong school that also has a famous music school: University of Rochester + Eastman School of Music. </p>
<p>Violin is a very competitive instrument as I am sure you know. What schools did your violin teacher suggest? Have you looked at audition requirements for any schools you are considering to be sure you have the repertoire? Please note a lot of schools that are not conservatories have prescreen requirements. Have you done any summer programs so you have a rough idea of how you stack up again other players your age? Has your private teacher helped former students get into music school? If not I would suggest finding a teacher that has. My younger s is a violinist entering jr. year planning to pursue violin.</p>
<p>hi all, here’s some information that I may have left out:
I live in Los Angeles, CA, and my parents can probably afford about 18k-25k (at the most) I would like to major in music performance, I’ve done violin for about 7 years, won first place in 2 competitions, i haven’t been to any summer programs, I have been looking at audition requirements, and I have all the repertoire ready. I’m not confident in academics… I have had straight A’s for 4 semesters in HS, however my SAT score isn’t very strong (1600: which I am taking again in the fall), I got a 3 in AP BIO, and a 4 in AP US History. </p>
<p>My private teacher recommends UCLA and USC. Although he favors UCLA a lot more. (This is only for CA)
However, I am okay with going out of state. I just want a college that isnt a complete music school. I want to attend a university that has a great music program/music department.</p>
<p>I hope this info helps. Thank you for your help ! I really appreciate it!</p>
<p>The SAT is a bit low, and USC is a very, very tough admit academically so you may have some problems on that end. That said, conventional wisdom is that for music students, they are a little less strict in terms of GPA/SAT and so forth. I would be more concerned with USC about the level required to audition there, they have a very strong strings program and they are very, very competitive. You said you looked at the audition requirements and believe you have the required pieces, but how well can you play them? Have you already started working on them with an eye to auditions? The fact that you won a competition or two shows you are playing at a certain level, but that may not have that much bearing on being ready for admit…USC is very, very competitive on the violin, and the biggest question is what level you are playing on, which is something no one on here can evaluate. One thing I would recommend, since you are in LA, would be to see if you could contact a member of the faculty on violin there and ask for an assessment, they can tell you where you stand (your private teacher may or may not aware of the current level to get into USC, hence my talking about an assessment). </p>
<p>UCLA has a big music program, but on violin is not generally regarded as being on the same level as USC (before someone firebombs me, this is simply my impressions). UCLA academically is a tough admit, like USC, but like USC they likely give music students a bit of a break. I would suspect getting into UCLA on violin is competitive, and gain, doing an assessment might help with one of its teachers. </p>
<p>One of the reasons I stress the assessment is it might give you an idea of where you stand, and not only on what you need to work on (and you have a lot of work to do! It is july, and pre screens for a lot of programs are due December 1st), but also if you know your level, what you can expect from other programs. </p>