<p>Could someone tell me how competitive the Music Technology graduate program at NYU is? I'm currently in my undergrad and will be graduating with a degree in Music Education. I'm not a perfect straight A student, but I have a pretty solid 3.4 GPA and I'm more interested in classical music. I can't seem to find any info on acceptance statistics and it would be nice to know if I actually have a shot at getting in. Also, is there any minor anybody could suggest for me to add to increase my chances of getting in? Or do you think I'd be fine with just the Music Ed degree? </p>
<p>I can’t speak as an expert, but based on what I have heard, and from I get from NYU being an alum of said institution, the admit to the program is difficult. The biggest element is you are supposed to submit a portfolio of work, that as a music ed major you may not have done any of the stuff required… From the website:</p>
<p>“We also require the submission of a portfolio of samples of previous professional, artistic or academic work on music, technology and related fields. Examples include, but are not limited to, school papers, scientific publications (max. 8 pages-long), web pages or audiovisual materials of work you have composed, performed, recorded, mixed and/or produced. The portfolio should be made available online (e.g. in your personal webpage), and the URL included on the resume submitted as part of your application.”</p>
<p>It sounds to me like if you can take anything around recording/music technology at the program you are in, and show examples of stuff you can do, it would be a big help, that portfolio is probably huge in the admit process I would bet, and given that your GPA is not bad, but not stellar, you probably would need a strong portfolio to get looked at for admission. Note that while they mention papers and such, I suspect that without a portfolio of audio or visual work you have done, that chances of getting in would be small (keep in mind I am not an expert, that is my reading between the lines). </p>
<p>BTW, standard rule of thumb with admissions is to look at the school’s website, they put a lot of info up there, Music Tech is part of the Steinhardt school:</p>
<p><a href=“http://steinhardt.nyu.edu/music/technology/programs/graduate/apply”>http://steinhardt.nyu.edu/music/technology/programs/graduate/apply</a></p>
<p>Hope this helps. </p>
<p>I am not directly familiar with this program, but suggest you attempt to have a conversation with the department head to determine whether you’ve acquired the foundation required or alternately, what you could do to improve your foundation to pursue this avenue…</p>
<p>I say this because “music technology” is a pretty broad concept, but in some cases, includes a fair bit of engineering background. There are some programs, like UMich, where at the undergrad level, a music technology specialist has literally spent hundred/thousands of hours mixing, programming, composing electronically, etc.</p>
<p>When a school offers a masters program, it normally would extend beyond what a typical undergrad degree in the same discipline would be. At the same time, its always possible they’d accept promising students who don’t have the specific degree background but have independently pursued/developed their technology skills.</p>
<p>At the very least if you now have time as an undergrad, you’d likely want to take as many technologically-related music courses or direct training as you are able. The specific department at NYU would be the best resource for guiding you toward the best foundation, but I’d expect that to include every thing from production courses to signal processing.</p>
<p>So the first order of business is to ask 
I do doubt that music Ed alone would be an adequate background without a lot of indpendent production experience, but I’m coming from the vantage of what an strong undergrad program covers and the presumption that graduate work is significantly more advanced. I could be dead wrong about that :)</p>