<p>I am a high school junior (soon to be senior of course) from Indiana. I am extremely involved in music and have been from a very young age. I do not view a music performance degree as a viable career option, but I remain immensely devoted to music and definitely want it to play a part in my career. I get extremely good grades (maintaining a 4.0 currently with all honors classes...if barely, haha) and am very active in music, athletics, and volunteer work, so I'm not really worried about getting accepted to schools academically (don't really plan on applying to Ivies or anything...don't really see the point for undergrad). </p>
<p>So here's the deal. I am very interested in two technological career areas related to music: sound engineering in the recording industry, and electrical engineering with relation to music and sound (ie. designing amplifiers, mics etc). Currently I am looking at UMich Ann Arbor and their Sound Engineering program. This program will (ideally anyway) give me a good education to make a career in the recording industry. I've spoken to a guy who was in this program and his advice to me was that double majoring in Sound Engineering and Electrical Engineering will give me a lot more versatility careerwise and provide a better background for the other career area I am interested in. In addition, many of the classes for each degree overlap, making it a 2-for-1.5 sort of deal, lol.</p>
<p>Now after all that rambling (sorry, I've kind of written a novel here), here's my question: I want to keep all my avenues open and I'm trying to find other schools that give me similar options, and I'm really not sure. I know that Miami, USC, and Butler all have both recording and engineering programs, but I don't know what the feasibility of completing both of them is. Any help would be greatly appreciated (and any additional college suggestions are welcome as well!).</p>
<p>A good, albeit extremely challenging, option would be a dual degree at JHU Engineering and the JHU peabody conservatory. I don’t know the quality of audio engineering at JHU though.</p>
<p>Thanks very much for starting this thread. You sound a lot like my son. We are from Michigan and didn’t know about the program at U of M. My son, too, does not want a career in music, per se, but it will always be a big part of his life. </p>
<p>Anyone know how difficult it is to get into this program at U of M? Not sure my son could get in. (3.95 UW GPA, 32 ACT) He may have to retake the ACT afterall.</p>
<p>Interesting information from the U of M website regarding admission requirements (my son hasn’t done any sound engineering so I think this option is out for him.)</p>
<p>**Applicants to the Bachelor of Science in Sound Engineering (Curriculum D) should submit a portfolio consisting of a stereo CD recording of the following:</p>
<ol>
<li>yourself performing on an instrument or voice with the repertoire of your choice;</li>
<li>two stereo recordings that you have engineered that represent contrasting musical styles performed by at least three musicians. The stereo recording should be produced primarily from microphone signals. Original compositions are encouraged;</li>
<li>a recording of an original composition (two to five minutes long) for one or more acoustic instruments accompanied by a notated score;</li>
<li>an arrangement of any fugue movement by J.S. Bach orchestrated for electronic instruments.**</li>
</ol>
<p>Thanks for the replies everybody. I was aware of the admission requirements. Demonstrating my proficiency on an instrument and arranging the Bach fugue should not be much of an issue. I do kind of take issue with the recordings though…it’s almost like they expect them to be pro quality. Who has that kind of equipment? And furthermore…isn’t that what I’m applying to this school to learn how to do? Not really sure what I’m going to do about that.</p>
<p>That’s part of why I’m looking for other options. I’d love to get into Michigan and I’m going to try my hardest to get ahold of some recording equipment but in the event that I can’t, neither USC nor Miami require any such thing. Each just requires an audition to determine musical aptitude, in which case I am confident in my ability. I’m just not sure if those programs are what I’m looking for or not! If anyone knows whether doing a dual degree track in those programs is possible I’d really appreciate it.</p>
<p>And I will certainly look into the schools suggested earlier, thank you.</p>
<p>I hope you’ll update this thread if you find other interesting programs. Like you, my son is quite proficient musically and strong technically, but he would have no idea how to do the required mixing/recording. I suppose he could try to put something together over the summer. </p>
<p>The other school my son considered was University of Hartford. They have an Acoustic Engineering + Music degree (BS) that is very interesting.</p>
Not really sure what I’m going to do about that.</p>