<p>I'm auditioning for schools and I originally thought I wanted to be a VP major. Now, I've decided to try for a Musicology major because I realized a) that the performance major may be a little to intense for me and b) I love music history. I'm just doing this for BU and Bienen. Anyway, I was just curious, do you think that it would be easier to get into this program (performance wise) and how much more weight would they put on academics if this were true?</p>
<p>The musicology programs I am familiar with (and this is not a big, big list) are a BA degree and it is an academic music program, not a performance one, and as far as I know, doesn’t require an audition (and take that with a grain of salt, given my limited breadth of knowledge). </p>
<p>A BA in musicology would lean heavily on academic stats as would any other academic admit, whereas BM programs (performance) are based (in the music school portion) entirely or almost entirely on the audition. Unless I am wrong with the schools you are thinking of, musicology doesn’t have a performance requirement, it is strictly an academic admit, so you would just have to have the Academic stats. Your music background I would assume would apply as an EC and prob would weight significantly in your favor (having studied an instrument or instruments obviously giving you music background a non musician would not have). As a musicology student you could still perform in orchestras, take lessons, etc as a non major, but it is an academic discipline from what I know (and take it as that, what i know:)</p>
<p>Northwestern does require a performance audition for the BM in Musicology. Whether they would hold you to the same skill level as a performance major, I don’t know. Northwestern also cares deeply about academic performance even for the music school. One of the requirements for musicology is a high school research paper preferably on musicology.</p>
<p>Yes, I was talking about the BM programs, not the BA. And the research paper was required for both, but both said it just had to be a research paper preferably on music, not necessarily musicology. I did a research paper on music therapy affecting memory so I submitted that. I’m not really up to Northwestern standards (3.7 weighted GPA and 30 ACT), so I was more so wondering about BU.</p>
<p>Even if NU is a reach (if indeed it is), there is nothing wrong with applying to a reach. I wish I knew something about BU. Hope it goes well for you with both.</p>
<p>Of course! Just confirmed BU doesn’t need the research paper to be on a musical topic.</p>