Need Help Making A College List For A Music Ed/Performance Major

College Majors Music Major
1

Hello! My son is a junior, future music major and we are working on making a college list. We’ve been working on it for a while and made no progress. Beyond our state schools, I’m a bit stumped, particularly when you add finances to the mix, so here I am asking for some help.

Background:
Son is leaning strongly towards music education at this point but hasn’t completely ruled out a performance degree. But he really does want to teach, it wouldn’t be a fall-back thing. He has two primary instruments, voice and cello, which complicates things, or makes things seem complicated to us, when it comes to making a college list. He knows he will have to choose one eventually, but he doesn’t want to let go of either one yet. In his ideal world he would do music ed and cello and voice performance triple degree followed by a graduate degree in conducting. He’d be in college forever. He is working on audition repertoire for both cello and voice with his private teachers.

We don’t have a great deal of comparison outside our local area, because he hasn’t done music camps, competitions, etc, so it’s a bit hard to gauge where he will be competitive outside of our own little bubble. On voice, he just started private lessons this fall. He is a bass/baritone. He has been in his high school choir since freshman year, and the selective small vocal group at his school since sophomore year, singing jazz and classical repertoire. He has a truly fantastic choir teacher and the ensembles consistently do very very well at festivals. He has auditioned into regional and all-state honor choirs every year, and all-state jazz choir this year. He consistently scores highly in the auditions, which include a solo and sight reading. His teachers are very encouraging of him pursuing voice in college (he’d do classical, not jazz). On cello, he got a late start as well (6th grade), but is playing college audition-level repertoire well at this point. He has auditioned into regional honor orchestra sophomore and junior years. He seems likely to successfully audition into all-state orchestra in another month as a junior, but it’s quite competitive. He was in a good youth orchestra through freshman year until he aged out, and is not currently in a youth orchestra. He is in the top orchestra at his school and competes with a few others for first chair.

He also plays piano really well (recently accompanied one of his high school choirs at a festival and got some highly encouraging feedback from the adjudicator; won a couple piano competitions when he was younger) but quit lessons a couple of years ago. He is good with and enjoys theory, very thankful to his piano teacher for that.
Academically, he has good grades, approx a 3.6UW and a bit over 4.0W. We don’t have SAT/ACT yet but his PSAT was strong enough that I think he will have solid results there.

SO,
People seem to advise getting a music ed degree where you want to teach. He doesn’t know where he wants to teach–he’s 16. “Not the south” is all we’ve managed there. I think he’d like to get paid a living wage. Not sure if that happens anywhere, certainly not in our state. He seems to prefer a strings emphasis, but I suspect he’ll audition more strongly in voice, and being a guy seems to be helpful there. Hard to say. He’s improved a lot on cello in the last year. He won’t want to do a major outside of music, or a BA with lots of non-music requirements.
We have our three state universities already on the list (Arizona) and University of North Texas, as it has generally good programs and is likely to be affordable. I’m really stumped otherwise and open to ideas of schools for him to consider. He, of course, wants to audition at Juilliard. If he miraculously got in, we wouldn’t be able to afford it. We’re in the solid income, some savings, can afford a bunch less than our pretty high EFC realm. With our older two, we went the full-tuition merit-aid route, quite successfully and they’re doing great at OOS privates, but they weren’t music majors. I don’t think S has the GPA to do that, and music acceptances and merit money are so very mysterious and unpredictable.

Any suggestions? Partial to the Chicago area because we have family there, and further west seems better than far out east, but open to anything at this stage.

2

It is daunting, I was in your shoes this time last year. We started by asking D’s private teacher for a list of schools she felt D would be competitive to be admitted. I think it’s a good idea to get an opinion from a professional regarding what level your child has a chance at being admitted. I did a lot of research on CC and on the internet (found a great document written by oboe professor at ASU).

Another thing I found helpful was to search for audition recordings on YouTube. This really let us see what the level of playing was out there for musicians auditioning for national competitions.

If there is a university close to you it would be a good idea to arrange a lesson with both a vocal and cello faculty. They would be able to give you their assessment of your S’s level and possibly make suggestions of safety, fit, and reaches for him.

Good luck, it’s a wild journey

3

You might want to take a look at Lawrence University in Wisconsin. It is an lac that has a conservatory and they are noted for being flexible with students who are multi interested. He may well qualify for merit there and if he could get both academic and music scholarships it might be doable depending on what your bottom line is.
My S had friends who majored in both music ed and music performance at UM in Michigan but I don’t know how open they would be to studying both voice and an instrument and music ed. Also is expensive for OOS students though some do get significant music scholarships.
I think the idea of getting an evaluation by a college professor for both cello and voice could give you some very useful information.

4

Note on Lawrence, you can’t get both academic and merit money. You get the greater of the two, they won’t stack them.

5

We’ve looked at Lawrence but it would be over budget. I need to look into setting up a lesson with the professors at ASU. We’ve met with professors at a couple of schools, but they haven’t heard him play or sing yet.

6

@Parentof2014grad beware of limiting your list of prospective schools because of the ticket price. It is highly likely that your child will receive merit money - almost every program offers it for students they want in their music program. Sometimes the awards are need aware - meaning they’re greater than if you have financial need - but not always. Lawrence University, for instance, is known for its generosity. You really will have no idea how much a program will cost until after your child is accepted, offers are made, and, perhaps, renegotiated. Don’t write off any program in advance, although, admittedly, some will have the reputation of giving out fewer significant awards. Lawrence is not one of those.

7

Don’t forget to think about the “type” of school. Someone who likes ASU may think an LAC like Lawrence is too small. Or a conservatory too intense. If you can take him to a few campuses to get a feel of what he likes that may help you find alternatives.

8

I have a similar junior. He sings, plays piano, and guitar. Also a bari. Interested in composition. And theatre. Leaning toward vocal performance at the moment though maybe interested in a double degree.

We toured Lawrence and I LOVE the look of that program. Especially for kids with multiple skills and interests. My kid is not quite sold for a couple reasons but it’s still on the list. We are sort of local and know some students/grads. I know music students who had the pricing on Lawrence come out competitive to the upper midwest instate flagship U’s. So don’t rule it out for price. I’ve heard they can be particularly generous.

ETA - another strong music school in Illinois is University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. I wanted to take my kid to that one to look but he would like something a bit more urban so I’m not pushing it.

I’m actually taking my junior to Chicago next week to look at Northwestern, DePaul, Roosevelt, and UChicago (supposed to be good for composition - my kid’s academic too so we’re just looking at all possibilities). We’re looking at state flagships too - both in our home state and where we can get reciprocity. Many have strong programs.

9

Mine got both an academic scholarship and is a finalist for music scholarship at St Olaf. You can stack merit plus music up to half of comprehensive fee. Music scholarships go up to 12K. She did not apply for dual degree after much thought. Accepted for the BA in music as a double major.

10

@BearHouse S doesn’t yet know what type of school he wants. We will likely make some visits this summer. He has visited a couple of our state schools (huge), and he’s visited LACs (dragged along on visits with his older sister), but he hasn’t yet expressed a preference for size or environment. Teacher fit and feeling comfortable in the music department will be very important for him, I suspect.

@MusakParent I’d be really interested in your impressions of the Chicago schools. I’ve looked at all of them except UChicago—I’m pretty confident that one isn’t a good fit for my son! Roosevelt at least has a degree that combines ed and performance, although I’m sure that still assumes either a strings or vocal emphasis, not both.

Maybe I’ll try and get more information on Lawrence. The program did look interesting when I checked before. It just looks from their website that their merit money tops out at half tuition, and we wouldn’t on paper be likely to get need based aid beyond that. With the cost of traveling to audition, we would like a list of schools where there’s a realistic chance of acceptance and affordability. That’s the part that feels like a guess.

11

St Olaf and Lawrence would be two very strong programs for him to look into.
Check ability to add a composition minor to his music education major.
Depending on his level, check out Yale - lots of conservatory level students there. His GPA may not make it possible (and we don’t know curriculum rigor) but since you said his PSAT is good and he thinks he’s Juilliard level, it may be worth looking into.

12

Oh we toured St. Olaf tour and loved the look of that as well. Most beautiful campus we’ve visited yet. Everyone was super friendly and seem like it could also be a good fit for a multi-interested musician. From people we’ve know who’ve applied to Lawrence and St. Olaf, I’ve heard Lawrence is generally more generous?

My own kid is also interested in the Harvard/Berklee BA/MM option. A very long shot, but if it’s motivating he can try for it. He also has strong academics.

We are also probably full pay a bunch of places and need to watch finances. It is hard to balance. My kid would like to apply coast to coast and dropping all the money for auditioning alone is so daunting. I’d love to compact our list a bit! But given these are very competitive auditioned programs, you really need a fair number on the list. It hurts my brain a bit.

13

@MYOS1634 we really have no idea if he’s Juilliard level as a musician. I suppose it’s possible. It’s just the one conservatory he’s heard about. :slight_smile:
Yale would be great, but It’s @MusakParent’s son who is interested in academics and composition. My son has the brains for Yale (and the course rigor, and almost the grades) but He views academics as a necessary evil, designed to torment him. He really just wants music.

@MusakParent it sounds like we are in the same boat in many ways. Ike been reading the posts from parents going through the audition process now. It sounds a bit overwhelming, both financially and time wise, but for music, I’m not sure how you avoid it.

Thanks for the suggestions everyone. I’ll research whatever ideas you have.

14

Lawrence does not stack academic and music aid. Great school if the $ works out for you. Take a look at University of Nebraska too - great college town, good for music, and reasonable out-of-state tuition.

15

I think a young person like this, who wants music ed, cello and voice, might want to investigate and even apply to all options and then decide in late senior year. In other words, do a search for great music ed programs that he could get into, and a search for voice, and a search for cello, until he can have some clarity. A lot can happen in this last year of high school. Of course there may also be schools where there is flexibility, but most BM programs will want some focus, and it does seem as if he wants a BM program, with fewer academic gen eds and so on.

Wanting Juilliard is like a kid wanting Harvard because they have heard of it :slight_smile: I would discourage it, especially for cello. Sometimes there is only one spot for undergrad. And the process of auditioning there is a bit grueling for some. There are other NYC options if he wants NYC.

You mentioned a preference for mid-West and West. UChicago has a BA, not a BM, and is reputed to be both excellent and intense academically. Without a BM, not a good fit I would think.

It would seem that your state University might be the best place to start. Most state U’s have music ed as well as BM in performance, and are an affordable option. (I recently visited Tucson and stayed near the gates of the U of A campus and walked around the beautiful campus!)

Teachers might be able to tell you if merit money is likely as well as admission. Oberlin, Lawrence. Michigan, Indiana, Northwestern, U. of North Texas, U. of Colorado, St. Olaf, College of Wooster (great school according to a friend and on Colleges that Change Lives site), U. of Puget Sound, many more great schools with music degrees.

UC’s and CSU’s have some good music programs but would be more expensive than in-state, obviously.

If he cannot decide and wants a broader focus than a BM, he could also try to find a school with a BA in music that has more classes for the major, but generally a BA is 1/4-1/3 music and BM is 2/3-3/4. Clark U. is one I like.

I always think it helps to think long term and realize he can do any of his three interests at the grad level as well. If he can put aside career concerns for undergrad and do what he really really wants to do- if he knows!- then he can always do music ed, or voice, or cello, later. It does sound as if voice would get him in higher level performance programs, but then again a genuine interest in teaching would help with music ed (has he worked with kids?). Cello is very very competitive but if that is what he loves, go for it.

Good luck!

16

This is slightly off topic, but maybe relevant for the OP too because of finances. I’ve heard U Mich is really terrible for financial aid. I was assuming that would NOT affordable for us. Less affordable than St. Olaf or Lawrence with decent merit? Is that a poor perception. I actually think that school could be amazing for my kid, but we have to trim the list somewhere and high end publics seem like an easy trim.

17

Ours applied to Lawrence and St Olaf (also a Cellist with very high stats). She got half tuition at Lawrence (academic). So far has gotten 19K in academic merit from St Olaf and will know the amount of music scholarship after live audition. I think it ranges from 2K to 12K. They will only give up to half tuition but will bank overage for future if tuition goes up. Both awards put the schools around the same cost to attend as our state flagship (which also has a very solid music department).

18

My anecdotal experience with my S and his friends is that UM is not very generous with music scholarships but I think it can be randomly generous with some students. There used to be a poster on this forum that IIRC claimed that some students could get large awards at UM, I have not heard of it among my S’s friends which include in state and OOS students. They have been moving towards more generosity in meeting full need for OOS students.

19

@MusakParent in our experience with the University of Michigan, the financial aid was indeed terrible for out of state, but between academic and music merit awards it ended up costing the same as all his other choices. Granted my son did get some of the larger awards offered. It really may all depend on how much a school wants your child, which is why it’s not wise to rule schools out in advance, unless you already know it’s not a good fit.

20

UMich now promises to meet full need for OOS applicants whose family makes 90K or less.