non-music major still wants music classes

Parents Forum
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<p>I’d take a look at Williams. Excellent biology, English and music. Double majoring and even triple is common and a good range of electives. Plenty of music performance opportunities even for non-majors. My son had several friends who were serious musicians who ended up majoring in other disciplines but were still able to continue their involvement in music on an intense level.</p>

<p><a href=“http://music.williams.edu/williams-college-music[/url]”>http://music.williams.edu/williams-college-music&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>I’d say much the same about Wesleyan.</p>

<p>Also, your daughter should be sure to include a music supplement to her application even if she’s not planning to major in music.</p>

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<p>The music classes at William and Mary are full of non-music majors.</p>

<p>I don’t know if the music department would be big enough for what you are looking for though? It’s worth a look…</p>

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<p>Eckerd College offers vocal and instrumental lessons to both music majors and non music majors. You are welcome to join the concert choir, orchestra, adult band, and jazz band. If you look at the music major and minor website you will be directed to the faculty page that gives a better explaination. There have been some wonderful suggestions on this thread.</p>

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<p>I second the Williams, Tufts and Wesleyan suggestions. Other NE liberal arts colleges with strong music programs that we visited are Skidmore, Hamilton and Vassar (can easily double major at Vassar also due to few distribution requirements). These schools also offer private lessons for non-majors. S1 and S2 both ‘double-majored’ in a science and music and it worked out/is working out well.</p>

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<p>As you can see, there are many, many schools that will meet your daughter’s criteria.</p>

<p>The main thing is, not only does she not need a conservatory, but the presence of a conservatory on campus, or a music school, can bring both pros and cons. </p>

<p>I honestly think she can first pick colleges based on all kinds of criteria that might be important to her, including location, gen ed requirements, price, vibe and then music can be one of the things to look into, even after choosing schools to investigate for other reasons. It will be too overwhelming to look for schools that will allow her to do music-there are so many :)</p>

<p>It would seem that smaller, sort of urban, liberal arts colleges would make the most sense, from what you have been saying.</p>

<p>The “little Ivies,” such as Amherst, Williams, Wesleyan, Tufts, Bowdoin, are a good idea. “Seven sisters” also: Smith, Wellesley, Vassar, Barnard- and Ct. College. Brandeis. Also Bard, Oberlin, Lawrence (despite the conservatory at these), Macalaster, Carleton, Kenyon, Grinnell, Hamilton, many many others. Macalaster is urban, in Minnesota. Clark, NYU, on and on: all the suggestions others have made are great. </p>

<p>The vibe is different at all these schools. If you can, visiting can really help figure that out. You can ask the tour guide or presenter about music, and also arrange to talk to someone in the music department. And yes, a supplement with a CD or DVD, music resume, and letters of recommendation from music teacher(s) can help a lot.</p>

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<p>My daughter contacted the head of the music department, instrument teacher on her instrument, and orchestra director for each of the colleges she was interested in. They were very helpful and let her know the options at these colleges.</p>

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<p>thanks for all the suggestions! <em>I</em> love the idea of Williams, but she’s not sure she wants to be that far north. The financial aid there would be a big plus for us.</p>

<p>She likes rural/small town campuses generally (only thought about Nashville because, well, it’s Nashville). The Pittsburgh campuses we visited were busts (Pitt & Carnegie Mellon). </p>

<p>She has good scores - 32 ACT, 780 SAT2 English, AP English 4. </p>

<p>The financial aid will be a major factor in any final decisions, but we’re just trying to help her narrow down her options a little bit!</p>

28

<p>As I recall, Case had great merits scholarships. (I think DS had the top award of $27,500 a few years ago, with 35 ACT). But from other CC posters I think not as strong for need-based FA. Usually families are chasing one or the other - typically you can’t “stack” merit$ and FA.</p>

<p>Carnegie Mellon and Tufts might have better FA. We visited both those schools, and I was impressed with the music opportunities there too. Tufts was too liberal artsy for DS, but he had just been wow’d by MIT a few hours earlier.</p>

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<p>we’re taking her to Case’s preview days in August - we’ll see what she thinks. They’ve offered to waive the app fee, so I’m hoping she’ll apply there.</p>

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<p>My d went to Rochester where she was a double major in music and studied voice for 4 years with Eastman grad students and sang in several choruses as well as an English major, concentration in theatre. She had friends from study abroad who had doubled major at Gettysburg and another at University of Denver.</p>

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<p>Yes, do take advantage of the Case waived fee. DS got a postcard with that offer, and it seems it was not so hard to add it to his list. But… he didn’t do so til after EA deadline. If you can, do EA. That will give financial info early in the game, and if still non-binding there is no risk.</p>

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<p>My Ds performed in college, but did not take classes. Their LAC and some they applied to really encouraged and needed ensemble participation from non majors. Beloit College, U of Puget Sound, Kalamazoo, and the best of all, St. Olaf in Minnesota. Beloit did not have such a strong orchestra, but the scholarship for non majors was very nice! And my D got some great playing experience.</p>

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<p>S is heading to Vandy in the fall to study Engineering. He will take music classes and is looking at a minor in music. Everyone we talked to at Vanderbilt was supportive of him pursuing a minor in music. And for someone who loves music, what better place to be than “Music City”.</p>

<p>As far as financial aid, you can run the net price calculator. Vanderbilt will meet all demonstrated need.</p>

34

<p>Marian’s reply is a good one. Many liberal arts colleges/ universities will have music departments, not conservatories or “schools of music”. Their music majors will typically be taking a majority of their classes elsewhere and will welcome nonspecialists. At Cornell there are several paths through the music major, one of which is more minimal and another of which prepares students to work as professional musicians or to go to grad school. At some schools, e.g. University of Virginia, a majority of the music majors are double majors and the other major can be just about anything.</p>

<p>Some schools with conservatories will open their classes to qualified students in the “regular” program. I know this is true of Johns Hopkins, for instance; there were biomed and similar majors studying at Peabody. My niece went to the University of Rochester and took lots of classes at the affiliated Eastman School.</p>

<p>It’s pretty common to have to pay an extra fee, on top of regular tuition, for private lessons in voice or on an instrument. That’s because one-on-one instruction is more expensive. At UVA the department has an endowed fund that covers these fees for music majors and for talented students with financial need. That’s doubtless true at other schools as well.</p>

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<p>My DD was very lucky. At Santa Clara University, she received instrument lessons at no cost as long as she played in the orchestra. She also got $250 per term performance scholarship for playing in the orchestra. </p>

<p>Putting in a pitch…it has great sciences…and the climate is just about perfect for someone who wants to get away from the cold! It’s only 10 minutes (with a free shuttle) to the San Jose airport which southwest serves.</p>

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<p>I thought of another one. We have a friend who loved Swarthmore. She played in the orchestra and in chamber groups, took lessons in Philly and I think she graduated with a minor in music. Not too far north and a top liberal arts college. As others have said, these colleges all have different vibes so please try to visit and maybe plan your visit around a rehearsal or concert. It was the most important thing we did when looking at colleges.</p>

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<p>Thank you thank you all!</p>

<p>U of Richmond & Haverford just popped up on our radar too.</p>

<p>So far I think she will apply to:<br>
Case Western
Vanderbilt
Cornell
local state flagship as safety
Geneva (small Christian school she likes, iffy financially)
U of Richmond
Haverford or Swarthmore or both
Washington & Lee
Kenyon
maybe U of Rochester</p>

<p>DO you think she has enough good bets on this list given her stats? If all else fails, she could go (and we can afford) the local state school.</p>

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<p>When I mentioned earlier that my daughter had no difficulty finding ensembles or music classes in college, the school I was talking about was Cornell. </p>

<p>My daughter did not take private music lessons in college, but finding instructors is not a problem at Cornell. If Cornell doesn’t have enough instructors for a particular instrument, they get help from Ithaca College (located across town and with a plentiful supply of musicians because it has a conservatory).</p>

<p>Ithaca College could be a useful source of courses that Cornell doesn’t teach, too. It’s not unusual for students at one of these schools to take classes at the other.</p>

<p>I think your daughter could find everything she wants, except perhaps for music business, at Cornell. Neither Cornell nor Ithaca College focuses on that area.</p>

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<p>I just want to clarify that my daughter would consider herself a “professional music major” and hasn’t touched an instrument in her 5 years at college- but she is not, obviously, a “performance major.”</p>

<p>Science and music are both rigorous majors with a sequence of courses that starts early. Here is a good essay on the different ways to study music, from the Peabody site:
[Double</a> Degrees | Peabody Conservatory](<a href=“http://www.peabody.jhu.edu/conservatory/admissions/tips/doubledegree.html]Double”>http://www.peabody.jhu.edu/conservatory/admissions/tips/doubledegree.html)</p>

<p>I would put a vote in again for Oberlin or Bard College (college, not the conservatories, at least at first). I got this thread mixed up and thought this poster was looking for more urban locations. We know kids who have gone to both those schools to combine music and another discipline (the one at Bard went for biology but ended up doing music composition and is now in grad school). There is always the option to cross the low wall into the conservatory if that is what happens, but the BA major or minor in music would work there along with sciences or whatever else.</p>

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<p>Turtle - my D is at W&L and decided she was interested in taking piano as a class. She played most of her life and so, to relax, she would go in the rehearsal rooms and play for fun. She now takes a 1 credit class. The set-up is great for her as a non-major since the practice requirements are in line with what she has time for. She does do the recitals and juries but that is not a problem for her. She loves the fact that one of the practice rooms has a Steinway grand… </p>

<p>One of her housemates is pre-med (biology) and sings in the main choral group and I think is a music minor.</p>

<p>Anyway, W&L has a wonderful performance facilities and lots of performance groups.</p>

<p>At the other end of the spectrum, other D wanted to also take piano again at her big state U but didn’t want a graded class and is doing the community outreach program taught by graduate pedagogy students. The right level for her in terms of adding to workload.</p>