<p>Stone,
It looks like you have several music classes to start on and maybe only room for one or two others. There’s a lot of gen ed and it doesn’t have to be in any particular order (unless prerequisites) so you don’t have to start with Eng, you could do 2 history classes or social science -large classes like religion have lots of space, as do fine arts classes like Dance apprec or music 110 (if you are eligible for this it would be a walk in the park for your Fine Arts requirement - my daughter had years of piano and oboe and breezed through). Remember that once registered, you can change you schedule during the summer if classes that fit your schedule better open up. My daughter’s math class was going to have to be in evening, but first week of August the school added slots to other sections.</p>
<p>Evening classes (or even a job) may be an issue due to marching band which is 5pm-6:30pm 4 days a week. And music majors unfortunately can’t get credit, not even as an elective for MUSC 110. </p>
<p>There’s only about 10 or 12 general ed classes required for BM candidates, so thats just one or two general ed classes per semester. </p>
<p>for my son, the most frustrating thing is the number of classes he has to take. He’s taking 11 this semester, two of them are 0 credit hour classes but he still has to take them. It’s like that at most every college for music majors. thats why I am suggesting minimizing general ed classes.</p>
<p>The BM curriculum is totally different than most majors, I was a business student in college and only took one business class per semester for my first couple of years, music is going to be the opposite of that.</p>
<p>D’s HS graduation is June 10th, we didn’t want to wait until after that, so we are going the Tuesday after Memorial Day. It’s pretty much a dead week for the kids anyway - the week after is Senior Week (no classes for seniors), so missing a day of school that week isn’t a big deal. I’m glad to hear pretty much all classes will be available on that date.</p>
<p>The Memorial Day session was already filled when she signed up almost two weeks ago.</p>
<p>Thanks all for the great advice, I will definitely look over the sites/schedules you mention with him in advance. Good news is that he has already passed the tests for AP Human Geo, AP Calculus A-B, and AP English, so hopefully those credits will help lighten his load a bit.</p>
<p>Stone,
The APs are a great help. USC is pretty generous with credit. I think a 4 or 5 on English could get him out of English altogether.</p>
<p>Yeah. If your son can’t get into a lot of gen eds this semester. (It may be difficult to get into history and English courses. Even my adviser told me to sign up for those first because they go FAST.)</p>
<p>Your son will have to look at his schedule. As GamecockGirl said, with Theatre majors it isn’t advisable that we take classes after 6 due to rehearsals being from 7-11, but it is possible. I had a class last semester from 7-9 and it wasn’t an issue. But when I went in for advising, there was absolutely no consideration made for this, because a lot of majors have issues like this.</p>
<p>What did he get on AP English? If he got a five on at least one test or at least a three on the two tests, then he’ll have gotten out of English 101 and 102 which is really helpful. USC is very generous with AP credits.</p>
<p>Stone, another reason not to take evening classes is that music majors are required to attend a certain number of performances. They usually start at 7 or 7:30 pm. that gives marching band members just enough time between marching band and the performance to eat supper and get to the performance.</p>
<p>Also the practice rooms are pretty full in the afternoon so sometimes it may be easier to do private practice after 7pm.</p>
<p>Since your son is going to exempt out of some general ed classes, I definitely wouldn’t take more than one general ed per semester.</p>
<p>He received a 4 on Geography and a 3 on both English and Calculus, so I don’t think he’s completely exempted on those. He is taking AP Music Theory and AP Psychology in this his final year, but tells me has no interest in studying for or trying to pass the test for Psych because it “won’t count” for anything towards his requirements. He’s got a bit of a stubborn streak (must get that from his mother), so I’ve not been able to convince him otherwise. Of course with music dominating his life, he is “Acing” AP Music Theory but tells me he will still probably take it as a freshman…welcome to 18 going on 30!</p>
<p>Definitely go to the AP/IB page on USC site to see what son will get credit for. I don’t know about the school of music general requirement, but if there is a social science requirement (and I’d be suprised if there isn’t) AP pyschology would definitely count. Maybe showing that to him will encourage an end of the year push! Remind him that every course he can exempt is a semester where you can take 12 hours instead of 15 (or 15 instead of 18) or room to try something new.</p>
<p>Edit to say: I checked and if he is BA then he does need several social sciences and can use Human Geo for one and pysch for another (with 3). May count for other liberal arts credit if a Bachelor of Music. A 3 in Engl exempts 101 and 3 in AB calc exempts math 141. Music theory can exempt 1-4 classes depending on score so I say he really needs to push for good scores on his APs this year.</p>
<p>@scmom, you can only push an 18 year old so hard, and reason doesn’t always work at this age, but your info/research is appreciated. For the record, he is a BME major (Bachelor of Music Education). The BA is really for someone who wants more non-music classes in their education, definitely not him - he would have been a music performance major if it was up to him, but both of the top professors he met with (USC and FSU) strongly encouraged the BME with a performance certificate, and then to pursue performance in a master’s program.</p>
<p>stone - I hear you. That ya’ll have made a college decision before May 1 puts you ahead of where we were last year!</p>
<p>^It can’t hurt to do well on AP exams. If he decides to change his major (which is entirely possible because some people don’t realize how much energy goes into a music major or they change their mind about music because they’re in a different environment), then those AP courses can help.</p>
<p>You can prep for an AP with some good studying in about a week or two and at least pull out a 3. That’s only about 50-60% of the material correct depending on the exam. A five is typically about 70% of the exam correct, so it’s definitely possible to get a good score and save yourself some trouble later on.</p>
<p>Believe me, I’m wishing I had put in an extra few hours of study junior year to pass my AP US History exam. I’m now finding it difficult to even get into an open class and it’s required to graduate.</p>