I’m a bit confused about applying to Princeton as a music major. Looks like the website says that there is no declaring a major until April of sophomore year. On CC, I feel like I’ve seen references to auditioning. Is that in sophomore year? Or as an incoming freshman?
You don’t apply to Princeton as a music major. It does not have a conservatory or school of music, but has an excellent music department. The degree is a BA, not a BM, and the curriculum is mainly the academic study of music but there are lessons, many performance opportunities as extracurriculars, an exchange program, and “performance certificates.”
You do not audition for admission, but you would audition for various ensembles, orchestra etc. in the fall of freshman year.
If you can show sufficient talent to justify submitting an arts supplement for music, you can do that, with a recording, music resume, and letters of recommendation from music teachers/directors (two is fine). If you are a composer, you would submit a score/scores as well as recording. Good luck!
Would sufficient talent give a student an edge? DS19 would be on low end of accepted student range (SAT: 680 Reading and 730 Math), but ECs, GPA, rank, recommendations, talent would all be very competitive…at least against other music majors, not so sure about engineering majors (no research, etc)! Worth a try? (about 1 student each year goes from his HS)
“Would sufficient talent give a student an edge?”
It’s possible. But what is “sufficient talent,” though? When my music majoring freshman son recently joined Princeton Univ. Orchestra (PUO) and Opus 21, he wasn’t surprised to find that most of his fellow musicians have pre-college Juilliard, NEC, Colburn, etc. backgrounds with about a dozen competition, including international, wins under their belts each. One violinist even had a solo debut with New York Philharmonic when she was 13.
I point this out because, at Princeton, this contextual level provides the definition of “sufficient.” Princeton is very pro-musicians, and I do feel that musicians have an edge. Even if the musical level isn’t sufficient to make PUO, they also have Princeton University Sinfonia and other ensemble groups that musicians can join. Because Princeton receives so many applicants with each admissions cycle, I suspect that even the musicians with the highest achievements have very competitive GPA and test scores. But then the test scores are just one component in a holistic admission environment, so as long as your daughter’s rest of application is very strong, I’d encourage her to give it a shot. In my estimation, Princeton gives the best need-based FA of any peer institutions and that should also be a huge incentive.
Hi Propinquity444, I’m not in Princeton but I know many people who attend or got accepted.
Note: my orchestra is nationally-recognized (ex. NYYS, Juilliard Pre-Col, PYO, SF conservatory, Colburn Pre-Col, Cleveland, etc.)
A cellist in my orchestra was valedictorian for his class, played piano (and won competitions in high school as well), and played varsity volleyball. A violinist who also got accepted was concertmaster for NYO two years, as well as our orchestra. Of course, this is not representative of all the people who got accepted to Princeton last year in my orchestra, but it gives you a vague idea of the level of musicianship.
The vast majority of musicians at Princeton play at a high level, despite undertaking difficult academics. Many NYO-USA/NYO2 musicians go to Princeton, and they are many pre-college students (Juilliard, NEC, Colburn) or nationally/internationally-recognized players (ex. YoungArts, Johansen).
Unless one has many international or national merits, or at least has an outstanding arts supplement (Curtis, Juilliard, NEC level), I would say that it would difficult just to bank on music to get into Princeton–but that’s up to the admissions committee! Make sure you have good essays, and good luck!
hi! i have a friend who’s going to princeton as a freshman this year (premed) but does music on the side, they were all-national principal trumpet, all-eastern principal, etc
no incredible competitions but a very prominent player and i think they had a private lesson with a lot of university trumpet professors (not princeton though)