<p>There is the added bonus of her singing mezzo/alto (no soprano competition!), and playing varsity soccer. So, she has a lot of plus factors!</p>
<p>Nazareth may not be the best option since they are leaning much more towards their MT dept. Also, don’t count on the Mezzo vs. Soprano stuff, please. She may put mezzo as her voice type, but the profs are going to look at her rep list very carefully- precisely because there has been the perception of easier entry for a mezzo, many girls are told to list themselves as mezzos on their applications. Then, the audition committee look at a rep list and see “Je veux vivre” and “Ah! non credea mirarti” and realize that someone/something is wrong!
The soccer may help her if she is going to look at a school like Naz, but if she is really intending upon being a performance major, please relialize that she is not going to have time to play a sport at the JV or V level in college.
Test Scores- since you mention a problem with timed tests, may I inquire why the GC did not suggest getting documentation which would have permitted the student to either get extra time or take it as an untimed test? Those accomodations can be requested. Did she take the ACT? That may be an option since the two tests are very different in their format and schoring.
If her voice is as good as you say, why is she “avoiding” conservatories? Several schools she is looking at are not even third tier for music, so I am wondering who pointed her in that direction?
Just to add to some of the other comments, Master Classes are usually open to undergrads, but it is primarily the grad students who perform! Also, inquire as to the “level” of the teacher she will have at schools she is serious about. Many will have grad students giving lessons to BA students and that might not be a problem to her. At this point, I would suggest that you, her school music teacher and her GC sit down with the student AND her private voice teacher to iron out some of the questions and to make sure everyone is on the same page. If she is a senior, things are running behind schedule right now and she could well be missing important application dates for pre-screening, etc.</p>
<p>In an audition based program it is hard to tell the SAT/ACT cut offs. DD is at Rice, and while her academics were no slouch, she was by no means in the normal Rice academic acceptance ranges. She was at the 25% of her entering class. However, she is doing fine and it was the audition that not only got her in but also got her merit money. </p>
<p>There are some schools for which there are cutoffs. It was actually the State U that gave a friend of DD’s the “no” for academics even after the music dperatment wanted him, with scholarship money potential. </p>
<p>You cannot use the normal GC profiles to select schools with auditions. Pcik wehre the best teachers are for that student and check their policies</p>
<p>^^That’s a good point, too. But I don’t think she’s crossing any schools off her list because of the test scores, just adding a few more. </p>
<p>She was interested in Rice earlier (end of last year), and a few other schools on the west coast and in the south. I don’t remember which ones. She was considering all corners of the country. When the kids are juniors, the list is long. When they’re seniors, they realize the toll an audition will take of them, and the list dramatically shortens (thank goodness). </p>
<p>Well, I think it would be good to start a comprehensive list of schools with strong music departments (department specific or not) that are SAT optional (or SAT very, very liberal). Even knowing that the audition probably trumps all, it could be of some peace of mind for parents and students. Let’s extend it to schools across the country.</p>
<p>So far, is this the consensus?
Bard (NY)
Crane (NY)
Susquehanna ¶
Gettysburg ¶
Lawrence (WI)
Nazareth (NY)
Hartwick (NY)</p>
<p>New York and Pennsylvania seem to be the leaders on our list. On a side note, are there any in the New Jersey/Phila area? I really need to educate myself further on this.</p>
<p>I took a look at that list of SAT optional schools and noted a few of the (non-conservatory) programs mentioned on the Music Forum. I don’t know much about the strengths of each department - but they do seem like they would be worth checking out:
Baldwin-Wallace (OH)
Columbia College (IL)
CSU Long Beach (CA)
CSU Northridge (CA)
Furman University
Goucher University
Oklahoma City University (OK)
Pitzer College (CA) - music program is joint with the five Claremont colleges
Sarah Lawrence (NY)</p>
<p>^^Excellent, here we go so far: </p>
<p>Baldwin-Wallace (OH)
Columbia College (IL)
CSU Long Beach (CA)
CSU Northridge (CA)
Furman University (SC)
Goucher University (MD)
Oklahoma City University (OK)
Pitzer College (CA) - music program is joint with the five Claremont colleges
Sarah Lawrence (NY)
Bard (NY)
Crane (NY)
Susquehanna ¶
Gettysburg ¶
Lawrence (WI)
Nazareth (NY)
Hartwick (NY)</p>
<p>Hartt (CT)-per website: Applicants must obtain a combined 920 score on the SAT Critical Reading and Math portions, or a 19 composite score on the ACT in order to meet the University of Hartford’s minimum academic standard</p>
<p>Howdee—</p>
<p>Bard does teach voice at the undergraduate level. It can be a major in and of itself or it can be a component of an overall “music” major.</p>
<p>It is, as SpiritManager mentioned, a BA degree in the context of a full liberal arts curriculum, as opposed to a performance-oriented BM. There are no TA’s teaching any subject at Bard. For voice, there are two completely separate programs–the MM degree run by Dawn Upshaw and Kayo Iwama, with Lorraine Nubar, Edith Bers, and Patricia Misslin as voice faculty. On the undergraduate side [Rufus</a> Muller](<a href=“http://rufusmuller.com/]Rufus”>http://rufusmuller.com/) runs the voice department, which includes voice faculty Arthur Barrows and Ilka LoMonaco (yes, there is a connection to Thomas LoMonaco, it’s his wife), as well as vocal coach Sharon Bjorndal and the choral conductor [url=<a href=“http://jamesbagwell.com/]James”>http://jamesbagwell.com/]James</a> Bagwell<a href=“who%20is%20also%20chair%20of%20the%20undergraduate%20music%20program”>/url</a>.</p>
<p>The BA vs. BM debate is a perennial one here on CC, as people have varying opinions on the merits of conservatory training for younger voices. I have no interest in weighing in on this as I’d have little authority to do so (I can barely carry a tune). At Bard there are mixed levels relative to an audition-based conservatory, and not every person studying voice here has professional performing aspirations. But for a self-motivated student, the raw materials certainly exist on campus to get first-rate training and experiences. We have a senior currently on campus that’s spent the last two summers at Aspen and I think she will go far as a singer.</p>
<p>Since the MM program is separate from the BA program, there isn’t competition for attention or resources. The BA students have their own faculty, their own recitals, their own opera workshop, their own vocal ensembles, etc. etc. But the presence of the MM students on campus provides a good goalpost that can motivate undergraduates–at other remote LACs there could develop a fish/pond situation where the “prima donna” at a particular school gets a false impression of his/her own talent and experience level relative to all of the thousands of other voice students in the country. So I think the BA program students benefit from attending, say, one of Dawn Upshaw’s public master classes with the MM students and saying to themselves “OK this is where I need to be in another 4 years.”</p>
<p>Finally, the reason we don’t require the SAT is it can be a poor predictor of success in our curriculum. The OP mentioned students not doing well on a timed test–it’s a skill some people have that others don’t. Since we’re a reading and writing school–to my knowledge, we don’t even own a scantron machine–with most of the students evaluated through papers instead of exams, we haven’t found the SAT or ACT to really carry as much weight as good grades across a variety of subjects. And as you can see from the list I originally posted, we’re hardly alone in this decision to become “test optional.”</p>
<p>The following is from the NEC web site:
SAT/ACT: SAT and ACT scores are not required and do not factor into our admission decision. Freshman applicants who wish to submit recent test results may do so using the following school codes: SAT (Code: 3659) or ACT (Code: 1872).</p>