<p>I'll be a senior in high school this September so the application process is just around the corner. I plan on majoring in jazz studies and then going on to medical school, so I'm in a bit of an interesting position. My top choice as of now is Oberlin as they have a strong jazz program in the conservatory but are an equally competitive pre-med/liberal arts college. I'm also looking at McGill University, Middlebury College (my private studies teacher is a professor here), possibly NEC (stretch, but I live about 30 minutes away from it), University of Cincinatti College Conservatory, and NYU.</p>
<p>I was also wondering how realistic it would be to play my musical strengths to get in to college. By this I mean that applying as a music major to schools who have prestigious/rigorous academics but their music departments are not as strong or well known. An example would be Cornell, getting in as a science major on my academics for me is a bit of a stretch, but I'm fairly confident in my musical abilities.</p>
<p>Just starting to look into jazz schools for my daughter.
How about:
Temple (Philadelphia)
U Miami (Coral Gables FLA)
Eastman (w/ Univ Rochester)
U Indiana</p>
<p>If you want to major in jazz (my son will be a senior in the same boat) you also need to look at whether the program emphasizes big bands or small quartets/quintets. It makes a world of difference.</p>
<p>I just received in the mail this week a Peabody viewbook and they state that their focus is on classical and jazz studies. Then there's Johns Hopkins.</p>
<p>Check out Pitt. One of the top Jazz programs in the world and a hub for everything and anything medical-related (I believe the med school was ranked something like 13th by USNews and Pitt's hospital system was 11th in best hospitals.</p>
<p>Cornell doesn't give much weight to the music end. Colleague of mine who's son was an excellent bassonist (less popular instrument) didn't have enough pull to get in, although he was an excellent student, but on the low end of their admission stats.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the advice. I really like the sound of the Peabody Institute and JHU, I'm in the middle of figuring out exactly how that works. I'm not sure if I would be taking music courses at Peabody and sciences at JHU, or if everythign is housed at Peabody. </p>
<p>Everything is not housed at Peabody. For a science major, you would have to travel to JHU for those courses.</p>
<p>The jazz program is still "developing" at Peabody. For some kids, this is a good thing, because they are there on the ground floor (well, they may have a few floors built by now) so to speak, as it grows. For others, this is quite a drawback. I think the best way for a student to know is to visit and talk with people.</p>
<p>Also take a look at Eastman. They have a great jazz program and you can take academic classes at Rochester. You do have to travel between the two, but there is a free shuttle bus that runs every 30 minutes or so.</p>
<p>If you are definitely sure about going to medical school, you need to remember a few things about the college you go to. First of all, you'll have to take the MCAT, and make sure you take classes to prepare for it. Secondy, you have to take a number of courses that are required for medical school entrance, which would be: a year of physics, a year of biology, a year of organic chem., a year of physical chemistry, and a year of english. However, if you major in jazz studies at college, you well probably have a better shot at getting into med. school then those that majored in say... chemistry, because you will bring something different to the school.</p>
<p>I would say your best bet is a university/college based program that has a strong jazz department (but you have to determine that for yourself, you may not even want a BM program in performance, because that would require a massive time commitment, with less time to worry about your future medical career). I think I would recommend this over a dual degree program between two separate institutions for you, because it is very demanding, and may wear ou out in the end. Now if that would be true for you I'm not sure, but it is still something to think about. You can still do a LOT of stuff in music when you go to school as a pre-med student, but that might not be the case the other way around. Good luck to you! Sounds like you're well off!</p>
<p>I may have given you the wrong idea with my OP. I didn't just decide a few nights on a whim that I'd go to med school and major in jazz studies, I'm well aware of the dual degree as well as major programs, the pre-med prereqs, and the MCATs. I'm also pretty knowledgeable on jazz studies and BM programs in general, I've been studying jazz with a professor from Middlebury since my freshman year.</p>
<p>Shamus, don't shoot the messenger. People are just trying to help you out. </p>
<p>The problem is, you give conflicting information; I remember reading you on another thread, where you said you had health problems which prevented you from doing well in school, and yet you are extremely involved in ECs. This confused people.</p>
<p>On this thread, it appeared that you didn't know about the nuances of some double degree programs (such as the logistics of studying at JHU and Peabody), but then you claim you are knowledgeable about DD programs, as well as jazz and pre-med programs.</p>
<p>From your other posts, I doubt you would be competitive for programs at schools that rely heavily on stats (like McGill). However, perhaps your private teacher would have pull for you at Middlebury,( although Middlebury is not known for its jazz program). If you are extremely talented, your grades won't matter as much for admission to a conservatory program, but then you wouldn't have the pre-med education.</p>
<p>Sounds like you still have a bit more sorting out to do here.</p>
<p>From what I understand, a "pre-med" education occupies only a very small proportion of a general undergrad education. It's entirely possible to be a music major at a stand-alone conservatory and still complete a pre-med education, which consists of only a few course requirements. Some conservatories (Juilliard, Peabody, maybe NEC as well?) have connections with well-known academic school that allow their music majors taking classes as part of their degree outside of the conservatory. You can very well just take about 1-2 pre-med requirement courses every semester and complete a pre-med education as part of your conservatory degree. It's very do-able for any motivated person, since the curriculum of a conservatory program is generally not very academically rigorous. There is no need for a dual degree program if you want both a BM undergrad education and a pre-med education. </p>
<p>Of course I may be wrong since I'm no expert on pre-med requirements...</p>
<p>jazzguitar: are you sure that physical chemistry is required for med schools? It seems to be an upper level class for chemistry majors only, and is generally not even part of biology major requirements.</p>
<p>Students at Juilliard can only take one class per semester at Columbia, beginning after the first year, and depending on their grades (we were told that you have to have all A's); even then, there are scheduling issues that, along with the commute, would make it just about impossible to complete the premed requirements. Columbia has a jazz program, though, and Columbia pays for lessons with teachers on their adjunct list. But be warned: The Columbia website is confusing about this, but it is not true that any student who gets into both Columbia and Juilliard gets free lessons at Juilliard if they enroll at Columbia (the opposite is true, however -- any Juilliard student, with the limitations described above, can take courses at no cost at Columbia); the BA/MM double-degree program (and I don't know if it applies to jazz as well as classical) is very small; only one or 2 Juilliard admittees are selected in any given year, and many of those don't end up finishing the program, in large part because Columbia is very demanding -- students typically take 5 courses a semester.<br>
Perhaps it would be more workable at Johns Hopkins, which has a double degree option too.
Another school you might consider is UCLA, which has a BA program in jazz and high ranking science programs. There, if you apply in the College of Arts and Architecture, you would not need as high a GPA as you would for the College of Letters and Sciences if you audition strongly. It is a small jazz program, but apparently good.
Your choice of Oberlin seems the most workable and you would find many other students trying to do something similar.</p>