<p>Son is a junior, B+ student, in top classes at his high school. He thinks he is interested in physics (who knows?) but also music, specifically jazz. He has asked to visit Carnegie Mellon over spring break, which we will do. Any other ideas of schools that are good in the sciences & jazz/music? The problem with CM is that it will be a real reach for him, and you have to choose between music or science. He is interested in schools in the NE. Thank you.</p>
<p>Well…it would be a huge reach, but MIT has great music ensembles and many students who are not majoring in music play in them. Sciences are great!</p>
<p>One of my kiddos was an engineering major. BUT she wanted to play in a college orchestra and continue to take lessons while in college. She first found schools with engineering programs she liked. Then she emailed the instructor of her instrument, the orchestra director, and the head of the music department at each school to find out what opportunities were available for her.</p>
<p>How about Case Western? Univ of Miami might be a lower reach than CM. Is your son interested in majoring in music, or just participating in music?</p>
<p>U. Rochester.</p>
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<p>I won’t speak to the reach factor, but you can certainly follow both interests at CMU. One of my good friends got a dual degree in engineering and music performance, and many of my friends in technical fields were active in the Kiltie Band.</p>
<p>^I agree, and in computer science they require you to have a minor - I know there have been music minors in the past. Rice has good science and music - two jazz bands. If you look at University of Rochester, you might also want to look at Rochester Institute of Technology. They have a music and technology major and a jazz band - but obviously it’s not as high powered as having the Eastman School of Music right there.</p>
<p>Lawrence University is actually a potentially perfect fit, although it is not in the Northeast – it is in Wisconsin. They are surprisingly strong in Physics, and have a conservatory that it is easy for non-music majors to participate in if he does not want to major. Or I think they make it quite easy to double major in a music and non-music subject. And it is probably at the right academic level for a B+ student.</p>
<p>I think there will be a lot of schools he would consider matches. My D is in the same situation. She loves her instrument but will major in engineering. Every school she applied to she would be able to play in the orchestra and study engineering. Private lessons are available everywhere. When she was looking at schools the major exceptions were STEM specific private schools like Kettering University or Rose Hulman (they have small ensembles). Most state schools or research universities also have music programs.</p>
<p>I believe Northwestern has a dual degree program with McCormick school of Engineering and Beinem Music School.</p>
<p>I’ll second (or third) the University of Rochester - lots of science - lots of music - lots of students who enjoy both to varying degrees.</p>
<p>Triple on URochester - did you know you can take private lessons for FREE? That’s what we were told, and given I pay $60/lesson right now, that is huge.</p>
<p>Miami is one of the best jazz schools in the country. The physics department is of no great repute, but bio and chem are strong. And it will definitely be less of a reach than CMU.</p>
<p>What about Johns Hopkins? Strong in science, and it has the Peabody Conservatory. Not quite the NE, but close.</p>
<p>I think Hopkins and Northwestern are reaches for a B+ student. I really do think the key here is how good a musician this student is and whether or not he wants to pursue a performance major. U Rochester has one of the best music schools in the country-- a tough musical admit, as is Miami, but a great choice for a top musician.</p>
<p>U of Rochester is great for sciences/pre-med type education but also has LOTS of music options. As was said, it may depend on whether the music part is for personal enjoyment/growth or as a potential profession. U of R’s big selling point is they don’t have many requirements outside your major so students can pursue their own interests - and yes, lots to offer in music.</p>
<p>U of R is not easy to get into and they put quite a bit of weight in “fit” and also demonstrated interest.</p>
<p>There are many good recomendations here. Rochester is known for both interests, but you may want to check out the Music Major Forum group. [Music</a> Major - College Confidential](<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/]Music”>Music Major - College Confidential Forums) It is my recollection from ■■■■■■■■ that board years ago that Rochester’s music school (Eastman) ran on a different schedule which made taking science labs difficult. Nonetheless, this sounds like your best bet to me.</p>
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<p>This must either be very old or new. When my son interviewed the music department at CMU five years ago, they emphatically told him that a dual degree in music performance (vocal) and physics was undoable even in five years.</p>
<p>Northwestern (which some think is Northeastern) may be close enough to the NE for your son, in which case you might also consider Oberlin. JHU (which was as south as my son was willing to consider) is a difficult dual degree program to get into. You have to be accepted at both JHU and Peabody and accepted to a dual degree program.</p>
<p>Another dual degree program is with Tufts and NEC (as well as Harvard/NEC, but that would be an uberreach. Again, admittance to both schools and admittance to the dual degree program is required.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t rule out your (or some other) State U. Our flagship has strength in both science and music. Check out who’s teaching in son’s instrument - could be someone awesome! </p>
<p>The advantage to large state U’s is they have many lab sections, and many different performance groups, so it is easier to navigate scheduling conflicts between labs and rehearsals.</p>
<p>My son had a similar requirement. Great engineering school with a marching band. He also wants to pursue performing with a jazz group. His top two schools were Vanderbilt and University of Southern California. He also applied to Georgia Tech and 4 of our instate (California) schools. We felt the private schools were more accomodating to studying engineering and music. Both his privates have great schools of music.</p>
<p>He’ll be attending Vanderbilt in the fall.</p>
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<p>Well, we finished our degrees about five years ago, so it’s rather surprising they’d say that! He did spend an extra semester at CMU to get the dual degree, but he had also been doing a ton of extra classes within our engineering major which I imagine could have pushed things a little longer. Things may be different for the voice people, though, since he played french horn.</p>
<p>Hi folks, I am reading the posts and truly appreciating the suggestions. Son hasn’t yet taken the SAT’s so we don’t yet know how he will stack up that way yet. How about Northeastern? I need to check if Northeastern students can take courses at Berkley for credit.
I will suggest that he look at Univ of Rochester, Vanderbilt, the state U, Oberlin, Miami, RIT. Tufts is pretty hard to get into, isn’t it?</p>
<p>My dd applied to Northeastern for engineering this yr - what we didn’t know is that they offer merit scholarships for incoming frosh (need to audition or send in youtube link of 2 min performance) if they are chosen and commit to being in some of the campus music ensembles.</p>