<p>I am a trumpet player and have tons of EC's with band. Definitely more than most. My gpa is 3.7 UW 4.1 UC gpa with about 7 APS total (4 sopho and jr year) with a perfect jr year (straight A's) SAT = 2100</p>
<p>I am questionable as whether I major in music or something like economics at a UC. My heart is in Berekeley and UCSC because my brother went there. Seconday I am looking at UCLA and USC. I want to be in the school's marching band and the closest orchestra. Also I want to join DCI once I get settled (very prestigious and hard to do). </p>
<p>My question is... My academics are up there for those schools but so is my musical abilities. I do not know if it helps that I have been playing piano for 8 years. Especially for Berekeley since the app only accepts one major.. do I major in music and take my chances? I am not sure that I want to persue a life in music since there is no money usually but I definitely want to play trumpet throughout college. Thanks for any replies!
-John</p>
<p>Well, I think it's wise to consider practicalities including career choices and income once you graduate. I think it's a good idea to consider a 'practical' major and then either minor or double major (if possible) in the other less practical one. There are many people who simply majored in what they love who can't find a job related to their major who wished they had something more practical under their belt. If your goal was to be a HS band teacher on the other hand, then it'd be practical to major in music. I don't agree with the simplistic idea of 'do what you love and the money will come'. Sometimes it works out but if what you love doesn't typically pay well, then many times it doesn't work out.</p>
<p>If your goal is to play trumpet while you're in school and perhaps in a band afterwards, then it seems you should be able to do this fairly easily while taking another major. </p>
<p>The UCs don't practice racial discrimination so the fact that you're not an URM doesn't matter for the UCs.</p>
<p>thankyou very very much ucsd dad. That is very helpful information. Mostly I want to get in the college itself. Majoring in business/economics are my first choices but I really do not have any EC's or credentials that would make sense for this major. I do have a true passion for playing an instrument and in the future I might try to do two jobs at once such as being in charge of a business which eventually will not take that much time out of my day and then be a highschool/college band director. </p>
<p>Regardless of my major like you said I am going to continue my instrument privately. I would like to double major music being one of them. My question still stands though. When applying for the UC's and USC, should I check the 'music major' box or a 'business/econ' major box. Or would the best thing to do is apply undeclared?Thank you very much!</p>
<p>Cooljohn: are you aware that at UCLA, music is in the College of Arts and Architecture? You would apply directly to the music department. That might be an advantage if you are talented, or make admissions more difficult depending on the competition from other musicians. If, on the other hand, you apply to the College of Letters and Science, you might not get access to music lessons, classes, orchestras, because they are kept small by restricting them to music majors. We were told there are always a few spots for non-music majors if you are good enough -- meaning extraordinarily good.
If you were a music major, you would still be able to take classes in L and S. But, you should probably check out whether or not you would be able to take all the business or economics classes you would like to.</p>
<p>This may only be true of UCLA. I don't know about Cal or UCSC, but these are aspects you should check out: do you apply separately to pursue music? can you pursue music in the way you want to if you do not major in it? (I'm sure the marching band at UCLA and Cal is open to anyone, though I don't know whether UCSC has one or not.)</p>
<p>UC Berkeley has Music in the College of Letters and Science along with Econ unlike UCLA. You could put either Econ or Music and it wouldn't matter. All L&S applicants are admitted regardless of intended major by putting in a huge pool and admitting the desireable ones out of the pool.</p>
<p>However, Econ is a capped major here in Berkeley...so not everyone who wants it can get it but, Music is definitely not capped.</p>
<p>Cooljohn, at USC, regardless of your major, you can audition to take music lessons from teachers at the Thorton School of Music after you arrive at USC. I'm sure with your talent and interest in music there would not be a problem finding a teacher for you. USC also encourages students to double major, when they can. If yu want to major in music, you can receive a BA in music through the College of Letters and Sciences which means 50% of your classes will be in USC's required Core and the rest will be music classes at Thorton, or you can apply to Thorton directly for a BMusic , which means about 80% of your classes would be in music, and which is heavily weighted toward music performance.. I would recommend the latter only for really serious music students who know they want a career in music. USC also has their reknown Trojan Marching Band, so you could participate in that as well.</p>
<p>Thanks so much for the replies. They are very helpful. I don't think I will get into Berkeley since everyone seems to say you need a 4.25 UC Gpa and a 2100+ minimum SAT. I think the program at USC sounds very good. I would like to double major. Will I have a better chance at admission for UCLA/USC/UC/UCSC if I say on my transcript I want to major in music? Anyone know anything about UCSC's program?
Thanks alot
-John</p>
<p>I would just leave you major undeclared for USC, rather than declaring yourself a music major, again because getting into Thorton is harder than getting into USC's school of Humanities and Science, and because you would have the apply to Thorton IN ADDITION to USC. That means auditions off site to begin with. Take a look at the Thorton admissions requirements in another week or so- I think they are in the process of changing a few of them right now.</p>