<p>It's great that CMU accepts well-rounded individuals. Once these students are on campus, how easy (or difficult) is it to study a variety of interests? Can a student realistically pursue a fine arts interest, maintain a foreign language fluency and/or try a business course while enrolled in a science or engineering major? Does CMU nurture the qualities that were valued in the student applicants? I would appreciate hearing of some experiences. Thanks!</p>
<p>I would say from my son's experience that CMU is best for students who have a given interest and plan to pursue just that. In HSS he has found it almost impossible to continue his jazz piano or do anything in the art department etc. etc....Do not think of this as a liberal arts type place. They have their own philosophy about "well-rounded" and the curriculum fits this....not necessarily the needs of a student looking to sample a variety of things prior to beginning career preparation.</p>
<p>I think the core requirement for HS&S is pretty comprehensive. But they really do hone into the specialty niche. That is their specialty, I guess. My H loves this school as a perfect blend of academics and pragmatic applications.</p>
<p>I don't think its the core requirements that are the problem for my son. He placed out of many of these with his AP scores. The problem is that the music school doesn't really have much to accomodate folks who aren't music majors and don't respond to emails...the art department has hurdles to jump to get into any of their courses if you aren't an art major etc...Then...the courses that do interest him are filled with upper classmen and he is waitlisted....</p>
<p>Thanks for your input, jamimom and weary! My son always thought he wanted to go to CMU, but I'm not sure it's the best place for him. He is academically and musically gifted, but doesn't have his entire life planned out. Really, he could be successful in many arenas. We thought CMU may be perfect because it has great departments in sciences, engineering and fine arts. He didn't want a tech-only school nor a music conservatory (too limiting). The question is, though, can you do it all? I would not want him to be "pigeon-holed" into a major/career path and be forced to cut off all other interests. Does the CMU work load live up to it's extreme reputation? How many classes can a student reasonably handle in a single semester?</p>
<p>lkf725: as regimented as CMU is, 2 of its rivals, URochester & Case Western, are the opposite. Case will encourage any dual or even triple major that you want to pursue. URochester is famous for their flexible, self-designed curriculum. Both schools have a tech/science/medical emphasis but also have close ties to music conservatories (Eastman and CIM). But for EE or CS, CMU is superior IMO. Other schools you might want to look into are Northwestern and Cornell.</p>
<p>Taking music or any performing arts classes from CFA at CMU is a problem. They have limited offerings for non majors. You can take private lessons there, and audition for ensembles that are not restricted to music majors, but they are very competitive. THere have always been a lot of talented music types at that school even in schools other than CFA. CMU does not have limits as to how many classes you can take a semester, and I have seen some mega loads there. There are some highly motivated kids at that school, which really tempers the pace and difficulty and curve of the courses, particularly the engineering, and cs courses, though any of the math/science offerings are not easy. As for the courses, it really depends on what the student is taking. </p>
<p>Many schools with a conservatory or strong music school attached have limitations on what non majors can take. Usually private lessons can be arranged at a fee, and sometimes as you get to know the profs in dept, exceptions can be made, but many schools do not let non majors have carte blanche with the offerings. That is something to check when you look at colleges if this is important to your student. There are many dual majors and kids with minors at CMU; it can be done. I know a number of music performance/humanities, music performance/business majors, and they did graduate in 4 years. But they had to get into the CFA and then add on the second major unless a special program (Humanities/Fine ARts, Humanities/Science) is selected. (And the school does have to accept you for those programs which have their stipulations). The sticky part is really the CFA, if you get in there, the other colleges are most accomodating about letting kids take courses. </p>
<p>Weary, I am surprised that your student is waitlisted for advanced level courses. I've not seen a lot of that, but then it has been a number of years since I 've been close to the school. Usually a word with the prof would get kids into any course.</p>
<p>lkf725, I'd honestly say being able to do it all varies so much with each individual student. I think my 5th yr CMU student S has tried and pretty much succeeded.</p>
<p>Pigeonholing- he started in H&SS, but will be getting double major and a masters, none of which are in H&SS (one degree is computer science). His girlfriend is Professional Writing/Voice. So there's a lot of interdisciplinary work going on there, it's quite common. Techie S has taken for instance playwriting, and is taking piano performance this semester. So he has taken advantage of the fine arts offerings.</p>
<p>Workload- Like anywhere you can have a relatively easy semester, S has had them. A few esp CS courses have been really tough in that they require so much time and work. Like anywhere there are procratinators, etc but for the most part I'd say the student body is serious.</p>
<p>Because of his curriculum requirements S mostly took the equivalent of 18-20 credits a semester, occasionally dropping a class. Your S sounds like he'd easily be able to handle it...they mostly all seem to. </p>
<p>Overall CMU's been great for him.</p>
<p>2331clk,</p>
<p>I am interested in pursuing a double major. I was accepted into h&ss, and I want to major in English. My other passion is computers; so I also want to major in computer science. Can you give me information as to what his schedule was like, if you wouldn't mind? or perhaps give more insight as to what his workload was like? You can email me at <a href="mailto:toddb@zoominternet.net">toddb@zoominternet.net</a></p>
<p>Thank you</p>
<p>The waitlist issue seems to be common for freshman unless the academic advisor is trying to placate my son...Many words with many professors yielded one course and many refusals..he didn't have four courses for sure until the first week of classes ended...we've given up trying to find a fifth...I think today (week 3) the non-music major folks are finally getting back to him about arranging a music class...which we will pay extra for...</p>
<p>I'm not saying that CMU isn't great for some...just truly has been a hassle for my son who didn't want to wait until junior year to try other things...</p>
<p>He also was admitted to U Rochester and Case Western...both offered more money (in his case) than CMU did...ouch...hate to hear that they might be more flexible....</p>
<p>Now you know why i'm weary</p>
<p>weary, sorry to hear that. And it sounds like you've been persistent. I would assume things will be easier each year for him. I know to get into his piano class S had to e-mail twice and they finally got to him, it wasn't a problem but of course he's a senior. And we are paying $810 (ouch) for his 60 minute lesson, I don't know if it's once or twice a week. Thank goodness he graduates in 3 months.</p>
<p>Todd@ I sent an e-mail.</p>
<p>2331clk - thanks...my son also just heard from music dept and will be taking the 60 min/$810 private music lessons...once a week...I do believe in persistence and learning from all experiences...I'm hoping that CMU will "grow" on my son and he will learn about taking lemons and making lemonade or something hokey like that... transferring is fraught with other issues so we're going to keep trying to make CMU work...for now</p>
<p>T990: My son also applied to Case because of the good engineering and proximity to CIM. The admissions office tells us that Case students can take classes at CIM, but I'm not sure how easily that works out. While he has an audition scheduled for Case that reportedly is accepted by CIM, I wonder if CIM students don't have preference for CIM classes (as they should, I guess). Perhaps some of the CIM faculty teaches at Case, too? Cornell and Penn State (Schreyer Honors College) are on his engineering list, too, but the music would be inferior to CMU or Case/CIM, I think.
Also, $810, or approximately $54 for a weekly lesson, is right in the ballpark for a lesson from a professional.</p>
<p>lkf725: the thing about a school like Cornell, even though they are not big on "music performance majors", there will be numerous ensembles and groups (comprised of students from all majors) and they will be of high quality - if thats what you are concerned about. I assume the same for CMU.</p>
<p>Penn State being huge would probably have great ensembles and facilities.</p>
<p>Case has its own music major degrees and ensembles separate from CIM. I don't know the details of CIM overlap, but you can learn about it at the audition. CIM is only a 5 minute walk from the CWRU music building and I believe CIM students live in CWRU dorms. I believe some of the Case ensembles have concerts in Severance Hall (wow!). Even though the CWRU music degree program is not large, I heard that the CWRU ensembles don't have trouble filling in the unusual instrument players (but I don't know where they get them: non-majors or CIM or ?).</p>
<p>I would carefully ask direct questions to the school of fine arts before deciding on CMU if you really want to pursue other avenues or courses in other schools, particularly fine arts. Our son was told he could audition for music groups as a non-major but was denied an audition once he got there. There were no apologies for it either---be very careful. They have some pretty slick advertising that is less than truthful.</p>
<p>I can only speak for Drama. There are "... for non majors" classes available for acting and I think directing. The classes in the conservatory are limited to people admitted to the conservatory. Design and production classes are more flexible as the programs are not as large as the performance options - taking these courses is usually space available and instructor's permission.</p>
<p>Casting in School of Drama productions is typically limited to School of Drama, and sometimes School of Music students. Design and production participation is possible for those that show interest and aptitude, although the schedule tends to be too rigorous for non-majors.</p>
<p>There are a couple of non-departmental outlets for students looking for a theatre experience. First is the SOD "playground" week, in which student projects are conceived, rehearsed, and performed ala Fringe Festival in one week. Non-departmental students are free to participate. Next is Scotch & Soda which is the campus wide theatre group. Also, technical students sometimes find a home with AB Concerts, which is a campus group that does technical support for many campus events.</p>
<p>Can anyone provide more info about these private music lessons (other than the high cost!) for non-music majors at CMU? Are these lessons given thru the school (credit/non-credit?) or just privately arranged? Taught by faculty or TA's? Do you have to audition? </p>
<p>My son would love to continue studying piano if he gets in there but he would be a design major. How difficult is it to find a piano to play if you are not in the music school?</p>
<p>My son is a freshman at CMU and is in HSS. He just wanted to continue his interest in jazz piano so he looked into taking private lessons. The lessons are weekly and can be taken for course credit (30min=3 credits, 45min=6 credits and 60 min=9credits). The cost is the same whether you take them for credit or not. $810 for a semester of 60 min/week classes is cheap for a good music teacher...except when you factor in that we are also paying tuition and this is one of my son's 5 classes...</p>
<p>He started his second semester on Jan 10 and "maybe" by next week will be taking his first class despite trying to get in class since Jan 10... He heard early on that the music department is not very responsive to non-music majors. But I'm not sure if there isn't just one really overloaded person who has to organize all these classes for non-music majors. My son's issue (besides the delay) is that the person in charge never seems to respond to emails...even to just say, I got your email and will get back to you. At this point I don't even know how the "grading" will be worked out...so my son may decide to "drop" the for-credit aspect and just take lessons.</p>
<p>I don't think the teacher is a faculty member...have to get back to you about the quality of the teaching...You don't have to audition.</p>
<p>I suspect that finding a piano may be an issue. They make it clear that he has no priority in rooms that can be reserved by music students. I think he just plans to use the piano in the lounge of the dorm next door...we'll see if that works out.</p>
<p>My son's lessons were arranged thru the school. Taught by faculty member at least in his case. He uses the piano in one of the dorm lobbies, he told me but I forget which dorm, Morewood I think.</p>
<p>His will be for credit. As weary mentioned 60 min = 9 credits but that's CMU credits. 9 CMU "credits" is same as 3 credits at most schools.</p>
<p>Weary, at this point maybe your son should just walk over to School of Music office in Fine Arts bldg...he should be able to find a person to help him if e-mails aren't being returned.</p>
<p>S is beginning piano but has played other instruments. Interestingly, his instructor mentioned how easily these kids pick up piano, S is flying thru. Reason...all those countless hours playing video games has trained their minds to think independently for each hand. Finally something good comes out of it.</p>
<p>Just so folks know to be persistent...my son did walk over to the school of music and spoke with the person in charge who then told him she had been trying to find another teacher and she would get back to him...he asked when he would hear from her...she said the next day...that would have been last thursday...on Tuesday (two days ago) he heard back from her (he had actually given up at that point)..immediately contacted the teacher and may have a lesson next week....</p>