<p>As some of you know, my D is interested in a double major in vocal performance and chemistry/physics and also wants a college with theater opportunities that non-theater majors can tap in to. For the first time, I actually got her to sit down with the Fiske and Insider's Guides and develop a preliminary list of schools. What she couldn't find was specific information about the strengths of both music AND science programs at the same school AND the feasibility of the double major. I'm hoping all of you with such knowledge can help. Schools she listed are:</p>
<p>Brown
UPenn
Brandeis
Occidental
Pomona
Carnegie Mellon
Johns Hopkins
Skidmore
Swarthmore
Tufts
Vassar
Wash U
Wesleyan
Williams
Vassar</p>
<p>I know Rice's Music department is amazing and of course, Rice itself is a great school. When I went there for owl weekend, they mentioned that a lot of people double major so I'd defiinitely add that to the list, or at least look into it.</p>
<p>"Pound for pound", Williams has the best music program of those you listed (and we kicked the tires hard on a whole bunch of them.) Many double majors. Two student orchestras, one of which is semi-professional. Lots of chamber music as well, and singing groups. Vassar is strong, too. Wesleyan is famous for its ethnomusicology and jazz offerings. Brown's music programs are good, and there are many pickup and chamber groups. Swarthmore's very small faculty is quite fine, but on the whole its music (and musical participation by the student body) is distinctly undersized, relative to its peers. Pomona's was okay, disappointing because of what they could have, given the Consortium set-up, and don't, though the faculty are excellent. Serious musicians at JHU try to work something out with Peabody - it works for some, but can be a chore. Don't know much about the others. I'm sure double majors are possible at virtually all of them. </p>
<p>Don't know much about the theater opportunities, except that Williams has its spanking new center for theater and dance, and has produced a very hefty share of actors, screenwriters, film directors, playwrights, and arts lawyers. In the past, however, they have NOT done much in the way of musical theater (or opera) - for that, the 5 colleges in the valley are definitely stronger (was one of the reasons my d. turned down Williams for Smith.)</p>
<p>Having said all of that - I'm not sure that many of these (or in fact ANY of them) have a major in "vocal performance". I'm pretty sure that Williams, Wesleyan, Pomona, and Swarthmore (and Brown?) do not.</p>
<p>There's lots of science at all of these places. Williams is well-known for astronomy and astrophysics among the LACs. But virtually all the northeast LACs have strong chemistry departments, with faculty virtually interchangeable among them..</p>
<p>Voice/science is not a feasible double major at Rice. Labs conflict with required voice studios and other classes. This is with respect to a BM/BS combination.</p>
<p>I agree that Oberlin would be a great choice. It has a great placement track record in the sciences, and is far less isolated than some think. It is only about 30 miles by good fast highway to Cleveland. Heck, I can spend that long on Lake Shore Drive trying to get from Hyde Park (U. Chicago) to downtown Chicago.</p>
<p>Be careful at CMU. While they have some formal programs to encourage kids such as yours, CMU is known for the independence of each school. That means they don't play (cough, excuse me, work) well together. I'd ask LOTS of questions and hang out at the CMU board here.</p>
<p>A double degree at Oberlin is not so easy. My son has many friends there that he met at his summer program. He knows faculty as well. One friend dropped music vocal performance and is now considering Law and is out of the conservatory. Was not a happy camper with the conservatory's highly competitive atmosphere. Most consider double degrees and end up totally in the conservatory. I think that is why my son would not consider the school. It's music rep is great. The kid in the college loves it. But crossover is harder to do.</p>
<p>Whitman has strong theater and science. I'm a know-nothing about music but was very impressed with the facilities and our tour guide was a music major and raved about his experience. A senior girl from our high school going in this fall got a great NASA merit scholarship and chose Whitman for the science program.</p>
<p>The difficulty at Northwestern is that the size means the scope and scale of competition in each department is so intense that it is hard to do both. My impression was that kids have to specialize early. It seems much more reasonable to combine programs in smaller schools because of the ready access to faculty.</p>
<p>Occidental is also well balanced across all three.</p>
<p>My D is a double major in biology and theater at a mid-sized state school. The theater major is a BA but it is by audition and is very competitive to get into. Doing this double major is HARD because many of her required classes conflict and are in sequence. For example, there is only one section of some required theater class (many of their classes are sequential and all the majors take them together) and only one section of a required science class--both at the same time. She will have to go for at least five years because of this. Her science classes have labs and formal study sessions at night, too. She carries 20-21 credits per semester. </p>
<p>In addition, as a theater major she is required to audition for plays each semester, and of course, she wants parts. That means long rehearsals at night, sometimes every night for weeks, plus performances, sometimes four days in a row. That gets very hard to keep up with the level of work in science classes.</p>
<p>She has an advisor in each dept. and they DON'T KNOW she is double majoring, because each disapproved of this. Each told her to pick one and concentrate on that.</p>
<p>As a vocal performance major students are probably required to be in a performing group, and they have set rehearsals and performances, and I don't think that would mesh well with participating in theater as well.</p>
<p>You might be able to do vocal performance and a science major, but I don't think theater as well.</p>
<p>The key will be whether you want an actual major in Vocal Performance. If you do, I think most of the colleges listed (and Whitman and Occidental as well) simply don't even offer it. All (maybe not Hopkins outside of Peabody) have music majors. Even within their music major, some (like Swarthmore) have almost no offerings in vocal performance except with adjunct faculty.</p>
<p>We too heard that a double major in music at Oberlin, in the college itself (outside the Conservatory) is extremely difficult. At Rice, I'm 95% sure that Shepherd has separate admissions, vocal performance is extremely competitive, and double major impossible. The same might be true at Tufts, with its connection to NEC, but I really don't know.</p>
<p>Again, a more general music major is available at most, if not all, the schools listed, but vary quite widely in offerings, performance opportunities, size and quality of peer group. If it wasn't simply vocal interests, Williams would be a no-brainer. Pomona's department is headed by a fine vocalist (or at least used to be.) Musical theatre and opera would be rare at all of them (don't know about Occidental). </p>
<p>So if a vocal performance major is really sought after, I think you have to start the list over again.</p>
<p>Skidmore has some excellent programs in the sciences, some of which are specifically geared for women. The music department is very, very strong and many students choose to double major in an artform (studio, music, theater) and another academic discipline.</p>
<p>The theater department can be competitive, but there are opportunities for those not immersed in the theater program to get involved, such as: improvisational groups, studio performances (as opposed to the larger theaters) etc.</p>
<p>But no music performance major of any kind. (For what it's worth, the Williams music department boasts that it sends a higher percentage of its majors to med. school than does the biology dept. But there are no vocal performance majors.)</p>
<p>Vanderbilt...great hospital that serves an entire region, science courses are taught but full profs with almost no TAs on the premises even in labs, very artsy town full of musicians, and the very handsome Blair School of Music with a fine faculty. Constant access to watching great performances from the venue of a campus almost in the middle of a capitol city but with a personal campus. Opportunities to intern in music industry as well as perform. Also merit scholarships are rather plentiful compared to other universities of Vanderbilt's caliber.</p>
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Even within their music major, some (like Swarthmore) have almost no offerings in vocal performance except with adjunct faculty.
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<p>John Alston is on the permanent faculty at Swarthmore (for 15 years) and, in addition to his choir work, is also a vocal soloist.</p>
<p>I do agree that much of the private lesson work is with adjunct instructors in the Phila area, often associated with one of several conservatories in the area. Private lessons receive half-course credit per semester and the college pays a minimum of 33% of the cost of 10 one-hour lessons per semester up to 100% of the cost (for junior and senior music majors). Performing in one of the choirs also receives one-half course credit.</p>
<p>I also agree that there is no music peformance major. All music majors include considerable theory and history. I doubt that it would be the place for someone looking for a career as an opera singer.</p>
<p>I am not sure if anyone has mentioned these schools - but they all have EXCEPTIONAL music AND science programs:</p>
<p>Lawrence U
St. Olaf</p>
<p>In my mind, these two schools should be top on the list for someone wanting both strong science and strong music programs. It is possible to double major at both schools as well.</p>
<p>Two of the biggest building complexes on the Wesleyan campus are the Exley Science Center and the ultra modern Center for the Arts. The opportunities in science are unparalleled for an LAC; student co-authored papers published in journals are common; 90% acceptance rate for med-school. Likewise, in the arts; dance is quite popular; pick-up bands abound; and currently, about half a dozen of this summer's hit movies have been either written, directed or produced by Wesleyan alumni. Theoretically, it is possible to double major in anything you want; however, a huge degree of practicality enters the picture in that ANY major at Wesleyan can involve a lot of work.</p>