Top 30 schools / SLACs where music could be a "hook"?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Top grades and rigor. 1540 SAT. So yes, in range but the music was extra. Extensive musical resume but otherwise fairly standard ECs, newspaper, varsity sports. The music professors took it very seriously, either meeting in person on a visit or via zoom.

What top 20 schools had music professors interested in meeting your student? My kid is looking for something similar - music BA in a T20 school. She's found that music professors in T20-T50 schools are incredibly responsive, but above that they are friendly but not that interested in meeting.

Yale professor, for example, did hop on the phone to talk, but really didn't seem interested in meeting up or learning about my kid. Duke, similar, very friendly and answered questions but no interest in my kid in particular. On the other hand, at least a half dozen schools in the T20-50 range had professors who wanted resumes, set up department tours, keep checking in.. it's a striking difference.

For context, my kid is in range academically at the top schools (not that the music professors would know this) and is a national ensemble level player in a somewhat unusual instrument.

Which T20-50 schools did you find were helpful/interested in talking?

Schools where professors were responsive and wanted to get to know my kid (as opposed to friendly and would answer questions about the program but clearly wouldn't be of any help with admission)
UNC
UVA
Denison
Case Western
Emory
Furman

Also really responsive at Vanderbilt, but that's a school of music, even for BA students, so I'm not counting it !

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Top grades and rigor. 1540 SAT. So yes, in range but the music was extra. Extensive musical resume but otherwise fairly standard ECs, newspaper, varsity sports. The music professors took it very seriously, either meeting in person on a visit or via zoom.

What top 20 schools had music professors interested in meeting your student? My kid is looking for something similar - music BA in a T20 school. She's found that music professors in T20-T50 schools are incredibly responsive, but above that they are friendly but not that interested in meeting.

Yale professor, for example, did hop on the phone to talk, but really didn't seem interested in meeting up or learning about my kid. Duke, similar, very friendly and answered questions but no interest in my kid in particular. On the other hand, at least a half dozen schools in the T20-50 range had professors who wanted resumes, set up department tours, keep checking in.. it's a striking difference.

For context, my kid is in range academically at the top schools (not that the music professors would know this) and is a national ensemble level player in a somewhat unusual instrument.

Which T20-50 schools did you find were helpful/interested in talking?

Schools where professors were responsive and wanted to get to know my kid (as opposed to friendly and would answer questions about the program but clearly wouldn't be of any help with admission)
UNC
UVA
Denison
Case Western
Emory
Furman

Also really responsive at Vanderbilt, but that's a school of music, even for BA students, so I'm not counting it !

This is super helpful - thanks!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Top grades and rigor. 1540 SAT. So yes, in range but the music was extra. Extensive musical resume but otherwise fairly standard ECs, newspaper, varsity sports. The music professors took it very seriously, either meeting in person on a visit or via zoom.

What top 20 schools had music professors interested in meeting your student? My kid is looking for something similar - music BA in a T20 school. She's found that music professors in T20-T50 schools are incredibly responsive, but above that they are friendly but not that interested in meeting.

Yale professor, for example, did hop on the phone to talk, but really didn't seem interested in meeting up or learning about my kid. Duke, similar, very friendly and answered questions but no interest in my kid in particular. On the other hand, at least a half dozen schools in the T20-50 range had professors who wanted resumes, set up department tours, keep checking in.. it's a striking difference.

For context, my kid is in range academically at the top schools (not that the music professors would know this) and is a national ensemble level player in a somewhat unusual instrument.

Which T20-50 schools did you find were helpful/interested in talking?

Schools where professors were responsive and wanted to get to know my kid (as opposed to friendly and would answer questions about the program but clearly wouldn't be of any help with admission)
UNC
UVA
Denison
Case Western
Emory
Furman

Also really responsive at Vanderbilt, but that's a school of music, even for BA students, so I'm not counting it !

This is super helpful - thanks!

Glad to hear it. I'll mention again, though, that my kids plays a rather niche instrument. I can't be sure a violin professor, for example, would react the same!

[Anonymous]

Schools where music faculty met in person or via zoom w my kid and specifically mentioned that they had seen and liked the music supplement:

UVA
Notre Dame
Dartmouth
Harvard
Princeton

Applied to 7 additional schools but no interaction with them

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Have already done a lot of brainstorming with counselor and kid, but wondering if anyone has insights about selective schools WITHOUT a school of music (so, just regular BA in music with no audition required) where applying as a music major (having talent + activities to back it up) can be a tip? Someone mentioned Duke on another thread as actively looking for music majors. Wondering if this is a real thing.

We had a friend that got in as a music hook, but they were lucky. The Orchestra had one or two slots for admission and they would use them for the specific instruments they needed for that year. Our friend played the oboe and it was the “it” instrument that year. If anything had changed, it probably means they have fewer slots and not more. It is not like sports teams that have several slots.