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Author: ginny
Date: 2004-02-25 18:02
We just toured SO CAL and looked at 5 schools. My son intends to duel major or at least minor in music. We mostly looked at music depts. He's a straight A student (ok a B in woodshop and one in PE) with AP classes and all that, so he has a chance at pretty much any school. 1st chair clar & pretty decent pianist, interested in music ed or composition. He relises he may need an extra year to get through.
Cal Poly - music dept is weak
Cal Tech - music dept is very weak, he walked out without a tour... no minor.
UCLA - seemed good but difficult to duel major, credits limit.
USC - music seemed excellent, chem undergrad a little iffy
Harvey Mudd & Clarmont - great tech program, music at Pomona or Scripps seemed sorta ok kinda.
So, he is interested in looking at Northwestern and Yale.
Any others that might fit the bill, back East or North?
He'd like excellent chem/math depts. and good music depts. Small is better than large.
Post Edited (2004-02-25 18:05)
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Author: EEBaum
Date: 2004-02-25 18:29
For a double major, I'd assume at least six years. If he has enough AP credits, he may be down to 5. At my school (Cal State U Long Beach... you didn't visit?), music degrees are considered 5-year programs in themselves if you go for a specialization (performance, comp, or ed)... you might get out in 4 1/2 if you hurry. I'm double-majoring in computer sci. and music comp, and it's taking me upwards of 7 years, taking full loads with 3 classes waived through AP. If I was in a hurry, I could bump it down to 6, if I just had a minor it'd be 5.
Keep in mind that music major programs are very demanding. They require theory and history, as well as lessons, performances, and concert attendance every semester. Granted, I think it's completely worth it. I started out as a minor and was taking so many music classes just for fun that I'd earned half a degree before I declared my major.
I'd highly recommend CSULB for its music department (especially woodwinds), I'm neutral on the math (some fantastic teachers, a few less so), and I don't have much info on chem. It's a big place, over 30,000, but the music department is practically a mini-conservatory of 500 or so. Why would you prefer small?
USC is the main school on the list I hear the most about for the music department... an excellent school, if not a bit competitive.
When looking for schools and majors, I'd also recommend getting the catalog of courses, and schedule of classes, of each place you visit. Here, you can look at all the class offerings and requirements for each program, and also get a feel for how often they are offered.
-Alex
www.mostlydifferent.com
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Author: supernova_khr
Date: 2004-02-25 19:32
I've got a friend that did music (piano)/physics at Oberlin (Ohio). There are lots of places that are good in math or chemistry. If you're in California...have you considered places like UC Davis (not small, but smaller, and a fine chemistry/biology/physics school), UCB (large school..but world renowned chem department) or Stanford?
A place like Carleton College (MN) is a wonderful small school with a solid undergraduate science/math program and also a music program.
In Colorado, CU Boulder has a large music department (with an excellent jazz studies program) and all the math/chem/physics you could want as an undergraduate.) The presence of NIST, NOAA and NCAR in the same town means there are a huge number of affiliate faculty involved in the sciences that undergraduates can sometimes interact with or even work for.
Then there's places like University of Washington (when I was there, there was one Nobel Laureate on the chem faculty). It's a large university, but does has a decent sized music department.
In essence, the sky's the limit!
Have fun picking.
Kay
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Author: JessKateDD
Date: 2004-02-25 19:46
A friend of mine did electrical engineering and music at Northwestern. The school set up a course of study for him which allowed him to do both majors in five years. They were very helpful. NU is a great school and absolutely top notch for clarinet. It would be my number one choice, if I could do it over again.
On the other hand, I went to another prestigious school as a music/physics double major. The music school bragged they had plenty of double majors, but when I got there, I was pretty much the only one. Then, in order for me to keep my music scholarship, they required me to take lessons. orchestra, ear training, music theory, and music history (a total of 12 hours) for each of my first five semesters there. That made it impossible for me to do the double major, so I gave up the scholarship so that I could go to school on my terms.
Before you commit to a school, meet with people in both departments your son wants to major in and have them draw up a course of study that will accomodate him.
Other schools you may wish to consider that are top notch academically and musically: Case-Western (music school is CIM); John's Hopkins (Peabody Conservatory); Michigan; and Yale (which you already mentioned).
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Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2004-02-25 20:02
Ginny -
Your son should choose a school that has what he wants, but one of the purposes of college is to explore many possibilities. To repeat the story of my freshman roommate, he came in planning a double degree in physics and engineering and graduated with a major in medieval German literature.
As long as the school is good, which one he chooses is less important than what he makes of it. He's prepared an excellent foundation. At this point, he should simply go where he feels most comfortable.
Best regards.
Ken Shaw
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Author: John O'Janpa
Date: 2004-02-26 03:31
I'm prejudiced, having been raised in the Cleveland area, but I find it hard to imagine a better combination for music & math or chem than the Cleveland Institute of Music/ Case Western Reserve.
John
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Author: Hank Lehrer
Date: 2004-02-26 04:08
Hi,
All of my college education was at state universities in OH (Ohio U., Kent State, and BGSU). All my degrees are not in music but all of these schools have excellent music programs and they turn out lots of pre-med majors.
These second tier state universities are not as prestigious as OSU, Michigan (there's a great music program), Indiana (another good one) or the large mid-west Big 10 schools. However, if you like a smaller school (15,000+ students) with good to excellent music and well as science, my alma maters are good choices. I'm sure in most states, there are very similar situations. Let's face it, all of us are not of conservatory caliber!
HRL
PS Why would Cal Tech have a music program at all???
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Author: Micaela
Date: 2004-02-26 04:32
Mr. Lehrer: I would have to argue that 15,000 students is not by any means small. And why would Cal Tech not have a music program? MIT has a very good one.
Here are some TRUELY small schools that are decent for sciences and music:
Williams
Amherst (I honestly know very little about their music depts)
Swarthmore (had to mention it... 1,400 students, we have a shiny new science center and a fun music department. And no grad students!)
Wesleyan University (probably the weakest of these four in science)
Getting a Bit Bigger:
Princeton (smallish music dept)
Columbia (if he doesn’t mind a core curriculum)
Johns Hopkins (though the commute with Peabody is tough)
University of Rochester (probably a safety school and ditto about the commute)
University of Chicago
Stanford (I'm amazed you didn't mention it already)
MIT (of course)
Oberlin (not sure about sciences)
UPenn (much bigger but relatively individual-friendly)
I've heard a lot of bad things about Yale and didn't like it myself but I'm sure it's wonderful if you can deal with attention-hogging grad students and rampant snobbery (IMHO- just an impression...)
I visited Wesleyan, Princeton, Columbia, Penn, Hopkins, Oberlin, Yale and Eastman (and Wellesley, Smith and Barnard but I'm guessing your son isn't considering those) if you'd like further impressions. I go to Swarthmore, where I'm a freshman music major.
It IS possible and even plausible to complete a double major in music and science here in four years.. It's important to distinguish between a BA/BS or BA/BA type of degree and anything involving a B Mus, which would require a lot more course work. The BA route would also involve much more academic music and less performance. Out of my list above, only Oberlin, Rochester and Hopkins fall under the "Five Year Plan" category. The double majors I know tend to be a bit stressed, but so is everyone else. If you have APs, that helps. If the school doesn't have too many distribution requirements (i. e. not Columbia) that helps more.
Good luck,
Micaela
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