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Re: College--Auditions, double majors, etc.

Author: clarinetist04
Date: 2009-01-16 01:26

I went to Carnegie-Mellon and went through a similar conflict - I wanted to be an engineering major but also a composition major. Addressing one comment above, as a general statement, you do NOT have to have a graduate degree to have a career as a scientist. I am a chemical engineer with a job that I love doing research-oriented and developmental engineering not even a year out of school (and better than 60% of my major's grad. class was the same way). I don't mean to say that mrn is completely wrong, because he's not. A little clarification on your part, clarinet977, will help us guide this conversation. Do you want to be a physicist? Biologist? Or do you want to be a computer scientist? An engineer? A technician? These are all things you must think about -- there's a big difference. With the pure sciences, mrn is correct, having a graduate degree will go a long way but I'm not sure of the merit of having a music degree on the side. What will that tell about your research abilities? Graduate schools will much rather see research experience and a publication or two as an undergrad.

I decided to minor in music at CMU for a couple of reasons. First, I wanted to be an engineer, not a musician. I don't want to teach music and I don't have the chops to play in a major symphony. Plus I like engineering (most importantly!). Second, while I spent 80% of my time in high school doing music, my main priority of getting my BS in a science field took 95% of my time in college. Finally, I don't know of a single person who, at CMU, was able to complete a double major in music and a science major in 4 years - most take 5-7 years.

CMU is pretty good in the undergrad sciences with getting people out in 4 years. I'd say 90% are done in 4 years. The reputation that CMU has in the science community, particularly engineering, physics, and computer science, is very good allowing for very good job opportunities after college. The career center is excellent and does a lot to get students post-graduate opportunities, whether it be a job or graduate school. This is one of the best things about the school.

Most music classes occur during the day (as opposed to at night) and, inevitably, if you want to do a double major, classes you need for both degrees will overlap. Furthermore, CMU has a lot of opportunities to participate in music activities without being a major/minor. I played in the wind ensemble there for every semester except two and participated in chamber ensembles as well as musicals. If you want to sing, being in the choir (Dr. Page conducting - a legend) is open to you as well. Want to take theory? Go for it. Jazz band, no problem. Pellow is a great conductor. Same thing for all of the courses as long as you meet the pre-req's. As an interviewer now I think as a whole I don't look at "on-the-side" degrees as much as I do activities. I like to see organizational, not necessarily classroom, experience.

So what I'm trying to boil down to is that if you just have an interest in music as a side interest I would suggest not doing a double major but taking music classes as you have time and playing in a group or two while you're in college. It will take some of the stress off of you regarding staying extra years and the high amount of extra classes you'd have to take. This will give you the opportunity to continue what you love as a hobby while preparing you for what you want as a career. If you decide you'd rather do music , you'll be well prepared to make that jump as well.

If you have any other questions about CMU feel free to send me an e-mail.

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