MomTeacherNurse

It's me again>>son trying to choose which music program to apply to.

How important is it that the music program/school be accredited by the National Association of Schools of Music? Will accreditation (or lack thereof) make a difference when applying to graduate music programs in the future?

Thanks.

musicamusica

Plenty of great schools are not accredited by NASM. Rice, Juilliard, and UCLA to name a few. I don't see the lack of NASM accreditation hold back their students.

compmom

It's not important. I just looked again at "Creative Colleges," which has a list by state of music programs, and schools that are accredited by this organization are starred.

Some major (top) conservatories and colleges are not starred, while tiny state colleges are. I think it is just a matter of the school applying to the NASM. Some do, some don't.

musicprnt

I supect it means nothing, and if you are thinking of an MM (performance degree), I can almost guarantee it will mean nothing. That accreditation simply means they abide by the standards set down by NASM and have been audited to prove they follow those guidelines, but it doesn't necessarily mean it is a good or great music school, either.

Mezzo'sMama

And even schools that are accredited don't necessarily abide by all of the rules that they are supposed to.....

imagep

I think that being accredited by a regional accrediting agency is much more important that being accredited by NASM.

Not going to a regional accredited school may mean that ones classes and hours won't transfer and may possibly limit ones choices to grad schools.