Maestro94

I'm definitely undecided about my major, which certainly does not make the search easier. Should I get an undergrad degree in music, it would be a B.A. In music in addition to another Bachelor degree in the arts or sciences. Having the option of not majoring in music would be nice, as I really am not ready to declare a major. My main concern is keeping my options open, and to not make sacrifices, which is what makes Lawrence and St. Olaf so attractive. Now I will definitely be paying some attention to Oberlin, Bard, and Vassar. With the information that I have, it seems that I'll need to pay a visit to each of these schools. I ruled out Vanderbilt because the frats seem to be a big part of the social scene, although the school seemed wonderful otherwise.
A- average, 9 AP courses and 2050/2400 1390/1600 SAT, so Ivy leagues are probably a little bit out of reach. Decent extracirriculars, volunteering and employment history, not including music. In terms of my music profile, I Have been in a comparable program to that of NEC or Juilliard prep for 5 years, now in an orchestra roughly equivolent to the top orchestra at one of those programs.
So far the application list is definitely Lawrence, St. Olaf, and maybe Oberlin, Vassar, and Bard.

SpiritManager

Have you considered choosing a school in an area with a strong youth orchestra like NY, LA, SF, Chicago etc? Most of the top youth orchestras have players, particularly wind & brass, who are in college. You could then pick a school for many other reasons besides music, and not have to give up playing in a quality orchestra.

As for Bard - it has two orchestras - the College Orchestra, which has a mix of levels, including some very good players, and the Conservatory Orchestra - into which one can audition, but into which very few non-conservatory students are admitted.

Mezzo'sMama

Case does have an excellent student orchestra and smaller ensembles as well and they perform in CIM's facilities. The school has various colleges within it, so while there are engineering, math and science majors, there are also English, history, business majors as well. The school is especially well thought of in the field of Early Music. There is a "fraternity row", but I know a lot of kids who are not in frats as well.

memake

"Keeping your options open" to me sounds like you are concerned about keeping/improving your trumpet performance level....if that is your goal, then the most important factor is teacher availability. So what you really need to find out at the schools you look at is: who are the trumpet professors here? would I be accepted into so-and-so's studio as a non-conservatory student? could I have lessons for credit? would I have to pay for lessons? don't just ask these questions in general - ask them about your own situation, from the people in the conservatory that count (the professors). That means scheduling a 'sample lesson' with them, or asking if you can sit in on their studio class, etc.

As for Vanderbilt: don't rule it out. Yes, Vanderbilt as a whole is pretty fratty, but my impression is that the School of Music might be much less like that than the rest of the campus.

PianoMan12

Yes, I would look more into how the frats actually influence the social scene of the school before ruling it out for that reason. Lawrence has a surprisingly high amount of frat members, but by and large the frats here don't really function in anything close to a stereotypical way. Being in a frat here can be a really low key thing, especially if you're in Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, but more to the point I'd look at the social atmosphere of a school as a whole more so than just the sheer percentage of fraternity members. Also, the social atmosphere of a school would be among my last concerns, as you're going to be able to find cool people and fun things to do at almost any school, let alone every school on your list.

compmom

I don't think you have to major in music for a BA, let alone for a BM, if there are other things you want to study.

However, if you apply to colleges/universities that also have conservatories/music schools w/BM students, you need to find out if their presence will detract from music opportunities for you as a BA student.

Then I would look into the quality of the orchestra and other ensembles, and what extracurricular music opportunities are available to BA students.

Finally, look into music opportunities outside of school, such as the orchestras mentioned by spiritmanager.

Continued private lessons may be through the school (some subsidize these) or outside of school. Practice of course is a private matter and can continue.

You could consider applying to an Ivy I would think, as long as your expectations are realistic. In my area, you might also consider Tufts, which has a thriving music department. Both Harvard and Tufts have double degree programs with NEC, which you could decide to do later. Right now, it does not sound like that is something you would want to do.

OperaDad

Most schools have multiple opportunities to participate in music. The better performers (majors in the instrument) are more likely to be in the better groups (orchestras, band, etc.).

As long as your heart is not set in being in the flagship orchestra/band, you should have more than enough opportunity to indulge your passion.

kmcmom13

Lots of good suggestions here for you. How attached are you to the idea of smaller, LAC-style schools?

I ask only because sometimes you have a few more options in terms of degree types and combos at larger schools, and it would be handy to be at one that ranked well in ALL your fields of interest .

If you're open to larger universities, you might wish to check out University of Michigan - your stats are "doable" if your reccs, essays, EC's and the rigor of your HS are good -- eg. if your unweighted GPA is 3.67 - 3.7 range, you might be slightly under the preferred 3.8+ these days, but your SATs are about mid- 50th percentile so it would be worth a shot.

The LSA has excellent programs to meet these specs:
and the School of Music does offer a Bachelor of Musical Arts that is designed for cognate study (aka dual major as opposed to dual degree, although many also pursue DD).

At Michigan, given its size and nature, it's music programming even for non-majors (or LSA majors who are NOT at the conservatory/SOM) is extremely robust. There are numerous opportunities for top trumpeters in every nook and cranny, plus some great instructors. There are a number of band/wind ensemble/jazz/orchestras etc. that are populated mostly by non-majors who happen to be top level musicians. Further, if talented enough, non-majors have also been accepted into the highest level band/symphonies at the School of Music as well. It's rare, but it does happen.

Best wishes in your search! It's always hard to be a fabulous generalist

alexmariejp

I'm going to sound a little like a broken record, but I didn't see anyone mention Shenandoah University in Winchester VA. They have an excellent Conservatory within the greater University. They have a terrific jazz trumpet professor Craig Fraedrich and Alan Baylock is their Jazz Composer in residence and they also have trumpet professor Scott Nelson. D's BF goes there and loves it and it really enjoying the program.

We visited Vassar too, since I grew up near there and my D loved it UNTIL she visited the music building. She just felt that the only part of it that felt "loved" to her was the musis library. The rest of the facility seemed a bit worn and not as energetic as she had hoped, but she wants to major in music so she is probably looking for something specific in a music building.

musicprnt

As someone else pointed out, another option would be if you go to a school in some of the larger cities, they have great youth orchestra programs that are prob as good if not better then many conservatory orchestras (New York, Chicago and the new one in Boston are all at a very high level, NYYS I can attest to personally, and others have a good reputation as well, SF's is def really good as well), so that might be an option for you, for example, going to University of Chicago and being in the chicago youth orchestra. At NYYS my S knew several college students, some majoring in music, some not, who did NYYS to have high level orchestra experience.

headoflife

Chicago has a number of excellent schools of music, but I am not certain what youth symphony other posters are referencing. CYSO is designed for students thorough 12th grade, and the Civic Orchestra is mostly grad students and post graduates. If I am missing something I would love to know, since my son is looking at music programs as well as non-music programs, and U of C is one of his top choices for a non-music school!