shamus

I'm curious as to how heavily the NESCAC schools weight academics when doing admissions for music majors. My academics are fairly solid, but not so much that I'd be confidant if applying as a bio major or the like. I do feel confident in my musical abilities, though.

violadad

The NESCAC schools are all well respected LAC's, with the exception of Tufts, a university.

Each is a fairly competitive admit, and none is particularly noted for the overall strength of its music program. However, within the group there are some good programs in general, and there are solid faculty across a number of disciplines. Not all offer a major in performance.

Without researching each school, I would surmise that unlike a conservatory level audition based program where the strength of audition is a very large part of the admitting process, there may well be more of a balance between demonstrated musical talent and meeting a specific school's academic requirements.

My suggestion would be to research each school's general admission criteria as well as any specific music department/school webpage. You may want to address specific questions directly to the music department rather than a general ad com; the music department may have better insight.

Good luck.