Hi everyone! I am a high school senior who will be auditioning for CMU’s piano performance program in just a few days. I had a few questions regarding admissions for the School of Music, and I was hoping that some current students could answer these questions (or anyone who is familiar with the school!)
How competitive is the piano performance program at CMU? Are there a lot of undergraduates in this program? I’m super stoked to complete an in-person audition at CMU after passing pre-screening, but I’m starting to enter a pre-audition panic and state of anxiety TT I was already accepted into my in-state university for piano, but i’m really worried about my upcoming audition…
My S19 was accepted for BXA Piano and Mellon College of Science. He did not attend, however the piano track is classical only. There is a jazz ensemble but they are always looking for members. For example, my S19 went to Pitt and played piano in the CMU jazz ensemble for an entire year bc they needed a pianist! You can cross register at Pittsburgh colleges up to 18 credits. It’s a city-wide agreement. He has a self-directed jazz minor. His private piano teacher teaches at both Pitt and CMU. A lof of them do. I don’t think the CMU music program is that competitive or large however the drama and musical theater program is uber competitive and world reknowned. I think there are better music schools for piano personally. We know amazing musicians who chose Oberlin over CMU etc. Also, you should know CMU gives NO merit so if you don’t qualify for financial aid you will pay full ticket price. That has just been raised to $82,000 a year! Google it. Relax, you’ll be great at the audition, like you said you have one acceptance already.
My S22 was accepted to the SOM for vocal performance and he’s one who chose Oberlin. It was a very tough decision because he loved Pittsburgh and he thought he’d rather be in a city environment. It came down to his assigned studio teacher- the Oberlin teacher was who he felt was a better fit for him.
The thing about CMU is that they have very few grad students in the SOM, so you won’t be competing with many for opportunities to perform. The school of drama students who are studying tech are the ones staging performances so there is a nice cross-pollination between the SOM and the School of Drama as well.
The SOM itself is rather small- I believe around 200 undergrads or so, compared with around 600 at Oberlin, so take that for what it is worth. The curriculums at the two schools are nearly identical.
True, they do not offer merit, but there are opportunities to appeal for aid by showing offers from other schools. I don’t know how competitive those scholarships are, but they do exist.
Have a wonderful time at your audition, and I agree with the above advice to relax since you are already sitting on a nice acceptance.
Thank you for the reply! Like your son, I also applied for CMU’s BXA program, but in the areas of computer science and piano performance. I wouldn’t attend CMU if I was only accepted for piano performance LOL
I want to do something very specific with music and computer science that only a few universities (one of them being CMU) offer, so while I agree that CMU’s piano performance program is not as strong as schools like Oberlin or Northwestern, I enjoy the “interdisciplinary” nature of their BXA program. However, financial aid, as you mentioned, is a strong consideration, especially since I got a full-tuition scholarship from my in-state university :^)
Your acceptance at CMU will only be yes or no for BXA. You should know that they are not going to admit you to one or the other majors separatley, it will be to the BXA only. So you have to get in both for this admission to CMU. And I don’t need to tell you how incrediby competitive CMU CS is.
