@jameshawkings, you’re asking thoughtful questions and you’re responding to changing information/perspectives in a very mature fashion. I think you have a bright future ahead of you.
With respect to the schools with stronger music programs, there’s no need to major or minor in music at those schools. But those schools still want to fill their bands or orchestras and probably don’t have enough music majors to do it, so they welcome students who are majoring in outside fields to help round out their programming (and will often offer scholarships to students who participate in those ECs). They may be a more fertile location if you wanted to pull together a group of people who just wanted to have an occasional jam session. But if you don’t want to do anything with music in college or have it influence your college decision, I definitely understand.
There are a few ways you can handle this:
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Would the counselor at your school be willing to have a conversation with your parents about this? Hearing information from a respected third party can be helpful.
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Show your parents the recommended high school transcripts for the “known” schools and show how you don’t have some of the characteristics (like foreign languages). I wish some of the schools would post the stats for the students they reject because that would help people to realize just how competitive the schools are. I think there have been a couple of admissions offices who have written blog posts indicating that they could fill their classes multiple times over and not have a drop in their stats.
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Talk to them about the schools that interest you and explain why they’re great options. Whether it’s which grad schools their graduates enter or their policy institute that hosts professionals in the field for students to interact with or the ability to get internships during the school year in the fields that interest you, etc.
Here are a few examples. There are many more if you look at the schools that have been mentioned.
At Gettysburg, in addition to traditional offerings in political science, it also offers a public policy major that takes advantage of its Eisenhower Institute and its journal on public policy. It also has a well-reputed music program.
At Drake, its Des Moines location is a huge boon. In addition to all of the state government activities and opportunities, Iowa is a swing state that has an early caucus
that brings presidential hopefuls to the area many times. They set up campaign organizations well in advance of any elections, and there are media from around the world that set up in Des Moines to help cover activities prior to the caucuses. Drake students land internships with these different organizations. In addition, the American Politics major reserves 9-credits for practical applications (internships, studying in D.C., etc). It’s also home to the Harkin Institute for Public Policy & Civic Engagement which offers part-time employment for students and also offers scholarships for students who need additional financial help to have internships in Washington, D.C. And it offers music scholarships for non-major participants, too (source). There’s also a Changemaker Scholars program for students who want to make a difference that has a lot of programming, plus a $5k/year scholarship to boost.