I am wondering whether New England Conservatory’s double degree program with Harvard would be more appropriate than Berklee. What kind of music do you play on the harp, and what kind of singing do you do? Harp is definitely less common. It could be an advantage in an application. Supplements need to show talent and an ability to contribute to a level of excellence at the university.
A music supplement has a video/recording (short or cued), a music resume and 1-2 letters of recommendation. You don’t have to prepare the way students prepare for auditions.
One option remains getting a BA or BS in something else like economics and doing music in electives, with lessons and extracurricular performance.
Harvard doesn’t offer any of the areas of study that you originally listed. That said, I don’t think narrowing your focus to something like music business is necessary for undergrad.
Harvard has excellent financial aid so if you can afford it, by all means apply.
I’ll look into that program! I’ve trained in voice for 12 years and spent most of time training classically. However, I switched into pop about 4 years ago and now I am pursing that. I record and post covers on YouTube and have been working on writing my own songs. For harp I pretty much play all different styles, mostly more classical though. I could also sing and play the harp for a supplemental. I have time to think about it but I just wanted to get on top of it.
@Juliaroses you have some basic decisions to make. If you want to prioritize academic subjects (BA) or music (BM). Within music, whether you want classical or pop. Among academic subjects whether you want to do the more career-oriented majors you first listed, or something like economics or history (or something else) for a BA.
We can list great schools for classical OR pop music. We can also list excellent schools for academics, whether career or liberal arts focused.
If academic subjects are a priority, you do not need a school that is affiliated with a conservatory or school of music (“good for music”)- in fact, in some cases, those are schools to avoid if they give the best teachers to BM students.
You just need a good department in your area of study, and a decent music department with access to lessons and excellent extracurricular music.
Harvard has an excellent music department that has diversified in recent years (at least on paper- I don’t know the reality) to include more genres and more access for those who have not had extensive training already. You could study economics (not business) and pursue both harp and signing, both classical and pop. The double degree program with NEC is a BA/MM is very selective and costs extra. It is fine to not do it and still progress in music. The double degree with Berklee is newish and I don’t know much about it.
There are countless other schools to suggest once you are a little clearer about what you want. Music business or business? Economics or history? Harp or singing? Classical or pop? And what are the priorities.
A BM degree is 2/3-3/4 music classes. A BA is 1/4-1/4 music classes or classes in whatever you are majoring in. Another strategy is to look at schools like Brown, Amherst, Hamilton, Bennington, where there are no gen eds and you can have a lot of flexibility.
I listed some examples for OP.
It’s mostly restrictive in that she wouldn’t be able to apply EA to another private university but any public university, specific nonbinding scholarship program including at a private university, or RD or rolling application is fine.
Usually you can also apply ED2 somewhere (as long as that application date is after the REA notification date). And finally you can also apply to non-US schools whenever as long as it is non-binding. Probably not a fit for the OP but I like to note it whenever the subject comes up as getting an early answer from both Pitt and St Andrews really took the pressure of my S24.