We have had some difficulty identifying colleges. My daughter has good ACT scores (including a 36 on the English section), but her school has some issues with GPA which make her unweighted GPA a 3.6. She is an accomplished classical pianist, but not of the caliber of Curtis or Juilliard. She has won MTA regional competitions in a large city several hours from our home. We have had to drive two hours each way for piano lessons or have virtual lessons over the last few years, and there is no pre-college option near us. She has collaborated with other instrumentalists, choirs, and combos in classical and some jazz and blues. She would like to major in international business/Spanish and piano performance. She is also a nationally-ranked dancer and State-ranked swimmer. We have found some good schools that offer this combination, but I am concerned that her GPA will eliminate her from the competition in those good schools. Most of these good schools have an average GPA of 3.9 or 4.0 unweighted. She is not interested in a conservatory where she cannot double major. Schools that accept 3.6 tend to have no or little piano program or not a serious international program with very good faculty. Does anyone have suggestion for possible colleges? Sorry to sound like an elitist, but she does not want to go to schools where the average ACT is 28 or lower. She has worked very hard academically for the last ten years, much more than any of her peers that she sees, and she would like to be around students who have also worked very hard and want to continue to pursue strong academics while in college. One problem with her school’s GPA is that they have allowed kids who tested in for the BC classes (think BC Calculus and apply that to other subjects) to take the AB classes (still a level above regular, but lower than BC) to get an easy A, thus making the AB classes much harder on a curve for those who stayed in AB and did not move down to regular.
What size college, area of the country does she prefer? Any restrictions on cost? What is her rigor?
First school to spring to mind is University of Denver, which is best-known for three things: music conservatory, international relations, and business school. They have a BM program in the conservatory, but also a BA with an option to make music the secondary major and still pursue music performance. It clears your daughter’s threshold with a median ACT of 29 
but should be attainable with her GPA (median GPA 3.8, and that’s likely weighted).
https://liberalarts.du.edu/lamont/academics-admissions/programs-ug/ba-minor-music#minor
You may get good feedback on the music board. There is also an essay on that board call the “double degree dilemma” that may be interesting for you.
I had a high stat kid double degree. We were watching COA. One thing I would propose if you have a kid who really wants to do music AND pursue a degree is to encourage sample lessons and asking some hard questions about this on your search. Ask faculty, staff, other students, etc. Not every music teacher is necessarily supportive of multi interested students and having a flexible program and teacher can be critical. We didn’t even necessarily get the same feedback from multiple people in the same program on some visits. Having your teacher in your corner from go was important.
The 3 schools that come to mind immediately are Oberlin, Saint Olaf College and Lawrence University. They are all LACs with conservatory style music programs They are all also schools capable of generous merit funds. My oldest kid actually ended up at a large state university with excellent academics in a music studio with a lot of grad students. A class of 8000 meant at least 2000 were high stat (ACT>32), there was an honors program, a ton of opportunities, etc. The undergrads had a lot of flexibility. University of Denver is a good suggestion, my younger kid auditioned there last year and had a wonderful exprience though it didn’t rise to the top of the heap. They have beautiful music facilities.
I do think it is helpful to keep some perspective when looking at average ACT scores. Wealthier student bodies have higher scores. Schools with merit for high stat kids will often have very healthy populations of very motivated students and some students will rise up in a college setting. If your student is in a rural setting now lacking motivated peers almost any college talked about on this board will feel like a big change. My oldest kid had a tippy top ACT score, graduated from the big U with an average in the high 20’s and it was great in every way.
If cost isn’t a contraint for you, you will have a lot more options. I would also note that high school GPAs are viewed in context of your school profiles so I guess I wouldn’t let that inform your child’s college list if a college or university is otherwise a good fit. Like any student, I’d pick a balanced list focusing first on an affordable safety or 2. When it comes to auditioned music programs, having a non-auditioned option on the table isn’t a bad idea. And doing 2 BAs with lessons and self chosen performance opportunities isn’t the worst plan for a multi interested student.
Does your private piano teacher regularly launch students to college programs? Music teachers were a great resource for us during the process.
Strong music + strong business = Indiana University. Depending on how strong the ACT is and how the 3.6 ranks in the school profile, direct admission to Kelly may be possible.
I also suggest the music major forum and the essay “The Double Degree Dilemma” in the Read Me thread on that forum. It is about different ways to study music. It is unclear whether you are referring to a double major or double degree.
If she wants piano performance, that would probably be a double degree. Bard Conservatory requires a double degree. Other schools as mentioned are Oberlin, Lawrence, St. Olaf, Tufts/NEC and many others.
If she wants a double major that would probably be a BA program in international business/Spanish with a liberal arts music major and extracurricular performance with continued lessons (often funded).
Or she could major in international business/Spanish and continue music with lessons and extracurricular performance.
BM programs involve auditions (and usually prescreens). BA programs usually don’t have auditions for admission but have them in the fall of freshman year for ensembles. It can help, for a BA application, to submit an arts supplement with recording/video, resume related to music and letters of recommendation also related to music.
She could also do one for dance, and perhaps she would apply as a swimmer. Many options.
Her accomplishments in these areas can give a boost to admissions. And even if she didn’t want to continue, say, music, the supplement is still helpful. Noone asks for a commitment. Her EC’s show a lot of discipline and hard work as well as talent.
You need a university that has a school of music and a business school, at which it is possible to do a double major. If she has a very high ACT (you mentioned a 36 in English, but what was her total ACT?), then really, 3.6 UW is not bad, plus she has done SO much more! Piano, dancing, swimming, all at a very high level! When did she sleep? Honestly, I don’t think that she should let her GPA hold her back.
The first step and most important step is for her to identify teachers with whom she would like to study. If she’s going to be a performance major, this is the most important factor. My kid made a huge spreadsheet of every college that had a school of music that had a teacher with whom he wanted to study. He spoke with his teacher, with other students already at those schools studying with those teachers, listened to the teachers’ recordings (because he said you wind up sounding like those teachers). He eliminated schools that didn’t have a high level of academics. He eliminated schools that had few or no others of our ethno-religious minority, or that were in areas of North America (he looked at Canada, too) to which he was unwilling to go. He eliminated schools where he’d have to take a bus between campuses to get from the school of music to the academic campus. When he had added in all these factors, it only came down to about 7 or 8 schools. He applied ED to the one tippy top which had a great symphony (but no performance major), and to the few flagship publics which met his criteria, and held off on the other top schools until after he’d heard on the ED (which he got into and decided to take, so he pulled all his other apps).
Assuming that they have the piano teacher she wants, look at Indiana, Maryland, Boston U, U Md, UConn, U Utah, and many others: basically every flagship that has a school of music, and that has a piano prof with whom she’d want to study. Remember, it has to be a nice person to work with, too - this is going to be her strongest and most important relationship throughout college. Then add in her other criteria, to cull the list.
She may find feedback from current piano students at those schools by looking on Reddit.
Then, the audition is going to be, by far, the most important part of her application. The music resume means next to nothing, compared to the audition. Some schools require her to apply to, and be accepted by, both the school of music AND the business school, in her case.
At some schools, the word was that it was virtually impossible to do a performance music major and an academic major. I remember that was what we heard about Indiana, but my kid wanted performance music, a non-science academic major, AND premed, but if I recall correctly, we were told it was very difficult to double major there, let alone that plus premed.
One more note about U of Denver - for a smaller, high-powered subgroup of students, she could apply to the Pioneer Leadership Program. This is an honors cohort and residential community that draws students from across all academic programs. The advantage is that selection is based more on leadership qualities than on GPA, so she could be a strong candidate; the disadvantage is that it involves additional classes she’d have to take toward the associated minor, which would further pack her schedule. But it could be worth considering if it appeals.
One other option besides majoring in business/Spanish and doing lessons provided by the school, and extracurricular performance: doing lessons outside of the school.
My kid got into a top university for BA (and some conservatories, which we could not afford despite merit) and opted out of the double degree program offered by their university with NEC. However, the NEC chair/teacher offered to teach them privately ( a lot more affordable than double degree actually). A selective LAC that was more rural also offered to find a teacher in the community.
I am not suggesting anything, just extending the options. For a BA, schools without a BM program may be preferable- something to check. As soon as you mention “performance” there will be suggestions of schools with “good music programs” but they may prioritize the BM students.
And for a BA program, stats, EC’s and the music supplement (and/or dance) will be important, since there is no audition generally.
Then again, if she really wants a BM, she might have to look hard for a school where she can do business along with music performance.
Since Utah was mentioned above, I’ll chime in to note that my outdoorsy high stat D18 (4.0UW/35 ACT/8 5s in APs) was very happy there and found it easy to pursue a double degree (in her case BFA ballet/Hons BS Env St) and complete it (including the additional Honors requirements) in 4 years (with a 3.94 GPA). All of these large state flagships, especially those that offer merit, have a significant contingent of very capable students (she was in a scholarship cohort who all had similar qualifications, and her freshman year roommate, who majored in Business, won a Rhodes scholarship). While a 3.6UW won’t get you merit, it will get you admitted, and after the first year you can easily get residency and pay the cheap instate rates.
Utah will also reassess for merit money after the first year, and award it based upon the previous year’s performance. One can gain state residency after one year.
Thank you for responding. No restrictions on location or cost. She prefers a school with an undergraduate population greater than 5,000. Would like a population between 5, 000 and 20,000, but she knows she needs to be flexible on that point. She can work hard, if that is what you mean by your question about rigor. (Sorry, I am not clear on the question).
Thank you for your suggestion. I will look into it.
I wondered about the types of classes she’s been taking. Number of AP and honors.
The school does not offer AP classes nor IB. She has taken the highest level honors classes in all humanities courses and the second-to-highest level classes in the STEM courses.
Good point about professors maybe not liking a flexible approach. I wondered about that. Thank you for your suggestions. Unfortunately, our piano teacher is not involved with college launching. That is one reason why I feel at a loss. She is a very good teacher, though, and since my teen only has one more year to go, I don’t think we should change teachers. I don’t think that developing a new relationship with a piano teacher would be a good step right now. I am open to suggestions, though.
Thank you. I will look into Kelly.
Thank you for your explanation of the differences between a double degree and a double major and a BA and a BM and your suggestions for possible colleges. She has actually been contacted for swimming by several schools including two that you mentioned, but she just decided that she doesn’t want to swim in college…bad timing, but at least she has made a decision about it. Thank you for your advice. Do you think there is a big difference between a B.M. in piano performance and a “liberal arts music major and extracurricular performance with continued lessons”? When I looked at some degree requirements, the B.M. seemed to be a few extra theory classes, but not much more, for the pianist, that is.
I have already encountered the “walk 20 minutes to the music department” problem at two colleges. Thanks for mentioning that; we were beginning to feel as if we were the only ones who thought that wasn’t ideal. I appreciate your college suggestions, advise to read student reviews of teachers, and knowing the steps that your musician took. I am coming across some colleges where they say a double major in performance and an academic major is possible, but it is done in 5 years. We feel the same way about the importance of liking the piano teacher. That is the one teacher you actually have for four years, unlike all of the teachers at the college.
Thank you!