Getting admitted to a music conservatory

kmccrindle
Mon, 29 Nov 2010 18:48:26 +0000

^Just one thing to add. Since she IS young (whether or not mature beyond her years is moot – EVERYONE needs to adjust to living away from home) you may wish to consider adding a few other high-level music schools that are at universities with associated medical schools and premed tracks. That way, if she does have a change of heart about the conservatory-style route, she’d at least be settled in a location where if successful in a bid for med school the following year, she would have the continuity of access to high-level ensembles, private teachers, and of course, the musician friends she’ll have made. Alternately, if med schools viewed her to be “too young” (some might…) and she wanted to pursue a premed degree simultaneous to a BMUS it would be viable (although it would take an extra year.) Further, your wife might benefit from understanding that music students typically do well in med school acceptances, and that it is not remotely abnormal to study a BMus followed by Med school.

So in essence, your daughter does not really have to choose between music and medicine if she doesn’t want to, at least at this age.

Further, if it’s chosen for her, the risk is the relationship, not her future success. Ultimately, she alone will determine her future success, and sounds perfectly capable to do so in either field, and further, to define for herself what success looks like for her. But you and your wife will help determine her relationship with you, her perception of your support, and her relationship to her work (eg. realizing she chose medicine to avoid confrontation…realizing she chose music to rebel What you resist persists. Best wishes!