Just some perspective. My son graduated from a very competitive high school with a top Jazz program. His peers were all very skilled musicians who wanted to continue in music but only my son and another boy ended up attending conservatory. Although my son and the other boy both had the academic credentials to do a dual degree program both decided they wanted to focus on music and felt that being in a dual degree program would only be a distraction. The parents (meaning me and the other mom) comforted ourselves by saying that they would have the option at the conservatory of taking liberal arts classes at many of the excellent colleges in the area. My son never did. His friend on the other hand got interested in education and the theory around music education. He ended up co-authoring journal articles with a professor at Harvard who was teaching a liberal arts class at NEC. That boy is now at Harvard pursuing graduate work.
One of my favorite musician/composers my son has worked at as an undergraduate at NEC, graduated and was a working musician. But he also spent a lot of time writing while at NEC and two years after graduating took the LSAT and applied to law school and got in.
My son’s other peers (and good friends) went off to Columbia, University of Rochester, Pamplona, Harvard/MIT (student transferred to MIT). Most of the other boys were interested in being either pre-med or doing something with technology. They all started off playing music on the side, but most abandoned music as a serious pursuit given the demands and time requirements of their major. Summer’s were spent doing internships at places like Google and that did not lend itself to spending the time practicing and performing. They have all graduated and now the only one who is still a performance musician is my son.
On the other hand there was a young man who was a few years older than my son who was in our High School’s Jazz program who went off to Northeastern and studied Neuroscience. He found himself not wanting to leave the music behind and after graduating applied and was accepted to NEC’s Master’s of performance program. He is now a musician.
The point is: Nothing is set in stone and your son will find his path regardless of where he goes. Try not to “frame him” and let him apply to schools where he feels socially and emotionally safe and comfortable. The school doesn’t have to be the “best” in everything. It just has to be good and have the mentors your son needs so he can pursue what he is interested in.