Visits can start easily running together. I’d suggest your student keep detailed notes after each visit. That was helpful for my D to look back over for the “why us” essays.
To echo a few others:
Yale certainly has the Yale Symphony Orch. for UGs (as well as Yale Concert Band, Yale Precision 
Marching Band and lots of other musical groups.) Many years ago I studied engineering and played in YPMB at Yale and had a fantastic experience.
U Rochester is ideal for music+engineering students. Two of my kids majored in engineering here and had terrific experiences.
And of that mix I suggest something much closer to 1/3-1/3-1/3.
Good luck.
One more thing I would throw into the mix. If it’s been said already, my apologies. Although looking at schools with very good music programs is important, I’d say it is even more important to look at schools that have top Viola faculty. I know IU has been mentioned a couple times and the discussion included a range of rankings for the music school. However their Viola faculty appears to be top shelf. Without doing any deep research, I’d still assume that they would be amenable to dual majors, etc.
Rice has also been mentioned and again, their viola instructors are right there at the top. (of course the music school is right there at the top as well).
Thanks @pickpocket and @snakster -
I continue to do a ton of research and, as suggested, have now started to pay close attention to the viola instructors. TBH, I am caught off guard by the number of music programs that have only one viola teacher - seems risky for a number of reasons.
We are off to see Vandy/Blair on Monday for a Black & Gold Day and I for one am very interested in how D22 views what I think might be the best ‘on paper’ option (checks all the boxes).
Your daughter is awesome…one of many awesome students with that profile.
I see many top 50 schools…I would also look at more “matches” as well.
Nice to see IU brought up…it does have a good music program and rolling admission (it is REALLY nice to have a rolling admission , emotionally, and it can even narrow down your list/applications that are due 1/1), and it’s easy to love in terms of the campus. I haven’t seen CCM mentioned in this thread but I believe it is very reputable. I don’t know anything about music admissions though…can’t arts program admissions be much tighter than the schools’ admission rates? Making a school that is an academic safety NOT a safety due to the program’s admission rates? Something to take into account, if that is a factor.
Case Western definitely seems worth a good look, since they are strong in STEM (her potential double majors) and known for strong music as well. That might be more of a low reach / high match for her (her stats alone would make it look like a low match, but with the acceptance rate figured in that brings it up - better acceptance rate than those top 20 schools on your list, but still definitely competitive). If reading about Case makes her interested, you definitely would want to demonstrate interest there, as they care about that a good deal, and I think especially from high stats kids since they don’t want to just be a backup.
Completely agree about her taking notes at each school - will add to that that it’s helpful to take a couple or few pix on campus to refer to again after the trip, and helpful if she writes down her impressions at the end of the visit while her memory is fresh. That really helped my student to keep all the schools visited straight, and helped a lot with the “why us” essays.
Agreeing with the others here…definitely include safety and match schools on your tours.
Glad you are on the music forum and that you are reading the Double Degree Dilemma written by David Lane, former admissions for Peabody.
A BA will be 1/4-1/3 music classes, usually no audition for admission, but you can submit a music supplement with recording, music resume and letters of recommendation from teacher or director.
A BM will be 2/3-3/4 music classes, usually with an audition.
Other options are double degree, double major, major/minor and majoring in something else besides music and continuing lessons and extracurricular performance.
One thing to watch out for is whether the best teachers and opportunities go to BM students when you are doing a BA (or they might go to grad students, as at Yale). For that reason if she decides not to do a BM but wants to do music, she might consider schools that do NOT have a BM program. There are certainly exceptions (Bard, Oberlin) but it is something to be aware of.
Thanks @bopper, @TS0104, @Genevieve18, @natty1988, and @compmom -
So much to do and so many factors to consider… I guess the good thing is that we are starting early enough to visit schools over the course of 2+ years AND I keep reminding myself that we don’t have to visit them all and, in fact don’t have enough time (or $$) to see them all.
“We are off to see Vandy/Blair on Monday for a Black & Gold Day and I for one am very interested in how D22 views what I think might be the best ‘on paper’ option (checks all the boxes).”
Easily the two best events during high school for me were all the college visits and college acceptance days. Take it all in to get your questions answered, but try to relax and smell the roses too. Special time with your kid. Enjoy!
thanks @bloomfield88 - I promise I will - I am really looking forward to spending time with her - we had a great visit at Rice and I hope that trend continues. She is such a great kid and I know I will miss her (and her crazy sense of humor) when she leaves for college. She has just informed that she is making a special car ride playlist and has found us a ‘highly recommended’ restaurant.
Ha! I forgot to say, I hope you get to check out the restaurants surrounding campus and google all over Nashville. Nashville is a real ‘foodie’ town now with a diverse palate in so many different neighborhoods. Attracting chefs from all over. Sean Brock even moved from Charleston (a fantastic food town) to Nashville. I’ve had everything from the best Vietnamese outside Asia to quite amazing donuts in Nashville.
http://nashvilleguru.com/neighborhoods
@howdidwegethere We were in a very similar position a year ago as I have a Science DC who is also a classical musician who couldn’t see himself not doing both in college. One of the things we did was watch videos on YouTube of the college’s orchestras to see if he thought he’d be a good fit. We also looked at music department’s websites for the available ensembles and audition requirements, went to concerts, met with students and faculty, and visited facilities (practice rooms and recital halls) if we could. Here are some of the schools we considered that you may also look into: Yale, Princeton, UMD, Brown, Carnegie Mellon, Oberlin, Pitt, JHU, UDel, Boston U, UNC-CH, Duke, VaTech, UVA, Temple, MIT, and URochester. He preferred orchestras that were open by audition instead of open to music majors only in case he didn’t double major. Another plus was if the college had music lessons available.
PM me if you have any questions.
@howdidwegethere it’s fine to apply to both BM and BA programs, but really a lot easier if your daughter decides before applying. Which student would she identify with in the Double Degree Dilemma essay? And of course it is still so early, she may change her mind.
Does she understand that her list is kind of apples and oranges?
And just want to echo what others have said about needing to really look deeply at each school, whether before or after acceptance. Make sure that BA students get good opportunities if there is a BM program on campus, as I wrote before.
Harvard has ramped up the applied arts in the last 10 years, and substantially changed the music curriculum. Lessons are funded, and students earn credit for both lessons and performance in certain organizations. There may also be a performance component in theory , anlaysis and music history classes.
Look at gen eds. Yale has more gen eds than Harvard, for instance, meaning that music major at Harvard can essentially take more music classes for the major.
When attending a school, like Harvard or Tufts, that also offers a double degree, internally or with a conservatory, it is helpful to consider NOT doing the double degree as well. It is possible to progress with lessons and performance. (Tufts has an excellent music department with high student participation and excellent faculty.)
One thing to consider is whether your daughter would want to do grad work in music. Many years away. But that also affects choice.
Looking early can reduce stress but in the case of a music kid, you really have to include all options unless she already feels absolutely certain of what she wants- BA or BM or both. That makes it tougher.
@howdidwegethere Honestly if you have seen a big state school and a Selective LAC, you pretty much know what the other big state schools and other Selective LACs are like. I would go for visiting 'types" of schools.
The caveat to that is if it is very early on in the process a ‘type’ trip in a relatively small area is good to ‘possibly’ cross out wide swaths of schools. I did this in SoCal when all 3 of my kids were in 9th grade or younger. I am glad we did it, but it didn’t narrow the type as much as I thought it would for my three kids. Too much variation within types.
It worked for 1 out of 3 kids.
One of mine decided all giant state schools anywhere in the country and crossed off all other types.
Another crossed off all LACs and kept looking at and applied to a very diverse group of the rest, including overseas.
Another liked individual schools in every category. So, she loved this LAC, hated this one. Liked this giant state, crossed off this other giant state, etc
Really is a completely different vibe from UCSD to UCLA to UCSB and they are all within a SoCal drive and in the same UC system.
When it comes time to get serious W&L differs from Tufts differs from Bowdoin differs from the 5Cs, so a kid might apply to 3 LACs, 3 mid-size privates, 3 giant state schools.
DD wanted to play in the college orchestra and continue private lessons…but not as a music major at all. She considered music minor but it didn’t fit her college schedules.
The hardest out of her college search was finding a college orchestra…not a band or wind ensemble…where she could audition for a spot. She played an “endangered instrument” but there are usually only one or maybe two in an orchestra…so she had to find places that would allow all students to to audition.
This was THE hardest part of her college search.
She contacted the music department chairs, orchestra directors, and private instructors on her instrument at every school of interest. Some were very accommodating and others simply said…no.
She found a great school…was first chair in her instrument for four years. School included private lessons as long as she played in the orchestra (fun fact…her private teacher the first two year was. CC poster), and she got $250 performance award each quarter for all four years. Every penny counts. The lessons at no cost really helped too!