For what it’s worth: voice major son, studied classical voice outside school since 6th grade. Applied with a 79 average, 1230 SAT. Got in everywhere except Carnegie mellon and nyu. (Made third round before being cut at juilliard and curtis). Nowhere else cared about grades.
I feel bad now about being so hard on him about grades. Especially since he’s deciding between Peabody at Johns Hopkins and Manhattan School of Music.
Also, we discounted NEC for the liberal arts requirement. That kind of unrelated classwork is just no bueno doe him.