<p>this message was originally posted for bassdad by me:</p>
<p>i want to do something music tech/production/engineering related in college. engineering is probably the last thing i am looking for seeing as i am not great with math. lately i have been going about looking for schools by investigating very populated cities. as far as i know, having a major such as mine, it would be ideal to be in a populated city (like nyc) to be able to get internships/jobs relating to my major while i school myself. however in doing this, i have limited severely the number of schools i can actually apply to. i have schools that are on the way low end of the spectrum academically (such as SUNY purchase) and on the higher side (like nyu and umiami). so can you please tell me if i am doing the right thing by trying to get myself into a job earlier in the game??</p>
<p>HIS RESPONSE:</p>
<p>It is a pretty personal decision, but there are other options. Instead of doing the internship while school is in session, you could do it over the summer in a totally different location. That would let you ease the restriction that the school be in a large city. Also, I think that at most schools you are less likely to get an internship until you have studied for a couple of years to pick up skills that the employers need, so you probably have a while to work this out. Many schools have a placement office that helps students find internships and employment (part-time while in school, full-time after graduation.) </p>
<p>You should contact the placement office at the schools you are considering and ask what experience they have had in placing interns in music tech jobs. If they are happy to take 10-15 minutes to answer the questions of a prospective student and if they can tell you about several placements in the past few years, that is a very good sign. If they blow you off or don’t think they have ever gotten anyone into that kind of situation, then not so good. I would wait until after graduation to do this as it is probably their busiest time of year right now working with seniors who still need help finding employment in the next month or so.</p>
<p>I believe that internships are important in music tech. If you can get an in with an employer while you are still in school, they may make you a job offer when you graduate or at least keep you at the top of the list for when they have an opening. Some real world experience also looks good on your resume.</p>
<p>If you go to a school that has a lot of music performance majors, you could possibly employ yourself making recordings of student recitals and demo tapes for grad school applications. If you do not have your own equipment, many schools lend digital recorders, microphones and such to their students either free of charge or for a lot less than what you could earn with them.</p>