Is anyone able to speak to the quality of/support for the dual degree program at IU Jacobs, especially BM+BME?
For context, I’m looking at pursuing a viola BM/string BME, and I want to graduate in 4 years which could be possible since I have 12 APs (including music theory, and all of them are either 5s or should be easy 5s this year), advanced piano performance, significant orchestral conducting experience, and proficiency in all other string instruments.
From what I’ve gathered so far, Northwestern and CU Boulder have more robust frameworks in place for getting dual-degree students to where they want to be (even graduating before the required 5 years) while at IU it seems to be more case-by-case, especially for a dual degree within JSOM. Is this impression correct? IU is definitely my top choice for the BM viola program, though I need to consider the dual degree possibilities as well. I have an assigned professor who is very eager to help me and who I instantly clicked with during our trial lesson/audition, though I’m not sure how much he could do about certain time or scheduling requirements in the degree path.
While I can’t speak specifically to your situation, my oldest daughter graduated with a Jacobs Bachelors of Science in Voice with an Outside Field in History degree (BSOF)–similar to a dual degree. She also took in many APs and CCs that made this quite a bit easier than it would have been. I also personally know of a couple kids currently doing BM Voice/BME choral teaching dual degrees. It actually seems quite common. I’m guessing you would have to get creative with scheduling though since I would think that student teaching and practicums could conflict with some required ensembles for performance majors. Kids work it out though. And this will all be easier since you are going in with this plan rather than adding a second degree part way through the first.
I would suggest making an appointment to talk with an advisor at Jacobs about all of this. My daughter always found hers to be quite helpful.
Also, if you do end up at Jacobs, my youngest is headed there too. She’ll be an incoming freshman vocal performance major:). Best of luck to you in your decision!
My son was considering doing this at IU but on trombone. The trombone professor told him it is possible but only one other student in his studio was doing both degrees and he was actually in the process of dropping the BM because the BME program was so intense and there wasn’t time to fulfill the BM requirements. My understanding is that it would also take at least 4.5 years to complete these together because the student teaching would be pushed to the fall of your fifth year as a 9th semester. You can’t complete your student teaching at the same time as fulfilling ensemble and recital requirements in your 4th year. I know this is not the same instrument but similar situation. I highly recommend contacting the professors directly for an up front answer.
That seems to make sense, so to finish if 4 years may require fulfilling some classes in summers, because the student teaching portion probably can’t be done easily in the summertime for obvious reasons.
As said above, talk to the advisor and then to others as well.