<p>EDIT: sorry for the mispelling of the title, I’m dreadfull without a spell checker. </p>
<p>I really love singing but I’m also looking for a college (not a conservatory) that will allow me to explore singing intensly but still allow me to take a good amount of academics. Unfortunately my GPA and ACT scores aren’t particularily high, 28, and 3.9(weighted, don’t know it unweighted but I’ve received about 30% B’s 40% B+ 30% A’s and A-), respectively, so keep in mind I’m not looking for any Standfords here. =] </p>
<p>As for my singing/preforming credentials
(keep in mind I go to a huge school over 4,000 people with a heavy emphasis on preforming arts, but low on /classical/ preforming arts.) </p>
<p>Voice Part: Mezzo
Freshman Year (I was still discovering my voice perse.)
I devision solo and ensemble
Solo in choir
Chamber Singers
Water Engiene (david mamet play, freshman-sophmore production, lead)</p>
<p>Sophmore Year
Honors Recitle- Pamina’s suicide song (2nd geni)
Les Miserables (girl #5, keep in mind I am /not/ a musical theater singer or high soprano and we have a fantastic coloratura at our school.)
Stage Door (play) (kendell)
I devision solo and ensemble
Chamber Singers </p>
<p>Junior
got into Tanglewood Buti voice summer program!
invited to sing 1st place compositional contest vocal peice winner at Illinois Music Educators association.
Acapella Jazz Group
In Trutina in school production of Carmina Burana </p>
<p>I just switched voice teachers junior year and there was a HUGE difference, I really wished I had switched earlier but c’est la vie. I think I’m pretty good at essays and such, and I have been told I have a very unique, dramatic voice. And that’s after I stopped covering and squelching my voice (thank you new voice teacher).</p>
<p>Are there any good schools that also have conservatories that offer oppertunities for conservatory students to take more than just the occasional humanties clas.</p>
<p>If you want a mostly opera-based program, check out Oberlin. They let you go one of three ways:</p>
<p>1) College only - with the usual assortment of majors at a very good LAC plus a few that you might not expect of a school that size, like Neuroscience and Environmental Studies. They have a BA Music program that does not have an entrance audition, but you do have to audition into a teacher’s studio within the first two years if you want the BA with performance emphasis. Admission is by the usual combination of academics, demonstrated interest and the essay. Your academics right now are probably slightly below their averages, but they have taken students with lower test scores and GPA’s. You may be able to get your test scores up a bit if you either retake the ACT or try the SAT.</p>
<p>2) Conservatory only. Admission is very competitive and is mostly based on the audition. Con students get to take one course per semester in the College on average and many manage to squeeze in more than that. For the most part, they can be any course offered in the college provided you have the prerequisites and there is space in the class. There is one required writing class, but you can get out of that if you do well enough on your standardized tests.</p>
<p>3) Double degree program at the Conservatory and College - a five year program that gets you a BM in music and a BA in another field. About a quarter of the students in the conservatory are in this program. Most students apply to both sides separately, but some start out only in the conservatory or only in the college and manage to transfer into the double degree program.</p>
<p>Possible downsides are that it is in a small town in Ohio with not the greatest weather for much of the year, and that the entire school is a good bit smaller than the one you now attend. There are very few graduate students, so undergrads get full attention from all the teachers and shots at big parts in the operas and shows they put on.</p>
<p>Try Indiana Jacobs School of Music, D was accepted to the bachelor of art and science program. ( I think that is what it is called) a little more work than the BM but gives you the opportunity to take more outside courses.</p>
<p>Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin. Its conservatory is well-regarded, and Lawrence is one of the “colleges that change lives.”</p>
<p>You might want to check out Appalachian State University in Boone, NC. Its Music school, too, is reputed to do a good job training and nurturing singers … and the school as a whole isn’t an academic powerhouse, but my impression is that the faculty is dedicated to the learning process. It kind of slips under the radar, but anybody I’ve spoken to who has direct knowledge of the place praises it highly.</p>
<p>These schools may be academic reaches for you, but these are the ones my son looked at when he was looking for academics with singing:</p>
<p>USC
Johns Hopkins (with Peabody Conservatory)
UMich
Rice
Tufts (with New England Conservatory)
University of Colorado (Boulder)
Northwestern</p>
<p>He wanted to be in or near a big city, so that eliminated some fine schools such as Oberlin and Lawrence. He also wanted to pursue a dual degree/double major which eliminated NYU and Carnegie-Mellon. (Although Carnegie-Mellon required a lot of academic courses in addition to voice/music courses, just not enough for a dual degree.)</p>
<p>I would strongly recommend that you retake the ACT (or take the SAT) and see if you can improve you score if you are looking for a rigorous academic school. Your grades are good enough for most colleges and you obviously don’t have much time to improve them dramatically, so I would work on the test scores.</p>
<p>Most music schools are going to require a pre-screening audition CD, so work with your teacher on the necessary songs for your repertoire.</p>
<p>BTW, if you were at BUTI last summer in the voice program, you sang with my son. He found it to be an awesome experience.</p>
<p>Also, do not forget to take 2 SAT IIs asap. We did not realize that some schools require them until it was too late for my D to take them. Better to take them and not need them than…</p>
<p>Auctually luckily enough I haven’t taken the ACT yet, do it next week, but those are my projected scores. I’m working on math and science which were my downfalls. 25 and 26 respectively with my reading at 33 and English at 28. Thanks for the suggestions, I appreciate the thought. Oh also, I haven’t /yet/ gone to Tanglewood, I’m going there next summer. I got accepted this year, so I guess I should put that in a different category. Thanks for the suggestions.</p>