@joshthemackid I have worked through some of the same “will he get a job?” issues - my son is a HS senior right now. I don’t know if sharing how our thinking has evolved will help, but here goes. In our case, DS was never going to major in a subject that would lead directly to high paying job opportunities (computer science, engineering, pre-med, finance, etc). He doesn’t have any interest in those fields and would be unlikely to succeed in them or be happy if he did major in them. So what was the alternative? If I were to be mean mom and say “no, you can’t major in music” what would he likely major in? The answer for our kid was likely to be history or political science. Is a bachelor’s degree in music any less marketable than a degree in history? No! In fact, as a music student he is more likely to learn and internalize many of the tangible “real life” skills needed to hold any job post college.
In addition to that Double Degree essay, this essay from the Dean of Lawrence Conservatory (one of the Colleges that Change Lives schools mentioned above) is a good one to read:
Everything I Know About Business I Learned at the Conservatory
https://www.lawrence.edu/conservatory/deans_desk/everything_i_know/node/7753
Our son currently plans to major in Music Ed (ideally at a program where performance standards are still very high), so unless he changes paths he will leave college with credentials for a specific type of “real job” that interests him. Even if he decides not to pursue a music-related career post college, though, I think he will be more prepared for life with a music degree than he would be with that history degree, and his college GPA almost certainly will be higher. I know from my own experience that the type of work I have spent most of my career doing didn’t even exist when I went off to college and got a liberal arts degree in an “unmarketable” subject, so I know first hand that one’s major does not determine one’s life or career path.
We have found in my son’s sample lessons and college visits that most music faculty (at least on instruments like classical sax where post-college performance careers are basically non-existent) are very open about the challenges of being a musician in the 21st century, and the good schools/profs take the time to help each student develop a career plan or “portfolio career” that is realistic for them. There seems to be a much greater emphasis on developing entrepreneurial skills than there used to be. My son has met many adult musicians in our area that have “portfolio careers” that have some mix of performing, teaching, regular office jobs, composing/arranging, music technology/recording arts type jobs, or arts-related office jobs, and I think it has helped open his eyes to some of the possibilities.
Often you can find sample “advising sheets” on college web sites for students who pursue different types of degrees, or at least lists of the type and amount of coursework in each area needed for the degree. They help you see what classes a student actually will be taking each semester to get that degree or major/minor. See if you can find some for your son’s target schools and in-state public schools in business, for a music minor, and for some of the music technology and guitar BM programs, as well. It may help you figure out which balance of music, music technology, and/or business sounds like the best fit for your kid. Just to give you an example of what I’m talking about, the University of Michigan offers 4 different degree programs in music technology with a different balance of music and technology/engineering - each are described here: http://music.umich.edu/departments/pat/programs.htm Many schools will even let you see course descriptions online - each of the degree descriptions programs above has a link at the bottom to course descriptions.
We have used these coursework lists to help us assess what percentage of classes are general eds at various programs, what the coursework differences are between a bachelor’s in Music Performance, a bachelor’s in Music Ed and a bachelor’s in Music Ed with a Performance Certificate, that sort of thing.
Good luck to you and your son as you start your search!