The gap year is often not of interest to teens in high school who feel pressure from their peers to go off and be on some time schedule for college. But if you do your research you can find amazing gap year experiences. And those gap year experiences might help your son sort out whether he is interested in science or a performance music degree and if so what learning environment is right for him. Most kids by their junior year are starting to think about what they want in terms of big versus small, urban versus rural, seminar versus lecture classes. And if a kid’s answer is “I don’t care” or “I don’t know” then chances are they are not quite ready. Being away from home in summer as an underage teen is very different than being in college. In college nobody is going to tell you to wake up or go eat or go to class. In college it is easy to hide out in your dorm room and just go through the motions of doing school work becoming increasingly lonely and isolated. More importantly (and why I often recommend parents think hard about sending their kids far away) something as simple as the flu can be very difficult to handle when you are an airplane ride away from mom and dad. I am saying that from first hand experience and it was with my kid who was the most mature and independent of my three.
NEC has a joint program with Tufts and with Harvard. But also students who are just enrolled at NEC can take classes at Tufts, Harvard, MIT and/or Northeastern if they are proactive. One nice thing about NEC is it is quite small so everyone knows each other and people tend to form very tight bonds with their classmates. I recently met a 60+ year old NEC alum who still plays with his NEC classmates. My own son still creates with his NEC classmates as well.
Students at Berklee can take classes at neighboring Universities as well through a program called Pro-Arts. They can take classes at Emerson, NorthEastern, SMFA and more. You can Google it to find out. Berklee also has a joint program with Harvard now.
The New School is work looking at. Their jazz program is one of the best these days and they also have a joint 5 year BA/BM program. A good friend of our son’s went to this program and is now applying to PhD programs in Music Ethnology.
Believe it or not UMass Amherst has outstanding science and mathematics but it also has a solid and well respected Jazz program. UMass is a HUGE school and can be overwhelming. But the honors college (which provides a small school atmosphere within a larger school) is excellent.
Definitely look into the CUNY schools. Their Jazz is considered one of the best. The price is right if you live in NYC and even better they have great science as well.
And also look into the SUNY system. I can’t remember which SUNY has an incredible Jazz program but it is one of them.
Columbia has good music and is right near MSM. The problem with Columbia is the environment can be very competitive and overwhelming. Think about whether your child will do better as a big fish in a small pond or a small fish in a big pond.
UMichigan has a small program within the larger school that is very well regarded and might be good for your son.
Vassar has a great music program but I do not hear a lot about their Jazz program.
University of Miami (provided it is not underwater in 2 years) has an amazing Jazz program.
Ithaca college has a great reputation for music and liberal arts. I do not know about Jazz specifically.
Consider having your son attend NEC Jazz Lab (only 10 days) this summer or Berklee’s 5 week or Litchfield’s Jazz Camp. All three programs have conservatory faculty who are great resources for the college application process. Also they all have college fairs, which can help. If you live in NYC consider tracking down Don Braden (the founder of Litchfield’s Jazz Camp). A private lesson from Don will likely lead to some wise advice and guidance about moving forward. The other nice thing about those programs is they expose the student to what majoring in performance will involve.