Hey!
I am interested in majoring in biology and minoring in music (to be more specific, a vocal arts minor).
I know USC and UC Berkeley are two universities that are both great for its science majors and it has a variety of music minors too.
I prefer universities in California (in the Los Angeles area) or New York to be close to family but if there are other universities you know of outside of those states, please let me know.
Thanks!
UIUC has majors in both biology and vocal arts, but I do not know whether they have a minor in vocal arts. Middlebury College has a bio major and a music minor, though I do not know whether they have a vocal arts minor in particular.
I know those two off hand. Others may offer more suggestions.
University of Rochester, strong sciences and has a great music school with a minor option
I know someone studying vocal performance at University of Redlands, they have the option of a music minor, don’t know about their sciences.
Johns Hopkins and Vanderbilt for top notch Biological Sciences/music programs. Although JHU’s music school has a separate application, I believe.
Based on what you’ve indicated, the University of Rochester seems like a good suggestion.
Also, depending on what you are wanting to do with a minor in music you can be widely involved in music at a lot of schools without getting a minor in it. You may want to look at schools that have what you are looking for in the biological sciences and see what music looks like at those schools.
Brandeis and WPI - both outside of Boston
One usually does not expect this at a STEM University, but look at WPI. If you are also math inclined, the Biology, Chemistry and Biomedical Engineering majors are very strong at WPI as is the Music minor. Don’t know your taste in Music, but this performer has his PhD in Electrical engineering at WPI and minored in voice. No music majors on campus, but they have a serious full symphony orchestra. Hear Taekyung at knhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWXhBbrceu4. See the minor program at https://www.wpi.edu/academics/study/music-minor
The Virtual Orchestra was also developed at WPI by Prof Bianchi. See https://www.wpi.edu/people/faculty/bianchi
If you like classical music, check out https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&tbm=isch&q=WPI+symphony+orchestra&chips=q:wpi+symphony+orchestra,online_chips:worcester+polytechnic&usg=AI4_-kSjFpJ8y4ModcLozdff6bYMZAtH8A&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjjkYqb5fbgAhXvT98KHSf0DAAQ4lYIKSgC&biw=1600&bih=764&dpr=1
WPI is a short distance from U Mass Medical School and share a lot of research/ study programs in the City of Worcester which is a very well funded Massachusetts bio-research center with buildings on campus. The entire University is a project based research program.
You might also look into Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. Very strong in Biology and Biomedical Engineering. They are also partnered with Cleveland Institute of Music. See https://case.edu/
St. Olaf has the best choirs and vocal ensembles among liberal arts colleges by a country mile – better than those of most universities too, for that matter.
Plenty of schools offer great biology programs and at least decent music programs, so you have many more options than we can name. Michigan, CMU, Vanderbilt, and Northwestern are a few others that come to mind in particular, though.
@warblersrule - the OP prefers West Coast or East Coast near NYC. While laudable, your choices are potentially geographically out of their comfort zone.
This thread, relating to music minor at WPI may interest you @ http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/22131276#Comment_22131276
This thread on WPI BME gives you a good idea of the strong possibilities in this area of study, BUT BME is not the best pre-med major because of the high (often 4.0) GPA requirements for the big name med schools. BME is a very demanding major. See https://www.wpi.edu/academics/departments/biomedical-engineering
WPI"S graduate placement record for BME makes it clear that they gain admission to the most popular BME PhD programs when they have very high WPI GPA’s
Consider how many lives one PhD BME accomplishes in today’s medical world!
Case Western is also known for this area of study.
Although WPI accepts a higher percentage of applicants than USC, on a university wide basis, both WPI and Case Western have very strong student bodies as measured by GPA. In admissions, the difference is explained by a process called “self-selection” and is common in STEM directed universities. WPI’s average GPA in fall of 2018 was 3.89. I don’t believe they can be thought of as backups, but look at them and BME anyway. Both have hospital affiliations.
As was mentioned, Case Western.
Case is affiliated with the Cleveland Institute of Music and the Cleveland Institute of Art.
All art programs are considerably enhanced by close cooperation with and access to the facilities of cultural institutions located in University Circle, in particular The Cleveland Museum of Art, The Cleveland Institute of Art and the Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland.
The Department of Music at CWRU offers undergraduate students a wide range of opportunities for musical study and participation, many of which take advantage of our Joint Music Program with the Cleveland Institute of Music. https://music.case.edu/prospective-undergraduate-students/general-information/
Students interested in voice as a minor at WPI would take private lessons from selected tutors in the Boston area. They are for academic credit, but incur additional costs. These are usually performance minors at WPI.
For CWRU music minor see https://music.case.edu/ugrad-academic-programs/minor-in-music-program-information/
The CWRU “bopper” looked it up for you and also supplied the following information.
For students who do not wish to major or minor in music but want to participate in musical activities on campus, our many performing ensembles are open to all CWRU students, and we offer (for a fee) music lessons with faculty from the Cleveland Institute of Music.
Ensembles: https://music.case.edu/ensembles/
CIM: https://www.cim.edu/academic-programs/cwru/joint-music-program-faculty
Look here for example program of studies (look for links)
http://bulletin.case.edu/schoolofengineering/biomedicalengineering/#undergraduatetext
I see 4 Humanities/SS slots where Music could fit in. If the student has some AP credits then that may open another slot.
I would reach out to the following person for more info.
Jennifer Wright | Coordinator, Department Operations | Undergraduate Recruiting & Admission
Case Western Reserve University
Department of Music
11118 Bellflower Road | Haydn Hall Room 201
Cleveland, OH 44106-7105
Office: 216.368.2400 | Fax: 216.368.6557 | Email: music@case.edu
Department of Music | Case Western Reserve University
https://music.case.edu/prospective-undergraduate-students/undergraduate-faq/
Yet another Boston area school to check out…
Tufts offers majors in Biology, Biochemistry, Biopsychology, Cognitive and Brain Science, Biotechnology, and was the first school to integrate Biology into their Chemical Engineering program.
They have a Medical School, Dental School, Vet School and a School of Nutrition and were pioneers of the concept of “One Health”.
They offer minors in Music, Music Engineering, and Multimedia Arts and you can cross enroll at New England Conservatory (you do not need to be part of the joint degree program).
https://as.tufts.edu/music/students/undergraduate/minor
There are scholarships and financial aid available for private lessons
https://as.tufts.edu/music/students/lessonsEnsembles
The largest course at Tufts (over 220 students) is the Third Day Gospel Choir (20 students from the course were selected to perform at the Obama White House).
https://as.tufts.edu/news/2016/06/holiday-performance-remember
There are several acapella groups including the “Bubs” who were part of the hit TV Show “Glee” and also performed at the Whitehouse.
You can even explore the “biology of music” with Professor Patel and Snowball the dancing cockatoo. (Make sure to click on the video in the second link)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRW1XuzWju4
https://now.tufts.edu/articles/we-got-beat
Everything Tufts does is first class!. Even with their high “rating” they are probably underrated.