What is the scoop on grades for conservatories?

connections
Sat, 28 Nov 2015 14:55:23 +0000

There aren’t any stats or lines in the sand that I know of. That said, CMU and Juilliard are the only two US conservatories I can think of that don’t care at all, meaning the grades are not a factor at all, though you usually do need to have graduated high school.

Most other conservatories may or may not care, but also must admit according to the standards of the university or college they’re embedded in. Some have more power to override poor academics, and some have less power within their university. I know when we visited Mason Gross a couple of years back, one of the current students then boasted that her grades had been terrible, but they “really wanted her” so she’d gotten in. I have no idea if that’s true, but surely if the conservatory has to fight with administrators in the larger university to make an exception for a student they want, they will choose their battles carefully.

So to answer your question, I wouldn’t cross off a talent-based conservatory purely because of grades.

But on the other hand, I feel I should say that grades are a factor in getting admitted in nearly all conservatories, so it is always important to do as well as possible academically in high school, & strong test scores can help too. If you improve your senior year, that can’t look bad. Also as Bromquest says, you do need to be able to have a strong work ethic regardless.