(Heads up: this is only about schooling at this point, not careers—I just want a classical music education experience, not necessarily to play professionally)
TLDR: trying to decide between a very good chance at top US liberal arts music majors, or letting my academics slip in HS senior year and having a slim(?) chance at Australian music unis.
I'm a US high school junior, and I've realized very, very, very late that I'd like to study classical music—I love classical music history, practicing, intensity, and am hoping for the community. I'm hoping to at some point have formal education in classical music (not necessarily in performance), but the instrument I can audition competitively on (classical guitar) isn't one I want to study intensively for years—instead, it's the violin, which I stopped playing 5 years ago, and am restarting with a teacher next week. I'm also hoping to leave the US for college, if possible.
I feel like I have 2 options:
- Apply as a normal student for a US liberal arts music major (non-audition), and after graduating, try to get into a more intensive program (maybe in Australia).
- It sounds very arrogant, but just totally honestly, I have a quite good chance at ivy league level lib arts schools. But, it seems that most non-audition programs offer BAs, so I'd be at a disadvantage applying for grad school if I wanted to do that in four years (not sure), and I'd probably have to focus more on fulfilling non-music requirements. Currently, appealing options are Yale (slightly likely) and Brown (a bit more likely) (am still searching!).
- Really intensely commit to trying to get up to par in HS senior year, maybe even take a year off to prepare after graduation, then audition for Australian music majors (prioritizing music over academics/lowering my chances of getting into top US schools).
- I'm interested so far, though I haven't done enough research yet, in music majors at places like USYD, UNSW, Unimelb, Monash, etc (maybe education, a performance major is probably too ambitious). I should meet all of the quantitive requirements, but I'd have to sacrifice having top HS academics in order to focus enough on violin to have a tentative shot at getting in. But I'd love to study in an Australian city, and be able to focus on music/practicing (I honestly don't enjoy academics, but I'm very good at them).
I'm sorry for the length, but all and any help/advice is appreciated!! Thank you!!
Submitted March 08, 2021 at 04:01AM by lee-tchaik4 https://www.reddit.com/r/Learnmusic/comments/m0a4ay/go_liberal_arts_college_or_audition_for_a_music/?utm_source=ifttt