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Blog, Choosing A Major, College Admissions, Majors

So You Want To Be A Music Major?

This fall, I’m doing something different with my blog to spice it up a bit. I’ve invited several admission counselors from around the country to contribute posts about topics they feel high school students and their families should be paying more attention to as they go through the college search and application process. As much as I like to share tips and advice, why not get it straight from the horse’s mouth?

Today’s post is the third in this series and it’s by Reuben Councill, Associate Director of Admissions from Susquehanna University in Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania:

While the college search process is always an involved one, music majors definitely have a few different aspects to consider. While there are certainly schools where you can major in music without taking an audition for entrance into the degree program, I think the vast majority of potential music majors will choose to attend a program that has an audition requirement. Proper preparation is key to a successful process and I am happy to give you some points to consider.

First and foremost, you need some professional assistance. If you are not already doing so, you need to have lessons from a private instructor who is a specialist on your particular instrument or voice type. This person will be in the best position to help you prepare an audition that will showcase your strengths and allow you to have the best options for acceptance into a variety of schools. If you need help locating a suitable instructor, good references include your high school band or choir director, professional musicians from a local orchestra or choir, and music professors from any colleges or universities in your area.

Second, you need to decide on a list of potential music programs. Most students will audition for a variety of schools – some more competitive than others for program acceptance. As a prospective student, it is important for you to be in contact with each department or school of music for which you plan to audition. While requirements will be similar, you need to be sure that you are preparing exactly what each program expects to hear from you at the time of audition.

Third, it is important to evaluate the type of degree offered by each institution you are considering. Without going into too much detail, as a performance major, you can expect to see Bachelor of Music in Music Performance or Bachelor of Arts with a performance emphasis. A significant difference with a Bachelor of Music degree is that the student will receive a much more in-depth curriculum particularly regarding theory and history requirements within the music major. However, the Bachelor of Arts can be the perfect degree for someone wishing to complete a dual major with a truly rich musical experience.

Music Education has a wider range of options. The three programs most widely available are Bachelor of Music in Music Education, Bachelor of Science in Music Education, and Bachelor of Arts with Music Teacher Certification. While each can be the means to a successful career as a music educator, the three programs go about it in different ways. In the Bachelor of Music in Music Education, the music department retains the majority of curriculum oversight. Most of your practical education courses will be taught by music professors with music specific environments and experiences. The Bachelor of Science in Music Education still provides a core music curriculum, but the majority of education requirements are handled through the education department. In these circumstances, music teachers are spending a good deal of time with students from other disciplines in a more general methods environment. The Bachelor of Arts with Music Teacher Certification provides a general music curriculum and then tacks on enough education related coursework to meet the requirements for state teacher licensure.

Hopefully that is not an overwhelming overview! I am happy to serve as a resource if you have additional questions. At Susquehanna University we are pleased to offer a very rich musical experience at the undergraduate level. We offer Bachelor of Music in Music Performance, Music Education, and Bachelor of Arts degrees in a very well-rounded department that includes opportunities for singers and instrumentalists including a full orchestra and opera program. Being undergraduate only, students will have a wealth of opportunities throughout their four years without having to compete with graduate students for the best ensemble placements. Please be in touch if you would like more information.

Reuben Councill currently serves as Associate Director of Admissions at Susquehanna University. Prior engagements have included Executive Director for the Williamsport Symphony and Coordinator of Music Admissions also at Susquehanna. As a musician, he performs regularly as Principal Flute with the Williamsport Symphony Orchestra.

If you want some help and guidance on your college search and application process, contact me today to set up an appointment for a free 60-minute consultation. Here’s what other families like yours are saying about how Dobler College Consulting made a difference for them.

Eric Oct 23, 2014 College Admissions, College Advising, College Applications, Dobler College Consulting, Eric Dobler, Majors, Music Majors, Susquehanna University No Comments

Applications, Blog, Branding, College Admissions, Essays

Finding The Right Fit

Today’s post is the second in this series and it’s by Grant De Roo, Associate Director of Admissions from Elon University in Elon, North Carolina:

As much as it pains me to make this comparison, the college search and application process can, at times, feel like speed-dating. You spend a relatively small amount of time with each prospect (college/university) in the hopes of getting to know a school’s “personality” and ultimately find a match (the “right fit”). It’s an embarrassing parallel, I know, but it highlights an important concept in the college search process: each college or university does indeed have its own personality, its own quirks and traits, the collection of which gives you a better idea of whether or not this particular institution is a good fit for you.

As such, it’s important to construct an application for a particular college or university that reflects that personality and suggests that you would be a good fit for the school. Fortunately, the application for any college or university provides ample opportunity for an applicant to do so. Certain extracurricular commitments are going to be better suited to certain schools’ personalities than others. Schools with a specific emphasis on community service (e.g. Jesuit schools) might look more closely at service completed throughout high school while other schools that place particular value on leadership roles such as my own institution, Elon University, might pay more attention to the leadership roles that you have taken on within your organizations. All this is to say that in much the same way that a resume and cover letter can (and should) be tailored to meet the needs of a particular job, so too should an application be designed to reflect the values or distinguishing characteristics of a college. And there is perhaps no better platform for you to tailor your application for a college’s personality than the essay you write for the application.

Even in the age of centralized application systems such as the Common App and the Universal College App, a school’s essays (or supplemental essays) provide applicants with the opportunity to show through their own words why they would be a good fit at a given college or university. It’s important because every college wants to enroll students who will fit well within the culture of the institution. And establishing “good fit” does not mean conforming to the personality of the institution – rather, it means that you genuinely feel like you belong there. When that happens, you’re more likely to be successful; something each college wants to ensure.

So as you set out to submit your applications – whether it’s 1 or 12 – I encourage you to design your application and your essay to reflect the individuality and the personality of the school(s) to which you’re applying. It will help you create a more competitive application and will give you a better chance of finding that golden ideal in the college search process: the right fit.

Grant De Roo is an Associate Director of Admissions at Elon University. A native of Exeter, New Hampshire, he now works for his alma mater and works with students applying to Elon from Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island.

Eric Oct 13, 2014 Branding, College Admissions, College Advising, College Applications, College Counselor, College Lists, Dobler College Consulting, Elon University, Eric Dobler, Essays No Comments

Blog, College Admissions, College Lists, Making The Most Of College

How A Diverse Campus Makes A Difference

Today’s post is the first in this series and it’s by Seth Babson Warner, an admissions counselor from Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana:

Growing up in a homogeneous, Connecticut suburb, I didn’t understand why colleges touted their diversity. What makes that important? I hadn’t experienced much, and didn’t know what I was missing.

But at some level, I knew it was a good thing. During my third week of college, my soon-to-be best friend and I were discussing admissions. I said that “getting in” should be about scores and grades alone. He pointed out that this would mean a much less diverse student body. “So what?” I asked.

“Would you prefer a class entirely of white, upper-middle class kids with a 700 on their SAT Math, or a diverse class that averaged 690?”

He had me there. At least at some level, to some degree, I already knew that diversity added meaning to the college experience. I just didn’t know how.

Diversity works in two ways to make an experience meaningful. First, there needs to be a discussion. It’s hard enough to get people of different races, classes, and sexualities in the same room. But deliberately engaging those differences can be even tougher. Conflicting perspectives often ask one side or the other to make a sacrifice, which means students must challenge themselves to negotiate.

This brings us to the second step: resolution. You can’t gain from other perspectives if you just disagree and walk away. Even if you don’t see eye-to-eye, it’s necessary to acknowledge others’ perspectives, and incorporate them into your understanding of the world. That’s where diversity changes lives. You become wiser because you better understand others—an invaluable skill whether you’re a CEO, a baseball coach, or in the case of one Earlham student, a magazine publisher.

So, what should prospective students look for? As we mentioned, it’s not enough to have different types of people. You need to have the discussion, too.

I always advise students to find a school that is diverse and cohesive. It’s easy to be one of those two: cohesive because everyone’s alike, or diverse yet divided. Doing both is much harder, but a school that manages it is one where a big, meaningful learning experience is possible.

That was a large reason I chose to work at Earlham College and why many of our students come here. No school is perfect, of course, but Earlham does a good job with diversity and cohesiveness.

On one hand, U.S. News and World Report ranks us 5^th for the largest percentage of international students in the country, and one-fifth of our students are non-white Americans. And in recent months, at least one publication ranked Earlham 13^th nationally for the percentage of students who study abroad, fulfilling a mission of the College for our students to learn about the world experientially.

On the other, our Quaker roots encourage us to see the “teacher within” one another and to address and build consensus on “touchy” issues as much as possible.

In your college search, all the basic rules apply. Visit campus, take advantage of an overnight, and talk to current students when you can. But think about diversity. Depending on where you’re from, it might not be something you consider, but diversity can change and bring remarkable meaning to your college experience.

Seth Babson Warner is an admissions counselor at Earlham College, a member of Colleges That Change Lives. He is a Connecticut native who loves numbers and Mets baseball. You can follow him on Twitter @SW_ECAdmissions.

Eric Sep 15, 2014 College Admissions, College Advising, College Applications, College Lists, diversity, Dobler College Consulting, Earlham College, Eric Dobler, Making The Most Of College No Comments

Applications, Blog, College Admissions, Demonstrated Interest

Understanding Single Choice Early Action

Back in June I wrote a post about the difference between Early Decision and Early Action to help families and students better understand their options in the early admission game. Recently, Michael Nardi, a government relations, economic development & public policy consultant, commented that Early Action comes in a few forms which have ramifications for students considering early applications to other schools.

And he’s absolutely right.

Some schools practice what is called Single Choice Early Action (SCEA) otherwise known as Restrictive Early Action (REA).

Let’s take a look at two of the more popular schools in the Boston area, Harvard and Boston College, to understand what all of this means.

1. If a school offers SCEA or REA, neither is a binding decision meaning that if a student is admitted, he or she can still wait to hear on their other applications before making a decision prior to May 1^st.

2. Students need to pay close attention to the fine print in regards to Early Decision (ED) applications. Harvard’s SCEA policy says that while students cannot apply anywhere ED, they can apply in the second round of ED applications known as ED II if, and only if, the application due date is January 1^st or later. Boston College, on the other hand will not allow a student to apply ED or ED II period.

3. Early Action applications to other schools are also affected. At Harvard, students cannot apply to any other private colleges EA but may apply to public colleges while Boston College applicants can still apply EA to both.

4. Students cannot apply using SCEA at more than one school. Both Harvard and Boston College adhere to this rule.

5. Students are allowed to apply to any other college, private or public, through Rolling Admission or Regular Decision at both Harvard and Boston College.

So why do these colleges use these restrictive policies?

Colleges admit students with the hope that the student will ultimately accept the offer and enroll there. Of all the ways to demonstrate interest, applying SCEA is one the most definitive ways to show a school they are your top choice. If you are admitted through SCEA you can still consider other offers, but you’ve given up a lot of other early admission opportunities to do so and you have sent a pretty clear message that you are likely to enroll if admitted. And students who are likely to enroll at a college are extremely valuable to admission counselors.

At the end of the day, if you have your heart set on attending Harvard, Boston College, or one of the other schools who offer a form of SCEA like Princeton, Georgetown, Yale, Notre Dame or Stanford, then applying early is most likely a good choice. Of course, you need to make sure that you are a strong candidate to begin with and that your application is flawless and ready to go by November 1^st.

Eric Aug 29, 2014 College Admissions, College Advising, College Applications, demonstrated interest, Dobler College Consulting, Early Action, Early Decision, Eric Dobler No Comments

Blog, Essays

How To Make Your College Essay Matter

Now that summer is here, I have all of my students working on their essays. We start now so that they don’t have to try to work through what is one of the more difficult writing assignments during the beginning of their senior year. In fact, if done right, they should all be done with their essays by mid-August.

Of course, it’s rarely easy to do it right and it does require some time and thought.

If you’re struggling with how to get your essay started, here’s a few things to consider:

1. Your essay is a personal statement, not an academic paper.

Don’t try to impress the reader with an over-the-top vocabulary. Savvy admission counselors who read hundreds of essays each year know what teenagers’ voices sound like. Yes, it’s okay to spruce up your language a bit, but don’t go into a PhD dissertation-worthy dialogue. It will come across as phony and that’s the last thing you want.

2. A strong essay will show how you connected to something and what you learned from it.

And sometimes these moments can be rather ordinary. One of the best essays I read last year was about scooping ice-cream and dealing with a temperamental soft-serve ice-cream machine and how it taught this student about working hard, discovering new ways to do things differently and the value of teamwork. The student was accepted early-decision to Brown and her essay was deemed to be rather heavenly.

3. Seek help.

If you’re stuck and just can’t come up with any ideas that get you excited, ask your friends or parents how they would describe you to someone. What adjectives would they use? What would they say about you? How would they characterize you and your best attributes or traits? Sometimes other people see things in us that we don’t see ourselves and it is these ideas that can open up your perspective on what to write about.

4. Don’t be afraid of talking about a failure.

Sometimes, we learn the greatest life lessons after having failed at something. Remember, it’s about how you learned from the failure, not the failure itself (see #2 again if this point does not sink in) that matters.

Ultimately, you want your essay to compliment the rest of your application and show that you are more than just a combination of grades and test scores. You want an admission counselor to learn something about you that they haven’t learned elsewhere when reviewing your transcript, test scores and activities. You want them to put down your essay and say, “I really like this kid. There’s a lot here and he or she would be an awesome addition to our college.”

So put in the time and effort to make sure that happens.

If you would like some assistance with your college search or financial aid process, contact me today for a free 60-minute consultation.

Here’s what other families like yours are saying about how Dobler College Consulting made a difference for them.

Eric Jun 23, 2014 College Admissions, College Advising, College Applications, College Counselor, Eric Dobler, Essays, Personal Statements No Comments