hiroshiman

Northwestern usually flies in 4 finalists each from music theory, musicology, and music ed. to campus for a 3 day interview/orientation weekend in early February. 2 spots for each program, give or take.

My school is still waiting for some people to accept or decline, so don't give up hope yet, wait-listers!

NightGallery - You do realize that you are allowed to apply to grad school more than once, right? Many require more than one round of applications, myself included.

It's best to tell these schools that you have accepted another offer as they have people on wait-lists they would very much like like to contact in this circumstance. This is far more polite than silence. Those students on the wait-list would like it very much, too.

Way to go! I think I was in the same boat as you - applied, struck out, took a couple years to really figure out what I wanted and prepared a strong application - it always seems to work out if you really want it.

Not in CA of course, but Northwestern has one of the few dedicated Music Cognition programs, so it would be worth a look. They have an MA, as well as a PhD program. http://www.music.northwestern.edu/academics/areas-of-study/music-theory-and-cognition/index.html

Congrats to the Northwestern admit. Feel free to message me if you have any questions.

Welcome to the neighborhood!

Is anybody making the trip to Pittsburgh next month? It might be nice to meet up for drinks/conversation at some point, especially for those of us currently in coursework.

Of course you should ask about the pay. Are you nuts? When I taught adjunct I received about $4200 per semester class, plus benefits. Some schools pay as little as $600 per class. You should not feel timid about being informed of your renumeration.

I'm a second timer.

I ate shit on the GRE, by the way.

Actually, I just reread that, and I was mistaken. Having applicants come take diagnostic exams as part of the application is highly unusual, and I personally do not think Kentucky is worth that expense.

Those exams are for people who are admitted. You won't be flying out to take them as part of your application.

My background is in performance - I have a bachelor's and a master's (3.99 GPA for what it's worth). I was told this could be a serious detriment to me and that I would need to highlight my scholarly activity. Without a master's in musicology specifically, it's important to show otherwise that you can write well and conduct research. I have one journal publication and 3 conference reports under my belt, so I pushed these facts really hard in my applications. I used my published article for my writing sample, and have been told I was brought in for an interview in large part based on that writing sample. That is by far the most important element of a musicology application, I believe. I've been teaching for 2 years (music appreciation) at a large University, so I'm sure this helped me, as well. Still, I only was accepted to 2 universities. However, one of them was my top choice, so I am ecstatic. The reason it was my top choice was because of fit, and I have been in contact with my POI for 2 years now, so I recommend figuring out who you want to study with and get in touch with them ASAP. Since there are many good candidates and most of these programs bring in only 2 people a year, it really comes down to fit.