Applying for Fall 2013

[sweetcheese]

I can't believe I never came across this post!

I am applying for PhD in Music Theory directly from a perfomance BM in Australia.

I graduated in December so I only applied for a small number of schools. So far I have been rejected from Eastman (first round) and accepted into Indiana (w/ interview) and Michigan (w/o interview). I haven't recieived anything from Yale or Harvard yet. New School's interview is scheduled 8/3 but I am considering cancelling it as it is only a terminal Masters.

 

I am interested in how people in the US view these schools (esp. Indiana vs Michigan) and how would theorists list the top 10 grad schools for theory. But perhaps i'm most nervous about Yale and Harvard - has anyone heard back from the theory dept from these two?

 

good luck and stay sane!

Cc

 

Hey clarinetcola, I'm currently an undergraduate in the Michigan musicology department. Feel free to PM me if you have any questions about the program here. I will say that I've been incredibly happy with my education, including the theory courses I've taken. The University is terrific, the school of music remarkably good, and the community incredibly welcoming. Ann Arbor also has a large number of world class performances, at least one per week. The best part is that student tickets are cheap; for example, Thursday we had The King's Singers in town, and today there was a production of Handel's Radamisto with The English Concert. I'm not sure you could get that anywhere else, unless you're living in a big city.

 

Hope this helps! Again, feel free to PM me. That goes for anyone else considering Michigan, as well; this is an amazing place, and I'd be happy to answer any questions you have!

[CP3]

Well, just found out a former student I once went to school with got accepted to Stony Brook in NY. I haven't heard a peep from Stony Brook since I applied in early December. I'm assuming this will be rejection #4. I emailed the program today to ask when the decisions would be sent, they didn't reply. I tried to contact them several weeks ago to make sure my application was 100% complete. Never emailed me back then either. Oh well, another 100 bucks down the drain!!!

 

Time to go sell stuff again to make money I guess.....I'm sick of waiting, I've felt so dejected this last month, I don't think I can handle worrying about it anymore. I just want to be "somewhat" happy for once. I know how to make money, its not a profession I like, but it will be better than constantly hearing nothing except rejections.

 

GOOD LUCK TO ALL OF YOU ON YOUR APPLICATIONS!! AND CONGRATS TO TO THOSE WHO HAVE BEEN ACCEPTED!!!!  

[beethomeister]

Chin up, CP3! Things have a tendency to work out in the end. And especially with composition, it's so subjective, that one should never let these arbitrary results be one's judgment of self-worth.

 

To other composers...it seems that Harvard and Stanford admits have been contacted, and if you haven't heard, it's probably grim. Santa Barbara seems to have begun notifications, and San Diego, from past years' results, looks like they send out rejections first, so if you haven't heard, you might still be in the running.

[teenxenakisfan]

congrats to all on their acceptances, and my sympathies to the rest of us waiting in the arid, interminable wings. Does anybody know when one might hear from NYU Steinhardt for composition? Twiddling my thumbs. 

[clarinetcola]

re: clarinetcola, props on the acceptances and interviews. I'm not super dialed in to the reputations of schools (so I'm pretty interested in what answers other people you have for your questions), but in general, I'm pretty sure Indiana is considered to be pretty superior to Michigan as far as theory schools go right now. I don't know what the deal is with Michigan since they're great at pretty much everything else, but I was told by some of my undergrad professors (as well as some students there in other departments) to not even bother applying to Michigan for theory. Not sure what the deal is, and it's very possible I've gotten bad info. 

 

I've heard it's a little hard to get individual attention at Indiana (at least, for master's students) and that they took a little bit of a hit after Robert Hatten left, but pretty sure it's still considered one of the elite schools. Probably top-5, definitely top-10. Again, I don't feel that I'm super well-informed so I'd like to hear what other people think, but that's what I've heard.

 

I didn't hear back from Yale until mid-March last year, but that was for a rejection, so who knows that that means for your case. Best of luck!

 

Interesting! I don't know the significance of this but Indiana is having Andrew Mead from Michigan this year.... I'm currently staying in NYC, but if Michigan does seem like a big deal I will have to check it out in person.

 

Again best of luck to everybody still in limbo. Perhaps this will entertain you for a bit:

I got rejected by Santa Barbara last week, and I instantly knew why after reading their standard reject letter. I've been spelling 'Barbara' 'Babara' in all my paperwork. Blame the Aussie accent!

[purpledinosaur]

You never know. I thought I had struck out last year in applying for music theory master's programs (I made a looot of mistakes in the application process, lessons learned for next year's PhD application season) only to get an offer from Texas in early March. 

 

Good luck everyone, I don't miss the waiting-game stress one bit. Although I'll be in that boat again next year, le sigh. Speaking of that, a few music theory program questions (I figure I'll just ask on this thread because it seems to get much more traffic than other ones):

 

- What's the culture like at U of Chicago? I went to a grad conference last year with them, Northwestern, and Wiscy and didn't get the most friendly vibe from the Chicago people. I loved the Northwestern folks, but unfortunately, I don't think it would be a good fit. Cognition is cool, but I don't plan on it being my bread-and-butter.

 

- I heard recently that Indiana makes it excessively time-consuming to get a PhD. I don't know whether the person I heard it from was talking about master's + PhD or just PhD, but they were told by professors that it's rare for anyone to get out of there with a degree in less than eight years. Anyone have any knowledge of this?

 

- Where else are some of you theorists applying? What drew you to those schools? Obviously, some of em (like Yale and Chicago) just have an excessive number of badasses on their faculty, but I always find it interesting to hear why people applied where they did.

 

Hi kccur! I go to UChicago and I'm in music theory, so I thought I might be able to help with your question. My experiences with the professors and students here have been great so far! My cohort is very close and full of friendly, lovely people. When I came to visit prior to accepting, I felt very welcomed by all of the upper year doctoral students. I've also had great experiences with professors! I see from your interests that you're into transformational theory. Steve Rings is an amazing prof and person, and I've had a great time working with him!

 

I hope that helps! Let me know if you have any more questions that I might be able to answer.  

[kccur]

Hi kccur! I go to UChicago and I'm in music theory, so I thought I might be able to help with your question. My experiences with the professors and students here have been great so far! My cohort is very close and full of friendly, lovely people. When I came to visit prior to accepting, I felt very welcomed by all of the upper year doctoral students. I've also had great experiences with professors! I see from your interests that you're into transformational theory. Steve Rings is an amazing prof and person, and I've had a great time working with him!

 

I hope that helps! Let me know if you have any more questions that I might be able to answer.

 

Great to hear from a Chicago person, especially  with regards to the culture, I definitely hope to be able to be choosy enough to pick somewhere with a good crowd for PhD. With both Rings and Zbikowski there, there are multiple professors there doing stuff that I think is cool so it already seemed like it might be a good fit academically. What type of stuff do you focus on? Also, what's the theory/musicology thing that they do at Chicago like? How much teaching opportunity is there for the grad students? Also, do you guys have any opportunity for sort of interdisciplinary work with the cog sci theory folks over at Northwestern? I (admittedly) haven't read too much Zbikowski yet, been in other veins of the narrative and semiotics field, but I hear that he's into a more cog sci approach to that stuff. Which sounds really cool. I've also heard that U of Chicago is a pretty intense place, what's your sense of that? I mean, I'd expect that from an elite school like UChi and it's probably a reputation more earned for the undergrad culture than the grad culture, but just curious whether you feel like it's vastly different in that way from your undergrad/masters.

Edited February 20, 2013 by kccur

[purpledinosaur]

Great to hear from a Chicago person. Especially about the culture, I definitely hope to be able to be choosy enough to pick somewhere with a good crowd for PhD. With both Rings and Zbikowski there, there are multiple professors there doing stuff that I think is cool so it already seemed like it might be a good fit academically. What type of stuff do you focus on? Also, what's the theory/musicology thing that they do at Chicago like? How much teaching opportunity is there for the grad students? Also, do you guys have any opportunity for sort of interdisciplinary work with the cog sci theory folks over at Northwestern? I (admittedly) haven't read too much Zbikowski yet, been in other veins of the narrative and semiotics field, but I hear that he's into a more cog sci approach to that stuff. Which sounds really cool.

 

My areas of interest are: late 20th century music, music and gesture, music and disability (mostly deafness), and feminist music theory. I'm pretty eccentric, which is a trait I feel is appreciated here at UChicago! 

 

In terms of the theory/history degree: basically it works out that there are a few of us who are pretty solidly on either side of the theory/history divide, and then others who are somewhere in between. Having the program be explicitly theory AND history is useful in some ways and not so great in others. It's great in that there is an interdisciplinary element built into the program; I feel very welcome to expand my music theory research into other areas and to conduct both historical and ethnomusicological research (which is really important for a lot of my work). One negative is that people with very different interests are thrown together in the same program, so sometimes it can feel like you're clueless about something that a bunch of other people know. That said, I have come to really really appreciate the comments in classes from historical musicologists, because they're giving me access to a perspective I'm much less familiar with, and it has really improved my research, I think.

 

Grad students only begin teaching in their third year and I'm in my first, so unfortunately I can't really speak to that, but I know that everyone gets to be a teaching assistant and many upper years go on to teach their own classes.

 

Yes, Zbikowski is definitely on the cog sci side of things. I'm not too sure about doing work with the folks at Northwestern, but I do know that here at UChicago we are just now opening up a new center for studying gesture and Zbikowski and other cog sci people are involved in that. There was also a workshop on music and perception last year I think... I don't think it's running this year but hopefully it will be back soon!

 

I hope this helps!

 

ETA: Yes, UChicago is intense!!! I think it's an effect of the quarter system: 10 weeks is so little time! Some courses have much heavier workloads than others and that can make a quarter become really hectic. But there is a lot of support here from both professors and the other students, and there will always be quarters that are more relaxed and others that are super intense. I would say that it's not that much worse than what I experienced in my Master's. Plus everyone here is really supportive and we have awesome grad events pretty much every week that keep us sane and full of delicious snacks and wine!

Edited February 20, 2013 by purpledinosaur

[Counterpointer]

April 15 is only 6 weeks left! But not a single acceptance letter for me yet.. CP3, I'm right there with you..  I'm going down to Temple U on March 4th for an interview.. I have a good feeling about this, the chair of music department (also happens to be professor of my discipline) will take me on a private tour of the campus and a lunch. If there's anyone like myself; coming straight from undergrad and perhaps not so ready for PhD programs yet, you can still apply to masters programs at Temple (comp, theory, history), deadline is March 1st-- if you get a full TAship, the financial package is actually pretty good  (around 16k/year+tuition waiver).. 

 

I actually got into Harvard Graduate School of Education as well but yikes!!! the $$$ there! I won't be able to attend due to the tuition rates at HGSE (I don't really count this as an acceptance letter, it's not exactly in music and I just can't afford to attend without any scholarships).. But I think I will go to HGSE some day... after I save up a bit. Turns out that if you get into HGSE for "Art in Education" program, you can take courses from Harvard Music Department.. Now I regret applying to PhD programs straight from undergrad. I'll try again after a M.M. and a M.Ed (hopefully with a LoR from Harvard music department)

Edited February 20, 2013 by Counterpointer

[Broom Guys]

Hello all! I'm applying for PhD programs in Theory this year, and I've been checking this site neurotically, so I finally thought I'd jump in an join the conversation here.

 

Has anybody heard a peep from Yale yet?  Do they even do interviews?  From what I understand, nobody in either theory or musicology on here has heard anything from them yet, but it's starting to feel unsettlingly weird that they're so silent.

[musicmage09]

Nothing on my end from Yale. I can't imagine it will be long before they start calling their top applicants....if they haven't already...

[sweetcheese]

Don't they typically send out notifications later than other schools? At least that's what the trend has looked like in the past few years.

[Karajan]

Last year, Yale contacted us very late... 

[carnevale2011]

Hello everyone!

I've gotten to this site incredibly late, but I'm so glad that this kind of community exists. I applied to 6 schools for musicology (some M.A., some Ph.D.)

Here's the lowdown so far:

Cornell: sent me a definite "no" last week

Yale: I contacted them for a visit (does anyone know if they interview?) and they said I wasn't on the "long list" so it was unlikely that I'd get an acceptance.
Eastman: I interviewed there on the 26th, but haven't heard anything else.

Indiana: I interviewed there in January (the 10th), but haven't heard anything else.
BU: nothing 

Chicago: nothing (although I guess acceptances have already gone out?) 

Any insight anyone has into the process would be appreciated! I am starting to think of Plan B's, which is making my brain hurt.

[mochabear]

Received my rejection from Case today. This one really hit me the hardest because it was my top choice. I am yet to hear from Michigan, Texas, Northwestern, Chicago, and Illinois and by the looks of it (by means of interviews and acceptances by other PhD Musicology candidates), I only have a shot at Texas and Illinois.

 

I wasted so much time, money, energy -- and the time and energy of my recommendees on these ten applications. Damn it. 

[Karajan]

Received my rejection from Case today. This one really hit me the hardest because it was my top choice. I am yet to hear from Michigan, Texas, Northwestern, Chicago, and Illinois and by the looks of it (by means of interviews and acceptances by other PhD Musicology candidates), I only have a shot at Texas and Illinois.

 

I wasted so much time, money, energy -- and the time and energy of my recommendees on these ten applications. Damn it. 

 

Try not to be too down You can always reapply next year. There are some posters on this board who reapplied after a year out and had totally different (and better!) results with almost the exact same application. This is a fickle, arbitrary process -- Give things another shot next year if things don't end up working out this year the way you'd like. 

 

Chin up!

Edited February 21, 2013 by Karajan

[clarinetcola]

Hello everyone!

I've gotten to this site incredibly late, but I'm so glad that this kind of community exists. I applied to 6 schools for musicology (some M.A., some Ph.D.)

Here's the lowdown so far:

Cornell: sent me a definite "no" last week

Yale: I contacted them for a visit (does anyone know if they interview?) and they said I wasn't on the "long list" so it was unlikely that I'd get an acceptance.

Eastman: I interviewed there on the 26th, but haven't heard anything else.

Indiana: I interviewed there in January (the 10th), but haven't heard anything else.

BU: nothing 

Chicago: nothing (although I guess acceptances have already gone out?) 

Any insight anyone has into the process would be appreciated! I am starting to think of Plan B's, which is making my brain hurt.

 

This is a great thread isn't it! I wish I'd found this earlier in my application process....

 

I recieved an unofficial letter from the dept head of Indiana about a week after the inteviews (feb). Their dept is incredibly efficient (relatively ) I would suggest contacting them directly to check things out.

 

I don't think anyone (including me) has recieved a word from Yale..... thanks for the heads up. maybe I'll contact them as well.

[echopw]

congrats to all on their acceptances, and my sympathies to the rest of us waiting in the arid, interminable wings. Does anybody know when one might hear from NYU Steinhardt for composition? Twiddling my thumbs. 

Early March. Are u applying for graduate program?  I am for NYU's film scoring(MM).  

[musichistorygeek]

It seems to be silence so far from McGill and Case on this front. I'm hoping no news is good news and that my rejection isn't just lost in the aether somewhere. (McGill mentions a 'rolling admissions' policy, which I'm assuming means they look at applications in the order they came in or something.) But mostly I'd just like to hear something from either of them.

[teenxenakisfan]

Early March. Are u applying for graduate program?  I am for NYU's film scoring(MM).  

 

Blargh that is sooooooooo faaaaarrrrr awaaaaaaay. I am applying for the Masters in Composition, electronic/computer music track. The film scoring track sounds awesome, good luck to you! 

[musichistorygeek]

Congrats to the Yale theory admit!!!!!!!!!!!!!    (Also--admission/rejection by text. That gives us all something new to worry about!   )

[Karajan]

yale musicology admits are out, too.

[TheComposer500]

Hi, I'm new here! Does anyone know when MM in Composition results will be coming out for:

-University of Southern California (was there supposed to be an interview?)

-NYU

-Boston University

-Carnegie Mellon (had interview/portfolio review here)

I have been rejected from Yale, UCLA, Michigan, and McGill so far. I really need to be accepted somewhere...

[carnevale2011]

Update: formal rejection from Indiana, via mail after having interviewed early January. Blargh.

[echopw]

Hi, I'm new here! Does anyone know when MM in Composition results will be coming out for:

-University of Southern California (was there supposed to be an interview?)

-NYU

-Boston University

-Carnegie Mellon (had interview/portfolio review here)

I have been rejected from Yale, UCLA, Michigan, and McGill so far. I really need to be accepted somewhere...

 

I just know, NYU is early March, cause last year I know someone got her acceptance on Mar,6th.  Are u applying for NYU's film scoring?