College admissions consulting for music students

Music School Central helps you get accepted into your top-choice colleges with personalized, 1-on-1 guidance.

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College admissions consulting for music students

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Class of 2024

97%

Accepted to top-5 choice school

Graduated

Accepted to top-3 choice school

9+ years

Music College
Consulting

College acceptances

Music School Central has a successful track record of helping music students gain admission into the best colleges, universities, and conservatories worldwide. Here are just some of the schools our students have been accepted into for the last three years.

  • Bard College
  • Boston University
  • Columbia University
  • Indiana University
  • Manhattan School of Music
  • New England Conservatory
  • Oberlin College
  • Royal College of Music
  • University of California
  • University of Miami
  • Vanderbilt University
  • Berklee College of Music
  • Brown University
  • Eastman School of Music
  • Johns Hopkins University
  • New York University
  • Northeastern University
  • Pepperdine University
  • The New School
  • University of Cincinnati
  • University of Southern California
  • Boston Conservatory
  • Carnegie Mellon University
  • Georgia Institute of Technology
  • Liverpool Institute (LIPA)
  • Northwestern University
  • The Juilliard School
  • Royal Academy of Music
  • Tufts University
  • University of Michigan
  • University of Virginia
  • Bard College
  • Berklee College of Music
  • Boston Conservatory
  • Boston University
  • Brown University
  • Carnegie Mellon University
  • Columbia University
  • Eastman School of Music
  • Georgia Institute of Technology
  • Indiana University
  • Johns Hopkins University
  • Liverpool Institute (LIPA)
  • Manhattan School of Music
  • New York University
  • Northwestern University
  • New England Conservatory
  • Northeastern University
  • The Juilliard School
  • Oberlin College
  • Pepperdine University
  • Royal Academy of Music
  • Royal College of Music
  • The New School
  • Tufts University
  • University of California
  • University of Cincinnati
  • University of Michigan
  • University of Miami
  • University of Southern California
  • University of Virginia
  • Vanderbilt University

How we help you get into college

We’ll guide you through every step of the college admissions process.

Working with us, you’ll gain guidance through every step of the college admissions process.

1. Identify your best-fit colleges

Your best-fit college list will consider location, environment, opportunities, and intended major, as well as whether you wish to enroll into a college, conservatory, or university

2. Evaluate & guide your musicianship

You will receive an expert assessment of your musicianship, uncovering the exact areas to work on for your college auditions, talent supplements, and/or portfolios.

3. Standing out in your applications

We’ll advise you on all of your application items, including essays, curricular planning, interview preparation, application support, and so much more.

Check out what our students have to say

Our talented students have been accepted into amazing colleges. Hear what they have said about working with us.

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Ashley S. – Classical Performance

Notable Acceptances: Manhattan School of Music, Oberlin, NYU

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Shaurya S. – Music Production

Notable Acceptances: Johns Hopkins University, Berklee, Drexel

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Sammi W. – Songwriting

Notable Acceptances: University of Southern California, Belmont University

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Reagan D. – Contemporary Performance

Notable Acceptances: Berklee, USC, University of Miami

More words from parents

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After getting started with our son’s music college application process we quickly realized it was going to be an overwhelming task. Maneuvering through each school’s website required professional help. Not all college application consultants are the same and we were fortunate to have found Bill’s services. He specializes in helping music students apply to top music schools across the country.

He was very organized and had a timeline of tasks that needed to be completed before final submissions. Even when it became stressful Bill was calm and reassuring. We followed his plan and after all the prescreen recordings, applications, essays, practice interviewing and letters of recommendation were completed, we were rewarded with our son being accepted to multiple top music schools, including his first choice.
Matt F.
Parent of a jazz musician
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After much research, my husband and I reached out to Bill to help our daughter with the audition process to Conservatory. Bill worked with our daughter when she was a junior in high school. He was very accommodating. Bill was extremely thorough in his assessment of our daughter, he listened to her needs and gave us excellent advice.

He even provided mock interview sessions to prepare our daughter for the next steps in the process.

With that said, our daughter ended up at her first choice school…which I would never have thought was an option. She is now finishing her second year and is extremely happy with her choice. Bill’s hard work made all the difference.
Kathleen P.
Parent of a singer
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Bill helped my son get into his dream school, far exceeding our expectations. The scholarship alone exceeded all the service fees that I paid Bill. So basically, Bill’s fee was free and my son got into a great school.

During the process of working together, Bill not only consulted well, but also took on the role of an enthusiastic educator. He helped my son become a better musician, improve his interview skills, and obtain higher self-esteem.

As for me, Bill changed my mindset from choosing the “shiniest” school name, to choosing the right school and teacher fitting my son.
Ralph L.
Parent of a classical musician
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I found Bill Zuckerman and Music School Central from a google search when my son wanted to apply to music schools and none of us had a clue about the process or requirements. I feel unbelievably lucky that I discovered his consultancy.

He knows the field extremely well and helped narrow down the type of school and program area my son would be most interested in—an essential first step. After helping us build a solid list, he walked through everything that my son would need to prepare, providing tips and templates for resumes, portfolios, etc.

He also provided very thorough prep for auditions, and interviews, and arranged an expert consultation on recording techniques. My son ended up getting into every school he applied to and we are thrilled. I can’t recommend Bill highly enough.
Abby S.
Parent of a music producer

Meet Bill, musician & college consultant

Meet Bill, musician 
& college consultant

Bill Zuckerman has guided nearly 300+ families through college admissions

Bill Zuckerman is a graduate of the University of Michigan, where he studied music.

Since starting Music School Central, Inc. in 2015, he has personally helped hundreds of music students from over a dozen countries get into music colleges in the US, Canada, and Europe.

All students at Music School Central work personally with Bill.

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Why Music School Central

Applications to colleges rise substantially every year, making music programs more competitive than ever. At many universities, there are majors in music accepting just 3-10 students per year out of hundreds of applications!

Every musician has unique challenges & requirements. What may work well for a classical performer will be different than what a producer, songwriter, or jazz musician will need.

Music School Central is one of the only companies in the world that deeply specializes in helping students of all kinds of music & academic backgrounds.

With nearly a decade of experience working with 100s of musicians, we know exactly what college programs are looking for in their prospective students. We’ll guide you in your applications, assess your musicianship, and help you market yourself as an outstanding applicant!

Who We Advise

We work with performers, composers, and producers interested in virtually every genre of music

Classical Performance

Music Production

Jazz Performance

Music Education

Composition

Film Scoring

Songwriting

Music Business

Contemporary Music

Let’s help you get into the college of your dreams!

Contact us for a free, zero-obligation consultation

Schedule a Free Consultation

Frequently asked questions

The great majority of our students are offered merit scholarships when they receive their admissions offers.

When schools are evaluating a candidate for scholarships, they look at the factors we provide guidance on – auditions, essays, portfolios, resume, etc.

Also, some schools are simply more generous than others when offering merit scholarship, and we can help you figure out which ones are most likely to award scholarship based on our experience.

Finally, we can provide guidance on negotiating for scholarships at the end of the admission process, once all of your acceptance letters and initial scholarship offers are released.

While we 100% cannot guarantee scholarships, we can report that the majority of our students in the classes of 2023 and 2024 were offered multiple 5-figure per year merit scholarships.

At this time, we are only offering our full-service package, as we believe that results in the best admissions & scholarship outcomes for students.

We may, in the future, offer a la carte services.

Absolutely not. We’ve had students apply to 1 school (usually early decision situations), and we had a student once apply to 32 schools.

The right number, for most people, is 8-12 schools.

As long as the essays are specifically for colleges, we do not limit the number of essays we will review and provide guidance on.

Not many, and seats often go quickly, which is why we sometimes have a waitlist up.

We work with only enough students to make sure everyone gets ongoing 1-on-1 advising with Bill and other members of his team. This number is typically 25-40 per year.

We do work with master’s degree-seeking musicians. While the majority of our clients are high schoolers and transfer students, we very much enjoy working with older students. We currently do not work with students applying to doctoral degrees.