Music Composition

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Music Composition

Music Composition Student

Class of 2024

97%

Accepted to top-5 choice school

82%

Accepted to top-3 choice school

9+ years

Music College
Consulting

How We Help Music Composition Students

At Music School Central, our services are designed to help composers get into the best colleges for their future. These include the following:

Personalized List of Schools

We offer personalized guidance for composition students, assisting them in crafting a tailored list of schools based on their musical preferences, skill level, and academic background.

By considering factors such as excellence of faculty, selectivity, and opportunities for their music to be performed, we help music composition students find the perfect fit colleges for their musical journey.

Portfolio Evaluation

We provide portfolio evaluations tailored specifically for students applying to composition programs.

We assess each portfolio’s proficiency, creativity, and overall quality, offering detailed feedback to enhance applicants’ chances of acceptance into their desired programs.

Complete Application Support

We provide personalized guidance and support for classical musicians navigating the college application process.

This includes guidance with crafting compelling essays & resume that showcase your musical journey, achievements, and aspirations, ultimately maximizing your chances of admission to top music schools.

Interview Preparation

You will receive tailored coaching and mock interview sessions to help you prepare confidently for college admissions interviews.

With this consulting, you can ensure that you will be able to articulate your musical passions, experiences, and future goals with poise and clarity.

1-on-1 Guidance

We offer individualized, 1-on-1 guidance and frequent meetings to navigate every aspect of the application process, from selecting schools to crafting compelling applications, ensuring each student’s unique musical journey is effectively communicated to admissions committees.

Choosing the Best College for Music Composition

For a composer seeking to further their education and artistic development, we consider several key factors when we help you assemble your list of music schools:

1. Faculty expertise & reputation

We help you discover schools with faculty members who are accomplished composers and musicians actively engaged in the contemporary music scene.

Mentorship from experienced composers provides invaluable guidance, feedback, and networking opportunities.

2. Performance opportunities

We’ll work together on finding colleges that offer ample opportunities for you to have your music performed, including student ensembles, new music festivals, and collaborations with performers and conductors.

Performance experiences provide valuable feedback, helping composers refine their craft and build their portfolio.

3. Collaborative Community

We look for schools with a collaborative and interdisciplinary environment that fosters connections with performers, conductors, filmmakers, choreographers, and other artists.

Collaborative projects offer opportunities for composers to expand their creative horizons and develop interdisciplinary skills.

4. University Vs. Conservatory

Choosing between a college and a conservatory can depend on your career goals and educational preferences.

Conservatories offer intense training with a singular focus on music, while colleges & universities provide a broader academic experience with opportunities to explore other disciplines alongside music.

Considering your priorities in composition, academic balance, and overall environment to make the best decision for your musical journey, we help you determine whether conservatories, universities, or a mix of both is best for you.

5. Career preparation

Seek schools that offer opportunities for professional development, including workshops, masterclasses, competitions, and networking events with industry professionals.

Professional development opportunities help composers build connections, gain exposure, and advance their careers in the competitive field of composition.

Music Composition Acceptances

Our students pursuing a music composition degree have been accepted into the following schools, among others:

  • University of Michigan
  • University of Southern California
  • Carnegie Mellon University
  • University of California (UCLA)
  • Oberlin College
  • Rice University
  • The Juilliard School
  • Royal Academy of Music
  • Indiana University
  • Cleveland Institute of Music
  • Vanderbilt University
  • Boston University
  • Royal College of Music
  • New York University
  • University of Michigan
  • Rice University
  • Vanderbilt University
  • University of Southern California
  • The Juilliard School
  • Boston University
  • Carnegie Mellon University
  • Royal Academy of Music
  • Royal College of Music
  • University of California (UCLA)
  • Indiana University
  • New York University
  • Oberlin College
  • Cleveland Institute of Music

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

Contact us for a free, zero-obligation consultation

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Frequently asked questions

We work with three kinds of students.

1. Musicians who wish to major in music.


2. Musicians who wish to major in music and an outside major.


3. Musicians who wish to major in an academic subject, but want to use their musical background & credentials to help them get accepted into a great college.



As long as you are a musician with at least a few years of experience, we can help you.

We help students with every single part of the college application process.

On the music side, we guide students with auditions, interviews, portfolios, pre-screenings, and more.

On the traditional application side, we guide students through essays, the resume, the common application, etc.

We surveyed every student & family we worked with in the class of 2024 after they received all of their offers, asking them whether they were accepted to a top-1, top-2, top-3, top-4, top-5, or not a top-5 choice school.

The survey was not mandatory for students who applied to only 1 school and were accepted, such as early decision students. They were automatically counted as a “top-1” choice.

Students who chose to opt for a gap year instead of finishing the application & audition process were excluded from the survey.

Anyone who did not respond to the survey was counted as “not accepted into a top-5 choice school,” unless they wrote to us about being accepted into a top choice school in a separate message.

Overall, we are very proud of the success of our students in the class of 2024, with over 95% of them getting accepted into a top-5 choice school!

Yes – he studied music at the University of Michigan’s School of Music, Theatre, and Dance.

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-fgure 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.