Choosing a college or university for your bachelor’s degree can be a daunting task. You have so many factors to consider—educational, social, financial—that it’s hard to get it all right. After you have made the big decision and the dust has settled, you may find yourself in a situation you didn’t expect. Perhaps you are disappointed in your school’s academic program, or performance opportunities are just too hard to come by. Maybe you didn’t start as a music major and need to move to a school that has a stronger performance program, or maybe you aren’t comfortable at your school because it is either too close or too far from your home. A school might not fit your needs for any number of reasons.
What can you do when you find yourself in such a situation?
If you find you aren’t getting all that you need at your current school, take heart, it’s not too late! You always have the option to transfer.
Transferring can be a very complicated process, with many educational, emotional and financial repercussions. It can also be a very exciting and rewarding process. If you take your time and follow these steps, your transfer will no doubt be a success.
Get Organized: Make a Master List
Getting organized is the first and most important thing you can do in such a situation.
Sit down and create a master list of what you do and do not want from a new school. Break the list down into categories, such as academics, performance opportunities, faculty, facilities, location, size, tuition, and degrees offered. These categories make the list easy to navigate and will create in your mind a clear idea of exactly what you want from a new school.
Do Your Homework
Once you have created your master list, you are ready to do some research. The Internet is a great place to start. Almost every music school has a website describing its programs, faculty, and the like. Here’s a good way to keep this information organized.
Write down the categories you created in your master list on the top of a sheet of paper. Have the names of the schools you are researching running down the left margin. This creates a neat chart where you can plug in the information you learn. If you are computer savvy, try creating this chart in Microsoft Word or Excel.
All of this work provides you with a way to cross-reference schools and programs at a glance. This step also helps you quickly eliminate some options while moving others higher up on your list of possible schools.
Ask Around
Talk to the people who surround you. The music world is a surprisingly small one. Your teachers and fellow students can be invaluable and surprising sources of information.
Be careful how you approach people when asking for help. For example, if you are disappointed in the theory program at your school, it would be inappropriate to express your dissatisfaction bluntly to your current theory professor or his or her colleagues. Instead, be somewhat general when discussing your reasons for considering a change. This way no one’s feelings are hurt and you still glean information from your current professors. Also, remember to consider the source as you collect this type of information. Use your judgment to decide if the source has your best interest in mind and provides accurate, up-to-date information.
Arrange a Visit
Visiting is the quickest and best way to learn about a school. Prioritize your visits. Look back at the lists and charts you have created to figure out the schools that seem, on paper, to be your best options. Visit your top one or two choices.
Do all you can to make the most of each visit. Call the admissions office and explain when you plan on coming, and be very clear about the things you want to see. These may include the music building, practice rooms, dorms, the cafeteria, or anything else you deem important. Be sure to ask for an outline of the program that breaks down all of the classes and courses you will be required to complete.
If you spell all of these things out for the admissions office staff, they will do everything in their power to meet your needs. Remember, these people want you to come to their school. Use their eagerness to your advantage!
While you’re on campus, be sure to listen to your gut. Often it takes no more than a few minutes to know if a place is right for you. Pay attention to the quality and cleanliness of the facilities. Take a good look at the dorms. Ask to be shown a dorm you are most likely to be living in as a transfer student, otherwise the admissions office might take you to see a freshman dorm. Can you see yourself living there? Don’t forget to ask about the security of the campus; you want to feel safe in your new home.
Schedule a Lesson
If you are able to visit a potential school, absolutely attempt to have a lesson while on campus. This is an important step—a good working relationship with your private teacher is central to your success and happiness as a vocal music major. Not all schools allow faculty members to give lessons to prospective students, but many do. Look back at the notes you made while researching, and read the faculty’s online bios, to help you decide which teachers you might want to ask for a “test lesson.”
Once you select a professor (or two), make contact and set up the lesson yourself. Often, teachers will try their hardest to fit you into their day. If you don’t have a specific teacher in mind, you can ask the admissions office to set something up for you.
Throughout this process, remember that reputation isn’t always the best way to judge a teacher. For example, the school may include a young faculty member who doesn’t have a large following yet but may be a perfect fit for you. Don’t simply ignore this type of an option in favor of another studio teacher who has more prestige. The best choice may not be the obvious choice.
Ask Questions
Don’t be shy about asking questions. Good sources of information include the admissions office, professors, and students. The admissions office will be great for giving you stats related to admissions, the size of the school, and music program and tuition information. Professors will be able to tell you about your specific program and perhaps even give you some syllabi for their classes. Enrolled students are a great source to find out about the dynamics of the school, as well as the dynamics of specific studios. You could stop students on the sidewalk while you are visiting, or ask the admissions office to give you phone numbers or e-mail addresses of students who would be willing to take the time to give you their insider’s perspective.
Music Students: Beware!
Students in any line of study or major can transfer. Music students, however, have a few extra factors to consider when making a move.
Credits. If your new school is a liberal arts institution, find out how many credits must be outside of music. This number can be as high as 78 credits—that’s about three years worth of classes! If this is the case, look at your current transcript and see how many credits you have that you think would transfer. If you have a lot, great! If not, don’t panic. Summer classes can be a great time to make up these extra credits.
Recital attendance. If you are a music major, all schools require recital attendance in some form or another. Be sure to have proof that you met your former school’s recital requirements so your attendance can be credited to you after you transfer. This proof may be a syllabus from a class that had recital attendance as a component or a signed document from the music office of your current school.
Call up your new school to find out what kind of proof they require. Collect this proof while you are still at your first school—often this information is easily misplaced.
Money. A school with no scholarship money may not be very invested in the music program.
Performance opportunities. Are there many performance opportunities for undergrads? How often does the school cast undergraduates in major productions? Does the school provide opportunities to work on scenes? To solo with choirs?
Studios. What are the dynamics? How can you get accepted into a given studio? Do the various studios get along with each other?
GPA. Transferring can also be tough on your GPA, regardless of whether you are a music major. When you go to a new school, your old GPA vanishes. This may seem like cause for rejoicing, but in reality, it may hurt more than it helps. You will have fewer points with which to average your final GPA, so you have less room for error.
The Registrar: Your New Best Friend
After you have decided where you will transfer, you need to make friends with a very important person: the registrar.
Who is the registrar? The registrar is in charge of the records for your college and will have the final say on what credits transfer into the school and what counts toward your degree. The registrar also keeps track of your academic progress and maintains your transcripts.
What will the registrar do for me? Each school has its own requirements of what you must do to earn a degree. The registrar decides if your prior work counts toward the school’s degree requirements. The registrar’s office is also the place to go to find out exactly what your new school requires for graduation. Become very familiar with this information so that you don’t forget to complete something you need to graduate. Remember, you are starting in the middle of a program, not at the beginning as the school designed it to be done. This means you need to be very proactive when it comes to figuring out what it is you have yet to complete.
What if I don’t agree with the registrar? The registrar most likely will not accept all of your past credits. Don’t fret too much; you can reason with the registrar. Simply set up a meeting or send a series of e-mails. Approach the registrar armed with information. Have a course description with you for the class you want accepted, and if possible, find a similar course at your new school. (You can find this information in a course catalog, either online or in a printed catalog at the registrar’s office.) Often a simple cross-reference like this is enough to do the trick. If possible, dig up your old syllabus from the class. If you have lost it, e-mail your old professor and ask for a new copy. Registrars love to take a look at these to confirm that you did legitimate work at your other school.
Be good to your registrar. Nothing is too good for this very special person in your life. Be sure to always address your registrar with kindness; never let your frustration get the better of you. In spite of your best efforts, little glitches often seem to pop up for transfer students. If you have a good working relationship with the registrar, things have a much better chance of working out in your favor.
Life As a Music Transfer Student
When you transfer into a new vocal program, you’re often trying to make friends with people who are also your competition. This doesn’t always cause conflict, but jealousy can easily develop. These bad feelings are easier to deal with if you recognize that people have a tendency to be territorial—it isn’t personal. These students will need time to adjust to your being around and added to their competition pool. You can pretty much count on a timeline for adjustment.
The first semester is a transitional time. Be prepared to know no one’s name while everyone knows yours. Other singers might not want to include you socially because they are still trying to figure out what your presence will mean to their singing opportunities. During this time, be open to meeting new people, and try not to become frustrated if people aren’t immediately willing to become your close friends.
By the second semester, people are beginning to adjust to your presence. You’re becoming more involved socially but are still learning the inner workings of the school. For example, everyone else might know that Professor X’s botany class is a better choice than Professor Y’s chemistry class (too much homework.) Don’t worry, soon you’ll be in the know, too.
By the second year, you are finally integrated into the school. You are an expected member in your studio and opera class, and you know much of the inner workings of the school. People don’t look at you as the “new kid” anymore. You may still find yourself feeling different, but you’ll be the only one who notices.
The Reward: Graduation—from the Right School!
Graduation day is exciting for every college graduate, but it will mean even more to a transfer student. If you have transferred, you know that you’ve had to work just a little bit harder than your fellow classmates. While balancing classes, work, and lessons you took the time to organize information, make visits, work with the registrar, and maybe even take summer classes to finish on time. You faced an uphill battle with your GPA, and won.
Most importantly, you didn’t settle. You could have accepted an education that wasn’t right for you, but instead you took on extra work to get everything you deserve. This attitude will carry you not only through school, but also through the ups and downs of a career in music.
