Mandolin, University, and me

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My buddy got a scholarship to a state University for playing the oboe, cause its such a rare and challenging instrument. I'm wondering how a standard university would react to a decent mandolin player. Has anyone ever heard of mandolin scholarships? or maybe since mando is very uncommon around here colleges might be more inclined to accept a mandolinist?

I'm 16 so this stuff is important to help me get into/pay for college.

[Charlieshafer]

Unless you're applying to a music school with an alternative strings department, forget about it. Berklee in Boston is about the only place that will even think about offering scholarship dollars. The problem is that the mandolin is not an orchestra instrument, and most universities are looking to fill out an orchestra first, then fill in with exceptional soloists on instruments they may already have. Thus, instruments like the oboe, French horn, and bassoon are always in demand. Lots of orchestras and relatively few players. Play a violin? Better be really good. Play a harp? Might have a chance, but there are so few pieces for harps in orchestras they're a dying breed. Mandolins? Regardless of what the classical repertoire is, there's not enough call for it in large orchestras so it essentially becomes a novelty instrument in the classical world. This fact will of course annoy a lot of people here, but money talks, and classical mandolin speaks pretty softly. The availability of professors to teach is also very thin, and this is critical as well.

The only way out is to go the alternative strings route. Many universities now offer an alternative strings program, but within the regular musical course of studies, and if there's no professor available or competent to teach mandolin (or sitar, or bandoneon, or whaever) it ain't happening. That leaves us back at Berklee. They do have scholarships, but the folks getting them are the Rushad Egglestons or Sierra Hulls. Are you as good as Sierra Hull? Do you have the ability to draw attention the the university through your incredible future accomplishments? That's what they're looking for.

Hate to be depressing, but there are two options.
1: Be way better than decent and get a ride to Berklee, or
2: Just make sure you're in the top two or three percent of your class grade-wise, and you'll get lots of attention.

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Yea, i was afraid that Charlie. I don't have the skill or grades to go to Berklee. I live in Michigan so i'll probably be going to a college around the Metro Detroit area. But here's another question: In a application if i put down all the instruments i play fairly well,(mandolin, violin, viola, guitar, and piano) will they be impressed by this and be more likely to accept me? I have a 3.3 GPA and a 26 ACT, so anything would help.

[Jim]

While a list of skills showing you are motivated will not hurt what you need most is to make that 3.3 GPA a 4.0 . It is not too late to start now.

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While a list of skills showing you are motivated will not hurt what you need most is to make that 3.3 GPA a 4.0 . It is not too late to start now.

Unlikely, I'm a senior.

[Jared Heddinger]

Unlikely, I'm a senior.

Senior at 16?

Unfortunately, like the others said above, there really isn't much luck. I asked this same question awhile back for myself. (17 and a Junior). The only way mandolin is going to help you in the long run for University is if you put it on your application as a extracurricular. The only other way would be if you applied to some of the (private) musical scholarships out there, some are non-instrument-inclusive.

Mandolin is not a hot commodity. All the better for us, the rest of the world just doesn't get to see how fun it is!

(Edit: I just noticed you're in Michigan too. What part?)

[Charlieshafer]

Yea, i was afraid that Charlie. I don't have the skill or grades to go to Berklee. I live in Michigan so i'll probably be going to a college around the Metro Detroit area. But here's another question: In a application if i put down all the instruments i play fairly well,(mandolin, violin, viola, guitar, and piano) will they be impressed by this and be more likely to accept me? I have a 3.3 GPA and a 26 ACT, so anything would help.

Accept? yes, that would help, but as far as scholarship bucks go, I'm afraid Jim is right, gotta be touching the number 4.

[SincereCorgi]

Yea, i was afraid that Charlie. I don't have the skill or grades to go to Berklee. I live in Michigan so i'll probably be going to a college around the Metro Detroit area. But here's another question: In a application if i put down all the instruments i play fairly well,(mandolin, violin, viola, guitar, and piano) will they be impressed by this and be more likely to accept me? I have a 3.3 GPA and a 26 ACT, so anything would help.

Schools give scholarships to oboes and bassoons and French horns and such because they want them for the orchestra and chamber music program, not just because it's neat to have a dude around who plays the oboe. I'd say your best bet among the instruments listed is viola.

[Mandobar]

There are enough oboe and bassoon players around so those who get scholarships earn them. (Not sure about anyone else, but I speak from experience). That said financial aid has a lot to do with income also and filing that form. I would not discourage anyone from applying. The graduation rates for Berklee are around 50%. There's nothing wrong with going to a liberal arts school while you hone your chops.

Music schools want more than you can play the instrument. They are looking for proficiency as well.

[August Watters]

I don't have the skill or grades to go to Berklee. . . I have a 3.3 GPA and a 26 ACT, so anything would help.

I can't speak for the admissions or scholarship offices at Berklee, but encourage you to get that information directly - Berklee's admission process is not just about finding the best player or student with highest grades, it's about identifying potential students likely to succeed within the Berklee environment. To do this they might weigh different factors, like experience, determination, references or achievements. As to scholarships, there are different types - the Presidential Scholarship (all expenses) is indeed rare, but the normal scholarship process doesn't favor one instrument over another so mandolinists have the same shot as anyone else.

RE: state universities, fitting into a music program is likely a matter of blazing a new path - there are many good jazz programs, so if you can play like a jazz guitarist you might convince a state program to accept you in that track. Or if you're into classical, check out schools that have early music programs - they might be aware that mandolin has an important baroque tradition, and there's exciting work going on now in the recovery of both improvisational vocabulary and performance tradition.

There are also a handful of other college programs that accept mandolinists, such as New England Conservatory (in their Contemporary Improvisation program), East Tennessee State University, and South Plains College (where Joe Carr teaches). Good luck and let us know how your process is going!

[Randi Gormley]

I hope, in addition to the music, you're looking at all your scholarship options? The Kiwanis, veteran's groups, churches, service clubs and such offer some money, and sometimes even $500 is something. There are also a bunch of odd scholarships out in the ether that are private endowments. Once upon a time I had a list of sites where you could search (sorry, my youngest is a college junior, so it's been a while since we did the research) and I recall there were scholarships for ethnic background, what city your grandparents came from, left-handedness and other non-academic specifics. Who knows, you might find someone who endowed a scholarship for mandolinists attending a Michigan state university! If your high school counselor doesn't know (and some are excellent but not the ones who were helping any of my kids with college entrance), there's always Google. One of my band-mates is a professional whose job is to get kids into college (or into the right college) and I'll ask him tonight if he knows where that private endowment list is hiding if it still exists.

[JeffD]

In a application if i put down all the instruments i play fairly well,(mandolin, violin, viola, guitar, and piano) will they be impressed by this and be more likely to accept me?

I would think that violin and especially viola would be attractive to many schools they have an orchestra.

[jesserules]

East Tennessee State University has a program in "Bluegrass, Old Time, and Country Music Studies", maybe give them a look.

South Plains College in Texas has a program in "Applied Commercial Music" that has banjo (Alan Munde taught there), maybe mandolin.

[Paul Merlo]

Yea, i was afraid that Charlie. I don't have the skill or grades to go to Berklee. I live in Michigan so i'll probably be going to a college around the Metro Detroit area. But here's another question: In a application if i put down all the instruments i play fairly well,(mandolin, violin, viola, guitar, and piano) will they be impressed by this and be more likely to accept me? I have a 3.3 GPA and a 26 ACT, so anything would help.

Have you considered Wayne State in Detroit? I'm under the impression they have a good music school. Prepare for auditions as part of the admission requirements.

[Steve Ostrander]

Check out Maryville College, Maryville, TN near Knoxville. www.maryvillecollege.edu

[jackmalonis]

Tammy Rogers King (of the Steel Drivers, I think) teaches Mandolin at Belmont University in Nashville Tenessee. They have a commercial performance/Songwriting major that includes mandolin. If you audition there, if they like you, and if you talk to admissions enough I'm sure you could get some scholarship dollars there!

[bmac]

Don't rule out smaller private colleges.... Many of them offer aid packages making college affordable to folks like you... And many of them have interests in talented folks like you. They want to see some achievment and that you apparently already have... But as mentioned it would be good to have a more traditional orchestral instrument as well.

At 16 I wouldn't have even had the maturity to ask the question. You are motivated and that is half the battle.

[SGraham]

I'll share an anecdote in support of Bart's point. When I applied to a private university in So California, I inquired about music scholarships and was invited to audition for one. I brought along my mandolin and played for the some of the music faculty. I got a performance scholarship which meant I was placed in a small musical ensemble and sent out to promote the school every weekend and during the summer. I rarely played mandolin in the small groups, but any time the board decided they wanted folk or bluegrass music for an event, they'd turn to me. I could have been a performance major and could possibly have studied mandolin, but I ended up getting bit by the theory bug and got a degree in music education and theory. This background has been very helpful to me as a writer, arranger, and performer.

So, I second what Bart says. Don't neglect to check out the private schools. Good luck!

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(Edit: I just noticed you're in Michigan too. What part?)

Southeast Michigan, the Oakland-Macomb area

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Also responding to Jeff's point, Honestly i've hardly played the viola. I know colleges are very interested in it, though. I mainly play the Violin and occasionally play my dad's viola. It's just a bigger violin tuned a fifth down, that usealto clef which i can't quite read yet.

So maybe ill try that path.

[davidtoc]

Well, when you do graduate from college and make a lot of money, consider creating a scholarship for a mandolin player to attend college.

dave

[mrmando]

No time like the present to start learning your alto clef. Find out when auditions are, and learn the required pieces as well as something of your own choice from the solo viola literature. A full ride is unlikely at this point, unless you've got the amazing mad skills to become a brilliant violist in six months, but one never knows. Does your high school have an orchestra?

[Randi Gormley]

Bill said to check out "colleges that change lives" (I guess that would be a google search?) and he said that Lawrence College in Wisconsin has a music school that's overlooked. He said you'd probably have better luck with mid-West colleges since they're actively recruiting students and would be more willing to offer money than anything on the coasts. I'm just passing this on, I have no idea if it's accurate. fwiw

[Rodney Riley]

Some kids plan a lot sooner than others. When my loaner mando comes back it is going to a 16 year old girl in our church. When she was asked in 5th grade what instrument she would like to play in band. She said the oboe, cause, "you can get full scholarships to colleges if you play the oboe." She has one older sister, a younger sister and brother. Knew her family could not afford to send them all. She also has a 4.0 average. Placed 2nd at a drum major camp in Indiana. And is taking a signing class. Will see if I have to change the mando or if she will just turn it over since she is left handed.


I already have a left handed tusq nut if we have to change it.

[Charlieshafer]

I've just had another thought. I've sent two through college, and right now am in the middle of sending one daughter off, so I do have a good handle on what colleges are looking for right now, especially musician/students. My daughter's a really good classical violinist, concertmaster of the local youth symphony, etc, but she's one of a zillion really good violinists, so while it does help her get into the college of her choice, it really doesn't make for scholarship dollars except for the smaller colleges. She does have a good "alternative strings" background, which helps, too, but still, not a deal maker for the upper-echelon music schools. The one thing that colleges really want to see when you're promoting your skills outside of the classroom (whatever they may be) is that

A: You like to take a leadership role, and
B: You're dedicated to your skill, and have shown dedication over some time (as in years) that it's important to you, and you can add to that college's atmosphere and mix of students.

The one thing they really aren't impressed with, at least in the musical world, are "noodlers" who may play a few instruments well, but haven't shown any real dedication to reach some sort of higher level. Have you played with the school orchestra consistently? If not, have you formed a bluegrass or string band that practices regularly and tries to get gigs, even if they pay nothing? They really want to movers and shakers now, as opposed to even ten years ago. The competition musically is fierce, you're up against literally the entire world, as many Asian and Pac-rim countries love to send their kids here for an education.

So, if you haven't yet, get a band together and get some gigs; show them that you're a leader!! Yay, rah rah!!