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I'm looking to major in Business and minor in Music (a childhood dream of working in the Music Industry)

3.4 UW, 4.2 W
Rank: 26/240-something (trying for 10% by first marking period)
SAT: 710M, 620V (plan to retake)
SATII: 720 Math IIC, 670 Writing, 550 lit (plan to retake all 3)
APs:
Jr.: Computer Science A, US History, English Language
Sr.: Statistics, Calculus BC, English Literature
all other classes in high school = honors


ECs and stuff:
New Jersey Boy's State Delegate
Panasonic Creative Design Engineering Competition (2 years)--- 1st place in Oral Presenation
Marching/Concert Band, Jazz Band, Pit Orchestra
School Drama, School Musical
Class Treasurer
NHS
School Peer Tutor
Tutor in School's Writing Center
100+ hrs Community Service
In process of getting approval to start an Engineering Club
--(some other stuff I can't think of right now)--

Um...I've played Saxophone for 8 years and Guitar for 4...

Work Experience:
Camp Counselor (2nd graders) - 3 years

I'm looking at a pretty good (trying to be modest) essay, and strong recs

By Alexandre (Alexandre) on Saturday, August 14, 2004 - 03:58 am: Edit

Your GPA is slightly low for Michigan, but you have a chance. Michigan will be a reach for you. Were your Freshman grades weaker? Would your GPA be higher if you just look at your Sophomore and Junior years?

By Apply85 (Apply85) on Saturday, August 14, 2004 - 11:18 am: Edit

Yes, my freshman gpa is lower. My GPA weighted was 4.022 (fresh), 4.023 (soph), and 4.224 (jr). I didn't even figure an UW though, but I presume it's higher now. Why, does mich disregard freshman grades?

By Alexandre (Alexandre) on Saturday, August 14, 2004 - 12:01 pm: Edit

Yes, Michigan, like Princeton, disregards Freshman grades. So this is good news for you. So is the fact that you took a tough course load. Your SAT is right smack in the middle. I would say Michigan is a reach for you, but it is certainly not a far reach. Apply very early. Call their admissions office at (734) 764-7433 on Monday and ask them to mail you their application form. Send it back to them by mid September.

By A2a2 (A2a2) on Saturday, August 14, 2004 - 02:33 pm: Edit

Assume you know that you don't get admitted to B-School until you're a junior. About 50% of applicants are accepted. For music minor, I'm not sure if you need to audition or not. At any rate, music at Michigan is very competitive and based almost entirely on talent. I'm guessing you would be admitted to LS&A, not the music school. (You could join the marching band - which is a lot of work, but kids we know who've done it, love it.) Anyway, your GPA may be a little low for Michigan out-of-state - but, you need to recalculate it and see. Throw out your freshmen grades and non-academic classes, take out the weighting, and give yourself a 4.0 for any As (A, A+, A-), a 3.0 for any B (B, B+, B-), etc. That's how Michigan figures your GPA.

By Apply85 (Apply85) on Saturday, August 14, 2004 - 04:35 pm: Edit

"and give yourself a 4.0 for any As (A, A+, A-), a 3.0 for any B (B, B+, B-), etc."


3.3
....

a bunch of B+s....but I guess you round down for those

By A2a2 (A2a2) on Saturday, August 14, 2004 - 05:22 pm: Edit

Ah well... that's a little low for Michigan, but not impossible. They also care that you took AP and honors classes and look at the quality of your school. If you like the Big 10 thing, you might also want to look at Penn State, Michigan State and Indiana. Indiana has a great music program and B-school is not a crap shoot like at Michigan. Michigan State's music program isn't so well known, but it's probably OK for a minor and the people I know who've been thru the business school really liked it.
If you want to be in the music business, would it make sense to be in California or New York? FYI, here's a list of schools that have a program specifically for music business: http://www.meiea.org/school_survey/

By Stuckat410 (Stuckat410) on Monday, August 16, 2004 - 05:08 pm: Edit

You can't minor in music at UMICH- I've checked this out because i, too, wanted to minor. You can only double major in Music and either LSA or engineering or.. i forget what the last one was. IT's a 5-year double majoring program... I'm kind of iffy on wehther or not I should do this, because wouldn't it be a ton of work? On top of an already hard college life?

By Apply85 (Apply85) on Monday, August 23, 2004 - 08:26 pm: Edit

Really? that's interesting.


Here's the thing: right now, I have a 1330 (710M, 620V)
I can apply in early-mid Sept with my 1330

Or, I can apply mid-late Oct with higher (should deff raise M, V will prob go up, but not much); best case scenario = 1400-1450, maybe better

How much of a difference would this amount of time make?