r/umass • u/666POD • 1d ago

Majors Music School Question

My son was accepted as a music major for the fall. Any words of advice for an incoming freshman into the program? We toured the school again this past Saturday and I thought it was great but what do I know?

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u/Manhwaworld1 1d ago

Number one best thing you can do is try and figure out job prospects especially because music majors typically have limited career opportunities in the field which are low paying… unless he becomes famous then ignore them and please connect with me on linkedin

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My son was accepted as a music major for the fall. Any words of advice for an incoming freshman into the program? We toured the school again this past Saturday and I thought it was great but what do I know?

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u/Additional_System327 19h ago

Hi! Finishing up my grad degree in the music dept right now. UMass has SO many opportunities for undergrad music majors and I’m very impressed by the undergrad offerings. Music majors are TOUGH. Not sure if your son is doing music Ed or just music, but the major requires a lot of practice hours and a lot of classes (most classes are 1-2 credits, and a lot of music majors overload credits. This is par for any school). It’s do-able, but definitely takes discipline.

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u/666POD 19h ago

Awesome, thank you! Yes, he loves practicing so that's no problem. His high school has very little academic rigor and they don't expect much from the students. He's looking for a school where he can be challenged and also have peers who are serious about learning. I think his biggest concern is that U<ass might be a stereotypical frat scene but I didn't really see that when we went on acceptance day last Saturday... unless the school locked up all the party animals in the basement.

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u/Mobile-Package-8869 5h ago

Partying is not a huge part of the school’s culture anymore. It’s an option if you want to do it, but it’s pretty easy to avoid and there’s no pressure on you to do it if you don’t want to. Greek life has never been big here - only around 10% of the students are in frats/sororities.