Applicants should consult the general admission requirements in the Boston University Admissions section of the website for basic information.
Students in the Musicology concentration must audition on an instrument offered at Boston University. They must follow the requirements of the Bachelor of Music in Performance audition requirements.
Transfer applicants submitting a recorded audition should send the analytical paper when they send the recording (see Special Requirements).
Following the performance audition on the major instrument, the applicant may schedule an interview with a faculty member of the Department of Musicology.
In addition to acceptable standards of musical performance and theory, all transfer applicants are expected to have a keen interest in creative writing and speaking, as well as intellectual curiosity extending beyond the field of music to other areas of the arts and sciences. An applicant in this major must have earned in the freshman year an overall grade point average of 3.0 or higher (on a 4.0 scale). The grade point average for coursework in the areas of music theory, Western civilization, and freshman composition must also be 3.0 or higher. In addition, courses in applied music and in foreign languages must have been at a grade point average of 2.5 or higher.
Transfer students wishing to enter this program as juniors are required to submit a paper of no fewer than 3,000 words that is both historical and analytical, covering a musical subject. This paper may have been submitted for a music history course taken at another institution, or it may be written expressly for entrance in the Musicology major at Boston University. (A photocopy is acceptable.) Send the paper to the School of Music well in advance of your admission audition. Papers will not be returned, unless accompanied by a self-addressed, stamped envelope.