Graduate Entrance Exams

All entering Masters Degree students in Music will be evaluated in music theory and music history. In addition, students' writing skills will also be considered. These entrance examinations will be administered at the time of audition/interview. Students will be notified with results of these exams promptly in one of the following ways:

1. Admission with no remediation.
2. Admission with remediation. On a case-by-case basis, faculty will recommend remediation targeted at specific deficiencies. Options for remediation are explained in the paragraphs below.
3. Failure. Student is denied acceptance as a graduate student and may not enroll in the music department. Student may re-apply after one year.

Once the scores for the Graduate Entrance Exams have been calculated, a panel of graduate faculty will review these exams and make recommendations for remediation. These recommendations are included in your School of Music acceptance letter. The required remediation then becomes a condition for graduation. The Graduate School will not grant a diploma unless the remediation is successfully accomplished and documented in your Music file.

The School of Music does not currently offer a remediation course in music history or music theory for graduate students. Each graduate students' remediation needs are considered individually. The required courses for remediation are generally handled through the undergraduate music history and/or music theory courses. Graduate students are required to either enroll, audit or simply sit in an undergraduate class (or part of a class) and score an 70% or better on the final exam. The required documentation for the graduate student's file is a copy of that final exam. In rare cases, remediation is handled privately with a specific and willing professor. But written documentation is required in either case. In even rarer cases, students may study on their own and re-take an exam.

Writing skills are considered imperative for all graduate students. A written essay is included with the music history entrance exam and is used to determine if an entering graduate student has the writing skills necessary to pass our program. The faculty panel who assesses music history and music theory also use a common writing rubric to grade the student's writing. Should the faculty panel determine that there is a writing deficiency, the student will also be required to pass either: Eng 303 Introduction to Professional Writing and Editing or Eng 501 Writing for Careers. This course also becomes a condition of graduation and must be documented in the student's Music School file.

The rubric used for the writing sample is linked here.