Music School Central | College Counseling for Musicians

Do you work with students interested in non-music majors?

We work with three kinds of students. 1. Musicians who wish to major in music. 2. Musicians who wish to major in music and an outside major. 3. Musicians who wish to major in an academic subject, but want to use their musical background & credentials to help them get accepted into a great college. As long as you are a musician with at least a few years of experience, we can help you.

Do you help with only the music applications, or with everything?

We help students with every single part of the college application process. On the music side, we guide students with college & faculty selection, auditions, interviews, portfolios, pre-screenings, trial lessons, and more. On the traditional application side, we guide students through essays, the resume, the common application, other applications like the UC (California) and UCAS (United Kingdom) applications, etc.

Can you provide detail on your success rate?

We surveyed every student & family we worked with in the class of 2024 after they received all of their offers, asking them whether they were accepted to a top-1, top-2, top-3, top-4, top-5, or not a top-5 choice school. The survey was not mandatory for students who applied to only 1 school and were accepted, such as early decision students. They were automatically counted as a "top-1" choice. Students who chose to opt for a gap year instead of finishing the application & audition process were excluded from the survey. Anyone who did not respond to the survey was counted as &

Does the founder Bill Zuckerman have a music background?

Yes - he studied music at the University of Michigan's School of Music, Theatre, and Dance.

Do you help with scholarships?

Many of our students are offered merit scholarships when they receive their admissions offers. However, please note that merit scholarships are never guaranteed with our services. When schools are evaluating a candidate for scholarships, they look at the factors we provide guidance on - auditions, essays, portfolios, resume, etc. Also, some schools are simply more generous than others when offering merit scholarship, and we can help you figure out which ones are most likely to award scholarship based on our experience. Finally, we can provide guidance on negotiating for scholarships at the end

Do you offer a la carte services?

At this time, we are only offering our full-service package, as we believe that results in the best admissions & scholarship outcomes for students. We may, in the future, ofer a la carte services.

Do you limit the number of schools a student of yours can apply to?

Absolutely not. We've had students apply to 1 school (usually early decision situations), and we had a student once apply to 32 schools. The right number, for most people, is 8-12 schools.

Do you limit the number of essays you will review?

As long as the essays are specifcally for colleges, we do not limit the number of essays we will review and provide guidance on.