Undergraduate Advising

Preparing for Your Advising Meeting

  • Review courses you have taken and update your shared advising sheet to accurately reflect what courses you have taken.
  • Double check any AP or IB credit you want to transfer (you should be able to see this on Albert). If the credits aren’t appearing on your record you may need to have the AP or IB board resend them to NYU.
  • Start thinking about your class schedule for the upcoming semester and beyond. Some considerations:
    • Program requirements
    • Electives
    • Private Instructor (continue with current or get a new teacher)
    • Minor: Are you interested in a minor? Have you declared a minor?
    • Study Abroad: if you want to do this, we should plan ahead.
    • Graduation: if you are a senior make sure you have applied for graduation
    • Recital/Capstone: if you are a senior let’s start thinking about this
  • Make an appointment to meet with me. Use my appointment calendar here.

Overview of Program of Study

You can see the full program of study here.

You can check your Degree Progress Report in the Student Center on Albert to see where you are within the program of study. Below is a short overview of some key points and frequently asked questions.

What Is a Full Schedule?

The program is designed so that if you take 16 credits per semester you will meet the minimum credit requirement of 128 credits. While that is a minimum, you may take up to 18 credits per semester for a total of 144 credits over four years. The additional credits can go towards electives, a minor or even a double major in certain cases.

Electives

Within the minimum degree requirement of 128 credits, you will have to take 21 credits of electives. You will get extra elective credits if:

  • You have tested out of courses in the theory sequence. Credits from a course you pass out of will automatically become elective credits. 
  • AP/IB/College credits from high school may fulfill certain core requirements thereby allowing you to take more elective credits while at NYU.

Minors

Minors are generally 12–16 credits. There are many minors offered at NYU. It is not required to have a minor, but it may be of interest to you. Here are some resources and ideas to guide you.

Double Majors

Double majors tend to require around 48 credits, which makes it more difficult to fit within the overall credit limit. However, if you take 18 credits a semester, use AP/IB credit to fulfill core requirements, and pass out of some core theory/aural skills classes, it is possible to pursue a double major. Please note you can only double major with a program from CAS.

Private Lessons

You will take 3 credits of private composition lessons every semester. We will pick a private instructor as part of the advisement process, taking into consideration your preferences and needs. For the first two years we recommend staying with the same instructor for at least two consecutive semesters, but we are also open to you changing instructors as much as makes sense for your situation. Some instructors have a limit to their studio size so you may not be able to get your first choice instructor, especially as a first or second year student.

You can see the full list of concert music faculty here. If you are interested in taking lessons from a Scoring or Songwriting instructor that is possible as well, though choices will be limited by instructor availability.

Study Abroad

If you are interested in studying abroad we recommend the spring semester of sophomore year. The next best time will be spring of junior year. NYU Prague and Paris offer a menu of required music courses so they are the best places for you to go where you can maintain progress in the program.

Useful Links for Study Away Registration:

Global Site Calendars – Please Note Drop/Add, Pass/Fail deadlines etc. may differ from New York City.

Important Links

Here are important links for your reference: