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[mr_55]

Hello all,

I do not intend to be repetitive, but my situation seems to differ a bit from a lot of the future graduate students seeking advice on these fora. Some of the components of my situation were discussed about a month ago on these fora, but I have some more specific questions at this juncture.

I will be earning by BA with Honors in music from a small arts and sciences institution with an inclusive admissions profile in December 2007. I will probably end up completing my degree with a GPA between 3.95 and 4.0 and two senior projects: a thesis on music cognition utilizing primary research and a lecture-recital featuring components of the repertoire of my primary performance medium. My GREs are midrange, as evidenced by my percentile result. Nonetheless, I am planning on applying to a reasonable range of graduate schools, just to try to get as many "feelers" out there as possible. I was wondering if any of the forum users have experiences coming from what is essentially a D list school. The schools that I am currently considering application to are primarily research universities with high research activity (although rarely are these particular schools known for music).

Considering my academic background and presumed level of preparation (my college is not accredited by the National Association of Schools of Music, although the BA program does afford students coursework that is similar to the BM at larger schools), would it be foolish to apply to leading schools in my field?

I suppose that my underlying question is: what types of institutions should I be able to reasonably consider during my search/application process? The only students going on to graduate studies in music from my undergraduate institution attend a nearby state university with a rather open admissions profile at the graduate level.