Rankings by major · 749 schools scored

Best colleges for music

Every school we cover is scored 0–100 for music. The score weighs what graduates earn four years out against the same major nationally (25%), research spending in the field (20%, NSF), how many undergraduate courses the department lists (20%), the student body's test scores (20%) and the size of the program (15%, capped so size alone can't win). 80 and up is a standout program, 65+ strong, 45+ solid.

The top music schools: Vanderbilt University, Carnegie Mellon University, Northwestern University.

Top 100 colleges for music
Rank	School	Score (0–100)	Tier	Graduates per year in the major	Share of the class	Pay vs. national, same major	Acceptance rate
1	Vanderbilt University Nashville, TN	100	Standout	50	2%	1.36×	6%
2	Carnegie Mellon University Pittsburgh, PA	98	Standout	28	1.4%	–	11%
3	Northwestern University Evanston, IL	97	Standout	82	2.9%	1.23×	7%
4	University of Florida Gainesville, FL	97	Standout	47	0.5%	1.41×	20%
5	New York University New York, NY	96	Standout	87	1.2%	1.21×	9%
6	Northeastern University Boston, MA	96	Standout	36	0.8%	1.40×	5%
7	Emory University Atlanta, GA	95	Standout	28	1.1%	–	10%
8	Harvard University Cambridge, MA	95	Standout	14	0.7%	–	4%
9	University of California, Berkeley Berkeley, CA	95	Standout	38	0.4%	–	11%
10	Columbia University New York, NY	94	Standout	16	0.6%	–	5%
11	Brown University Providence, RI	94	Standout	30	1.3%	–	5%
12	Southern Methodist University Dallas, TX	94	Standout	27	1.3%	–	48%
13	University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill Chapel Hill, NC	93	Standout	44	0.7%	1.33×	17%
14	Dartmouth College Hanover, NH	93	Standout	15	1.1%	–	6%
15	University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Champaign, IL	93	Standout	57	0.6%	1.16×	42%
16	University of Wisconsin–Madison Madison, WI	92	Standout	38	0.4%	–	45%
17	University of Virginia Charlottesville, VA	92	Standout	26	0.5%	–	17%
18	University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, PA	92	Standout	7	0.2%	–	5%
19	University of California San Diego La Jolla, CA	92	Standout	20	0.2%	1.33×	29%
20	University of Georgia Athens, GA	91	Standout	38	0.4%	–	38%
21	University of Connecticut Storrs, CT	91	Standout	37	0.6%	1.28×	54%
22	University of Maryland, College Park College Park, MD	91	Standout	40	0.5%	1.09×	45%
23	Rice University Houston, TX	91	Standout	20	1.6%	–	8%
24	Rutgers University–New Brunswick Piscataway, NJ	91	Standout	52	0.6%	1.28×	58%
25	University of California, Los Angeles Los Angeles, CA	91	Standout	70	0.7%	1.09×	9%
26	Tufts University Medford, MA	90	Standout	16	0.8%	–	11%
27	The Ohio State University Columbus, OH	90	Standout	34	0.3%	1.17×	51%
28	University of Notre Dame Notre Dame, IN	90	Standout	10	0.3%	–	11%
29	Stanford University Stanford, CA	90	Standout	10	0.6%	–	4%
30	Williams College Williamstown, MA	90	Standout	9	1.1%	–	9%
31	Syracuse University Syracuse, NY	89	Standout	16	0.4%	–	46%
32	Yale University New Haven, CT	89	Standout	10	0.6%	–	5%
33	Princeton University Princeton, NJ	89	Standout	10	0.8%	–	4%
34	University of California, Davis Davis, CA	89	Standout	18	0.2%	–	44%
35	Cornell University Ithaca, NY	89	Standout	8	0.2%	–	9%
36	University of Massachusetts–Amherst Amherst, MA	88	Standout	37	0.5%	–	60%
37	Amherst College Amherst, MA	88	Standout	12	1.7%	–	9%
38	Binghamton University–SUNY Binghamton, NY	88	Standout	13	0.3%	–	37%
39	Texas Tech University Lubbock, TX	88	Standout	68	0.9%	1.31×	73%
40	University of Utah Salt Lake City, UT	88	Standout	45	0.8%	1.13×	87%
41	Brandeis University Waltham, MA	88	Standout	12	0.9%	–	40%
42	James Madison University Harrisonburg, VA	87	Standout	74	1.6%	1.19×	72%
43	University of Washington Seattle, WA	87	Standout	20	0.2%	–	39%
44	The University of Texas–Austin Austin, TX	87	Standout	58	0.6%	1.08×	27%
45	Tulane University of Louisiana New Orleans, LA	87	Standout	9	0.3%	–	14%
46	University of Michigan–Ann Arbor Ann Arbor, MI	87	Standout	92	1%	1.00×	16%
47	University of Tennessee–Knoxville Knoxville, TN	87	Standout	40	0.7%	1.07×	42%
48	Florida State University Tallahassee, FL	87	Standout	108	1.1%	1.02×	24%
49	Pomona College Claremont, CA	86	Standout	6	1.4%	–	7%
50	Swarthmore College Swarthmore, PA	86	Standout	6	1.1%	–	7%
51	Stony Brook University–SUNY Stony Brook, NY	86	Standout	16	0.3%	–	49%
52	University of Delaware Newark, DE	86	Standout	26	0.5%	1.12×	71%
53	Wesleyan University Middletown, CT	86	Standout	22	1.8%	–	16%
54	Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge, MA	85	Standout	10	0.7%	–	5%
55	University of California, Santa Cruz Santa Cruz, CA	85	Standout	15	0.3%	–	66%
56	Texas Christian University Fort Worth, TX	85	Standout	29	1.1%	–	48%
57	University of Houston Houston, TX	85	Standout	66	0.8%	1.30×	74%
58	Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College Baton Rouge, LA	85	Standout	32	0.6%	1.09×	73%
59	George Washington University Washington, DC	85	Standout	6	0.2%	–	47%
60	Michigan State University East Lansing, MI	85	Standout	64	0.7%	1.19×	85%
61	Hamilton College Clinton, NY	85	Standout	6	1.1%	–	14%
62	Miami University–Oxford Oxford, OH	85	Standout	26	0.6%	1.16×	75%
63	Santa Clara University Santa Clara, CA	84	Standout	12	0.8%	–	48%
64	California State University, Long Beach Long Beach, CA	84	Standout	86	0.9%	1.09×	45%
65	William & Mary Williamsburg, VA	84	Standout	18	0.9%	–	34%
66	University of North Texas Denton, TX	84	Standout	232	2.9%	1.27×	71%
67	Washington University in St. Louis St. Louis, MO	84	Standout	6	0.3%	–	12%
68	Hofstra University Hempstead, NY	84	Standout	12	0.9%	1.30×	68%
69	University of Iowa Iowa City, IA	83	Standout	50	0.9%	1.15×	80%
70	University of North Carolina at Charlotte Charlotte, NC	83	Standout	22	0.4%	1.14×	80%
71	Virginia Tech Blacksburg, VA	83	Standout	22	0.3%	1.10×	55%
72	Wellesley College Wellesley, MA	83	Standout	7	0.9%	–	14%
73	Elon University Elon, NC	83	Standout	16	0.9%	–	66%
74	Colgate University Hamilton, NY	83	Standout	6	0.6%	–	14%
75	University of South Carolina Columbia, SC	83	Standout	56	0.8%	1.03×	60%
76	Occidental College Los Angeles, CA	83	Standout	14	2.5%	–	45%
77	Duke University Durham, NC	82	Standout	4	0.1%	–	5%
78	Fordham University New York, NY	82	Standout	14	0.5%	–	59%
79	Boston College Chestnut Hill, MA	82	Standout	6	0.2%	–	16%
80	Trinity College Hartford, CT	82	Standout	6	0.8%	–	30%
81	Bowdoin College Brunswick, ME	82	Standout	5	0.8%	–	7%
82	The Pennsylvania State University–University Park University Park, PA	82	Standout	35	0.3%	1.01×	61%
83	Pepperdine University Malibu, CA	82	Standout	12	1.4%	–	63%
84	George Mason University Fairfax, VA	81	Standout	52	0.8%	1.07×	87%
85	Florida International University Miami, FL	81	Standout	36	0.3%	1.16×	55%
86	The University of Oklahoma Norman, OK	81	Standout	36	0.7%	1.05×	77%
87	Colby College Waterville, ME	81	Standout	8	1%	–	7%
88	The Catholic University of America Washington, DC	81	Standout	24	3%	1.06×	83%
89	Gettysburg College Gettysburg, PA	81	Standout	11	1.5%	–	40%
90	University of Cincinnati Cincinnati, OH	81	Standout	66	1%	–	85%
91	University of Nebraska – Lincoln Lincoln, NE	81	Standout	23	0.5%	1.10×	87%
92	Loyola Marymount University Los Angeles, CA	80	Standout	8	0.5%	–	45%
93	CUNY Queens College Queens, NY	80	Standout	21	0.6%	–	69%
94	University of Richmond Richmond, VA	80	Standout	5	0.5%	–	22%
95	Middlebury College Middlebury, VT	80	Standout	4	0.5%	–	11%
96	Rowan University Glassboro, NJ	80	Standout	76	1.8%	1.08×	78%
97	Wake Forest University Winston Salem, NC	80	Standout	2	0.2%	–	22%
98	University of Missouri–Kansas City Kansas City, MO	80	Standout	36	2.2%	0.98×	69%
99	University of Denver Denver, CO	80	Standout	28	1.8%	1.11×	85%
100	Bates College Lewiston, ME	79	Strong	6	1%	–	13%

649 more schools are on the full music ranking.

How this ranking works

Updated October 18, 2026. Sources: early-career pay for graduates of each program, by field of study (College Scorecard), graduates per year in the major (IPEDS), undergraduate courses listed in each department's current catalog, and the student body's test scores. Inputs that are missing for a school are dropped and the rest reweighted; programs with fewer than five graduates a year are capped at 30. Scores are relative to the other schools covered, from 0 to 100.

To cite: prefrosh.ai, "Best colleges for music," updated October 18, 2026, https://prefrosh.ai/majors/music. For a specific student's chances at these schools, use Chance me, which reads odds from the student's own high school's admissions chart.

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Best colleges for music

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