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Santa Barbara, CA · Music

Music at UC Santa Barbara

UC Santa Barbara graduates about 32 music majors a year. That puts it 344th of 749 schools we score for music, a solid program at 56 out of 100. Graduates in the major earn a median $34,000 four years out, below the national figure for the same major (0.77×).

56/100Solid#344 of 749 for music →
Graduates a year32under 1% of the class
Median pay 4 years out$34,0000.77× the same major nationally
Research in the field$291Ka year, NSF
Admit rate38%whole school

Around UC Santa Barbara

This is an image of Wisp performing in Santa Barbara in 2025.
Wisp-1 croppedPhoto: Elijah Chuc · CC0 · source
The East Asian Library in Davidson Library, UCSB
East Asian Library of UCSBPhoto: AndyHe829 · CC BY-SA 3.0 · source
the Ti-Nspire CX ii CAS
CxcasiiPhoto: Prezi2 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Oneweb mission. This one involved the booster returning to base.
Spacex Launch as seen from UCSB (54239527832)Photo: Glenn Beltz from Goleta, CA, USA · CC BY 2.0 · source

Where music happens

Buildings on campus that fit the field: Music.

Named buildings on the campus map: Academic 125 · Student housing 31 · Dorm 25 · Athletics 10 · Arts 7 · Dining 5.

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Nearby in the music ranking

  1. Truman State University 57
  2. University of Massachusetts–Dartmouth 57
  3. Drake University 57
  4. Eastern Connecticut State University 57
  5. Southwestern University 56
  6. Drew University 56
  7. Coe College 56
  8. Towson University 56

Other strong majors at UC Santa Barbara

How the score works

The score is out of 100 and compares UC Santa Barbara with every school we score in music. It 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+ is a standout program, 65+ strong, 45+ solid. Sources: US Department of Education (College Scorecard, IPEDS), NSF HERD, each school's current course catalog, OpenStreetMap and Wikimedia Commons.

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