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2026 Application Deadline

The application deadline is December 1, 2025.

Apply for 2025 graduate admission to the University of Minnesota School of Music. For the most common questions from prospective graduate students, please refer to this FAQ sheet.

Auditions and Dates

Prospective graduate students who are planning to audition in-person should make themselves available for the entire day.

  • Instrumental audition in-person dates will be on January 24, 2026 and February 7 2026.
  • Voice audition in-person dates will be on January 23, 2026 (graduate voice-only day), January 24, 2026 & February 7, 2026.
    • Graduate voice auditions are by invitation, based on preliminary materials via submitted videos.

Application Materials

A complete application addresses all of the following:

All prospective students are required to complete an online application to the University of Minnesota.

Carefully review the requirements for graduate auditions and interviews, as well as program-specific materials.

The following programs require a recorded entrance audition:

  • Conducting
  • Collaborative Piano & Coaching
  • Instrumental Performance
  • Vocal Performance

The following programs require a remote entrance interview:

  • Music Education (MM and Post-Bacc)
  • Music Therapy (MA)
  • Finalists for the PhD in Music Education
  • Music Education with an Emphasis in Music Therapy will be contacted individually for an arranged remote interview

The personal statement is required and should address your musical, scholarly, and personal experience and proposed course of study in 1-3 pages.

To be considered for the Diversity of Views & Experience Fellowship (DOVE), you may elect to submit a 1-2 page DOVE statement using the following prompt:

Diversity of views and experiences is fundamental to the University's mission, and the University's faculty, staff and students share responsibility for the collective achievement of this goal. Please describe the distinctive perspectives of life experiences, such as successfully overcoming obstacles or hardships, that you would bring to your graduate program. Describe how these perspectives or life experiences could contribute to the education and enhanced perspective of fellow students at the University of Minnesota.

Three letters of recommendation are required. List your references and their contact information in your application to the University. The application will contact your references with instructions on how to submit their letters.

Within the application, you will have the opportunity to express an instructor/advisor preference for individual faculty members. Every effort is made to honor this request based on studio availability and faculty loads; however, the School of Music cannot guarantee placement with your preferred instructor/advisor.

Unofficial transcripts from all previously attended post-secondary institutions are required. If admitted to the University, Graduate Admissions will solicit official transcripts from you upon confirmation of enrollment.

International applicants are most likely required to take an English proficiency test, and we prefer that they submit a TOEFL score. Please note the minimum scores for admission. An English language proficiency exam is typically not required from international applicants who are completing their final year of, or have already completed, an undergraduate- or graduate-level degree from an institution in the United States, Canada (except Quebec), United Kingdom/Ireland, Australia, or New Zealand. For more information, please see the Graduate School website.

  • Theory MA/PhD: test-optional
  • CSM MA/PhD: test-optional
  • Music Ed MM/PhD: test-optional
  • Music Therapy MA/PhD: test-optional
  • Musicology MA/PhD: test-optional
  • Other graduate programs: test-optional
  • Scores older than five years will not be accepted. The University of Minnesota Graduate School ETS code is 6874.

You will be asked to pay two non-refundable application fees in your online application to the University of Minnesota:

  1. One is a $50 fee to the School of Music.
  2. The other is a separate application fee to the Graduate School.

These fees cannot be waived. Please email [email protected] with any further questions or concerns.

Admissions Decisions

Admissions Decisions are issued formally by the Graduate Admissions Office. Any funding or additional support is communicated to you directly from the Director of Graduate Studies of the School of Music. While faculty members may express interest in working with you and share they have nominated you for funding; this is not an official offer of admission or funding support from the University of Minnesota or the School of Music. Please contact [email protected] with any questions.

Music Theory and Ear-Training Proficiency Exams

All incoming graduate students (except the following programs: Music Education MM, Post-Bac, PhD; Music Therapy MA, PhD) are required to take proficiency exams in Music Theory and Ear-Training during Welcome Week orientation before classes begin to assess real-time proficiency and assign course requirements of the University of Minnesota graduate theory sequence.

Transfer Credit

If you have taken music coursework for credit at another institution, you may be able to apply those credits toward, and be exempt from, the equivalent coursework at the School of Music. This will require you to undergo a transfer course review process.

Students transferring credits must take theory placement exams at the beginning of their first semester after admission.