Hi there! Not been on here in AGES!

I'm just posting as a last resort really.... is there anyone out there who is doing or knows someone who is doing the BMus/GRNCM Joint Course at Manchester University???

I've applied for it and wil be auditioned soon but am still not sure that even if I was accepted for it, that I would want to do it, as it's a doublt degree-so double the work!

Any comments would be great - I appreciate there'll probably be a lot of people who don't have a clue what I'm on about!

Thanks,
Caroline

I went to the talk on the open day - HARD WORK!

Good luck to you, that's all I say

I've applied!

I'm not a stranger to hard work so that doesn't bother me, but it is the course I really do want to get onto. I know someone who did the course 10 years ago - my brother's head of music. Would you believe that his offer was an A and 2 Cs! If you get taken for the course then it is a fab opportunity to get a very thourough grounding in both musical disciplines. The good thing is, is that if it really is too much then you drop one side and carry on with whichever you prefer.

It is VERY competitive to even get considered for the course. They get about 80 applicants and shortlist 20 for audition and interview at both instuititutions in December. They then make 10 offers. I have my fingers crossed. It's not something I think about too much - you get your hopes too high and risk a massive disappointment, you set them too low and you undersell yourself. The only way I can strike the balance is by erasing it from my memory and practising hard!

Which instrument do you play, 36degrees?

Edit: sorry, I should have read your signature! I'm a clarinettist, too but my piano isn't far behind. A uni course appeals to me because I will still use my piano playing to some degree and I think they will want to hear me play at audition.

A young friend of my husband did it (guitarist) and qualified with a first about 2 years ago.

He thoroughly enjoyed it...but he's now a 'graduate trainee' accountant...

Nothing wrong with being an accountant. I was one for fifteen years. And that's what is now financing my music-making.

Sorry, I didn't mean there was anything wrong with being an accountant!

I just meant that I'm personally very sad that this lad, having got onto this prestigious course and done extremely well, has now totally stopped playing, has nothing whatever to do with music and has gone down this completely different course...if I really felt that accountancy 'rocked his boat' I think I would feel differently.

Sorry - didn't mean to offend you.

I know people in the past have applied on it and posted about it here, maybe it would be worth a search. The only impression I got was that it was incredibly difficult to get on to: I think some people were rejected and ended up studying at Cambridge instead as their second choice... I wonder why none of the other music colleges team up to do such a course, there's obviously the demand. Don't want to put you off or anything, definitely worth going for; but make sure you have a backup plan!

Yeah, I have a friend who wasn't taken for the joint course - she started at Oxford last week! If I don't get onto that course, it'll be music college. It just makes me sad that whichever course you do, Uni or Conservatiore, you miss out on the other! The practice/study routine is well and truly up-and-running now though!

I'm on an Access Scheme with Manchester University, which means I'll be offered a place at two grades lower than usual (i.e. ABB for Music) and should get a guarenteed offer! YAY!

So if not Joint Course it'll me just the BMus (I don't fancy the idea of full time college!) ..

Thanks for all the comments - good luck to everyone else on they're applications to Uni or College!

Caroline x x

What's an access scheme?

As much as I don't know a great deal about this kind of thing, I can see that it will definitely easier to get on courses you want to afterwards, however it's still difficult to say that you're guaranteed a place anywhere, let alone Manchester or the Joint Course itself.

I had an e-mail this morning from Manchester telling me "Even if you have the grades required or predicted, you still might not get a place"... I thought that went without saying! I's a waiting game now though!

Good luck - I hope everyone gets in where they want! Who knows, we might all meet!

The Manchester Access Programme is a two year course of activities that you do while at college/sixth form, where you work with a tutor in your preferred subject and complete a little research project. Then, you send off a "pre-UCAS" form to Manchester, and if you meet the general requirements for the course you like, you are guarenteed to receive a conditional offer when submitting your real UCAS form.

Plus, even if you then fail those grades of the conditional offer, you are still guarenteed a place on something. Which I'm pleased about as I DEFINATELY want to go Manchester! Hehee.