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2025 Best Music Bachelor's Degree Schools in the Middle Atlantic Region

60 Colleges in the Middle Atlantic Region
2,564 Bachelor's Degrees
$24,777 Avg Early-Career Salary
Ranked #34 in popularity, music is one of the most sought-after bachelor's degree programs in the nation. This makes choosing the right school a hard decision.

For its 2025 ranking, College Factual looked at 60 schools in the Middle Atlantic Region to determine which ones were the best for music students pursuing a bachelor's degree. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 2,564 bachelor's degrees in music during the 2021-2022 academic year.

Jump to one of the following sections: * Our Methodology

Choosing a Great Music School for Your Bachelor's Degree

Best Music Bachelor's Degree Schools in the Middle Atlantic Region Your choice of music for getting your bachelor's degree school matters. Important measures of a quality music program can vary widely even among the top schools. When choosing a school we recommend considering some of the following factors:

Quality Overall Is Important

A school that excels in educating for a particular major and degree level must be a great school overall as well. To make it into this list a school must rank well in our overall Best Colleges ranking. This ranking considered factors such as graduation rates, overall graduate earnings and other educational resources to identify great colleges and universities.

Average Earnings

To determine the overall quality of a graduate school, one factor we look at is the average early-career salary of those receiving their bachelor's degree from the school. This is because one of the main reasons people pursue their bachelor's degree is to enable themselves to find better-paying positions.

Other Factors We Consider

In addition to the above, you should consider some of the following factors:

Our full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for music students working on their bachelor's degree.

One Size Does Not Fit All

Rankings by Location Check Out Other Locales
More Music Rankings Other Ranking Categories

Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we've developed the Best Music Bachelor's Degree Schools in the Middle Atlantic Region ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.

In addition to College Factual's rankings, you may want to take a look at College Combat, our unique tool that lets you pit your favorite schools head-to-head and compare how they rate on factors that most interest you. When you have some time, check it out - you may want to bookmark the link so you don't forget it.

Best Schools for Bachelor’s Students to Study Music in the Middle Atlantic Region

The following list ranks the best colleges and universities for pursuing a bachelor's degree in music. Only those schools that rank in the top 20% of all the schools we analyze get awarded with a place on this list.

12 Top Middle Atlantic Region Schools for a Bachelor's in Music

1
NYU crest
New York University
New York, NY
87 Annual Graduates
$24,398 Median Starting Salary
$97,823 Median Student Debt

It is hard to beat New York University if you wish to pursue a bachelor's degree in music. Located in the large city of New York, NYU is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.

Bachelor's graduates who receive their degree from the music program earn about $24,398 in their early career salary.

More information about a bachelor’s in music from New York University

2
128 Annual Graduates
$14,310 Median Starting Salary
$65,843 Median Student Debt

It is difficult to beat University of Rochester if you want to pursue a bachelor's degree in music. Located in the medium-sized city of Rochester, University of Rochester is a private not-for-profit university with a large student population.

After graduating, music bachelor's recipients typically earn an average of $14,310 in their early careers.

More information about a bachelor’s in music from University of Rochester

3
27 Annual Graduates

Carnegie Mellon University is a wonderful choice for individuals pursuing a bachelor's degree in music. Located in the city of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon is a private not-for-profit university with a large student population.More information about a bachelor’s in music from Carnegie Mellon University

4
84 Annual Graduates
$16,479 Median Starting Salary
$73,930 Median Student Debt

Johns Hopkins University is one of the best schools in the United States for getting a bachelor's degree in music. Johns Hopkins is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Baltimore.

Bachelor's graduates who receive their degree from the music program make an average of $16,479 in their early career salary.

More information about a bachelor’s in music from Johns Hopkins University

5
Ithaca crest
Ithaca College
Ithaca, NY
47 Annual Graduates
$23,119 Median Starting Salary
$45,344 Median Student Debt

Ithaca is a small private not-for-profit college located in the suburb of Ithaca.

Bachelor's graduates who receive their degree from the music program earn an average of $23,119 for their early career.

More information about a bachelor’s in music from Ithaca College

6
New School University crest
The New School
New York, NY
95 Annual Graduates
$12,109 Median Starting Salary
$45,747 Median Student Debt

New School University is a moderately-sized private not-for-profit school located in the city of New York.

After graduation, music bachelor's recipients typically earn around $12,109 at the beginning of their careers.

More information about a bachelor’s in music from The New School

7

Located in the large city of Washington, CUA is a private not-for-profit university with a moderately-sized student population.

Students who graduate with their bachelor's from the music program state that they receive average early career earnings of $23,856.

More information about a bachelor’s in music from Catholic University of America

8
Juilliard crest
The Juilliard School
New York, NY
89 Annual Graduates

Juilliard is a small private not-for-profit school located in the city of New York.More information about a bachelor’s in music from The Juilliard School

9
Temple crest
Temple University
Philadelphia, PA

Located in the large city of Philadelphia, Temple is a public university with a very large student population.

After graduating, music bachelor's recipients typically make about $19,507 in their early careers.

More information about a bachelor’s in music from Temple University

10
Syracuse crest
Syracuse University
Syracuse, NY

Syracuse is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the midsize city of Syracuse.

Bachelor's graduates who receive their degree from the music program earn around $18,574 in the first couple years of their career.

More information about a bachelor’s in music from Syracuse University

11

Located in the large city of New York, Columbia is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.

Music bachelor's degree recipients from Columbia University in the City of New York receive an earnings boost of approximately $8,147 over the average earnings of music graduates.

More information about a bachelor’s in music from Columbia University in the City of New York

12
92 Annual Graduates
$100,000 Median Student Debt

Manhattan School of Music is a small private not-for-profit school located in the large city of New York.More information about a bachelor’s in music from Manhattan School of Music

Additional Noteworthy Schools

These are some additional schools worth mentioning that are also great but just didn't quite make the cut to earn our top Best Music Bachelor's Degree Schools in the Middle Atlantic Region award.

Rank College Location
13 Rutgers University - New Brunswick New Brunswick, NJ
14 University of Maryland - College Park College Park, MD
15 The College of New Jersey Ewing, NJ

Best Music Colleges by State

Explore the best music schools for a specific state in the Middle Atlantic Region .

State Colleges Degrees Awarded
New York 275 1,120
Pennsylvania 274 632
Maryland 207 209
New Jersey 193 433
Delaware 130 17
District of Columbia 126 87

View All Rankings >

Music is one of 10 different types of Visual & Performing Arts programs to choose from.

Music Focus Areas

Major Annual Graduates
General Music 1,106
Music Performance 718
Music Technology 155
Jazz Studies 124
Voice Performance 99
Music Theory & Composition 89
Stringed Instruments 70
Music History 59
Other Music 51
Keyboard Instruments 40

Majors Similar to Music

Related Major Annual Graduates
Fine & Studio Arts 4,247
Design & Applied Arts 4,180
Drama & Theater Arts 2,938
Film, Video & Photographic Arts 2,475
Dance 794
Arts & Media Management 656
General Visual & Performing Arts 495
Other Visual Art 237
Crafts, Folk Art & Artisanry 8

Notes and References

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