Admission

We will consider applications from any musician with the following credentials:

—Satisfies the general admissions requirements as published by the Graduate Admissions Office, primarily a minimum GPA of 3.0 (B) or better. (Standardized test scores such as GRE's are not required at present.)

—Holds a Bachelor's in music, or a Bachelor's in another field and competence in reading music and basic knowledge of scales and chords.

All of the standard application materials should be sent to the Admissions Office via the website or using whatever address they provide online. PLEASE NOTE: The Personal Statement is not optional. This is where you tell us who you are, what you’ve been doing lately, and why you want to join our program!

IN ADDITION, all applicants will need to submit the following to Dr. Porter via email:
1. One research or analysis paper on any topic as a writing sample. An undergraduate paper is fine, and it does not even have to be about music--the point is to show that you write well in English.
2. A short recording of your playing any kind of music (classical is fine) to demonstrate your level of musical competence.
3. A page of sheet music that they have written or transcribed to demonstrate knowledge of notation. It need not be transcribed--we will teach you how to do that. That is only mentioned as an option. It can be anything that you wrote out by hand or in Finale. The point is to show that you are familiar with notation.

The above three items can be emailed to Dr. Porter at Lrpjazz@gmail.com.

If you need to use snail mail for the above, write to:
Professor Lewis Porter
Bradley Hall 213
Rutgers University
Newark, NJ 07102

Applications and relevant catalog pages may be downloaded here:
gradstudy.rutgers.edu/dload.html
The program code is 26.561. The financial aid application (for loans only) is online as well. One may request to have the materials mailed to you by filling in a request at:
www.acs.rutgers.edu/gradadmission/newProgramInquiry.app
Or one may call 973-353-5205 to order the Graduate School Application and Financial Aid Application.
ALWAYS ask for Jennifer Nyeste, or contact her at nyeste@ugadm.rutgers.edu or at 5205, ext. 24.
If possible do NOT deal with anybody else.

There is no separate application for this program but as noted above one should send a paper, a recording and some sheet music (email these directly to Dr. Porter) in addition to the standard requirements (application form, transcripts, three letters of reference, and a personal statement as to why you are applying).

The graduate school accepts applications on a rolling admission basis. There is no deadline for application, but students who apply before Feb. 15 will be considered for the awards noted above. The financial aid office also offers various loans. Contact them directly if you are interested. The teaching positions noted above are adminstered through the M.A. program itself; there is no deadline for these, and they are usually given out beginning in the second semester.

Twelve courses are required, which can be taken full-time (3 or 4 per semester for 3 semesters), or in any other pattern (2 per semester, etc.). (Please note that if you take out a loan you must take a minimum of two courses--6 credits--each semester that you wish to receive loan money. Actually the minimum is 4.5 credits.) Most of our students attend full-time, but about a fourth are part-time. During the last semester one also finishes the thesis and takes comprehensive exams. One pays the same per course regardless of whether one takes one course or four. The only advantage of taking four per semester is that these students are allowed to take additional courses, if desired (such as seminars, private lessons or jazz ensemble) at no additional cost.

Please look at the Rutgers website for current tuition rates, both for non-New Jersey residents and current New Jersey residents:
rutgers-newark.rutgers.edu/gradnwk/downloads. Scroll down to "Tuition and Fees."
After one year of living in NJ, one will sometimes qualify for the resident rates. As stated above, part time enrollments are possible.

The Financial Aid Office can offer loans and work study funding. (Please note, they offer nothing else to MA students—don’t ask them about the departmental awards listed below.) Since one must stay enrolled in order to continue receiving loans, it is to your advantage to spread out the coursework so that you have two courses left to take in the fourth semester. You must take a minimum of two courses--6 credits--each semester that you wish to receive loan money.

IMPORTANT: LET LEWIS (or whoever is current program head) know if you qualify for Work Study aid. We have our own Work Study position and it is available at Financial Aid. Be sure to ask them about the position called: Graduate Research Assistant in the Dept of Arts, Media and Culture (formerly Visual and Peforming Arts). If it’s not on their list, be persistent—it does exist and several students each year have been hired. There are a number of possible responsibilities, including cataloguing DVDs and CDs, refiling books and CDs, transcribing interviews, maintaining and editing websites, photocopying, scanning articles and converting to PDF format, audio and video dubbing, etc., etc. (Be sure to find out how many hours you are allowed per week and per semester. Don’t exceed your allotted hours.)

Separately from the Financial Aid Office (nothing to do with them), there are sometimes awards directly through the MA program (depending on that year’s budget) that pay for one or two courses per semester. Porter personally considers all applications automatically for these awards, when they are available. You don’t need to do anything—believe me, we will tell you if we can get you some money! In addition, sometimes awards become available after you have already started taking courses here—so if you didn’t get anything your first semester, all is not lost. Again, we’ll simply notify you of this pleasant surprise, if it happens.

Starting second semester, but especially in the summer, most of our grad students do some undergraduate teaching (usually one or two courses during one’s time in the program) which pays about $3000 per course. Even more important, since most of our students want to teach when they graduate (among other things), they gain supervised experience (Porter and his colleagues supervise) and they are actually hired as part-time faculty (not as a teaching assistant). These teaching jobs are offered only while one is in the program--new full-time students always get priority for them.

The Milt Gabler Scholarship (founded by the family of the late legendary jazz record producer) is an award exclusively for jazz MA students. Each year faculty will choose a winner, who receives about $800. Contributions to the fund are still being sought.

-Ed Berger of the IJS manages the Carter-Berger Fund which gives several research awards of about $750 every spring. This fund has been very generous to our students--about a dozen have won awards. Dr. Porter will notify you if you should apply for this, and how.

Students have found jobs on campus, sometimes even at the IJS, and off campus. We also arrange on occasion for music gigs, small jobs in the industry, and for publishing opportunities. There are possibilities of funding from grants and foundations as well, which the student can pursue.

There are also non-paying internships for academic credit, at IJS and with jazz critics and record companies, radio stations, etc. These have on occasion led to jobs after graduation, and are good experience in any case.

Dr. Lewis Porter, Director
M.A. Program in Jazz History and Research
Department of Arts, Media and Culture

Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
110 Warren Street
Bradley Hall, Room 254
Newark, NJ 07102-1896

Telephone: (973) 353-5600, ext. 30
Fax: (973) 353-1392

Email: lporter@andromeda.rutgers.edu

	About the Program	Faculty and Staff	Admission
	Institute of Jazz Studies	Students	Curriculum