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Westminster policy presents barriers for students
Published: Friday, November 13th, 2009
On Nov. 5, Princeton students began scrolling through the Registrar’s website for next semester’s course offerings. But the courses listed in the catalog aren’t the only options available to Princeton students.
University students can take courses at ...
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I had no idea this sort of thing was going on! Nice little mini expose.:)
“Why do you want to do that?”, music department administrators asked Liu when she told them she wanted to take advanced music courses at the college during her senior year. “They told me that [to justify studying at WCC] it had to be a class that wasn’t like anything offered at Princeton – but to give me credit it would have to be a class that was like something offered at Princeton, which doesn’t make any sense,”
Best line ever, I encountered that as well. Must have been so frustrating for her as well! Princeton Red Tape at its finest.
Great article.
They also don't publicize this option nearly well enough
I am not sure where you are getting your facts, but I am an undergraduate 2012 taking quite a few classes at Westminster. Although I find the fact that the music department does not grant credit for taking performance specific classes to people in the musical performance certificate program quite frustrating, I have had no problems whatsoever in cross-registering. In fact, the University administration has been absolutely wonderful! The differences in the academic calendar are slight, and with care one is easily able to overcome the problems with different time-tables. I am actually taking a "real" class at Westminster, unlike the other students in the article, and am really enjoying it. Although I wish something could be done about the music department's resistance to cross-registering (It took over a year's worth of haggling to get keys to the music department's practice room), as naturally the performance classes at Westminster are at a high level, that is the singular obstacle I have had in taking the equivalent of six classes total over the past 3 semesters.
Okay, seriously, Liu needs to stop bashing the music department so much. They were very kind to her considering that, compared to many of the other pianists on this campus, she was lagging behind a LOT in experience and skill. I don't know why she's hating on the music department so much but there are some absolutely world class musicians on faculty here. Perhaps she didn't get to play with them or something, but she needs to calm down. WCC is a great choir school, but for piano, it's not any Juilliard, let's be honest with ourselves.
Ihendren - Liu is taking "real" classes at Westminster; she's just not an undergrad.
Hi everyone, especially the person who posted the comment two above this one. This is Taotao Liu. I'd just like to clarify a couple of things. First of all, when they sent me the quotes to be reviewed for this article, I didn't realize that they'd only be publishing the ones that made it seem like I hated the music department. When the Prince interviewed me for this article, I did give both the pros and cons of the process and the department, so I'm sorry if I come across as whiny - I certainly didn't mean to. I think the music department is great at what it does. The musicology and the composition are amazing. The performance part varies depending on who you encounter, but that's to be expected, as Princeton is not a conservatory.
"They were very kind to her considering that, compared to many of the other pianists on this campus, she was lagging behind a LOT in experience and skill." Thank you for pointing this out. Don't worry, I was more aware of this than anyone in my undergrad years. And this was the only reason for my frustration. I didn't feel that Princeton was able to give me the tools to improve as an accompanist as quickly as I'd have liked, simply because so few people know how to teach about accompanying. The solo piano teaching at Princeton is more than fine! But the skills required for an accompanist are very very different!
"WCC is a great choir school, but for piano, it's not any Juilliard, let's be honest with ourselves." Funny you should mention that, because I'm a grad student at WCC now, and my current piano teacher is also on the coaching faculty at Juilliard.
shut up taotao
Oh, grow up. What kind of loser gets satisfaction out of posting HERE anonymously at 4am on a Sunday?
yeah dude, stop hating on taotao. she's awesome
one faculty member does not a juilliard make.