How to Apply

Undergraduate Applications

To be admitted to the School of Music & Theater, undergraduate applicants must complete the following steps.

  1. Apply to PSU
  2. Submit a secondary application to the School of Music & Theater ($20 Fee)
  3. Pass the entrance audition

Undergraduate applicants should prepare works as specified in the School of Music & Theater's entrance audition requirements.

Applicants who wish to audition in person will be scheduled for the next quarterly round of auditions after submitting a completed School of Music & Theater Application.

Applicants may alternatively upload a recorded audition with their application. Live entrance auditions are held during finals week each term. 

Sonic Arts & Music Production and Theater majors do not need to apply to the School of Music & Theater separately.

Three students talking in Lincoln Hall

Apply to PSU

Portland State University is Oregon’s most innovative, diverse, and affordable public research university, located in one of the nation’s most desirable places to live. Are you ready to think bigger and bolder? Then you are ready to apply to Portland State.

PSU Jazz piano student performing

Apply to the School of Music & Theater

The PSU School of Music & Theater provides professional training and liberal-arts-based education to a highly diverse student body. Our primary goal is to generate and sustain an environment of creative inspiration and excellence in creation, practice, and appreciation of the performing arts. 

Prospective student auditioning

Audition Requirements

Prospective students will be scheduled for an in-person audition following the successful submission of their School of Music Application, unless they have uploaded audition materials with that application.

Applicants will not be admitted to the School of Music until they have passed an entrance audition.

Graduate Applications

For admission into the School of Music Graduate Program, the applicant must hold a bachelor's degree representing a course of study equivalent to that pursued by PSU undergraduates in Music.  Students applying for a Master of Music degree in either Performance or Conducting must complete an interview and audition.  

Students applying to either the Master of Arts in Music or Master of Science in Music program must complete an interview and submit one of the following as part of their application process.

  1. A History Paper or Theory Paper (descriptive analysis or composition)
  2. An audition performance demonstrating mastery at the MUP 490 level 
  3. A Teaching Certificate

In addition to meeting the general requirements for admission into graduate study at PSU, each student must successfully take the music placement examination prepared by and administered in the School of Music & Theater.

The placement examination must be passed or the recommended review course must be passed with a grade of B or better before a student may enroll in a graduate history or theory course.

PSU Violin student in performance
Apply as a Graduate Student about PSU Violin student in performance

Admission to the School of Music & Theater's graduate program requires a minimum of a baccalaureate degree from a regionally-accredited institution with a cumulative undergraduate GPA of 2.75 for admission.  

An applicant with 9 or more graduate credits must have a cumulative graduate GPA of at least 3.0, and this GPA would supersede the undergraduate GPA.  

For continuation in the program, students are required to be in good academic standing, maintaining a 3.00 GPA for all graduate coursework taken at PSU and a term GPA of at least 2.67 each term.

For general information such as language requirements, deadlines, policies, and procedures for graduate students at Portland State University, visit the Graduate School website.