Music Department

FAST (4+1) B.A./M.A. Program

Earn both degrees in 5 years

The FAST (Falcon Accelerated Success Track) 4+1 B.A./M.A. lets students complete the B.A. in Music and the M.A. in Music in 5 years. Students stay in the B.A., apply in the junior year, and take graduate courses alongside their last undergraduate semesters. Transfer students who enter at junior standing complete both degrees in 3 years.

Students declare one area of emphasis: Performance (Classical or Jazz), Choral Conducting, or Composition.

Eligibility

Applicants need:

  • current enrollment in the B.A. in Music at CSU East Bay as a first bachelor’s degree (second-bachelor’s students aren’t eligible);
  • music as the only major (double majors aren’t eligible);
  • 60 to 90 program-applicable units completed, including the lower-division core music coursework (15 units) and the lower-division general education requirements;
  • a cumulative GPA of at least 3.0.

Program-applicable units are the units that count toward the major, general education, and university requirements. Admission is unconditional, and these requirements apply without exception.

International students on an F-1 visa contact the Center for International Education (CIE) before applying. Moving to graduate status in FAST requires a new I-20 and changes the minimum enrollment from 12 units to 8, and it affects when Curricular Practical Training (CPT) and Optional Practical Training (OPT) are available.

How to apply

Applications are accepted in the Fall and Spring semesters. The application and both letters of recommendation are due to the Graduate Coordinator by the end of week 7. Students who apply in the Fall begin FAST coursework in the Spring, and students who apply in the Spring begin in the Fall. Students who start the B.A. as first-year students usually apply in the Spring of the junior year, and transfer students in their second semester at East Bay.

The application includes the materials required for the M.A. in Music:

  1. A curriculum vitae (CV) or résumé.
  2. 2 letters of recommendation, from teachers or colleagues who can assess the student’s readiness for graduate study.
  3. A statement of purpose (2 pages) describing the student’s objectives for a graduate degree in music and short- and long-term goals.
  4. Evidence of the student’s abilities in the area of emphasis, as set out under M.A. in Music on the How to Apply page.

The FAST application form has a checklist of everything to send and the form students fill in. Students send it all in one email to ines.thiebaut@csueastbay.edu, and recommenders email their letters to the same address by the same deadline.

The Graduate Coordinator emails a decision by the end of week 9. For each admitted student, the Graduate Coordinator files the university FAST Application Form, the student and the Graduate Coordinator approve it, and the Office of the Registrar moves the student onto the FAST academic plan. Admission takes effect when the form is approved.

Start with the B.A.

FAST is for students already in the B.A. in Music. Students who aren’t yet music majors apply to the B.A. in Music first and follow its application process. Once in the B.A. and meeting the FAST eligibility requirements, they apply to FAST.

Roadmaps and double-counted courses

The FAST 4+1 roadmap lists the courses for each semester across the undergraduate and graduate years. Transfer students follow the FAST 2+1 transfer roadmap, which is for the upper-division B.A. and the M.A. across 3 years. Each roadmap has a plan for students entering in a fall A (even years) and one for students entering in a fall B (odd years).

In the two blended semesters, students take graduate courses alongside their last undergraduate courses, and up to 12 units count toward both degrees:

  • MUS 661–668 Graduate Applied Study (2 units in each blended semester, 4 units).
  • The four M.A. seminars of the blended year (2 units each, 8 units):
    • Students whose blended year starts in a fall A take MUS 601 Analysis of Musical Styles: Birth and Death of Tonality and MUS 603 Entrepreneurship in the Arts in the first blended semester, and MUS 605 History and Theory of Jazz and MUS 606 Interdisciplinary Collaboration in Music in the second.
    • Students whose blended year starts in a fall B take MUS 602 Analysis of Musical Styles: Post-Tonality and Beyond and MUS 630 Advanced Conducting in the first, and MUS 604 Sounding Justice: Unveiling the Ecological and Social Dimensions of Music and MUS 631 Teaching Music in Higher Education in the second.

These units replace undergraduate electives. In the blended year, students take an undergraduate Major Performing Ensemble, which counts toward the B.A. only.

In each semester of the graduate year, students take 10 units: two M.A. seminars, Graduate Applied Study (2 units), Ensemble(s) (2 units), and MUS 693 Capstone (2 units). The M.A. is complete at the end of the graduate year.

Once in FAST

FAST students meet with the Graduate Coordinator every semester. The full FAST rules are in section 08 of the Undergraduate Handbook:

The Office of Graduate Studies describes FAST programs across the university on its FAST programs page.

Questions

Contact the Graduate Coordinator, Inés Thiebaut, at ines.thiebaut@csueastbay.edu or 510-885-3126, in MB 2012.