Prior to registering for graduate-level coursework (usually immediately before the beginning of the fall or spring term), entering Regular Graduate Students should expect to receive diagnostic exams in the following areas:
- Music History: All Regular Graduate Students will be given a diagnostic exam in music history to determine whether Graduate Music History Survey, MUH 601 has to be taken as a required music history course.
- Music Theory: All Regular Graduate Students will be examined in music theory. This examination will determine placement. Review of undergraduate transcripts will determine which prerequisite courses should be taken to remedy deficiencies.
- Diction: All entering graduate Vocal Performance majors must pass an examination in Italian, French, German, and English lyric diction. If they do not pass, they must enroll in diction and receive a passing grade in the course or audit the portion(s) of the diction course(s) in which they are deficient and pass an appropriate exam.
- Keyboard: Non-keyboard majors who have not satisfied a keyboard requirement equivalent to that for a Converse Bachelor of Music alumni in their undergraduate programs will be required to fulfill the undergraduate piano requirement at Converse. During initial advisement sessions, students are informed of the resulting placements and deficiencies, which may be implemented on an advisory or a mandatory basis, depending on the student's performance.
Deficiency courses are specified by area examiners after study of the undergraduate transcript and the results of the placement examinations. An undergraduate degree whose curriculum agrees with NASM guidelines is generally taken as an acceptable standard for this evaluation. Undergraduate-level courses may be taken by the graduate student to remedy deficiencies. While their satisfactory completion is required for graduation, the course hours involved neither apply toward the degree program, nor are they considered in arriving at the student's graduate grade point average. In most cases, the passing of the undergraduate course will remove the deficiency. In other cases, undergraduate participation may be used as a review prior to second administration of the placement examination.