Zippia Ranks Catawba College #2 in N.C. among Top Colleges for Music Majors

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Catawba College is ranked number 2 among the Top Colleges for Music Majors in North Carolina and is the only private college included in this top five list created by Zippia, a website dedicated to helping people find and pursue the right career. Catawba trails only UNC Chapel Hill in the Top Colleg...

Catawba College is ranked number 2 among the Top Colleges for Music Majors in North Carolina and is the only private college included in this top five list created by Zippia, a website dedicated to helping people find and pursue the right career.

Catawba trails only UNC Chapel Hill in the Top Colleges for Music Majors in N.C., and is followed by UNC Wilmington in the number 3 slot, Western Carolina University at number 4, and Appalachian State at number 5. To view the rankings, visit www.zippia.com.

One Catawba alumnus, Chris Williams (aka YUNG Citizen), who majored in Music Business and graduated in 2012, credits his undergraduate preparation for his success in the music industry.

“Catawba College was nothing but wonderful to me. I had the best time of my life as a Music major, specifically in Music Business,” Williams shared. “The faculty prepared us mentally for the real world when it came to the music industry. The music industry is very cutthroat and you have to have a ‘hustle mentality’ and Dr. David Fish (the founder of Catawba’s Popular Music program at the college) was able to teach us that.


 YUNG Citizen
(Chris Williams '12)

“Since then, I've had that mentality and I’ve had numerous of performances, performances at SXSW Music Festival, and I've had major production placements with major artists. But none of that would have happened if Dr. Fish wouldn't have taught us that mentality. I've learned that success is 80% mental and 20% talent.

“Dr. Fish taught us that anything possible as long as you do not give up. I can't thank Catawba College enough for their guidance. And I can't forget the Music professors there who taught Music Theory, Music History and Aural Skills. I am able to find any song in the key it is in. Dr. Chamberlain, Dr. Etters, and Dr. McCachren were wonderful!”

Williams returns to his alma mater for a Homecoming October 13-14. He will teach an alumni college class, “Popular Music Sessions with YUNG Citizen,” between 3:30 and 4:30 p.m. Friday, October 13. That same evening from 8-9 p.m., he will be the showcase in an Artist Development Program (ADP) concert entitled “Live Sessions with YUNG Citizen Featuring High Atis” in Hoke Hall on campus.

Follow Williams as YUNG Citizen at www.yungcitizen.com or twitter.com/yungcitizen.

When it came to identifying the best Music schools, Zippia looked at the data on how schools performed and compared schools to one another. Data from the NCES (National Center For Education Statistics) and College Scorecard data from ED.gov was reviewed to understand what Music departments offer the best career opportunities. The criteria used to create the Music Quality Index and the final rankings included:

  • Career Results
    • Mean Earnings After 6 Years
    • Mean Earnings After 10 Years
    • Ratio of people working to not working after 10 years
  • Music Emphasis
    • Percentage of Graduating Class That Are Music Majors (Larger the better)
  • School Performance
    • Admissions Rate (More selective the better)
    • Graduation Rate
    • Average Cost Of Attendance (Lower is better)
    • Median amount of debt

The school with the best score for each of the criteria above ('1' being the best in any given criteria) or on Zippia’s collective Music Quality Index earned the distinction of being the Best College for Music Majors in each state.

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