Concordia University Music (BFA) admission requirements: C+ cut-off, theory test and an audition or portfolio

Concordia's Ontario rules ask for a high school diploma with at least six Grade 12 U or M courses, including English 4U, or Français 4U if you attend a French school. For the BFA, Concordia lists no other required courses. That includes Music.

BC students need at least four approved Grade 12 academic subjects, including English 12, English Studies 12 or English 12 First Peoples. Plan your courses in our course planner.

The Music page lists a minimum cut-off of C+ for high school applicants, a DEC for CEGEP students and 26 for the IB diploma. Concordia's grading table puts C+ at 67 to 69% for Ontario and most other provinces.

Concordia says cut-offs are indicators, they can change with the applicant pool, and meeting them doesn't guarantee admission. It doesn't publish the average of admitted music students. Your audition or portfolio matters too. Check your marks with our Top 6 average calculator, and see our Concordia acceptance rate page for school-wide data.

Apply to Concordia online first. Then build your music admissions package in Slideroom. Don't email files. You share your musical background and take a basic music literacy test. For the Major in Music, you also send a video audition, a creative portfolio, or both. Concordia says both are valued equally.

If you want private lessons on your instrument, you need an audition. You can apply with a portfolio and audition later, once admitted. A non-jazz audition is at least three pieces, each in its own video, with you and your instrument fully in frame. The whole recording can't run over 15 minutes. Composers may play one of their own works and send scores.

A creative portfolio can hold songs, tracks or pieces you composed or produced, with scores, lyrics or screenshots of your music software sessions.

Concordia's calendar says applicants to Composition and Production, and to every Electroacoustic program, must submit a portfolio of their own work. For electroacoustic portfolios, you must say if a piece was a group project and name your role. You must also say whether you recorded your own sounds.

Keep every track, song and score you send yours, and be honest about who did what.

The calendar says all Major in Music applicants must complete theory and ear-training placement tests. The music admissions page calls the harmony and ear-training tests optional for the Major and requires only the basic music literacy test. Plan to do all of them.

The Music program page says you may move into the Performance or Composition specializations after first year. The admissions page lets you apply straight into them. Ask music@concordia.ca which route fits you.

The Music page lists March 1 as the fall deadline for the application and for the music admissions package. It doesn't print the year. U.S. and international students should apply by February 1 for immigration paperwork. There's no winter entry.

Concordia says it may keep taking late applications for some programs, and it can close a program after the deadline without notice. Compare dates on our Canadian deadlines page.

The Major in Music is 54 credits inside a BFA of 90 to 120 credits. Required courses include MUSI 202 and 203 Aural Perception Fundamentals, MUSI 204 and 205 Harmony Fundamentals, MHIS 205 Music, Sound and Society, and MUSI 351 Analysis. You finish with MUSI 321 Managing a Career in Music and MUSI 402 Capstone Seminar and Project.

Concordia says students can perform in the University or Chamber Choir and contemporary music ensembles, and present a capstone project in their final year. Upper-level paths lead to songwriting or composing for image and media.

Concordia's Fine Arts calendar lists a co-op program for art history and C.Edge (Career Edge) options for film, design and computation arts. It lists none for music. The Music page's note for U.S. students also mentions a version with no co-operative education. Plan on performances and the capstone, not paid work terms.

Concordia charges per credit. For Fall 2026 and Winter 2027, Quebec residents pay $103.92 per credit. Canadians from outside Quebec admitted from Fall 2024 on pay $432.85 per credit, which includes a $328.93 government forfaitaire. International Fine Arts students pay $1010.00 per credit.

Our estimate, not a Concordia figure: 30 credits a year cost about $12,985.50 at the out-of-province rate and $30,300 at the international rate. Concordia's cost page puts tuition and compulsory fees for new out-of-province students at $15,080 a year, based on 2026 data.

The Concordia Undergraduate Excellence Award is $4,000, guaranteed, with no separate application. For Fall 2027 entry you must be a Canadian citizen or permanent resident with an A or A+ average, and study full time with at least 12 credits a term. Concordia's chart puts an A at 85 to 89% in Ontario.

See our scholarship finder for more awards.

Pick the Major in Music for the most flexibility across performing, writing and producing. Pick Jazz Studies if you play jazz and want an audition-based specialization. Pick Electroacoustic Studies if you design sound or make electronic music. Concordia says the portfolio is the most important part of that application.

Compare other schools on our McGill Music and U of T Music pages.

Out-of-province tuition in Quebec is far above the Quebec rate, so budget with the $432.85 per credit figure. Montreal rent adds a lot. Concordia's cost page shows full yearly estimates.

Read our Concordia guide for campus and residence context.