At the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music students may pursue many directions of study. Some of these may lead to a career in music, and some may provide an excellent liberal-arts education useful for careers in business, law, medicine, and many other fields.

 A career in music composition can be pursued in the Department of Music, which has B.A., M.A. and Ph.D degrees in composition of concert music and music for film and visual media and in the Jazz Studies concentration of the B.A. in Ethnomusicology.

The School offers an unusually rich array of General Education courses for nonmajors interested in exploring a fascinating array of questions concerning the history and cultural life of music. Previous musical training is not necessary for these courses. All the concepts students need to think intelligently about music are taught in the course.

 A career in Music Education is a possible direction for students in the Department of Music.

The School offers a host of opportunities for students interested in the performance of music, whether as part of their undergraduate major, in the Master of Music (M.M.) and Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA) degree programs, or as an elective course or extracurricular activity.

Undergraduate students majoring in Ethnomusicology, Music, and Musicology have the opportunity to take courses in Music Industry and Technology to prepare them for a career in those fields.

The School has exceptionally strong degree programs for students interested in research and scholarship, taught by some of the most renowned music scholars in the world. The B.A. degrees in the Departments of Ethnomusicology and Musicology provide excellent preparation for graduate work, and M.A. and Ph.D. degrees holders have been notably successful at finding teaching positions in colleges and universities at home and abroad.