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Lauren McDonald

 Headshot of Lauren McDonald.

Senior Assistant Director for Enrollment Management, School of Music

(301) 405-5031

2110F The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center
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Lauren McDonald is the Senior Assistant Director for Enrollment Management, charged with overseeing the recruitment, application, audition and admission process for both undergraduate and graduate programs at the School of Music. Despite fondness for her birth-state of Connecticut, she nonetheless claims native status in the great state of Maryland. 

A graduate of the Hartt School of the Performing Arts at the University of Hartford (summa cum laude), McDonald earned her Bachelor of Music with a major in voice under Fredric Moses. After graduation, she taught middle school chorus and general music in Anne Arundel county before pursuing graduate studies at James Madison University. There, she was awarded a graduate assistantship in the areas of technology, graduate admissions, and opera, and received her Master of Music degree in voice under Dr. In Dal Choi. 

After graduating from JMU, McDonald went on to join the Admissions office at Peabody Conservatory, where she held several positions of increasing responsibility, ultimately holding the title of Associate Director of Admissions. During her time at Peabody, she was responsible for modernizing admissions processes and overseeing Peabody's Audition week, which regularly brought thousands of visitors to campus every February. After eight cycles, the time came to move on and accept her current post at the University of Maryland School of Music in 2019. 

Despite her busy career in higher education, McDonald is still an active professional chorister and soloist. She is currently a Vocal Fellow with the Baltimore Choral Arts Society, and a frequent freelancer with local performing organizations and churches.