A survey was conducted to determine the ways in which various factors help in the achievement of status for the three types of music faculty (performance, theory and history, and music education). A questionnaire was sent to 207 full-time music faculty members in six state-supported university schools/departments of music. A response rate of 54.6% was obtained. Questionnaire items dealt with academic rank, the education of a faculty member, performance or compositional reputation, scholarly reputation, and the ability to teach and attract students. Results included the following: (1) performers in the music school believed that status is best achieved by one's performance ability, scholarly reputation, the ability to attract students, having a number of successful students, and by a performance reputation; (2) theorists-historians in the music school believed that having a number of commissions to compose original works, an ability to attract students, one's academic rank, performance reputation, and having one's performances reviewed by prominent critics help most to achieve status; and (3) music educators in universities believed that research, scholarly reputation, an ability to attract grant money, number of publications, serving on editorial boards, and academic rank helped most to achieve status. 6 references. (KM)