Initially, the school's concept was vocational, with a mission of providing students with real world skills in which to earn a living in the music industry.

The vocational school began with six instructors and 200 private lesson students in a 3,000 square foot space within the Minneapolis warehouse district on Washington Avenue.

The school's graduation and employment record was fairly unimpressive, but there are several ex-MSCM students who have carved out successful and creative lives in the music and audio world.

In 2005, the reorganized McNally Smith College of Music, moved away from vocational training to more become a traditional liberal arts school with higher tuition and dramatically more administrative overhead.

‘We fully understand the awkwardness and unfairness of this request,’ he wrote in the email to employees.” [7] Faculty and staff were not given a hint of notice before the sudden announcement and were not offered any opportunity to assist in preventing the school's closing.