Thank you for starting this thread! We are in a similar position, sophomore daughter, strong student but not uber-competitive, looking for design major (prob industrial but still exploring), and really wants to do marching band. I started a thread really early back in January that’s been closed now – lots of life happened in the interim, so I haven’t been checking in, lol:
http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/t/building-early-list-industrial-design-plus-marching-band/
I’m grateful for the suggestions on this thread! Baldwin Wallace looks intriguing. Also James Madison University, which someone mentioned on the other thread as well.
Since starting that other thread, daughter has decided that she would really like the big traditional marching band experience, and doesn’t really want to settle for only scramble band or pep band. So that eliminates quite a few schools. But, she hates the idea of a band so competitive that she might not get a spot after committing and attending band camp.
I think Virginia Tech might fall into that category? I’m not sure. We’re talking about Appalachian State, NC State, Tulane (which my older daughter was waitlisted at with amazing stats, so it’d be a far reach), and now James Madison.
Georgia Tech is in-state for us, but even if she could get in, I think the vibe might be a little too intense. And she knows several kids who are in the band there – they tend to quit after a couple of years because the schoolwork is too time-consuming, and because no one goes to the football games, so it’s not so much fun for the band.