A plus schools for B to Bplus student recommendations

College Search & Selection
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This one is so different in profile from my oldest that we feel that we are starting this search from scratch. Please help!

DS is in HS class of 2020 plans to attend college in 2020 fall Lives outside Philadelphia

Desired major : Undecided, has a passion for acting, enjoys creative writing, has verbalized interest in theater/acting, creative writing, film/tv/communications, political science, philosophy, pre law, education. He also likes sciences. Said maybe he will become "Jo No the Science Bro "after Bill Nye the Science Guy retires. (JoNo is a combination of his first and last name)

Extracurricular: class president 3 years in a row, performed lead in non musical this year (Mortimer in Arsenic and old Lace) sings in select choir, school newspaper editor, improv club, will be an Eagle scout this year if all goes well, holds a part time job at local Grub Burger in the front room taking orders, waiting tables etc. trains coworkers. Lots of leadership and volunteer work. He was in concert band through freshman year…plays drums, piano and is currently self teaching le guitar…to basic proficiency…and ran track through 9th grade ( also proficient,) A “jack of all trades…” Very social.

3.42 Weighted GPA . should be up a bit over 3.5 by year end. Intellectually curious kid. . All honors and AP classes. Just coming into his own academically and improved work habits and focus, and thus grades are up in 11th grade so far. top third of class of 600.

PSAT 620, 620 for 1240…sitting for SAT in May. Would expect about 1300…He MAY do even better as he is doing practice tests for this one, and is taking it seriously. Will sit again in fall if he needs to. We will see.

He is just starting to visit and up in the air about preferences re desired college characteristics. He did say he’d prefer to stay on the East Coast, and initially 3 hours from our home near Philadelphia, as he is tired of the trip up to Worcester, Mass. to get his brother, which is 5 hours away. However, I did point out that some schools near airport hubs are not too difficult to get to, so he MAY be open to a more broad geographical range: I was thinking of having him look at KU, for instance in Lawrence…close to KC for an airport and near relatives, if he ends up liking large universities. active college town,theater, positive school spirit, etc.

Some preferences that he did mention:

  1. Active performance arts community open to involvement even if not a theater major, say a minor
  2. Ability to double major in acting/theater with another major or minor in acting. flexibility to combine classes of interest and change majors if necessary as he is undecided.
  3. Near or in a vibrant town or a city.
  4. Attractive campus with some green ( he does like the outdoors too, hiking, camping, kayaking, biking etc. )
  5. A greek life or perhaps a small campus that is tight knit. I think he just wants a lot of campus involvement and pride. He did say he'd like to do intramural sports and have sports teams students are excited to follow no matter what division though.
  6. He likes the beach too, but a beach location is not essential, but desired if possible. ( his college address may end up to be in Narnia or Oz!!)
  7. "nice dorms and good food" not necessarily in that order.
  8. diverse student body.
  9. Travel abroad opportunities encouraged.

He has toured Muhlenberg and Temple so far. He has not nixed either one. Loved the predominance of performing art majors and that vibe at Muhlenberg, but said that it is “probably too small” and didn’t love the suburban location with not much around the college. He LOVED the diversity and energy at Temple and several programs out of their performing arts department and ability to combine with other studies. Down side is " not enough green on campus and crowded" Not keen on the exact location in N. Philly but impressed with security. “may be too big”: Likes the Owls and the school spirit. And also really liked the diversity not only in terms of color, but interests ……" There are blue haired kids with nose rings hanging out at the food trucks with preppy jocks"

So if you have made it through my very long post. First I thank you for your time!!! And now that you know this student a bit, any suggestions re schools that we should check out are immensely appreciated. We have another in college during this one’s first year. We did not qualify for any FAFSA for the first. Luckily he earned significant merit scholarship that made his college doable for us. Expenses are a big consideration as we can’t count on such merit scholarship for my second. Thank you!!

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One last note: My DS originally only wanted to look at NYC, but has since changed his tune. He is not at all excluding it, but is open to other areas. We will be looking at Drew in a couple of weeks in NJ, and Rutgers New Brunswick. He will be visiting a friend at Hofstra, and I believe was thinking of checking out Adelphi? He will see Fordham if he does well on his SATs , but it would likely be pricy for us. Also , I need to correct: PSATs were 640 in Math and 600 in writing, not 620/620. However in terms of his demonstrated class work and other standardized tests over the years, he really is typically about even, He enjoys creative writing much more than mathematics. PSATs were taken cold, no preparation at all. His guidance councilor expects that he will score a 1300, possibly higher, in May, with the preparation he is doing . Thanks again for any advice re schools that could be a fit for him.

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He has a tall list LOL. My first thoughts were Muhlenberg (which has been nixed already) Skidmore and perhaps Bard (which all may be too small as well).

I do want to mention that at Fordham the acting major is by audition only and is housed at the Lincoln Center campus. Not sure if a theater minor requires an audition. I believe there are outlets for non-theater major/minors to perform especially in smaller venues on the Rose Hill campus but you would need to research and understand exactly what is available.

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Lol! I am hoping that after we visit a few more, and he continues to talk to adult friends with varying careers, teachers, his councilor and his own on line research, he will be able to focus his list. I don’t know that any of our wardrobes are a passageway to his dream college in Narnia, after all! He did NOT nix Muhlenberg. He really liked it. I was just listing positives and negatives that he mentioned after the visit. He did not nix Muhlenberg or Temple, but liked each for different reasons. He liked the predominance of performing arts students at M, and a less elitist vibe than some private schools he visited when he came along on his older brother’s tours in 2016/17. He hasn’t seen anything else yet. They may be nixed when he does visit others, maybe not. We will have to wait and see. He found Skidmore in his own search, but then after reading reviews on line himself and looking over their website. He did nix that one. Too rural, and I think he mentioned that he thought it would have " a lot of entitled kids?" I can’t remember. I do know that he is not interested in Skidmore. Thanks for the information re Fordham. He will be working on a monologue this summer to submit to acting programs that require or suggest them, and is willing to audition. He really needs to decide how serious he wants to be about the acting. If it turns out to be his dream, we’d support the major choice, (prefer a minor though) and I think he should see where it takes him, I would encourage a BA vs a BFA I think, as looking over a few course requirements, I think the BA would provide a more broad education, and ability to minor, maybe double major. The arts provide skills that really could be transferred to business, law, communications and more, and at the minimum, he will have a life long hobby that he thoroughly enjoys, so we do support the renaissance man, but also we encourage him to include some practicality in his plans. I think he would benefit from a medium sized ( per his reaction to the size of Muhlenberg) liberal arts school that has a general studies program for all students freshman year. Also smaller classes that encourage discussion are right up his alley. He took an AP “seminar” class this year that included a week or so long segment in which the kids sat in a circle and discussed , led by a teacher, but not lectured to…Joe just lit up and talked about this while it was going on. It really increased his enthusiasm for scholarly endeavors. So I do think he would thrive in a school in which there are less large lecture classes and more small class room experiences. I’ll have him look at Bard on line for his impressions.Thanks.

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Yikes! I don’t think my son looked at Bard yet. I just did. It is a GORGEOUS campus and is pretty much exactly the situation that I described above that I think would be so beneficial to him!! However the 70,000 plus tuition , room and board, on top of being close enough to go on weekend excursions to NYC and other places would make this a big financial stretch for us, especially with my oldest still in college for number 2s first year.

6

I think Bard may well be too far away from a big city for him.

And I do agree about a BA being a good path if he does the acting route. FWIW the Fordham Lincoln Center campus is quite small (a city block) but it is a defined campus and there is some green space.

Good luck in your search.

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I love Bard. LOVE. It’s worth looking into how much FA they give.

8

Drew would be a solid solution for an arts-oriented student, in conjunction with their other academic options.
Other non-BFA schools with good Theater programs that you might also want to consider in addition to Muhlenberg and Skidmore would include Goucher, Willamette (west coast, sorry…), Marymount Manhattan, American and Bennington.

Here’s the OnStage top 25 Theater BA list:
https://www.onstageblog.com/onstage-blog-news/2018/9/5/the-top-25-ba-theatre-programs-for-2018-19

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Texas State in San Marcos, Texas. Check out the musical theater program. Pretty campus in a nice town. Not far from San Antonio. I’m sure this is an outlier suggestion!

10

Sarah Lawrence, Ithaca?

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I just perused another closed thread from 2015 looking for east coast schools similar to Bard and SLU. Saint Lawrence is on my sons list to look at too. I am looking forward to seeing what he thinks of Drew in the next couple of weeks. Only an hour and 15 from our home, 30 from NYC with some interesting NYC semester programs. Non audition drama program. Shakespeare theater of NJ I think may be on the campus. May be too small for him. We will see. Also in the other thread Ohio schools, Oberlin, Denison, Wooster may be of interest, especially if they are in or close to a thriving town. I’ll have to look them up. Kenyon too, but may be even more of a reach with son’s GPA. Also Goucher was mentioned. Schools such as Bard, Connecticut College, Saint Lawrence, Skidmore, in the NE seem to have a reputation either as skewing preppy or more artsy. My son is a mix! Not a jock dressed only in sports gear, or an exclusive wearer of button down shirts, shorts and Vans, but also doesn’t wear all black and don a scarf. lol! He is a bit of a chameleon. He has friends in all different groups at school and is very adaptable. He has very good friends in theater and chorus, but also wrestling and basketball. Honors students in his classes are his friends, and he gets along well with the people from management to kitchen pot scrubbers at his part time job at Grub Burger too. He attends a larger public high school in a relatively socioeconomically diverse area. There are some wealthy students from homes with tennis courts/pool and a carriage house, and some students receiving a free breakfast at school. I think he’d miss the diversity at some of these schools. Theater and chorus for boys and boy scouts are NOT generally considered " cool" activities at our local HS , and yet somehow he was elected class president. He has no problem delivering singing Valentines telegrams in classrooms to other students with other choir members and then hanging with some athletic friends, and attending the games ( Sports involvement is the considered “cool”) Now that I think of it, maybe I should encourage him to pursue politics since he seems to be able to unite divergent groups. But what school is a fit for him? That will be a challenge! Are there any suggestions for VA, Md, DC maybe NC or SC?

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Ithaca College, which my younger son attends, has a Writing for TV, Film, and Emerging Media. He was a B student with a high SAT score. McDaniel College is in MD, 30-40 minutes from Baltimore. Our oldest is there; the students seem very down to earth from what I’ve seen. His roomate is an acting major from NJ.

13

Not east coast but what about DePaul in Chicago? Definite campus in good neighborhood, theatre and communication majors, small classes, big school spirit. And can even go to the beach on Lake Michigan.

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He may consider it a step down academically, but he should at least go tour Montclair.

Temple- my 2018 hs grad would agree not enough green, but the new constitution/ renovations is adding green space. Look into the timeline of this work before dismissing it.

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SUNY New Paltz interesting because of its proximity to New York City and active theater and art components. New Paltz jumped a lot in son’s ranking after he visited it and talked to students. I also think should consider looking at it again CUNY judging by your description of your son particularly Lehman and City Colleges. What about Syracuse University or SUNY Purchase College?

16

As a male, he’ll have a lot more choices, especially at the LACs.

He should look at Coastal Carolina (beach and not too rural) and UNC which has a separate arts school. A co-worker’s son went there and loved it, and he turned down Williams and a lot of other schools to go there (full scholarship).

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Longhaul, Temple offers so much that my son is looking for that it that it is on his list to apply. When we toured I think we were told that it is scheduled to be complete before fall of 2020 but he will check. He is going to go back a second time; maybe a few times with friends as it is only a 20 minute train ride from our suburban station. Many from his HS go there and I don’t know one who is unhappy with their choice. Just rode past it last night coming home from a night out with my husband seeing a Broadway Philadelphia show at the Academy of Music. Temple campus is not surrounded by the best of Philly, but I have to say that they sure have it well lit! Their security is impressive. And I noticed that the stretch on Broad between Temple and City Hall looks like it is making a come back. I wouldn’t at all mind if my youngest stays close to home either, but I am keeping that to myself. If he decides that he’d like the atmosphere of a large university then then Temple will most likely be on his list to apply. Is your son an Owl?

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Acrpocouscp, Syracuse is on our list to visit. We haven’t looked into the SUNY system yet.

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Longhaul. Montclair is on his list to visit, due to the location, but I don’t think he knows much more about it than that. I don’t. What stood out about it to you?

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Oh wait, it was Monmouth on his list due to the beach location! A quick search on Montclair , only 12 miles from NYC …has a discovery program for “undecided.” Reasonable tuition. Worth a more thorough look. thanks.