Sorry it this gets a little long. Our situation is a bit complex. My daughter is a junior in HS. She is an average student in terms of grades (but scored a 1320 on the PSAT - taking the SAT in March) so we aren’t shooting for a top tier school. Frustrating because until she began losing her vision at age 10, she was ahead of her peers academically - she went through a lot emotionally as well as losing time in school due to surgeries.
Anyway, she has played the Irish harp since the age of 6 but does not want to major in music - rather she wants to go for Sound Design/Audio Engineering (more for TV, Film, and Radio than for music recording). The top schools for this are out of our range financially (we won’t qualify for much aid or needs based scholarships) and due to her grades, she wouldn’t get in anyway (NYU, Carnegie Mellon, Berklee to name a few). We are from NJ and she is nervous about being far from her eye doctors but I am trying to get her to branch out and not let her fear get in the way if the program is right for her.
We are looking at the following programs:
Montclair State (her top choice right now)
Savannah College of Art and Design
Five Towns
Columbia College of Chicago
Rowan University
SUNY Fredonia
Emerson
William Paterson
Can anyone offer any advice given our situation? Anyone have knowledge of the schools on our list? Thank you for any help you can provide.
I thought I put this in there but to clarify - she still has some vision but is borderline legally blind.
My son is a sophomore at Rowan right now. He is loving it, but I don’t know anything about that particular major. For education, the class sizes are small (never had more than 30 in a class); I think her major would be the same - the engineering is where you run into trouble. Academically, I think it has a better rep than WP and Montclair, but I know a few kids very happy at Montclair. I believe WP is a large commuter population, so not sure if that would impact your decision. Good luck!
Thanks so much…ironically my husband is an adjunct professor at Rowan so my kids are not thrilled about going to the same college he works at. She is actually doing a summer program there where she will stay on campus but he will actually be there so she really doesn’t need to (we are within driving distance obviously). She LOVED Montclair for her major and its proximity to NYC (for internship opportunities) but I worry about her getting in. We love the price since it is in-state. I just want her to have some other colleges on her list. WP is low on our list since I haven’t heard as good things about it. Thanks again! I went to Rowan for education as did my husband and it was a great program - good luck to your son!
I have a relative studying musical theater at SUNY Fredonia. I think SUNY Purchase is also a destination for theater arts, including theater design/technology.
@amymariemom23 my husband and I both went to Rowan for education! We might know each other!! LOL Class of '91, both of us!
I don’t think she’ll have any problem with Montclair - my son had probably below average GPA (B’s, C’s, no honors or APs) and a 1200 (I think maybe a few points lower) and he was accepted to every in state option. If she’s not doing engineering, I think she’ll be good.
@NJWrestlingmom We probably do! Small world. That is great to hear about getting into Montclair. We went for a tour (of course our first one) and she fell in love. Most sound design programs are focused on the music part rather than film, tv and radio and Montclair’s appears to fit that.