<p>MomofWildChild,</p>
<p>I just looked at Rice's website and the music school indeed looks very impressive. Apparently, it's also a very young program but Rice has been willing to put in lots of money into it. Well, money talks and it's a shame that NU's music seems to be stagnant, if not slipping, because the administration hasn't invested enough money into it while sitting on top of a 6-billion-dollar endowment!</p>
<p>I am so sorry to hear that you are unhappy - and I really don't think you should "stick it out." You only get one undergraduate experience.</p>
<p>My son is a freshman on break from Harvey Mudd, and he is absolutely loving going to school there. We actually visited RPI, and found the town and atmosphere to be not for him (old industrial town, too far away from any city for a city boy).</p>
<p>Mudd seems to be very lively and also hardworking. Lots and lots of pranks - it's part of the culture there. He is so impressed with all of the professors, they are really into their teaching (there are no graduates students; these professors are hired because they know how to/love to teach). He is in the Claremont Orchestra, which is pretty well represented by Scripps and Claremont McKenna. The five campuses are contiguous, so it really is one big campus of about 5,000 or so students. Look into it, it sounds like you have the high grades they would be looking for in a transfer.</p>
<p>Oh, a couple more things: the weather is kind of nice in Claremont! And this year's freshman class is 42% female, it seems quite nicely balanced and Scripps, an all girls school is right next door. The school/classes are small enough that everyone does pretty much know everyone. Surprisingly while I know there are some gamers there (and my son was definitely a WOW person before he went and hasn't subscribed since he's been there) there is really too much other stuff to do to let that become a habit (at least for him). I was very worried about that with his interest in hard sciences and looking at tech schools, but Mudd has lots of people with other interests - including ballroom.</p>
<p>Hanmyo</p>
<p>With a 4.0 at RPI you should be in good stead to transfer to a selective school. Given your interest in a midsized non-tech campus with strong sciences and a diverse social life, I'd strongly recommend reapplying to Northwestern and WashU. I also agree that Rice is an excellent choice and would add Hopkins to the list. Cornell would be another option with its strong physics program, but you'd still be in upstate NY and I don't know how you feel about that. Im focusing on these schools in particular because all take reasonable numbers of transfers. Rice is in the process of gradually expanding its student body by about 30% but I don't know how this will play out in transfer acceptances. You don't mention money except in explaining how you ended up at RPI. Obviously, that may well prove to be a major factor once again.</p>
<p>MWC/Sam Lee:</p>
<p>The poster has secondary interest in a music program but I dont think this should weigh significantly into her decision making. She actually cannot gain entry into Shepherd (Rice) if majoring in anything other than music. Their undergrad program (as MWC knows) is superb but tiny, accepting only about 30 kids a year and very much acts like a conservatory. Rices major performance groups and most music classes are reserved for undergrad and grad music majors. You cannot even minor in music as an undergrad if majoring outside Shepherd. Northwestern's program is small but still 3 times this size. Double majors exist between the music school and Arts and Science and the Engineering School. Minors are available. The instrumental program is a local strength with top teachers recruited from the ranks of the CSO. Performance facilities are excellent. The weak link of the school is its practice facilities. A new music building has been promised for years now, but the president has refused to proceed with the project until he can get a major donor to commit. Rumors suggest that with the recent infusion of 100's of millions of dollars to NU from its Lyrica windfall (drug formulated there) this project will finally happen.</p>
<p>Hope things work out for you Hanmyo. There really are a lot of options out there.</p>