thanks!
Might I also suggest adding Whittier to your list of CA schools. I’ve posted about it (my first post) before, but it was a hidden gem to us. We visited in March and our son fell in love with it (well, and the accessibility to playing tennis in CA). It was a beautiful campus, not too big…not too small, and seemed to have a really supportive student environment. We were pleasantly surprised by this school and are happy he has chosen to go there. Just a suggestion! (Oh, and their FA package was really good!).
Outside of theater, I know SOU is known for their education department. I don’t think it’s too well known for much else, but I could absolutely be wrong.
Western Washington was mentioned by @eandesmom a little while ago, and I was just talking on the phone with a friend of mine whose daughter graduated from there last spring. Her high school GPA was a solid 3.0 and, while I don’t know her test scores, her ECs in high school were pretty theater-oriented. She enjoyed it, but didn’t love it there.
I think you have a good list. D17 applied to Willamette, Lewis & Clark, and USF. She got good merit aid from Willamette and not as good but still decent merit aid from USF and L&C. I wanted to mention that Willamette has a good theater program: http://www.statesmanjournal.com/story/news/2015/02/24/willamette-department-theatre-ranked-best-nation/23965581/
True. We were really impressed by the theater program at Willamette. ^^
Just throwing out to look at Willamette’s theatre scholarship. It’s a bit hidden on their website. My eldest was accepted there with academic merit but also auditioned for and recieved 3k more a year for theatre. You have to participate in theatre but you don’t have to major in it for the scholarship. It didn’t seem particularly competitive compared to what she was used to. She did not end up going there but it’s a lovely school. Just wanted to throw out the additional money opportunity.
Thanks for the input, especially about Willamette. We will be visiting next month and definitely plan to ask about the theater program. 
I don’t know how competitive the theater (acting) scholarship is for majors or non majors at UPS but my son applied for the non major theater tech scholarship and received a 2K award.
Funnily enough he also auditioned for a non major music scholarship and while he didn’t get that scholarship, they admitted him to the music school (he isn’t a music major). It’s been cute actually. Lovely program.
OP here!
I wanted to report back.
My son applied early action and so far has been accepted to:
Willamette
Lewis & Clark
University of Portland
Pacific University
Chapman University
He is waiting on a couple more EA schools and then will probably apply to a few reach schools by the end of the month.
Thank you for all your input. This has been a stressful process but his hard work has truly paid off. He will have a lot of excellent options. He was offered merit scholarships from all schools, ranging from $21k-$24k.
Congrats to Stitchsson! That is great news from some amazing schools. Well done and enjoy the holidays!
On your original list both Chapman, and Lewis and Clark were reaches…and he has been accepted to both.
My opinion…I would carefully look at his acceptance before applying to additional colleges. One of them might be the choice!
Love when OP’s return to update - thanks and congrats!! Happy Holidays made happier with some acceptances in hand!