Hey y’all, I’m a high school senior looking for a smallish- LAC, preferably less than an hour from an urban area. I’m looking to double major in vocal performance and a language. I’d also prefer something not in the South (too close to home), with a fair bit of diversity (especially religious).
I’m visiting St. Olaf in a few weeks, as I’m pretty sure that it’s going to be one of my top choices.
My list also includes:
Macalester
Grinnell
Coe
DePauw
Bard
Oberlin
ACT: 29 (retaking it this month)
GPA: 4.0 (aside from junior year, but even then it was still a 3.878)
I took honors classes freshman year, and dual enrolled from junior year on- I have 21+ credit hours completed.
If anyone has any advice or recs, I’d totally appreciate it!!
Lawrence University in Wisconsin.
Williams and Wesleyan in addition to your well-thought-out list, @emeraldjinn .
You may know this already, but combining music performance with a humanities major is more likely to be a double degree (a BM or Bachelor of Music + a BA) rather than a double major at many schools, and often will take 5 years because you have to fulfill all the School of Music requirements as well as the school of arts and sciences requirements and there may not be much overlap. A BA in Music is easier to combine with a humanities discipline but most BA Music programs are very different from a typical BM performance program. Every school is different, though.
Go to the Music Major forum here at CC and look for a sticky thread called The Double Degree Dilemma which gives a detailed explanation of the different ways to study music and the different types of programs that are out there. The parents and students in that forum will have some good suggestions, I’m sure.
Check out Tufts. Good program with NEC. A bit bigger and more urban than most of your list, but worth a look. Fully agree that Lawrence is a good option.
@marvin100 thanks for recommending Williams- it looks like it’ll be another serious contender for me. Also, @gardenstategal, thanks for mentioning Tufts; I thought it might be more of a reach for me, but it’s definitely worth keeping in mind.
Williams College is every bit as selective as Tufts, FYI.
Tufts and Williams will be challenging with your current ACT score. I am not sure what the program is (or whether students have accessed resources in Philadelphia outside school ) but students I know who were exceptional musicians ended up at Bryn Mawr/Haverford. BMC might be a fit.
Muhlenberg might be a good fit for you – diverse, scores are on target, nice music programs, happy school
Also perhaps consider the colleges in the Five College Consortium. Smith and Mt. Holyoke might be good choices for you. The consortium also includes UMass Amherst and Amherst and Hampshire.
Wooster might also be a good choice.
My daughter turned down Macalester and Grinnell because she was not satisfied with their music programs. Oberlin-(and possibly Lawrence though can’t remember) for access to music you’d have to apply to the conservatory (though not quite sure how this works for vocal performance). St Olaf is probably your best fit. You might want to check out Brandeis-I think their music program is decent. I also agree with Smith and Mt Holyoke. Smith probably has the stronger music department of the two but In the 5 college consortium you can access so much. My D is a cellist with interest in conducting down the road and she is at Mt Holyoke but has access to classes at all 5 schools.
My son’s two high school friends and former fellow youth symphony musicians are currently at St. Olaf and in its orchestra, which is ranked top 20 best college orchestras in the nation. Both are very happy with their experiences at St. Olaf, musically and academically.
Thank you everybody for all of your advice! I toured St. Olaf last week, and I fell in love. I’m going to be applying early decision (haven’t decided which round yet), and everybody’s advice here definitely played a part in that.
Coe is on the OP’s list, so maybe she/he would consider Luther College. Coe is a nice LAC in IA that never gets mentioned on these boards because few have even heard of it. Luther College is probably a bit better known. It’s also in IA and has a terrific music program. Several posts mention St. Olaf. Hint: the Lutheran colleges value music! 
Good luck, @emeraldjinn. One of my nieces attended St. Olaf and was happy with her experience there.
My DD just graduated from the College of Wooster with a BAchelors of Music in Theory and Composition. It was initially suggested to us here on CC! I can’t say enough good things about the education she received. She received full tuition w/ full assistantship grad school offers at some fantastic universities known for their music programs, like FSU - she truly had tough decisions to make! At her grad school interviews everywhere, her profs were known and respected. And she is quite excited to meet up with her undergrad profs at a conference next week.
Additionally, she also had a 29 ACT (with a strong GPA and academic rigor) when she applied to Wooster - she still received a significant academic scholarship from them and also a music scholarship, making it affordable.
ETA: you will definitely find it quite difficult to double major if you’re looking at a B.M. It’s an intense and time-consuming major, even if you can find a college willing to take many of your DE credits.