<p>I am starting the college search with my son who is a serious cello player but also wants to study history, psych and neuroscience. He needs an excellent music program with opportunity to play in an orchestra. He also wants to study academics seriously. He wants an intellectual environment and a small to medium school, away from a big city. Any suggestions?</p>
<p>I’d recommend one of the Claremont colleges, if he’s willing to come out west. </p>
<p>[Pomona</a> College Orchestra](<a href=“http://www.music.pomona.edu/orchestra/]Pomona”>http://www.music.pomona.edu/orchestra/)</p>
<p>(The music director is a cello player. 
)</p>
<p>Look at the 5-year double degree program at Oberlin College and Conservatory (B.A. and B.M.). If that’s too much, see if he’s interested in a 4-year B.A. from Oberlin College, or a 4-year B.M. from the Conservatory. Oberlin is a small town located 40 minutes from Cleveland.</p>
<p>Another choice: Eastman School of Music at the University of Rochester, in upstate NY.</p>
<p>How strong are his academics? MIT has great music opportunities for students. At Yale, there are tons of musical groups for undergrads (who are not music majors). </p>
<p>DD majored in engineering and played in her college orchestra and took oboe/English horn lessons all four years at Santa Clara. </p>
<p>We know some string players that went to Haverford and played in one of the college consortium orchestras.</p>
<p>Bard College fits the bill. Strong academics, many students in the college are excellent musicians and take lessons for free. There is also a conservatory which offers a 5 year double degree. The biggest complaint about Bard is that it’s “away from the city,” so it might be a good match!</p>
<p>Other options might be Vassar, Williams or SKidmore.</p>
<p>Try a private message to Mythmom. If I recall correctly, her son began studying a stringed instrument at Williams College, in Western Massachusetts, although he did change his major while there.</p>
<p>Be sure to check out the Music Major subforum of College Confidential. Those parents and students are a great resource!</p>
<p>Think about whether he wants to do music as a major, minor, or just a sideline passion.</p>
<p>Does he have the passion, desire, and commitment to become a professional musician despite the odds or does he want to pursue it more as a hardcore EC?</p>
<p>If the former, choose schools with strong conservatory programs like Oberlin, URochester/Eastman, etc. </p>
<p>If the latter, he may want to rethink the conservatory option as doing a double-degree program at Oberlin is a long heavy 5-year commitment focused on professional musicianship training and Obie con students can be exceedingly competitive…especially in the piano department. </p>
<p>Incidentally, Oberlin happens to be strong in history and neuroscience. </p>
<p>Am speaking as an Oberlin alum who has many classmates/friends in the conservatory or doing double-degree. Coincidentally, I also happen to be a Stuy alum. </p>
<p>On the other hand, the only form of musical talents I have is butchering early rock and roll songs on electric guitar and a bit of singing. Even the raccoon sleeping on my fire escape was scared off by a practice session. :)</p>
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<li>Cross-posted with colorado_mom</li>
</ul>
<p>Lawrence University in Wisconsin fits your bill and is a bit less selective.</p>
<p>Nine years ago when we did this exact search, and putting aside the women’s colleges (we thought Smith best of all), we found Bard to be the pick of the litter (over Williams, Amherst, Vassar, Pomona, etc.) Check it out for yourself.</p>
<p>Oberlin
Lawrence
Grinnell</p>
<p>St. Olaf in Minnesota</p>
<p>I don’t know of any college that attracts successful students that doesn’t have a lot of students who are serious amateur musicians and many opportunities to play music in conjunction with pursuing an academic undergraduate career in a non-musical field. A lot of the colleges mentioned – Oberlin, Bard, St. Olaf – are schools that have a substantial conservatory program or serious music major. That’s great – there is indeed a lot of music happening at those schools, and they attract a lot of students who are good musicians but not good enough for the music programs (or, perhaps good enough, but taking their lives in other directions). But that’s not necessarily the best context in which to be an amateur musician, because unless you play some very obscure instrument you will never be first-string at anything there.</p>
<p>Lawrence (Wis) and Olaf (Minn) would fit the bill.</p>
<p>Always look into the alternatives for college students who share the campus with conservatory students. For example, at Oberlin, if you are a great Conservatory student, you might audition for the Oberlin Sympthony Orchestra, world famous.</p>
<p>If you are in the College, you might prefer this new (2012) offering, tailor-made for College students, the “newly created Oberlin College Arts and Sciences Orchestra.”</p>
<p>[Headlines</a> - Oberlin College](<a href=“http://new.oberlin.edu/home/news-media/detail.dot?id=4649950]Headlines”>http://new.oberlin.edu/home/news-media/detail.dot?id=4649950)</p>
<p>Great to see that. I had almost written that the student shouldn’t consider Oberlin because, unlike Bard, so many of the offerings were reserved for conservatory students (which really is what they told us - a decade ago.). Glad they got the message.</p>
<p>Bard is a wonderful, and S almost went. Joan Tower, the composer in residence, is wonderful, and the president, Leon Botsky, is a noted conductor.</p>
<p>Kids I know well have run into some difficulties there because students petition into majors and for permission to do their theses, and they don’t always get the results they want.</p>
<p>Vassar’s orchestra director is the nicest person we met on our entire college search, he met S when S was in 10th grade, tagging along with big sis and kept up with him for 3 years.</p>
<p>Wesleyan has a great program in world music.</p>
<p>Amherst has a small department; one would use the consortium.</p>
<p>S was accepted at these schools, but chose Williams. They have a semi-professional orchestra as well as a student run orchestra. They have an active jazz wind ensemble as well as a great chorus conductor, Brad Wells.</p>
<p>David Kechley is a noted composer.</p>
<p>The results were mixed. The program was so rigorous S did not complete it.
However he sang (bass), played his violin ( sometime first, sometimes second) all four years.</p>
<p>The best thing about Williams for a humanities student is how interdisciplinary it is. He composed a musical score for the Orestia for one course instead of writing a paper (English class.) He wrote a modern script for The Tempest and directed it for a Winter Study course.</p>
<p>He was not structured and pro-active the way Mimi’s daughter was/is but he is getting there.</p>
<p>Although he took only intro art history at Williams, he is a first year in a grad program, and a paper of his was just accepted at a major conference.</p>
<p>It is generally agreed in his program that he came in with the best preparation, even though thecother were Art History majors. His classes in The History of Science toward him to think globally across the disciplines.</p>
<p>He was a Claasics major, but now his work is focused on nineteenth century painting which various English courses prepared him for…</p>
<p>This is just a snap shot of one kid because Payingthreetuitions mentioned us.</p>
<p>I know my S would choose Williams again. It was a serendipitous turn of events that a summer job at the Clark Museum adjacent to Williamsled him to his life’s work. He is grateful to the discouragement of the music department because his skill for art history is much more comprehensive than for music; we just didn’t know it.</p>
<p>His photography portfolio is at least as accomplished as his performance skills, and Williams really was the conduit for his self-discovery.</p>
<p>I meant to mention that the Skinner music building at Vassar is my favorite.</p>
<p>Sarah Lawrence and Bennington are schools to consider if a student has a good idea of what s/he wants to do in the arts. My S refused to consider them – not enough testosterone. Didn’t seem to hurt J. J. Abrams who is now king of action movie sequences.</p>
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<p>Main issue with Bennington back when I was in HS in the early-mid '90s was high expense and that it was totally focused on the arts/humanities. </p>
<p>It ranked with MIT and Brandeis as the top 3 most expensive schools in the nation at the time. </p>
<p>Bad combo…especially among those of us with low finances and/or inclined towards STEM or a more academically comprehensive experience.</p>
<p>Another vote for Lawrence, Oberlin, St. Olafs.</p>
<p>Oberlin would seem to fit the bill here. Bard is an another possibility - the recital hall there, designed by Frank Gehry, was the most beautiful building I saw on my tour of colleges last year with DS (there was also an impressive, relatively new science building too). I’d also consider Skidmore and Kenyon, which have music scholarships for non-music majors.</p>