The decline of student interest in Swarthmore’s English program was the topic for this article:
did say that it’s a general trend, but below 20 is still pretty tiny when it comes to what’s considered a pretty large major. not going to discount it, but swarthmore carries the same standing as pomona – a popular college that I would most likely spend an application for.
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At some point, you may want to look closely at the student profiles of schools of potential interest. In this respect, Swarthmore would represent a good match for you.
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Consider the fact that Swarthmore needs English majors, and how that might affect your chances in the admissions process. I think Swarthmore also offers a reasonably strong boost in the ED round. Anecdotally, I know a number of people in academia and in the publishing world with ties to Swarthmore. If you were to apply to graduate school in the humanities – likely, given your plans – a degree from Swarthmore would be serve you well.
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I haven’t read the entire thread yet, but Amherst also offers free music lessons. I believe that Williams and some other small liberal arts colleges do as well although I haven’t ever been able to find a list of all of the colleges that do. During my kids’ college visits, the topic of music lessons and classed sometimes came up if the student tour guide was an instrumentalist, but if the tour guide didn’t happen to play an instrument or sing, my daughters had to search the web site to figure out how/if non-music majors had access to music lessons and courses.
From Amherst’s music department’s web site:
The Music Department offers individual music lessons taught by its staff of professional instructors.
HOW LESSONS ARE STRUCTURED
Lessons meet once a week for twelve 50-minute meetings per semester. Students are expected to practice at least five hours a week in addition to the lesson time.
Lessons count as a half course. You may repeat lesson courses and take lessons every semester. Note the college’s policy for half courses at the link below, particularly how half courses contribute to degree completion.
TO MAKE ARRANGEMENTS FOR LESSONS
Register in Workday, as you would for any course. If you register for credit, your MUSL course is paid for by the college.
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When USA Today had such a ranking, it placed Hamilton as the nation’s top LAC in an article titled “The 10 Best American Colleges for Writers.” This article from a similar time discusses Hamilton’s literature program rather colorfully: The 10 Best Colleges for Creative Writers | The Freelancer, by Contently.
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that’s a great point actually. I’m going to gauge how much resources are there for English majors and decide to apply or not. is there a possibility that they cut back on those resources while I am attending?
I can’t say for sure. But at wealthier institutions (and generally those that are need-blind for admissions AND meet full need of accepted students are quite wealthy), they have the resources to keep departments on, and the fallout of limiting the resources of the ENGLISH department…what so many consider an integral part of a liberal arts education, would be such that I’d be pretty stunned if one of these universities did a significant cut back in that area.
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Can confirm that Williams offers free music lessons. Might require an audition, but not sure.
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The resources are there. Count the number of tenured faculty in the English dept. They’re not going anywhere (unless they retire – and those funding lines will likely be renewed). There are also a number of visiting profs each year. It’s a liberal arts school, and this is what they do, even if more and more students might gravitate toward CS or related STEM fields.
I would also suggest – last suggestion, promise – that you not overthink things too much. These are fantastic institutions, and the people there (students and faculty alike) are excellent. A whole world will open when you get to one of them, and your interests are bound to shift accordingly. There is no wrong choice among the schools you’ve identified, even if some of them (imho) seem more suited to the kind of ambitious and accomplished student you obviously are than others.
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thank you all for the suggestions and reassurance. just confirming that I’ll be looking at all of these colleges to some extent, even though I wouldn’t be able to look at every one of them in precise detail. it seems as if English program/music lessons aren’t much of a differentiating factor, but some of the colleges do offer types of classes and programs that are more suited to my interests.
question though:
I feel that the more competitive admissions are in a certain school,
- I personally would be throwing my application to this quixotic thing called luck
- the more cutthroat the school environment perhaps would be (for example, I’ve heard the competitive nature of Williams) – this is the case with my current high school. LACs might be a bit different though
…and that what would be considered “high matches” may have similar quality of education/student life to colleges that are often labeled as “reaches”
could y’all give opinions on what you think are the pros and cons of applying to “reach” schools?
I’ve been thinking about this for a while, but for ex. if saw a SWAP thinking that I have at least a reasonable chance to be considered or a reasonable chance to thrive in the community there, I would apply 100%. those who know me tell me that I can get into these schools, but I don’t know because “the grass is greener on the other side” thinking distorts my perspective when I look at another applicant’s credentials. this is especially because I go to a magnet school with a lot of high-achievers who have the undoubted ability to make themselves an ideal applicant. realistically how much effort should I devote to researching match schools relative to reach schools? and what’s it like out in the real world – what kinds of people are applying to these schools outside of ridiculously brilliant students who are seemingly made for college applications? are there people like me applying to these schools?
You can ignore me- but whatever “cutthroat” environment exists it will likely be confined to CS, Econ, Bio, and whatever other majors are popular with the Wall Street/Big tech/pre-med cohorts.
I majored in Classics. Trust me- there is no such thing as a cutthroat Classics major, even though some of my classmates were all gunning for the same 3 seats at the top PhD programs.
I would take “cuthroat” off the table for now. It’s a great way to choose between two finalist schools once you are admitted, but based on your list, doesn’t seem like a viable way to distinguish for now.
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thank you and i will not ignore you. it’s good to hear that humanities majors are in fact not cutthroat.
I was just worried because I will probably be interacting with many people outside of the English major (that’s student life and stuff). of course there are a bunch of non-cutthroat people in my high school as well, but the prevalent culture is that of toxic competition. I want to avoid colleges that have a “prevalent culture” like that, but from what I’ve heard, most colleges don’t have a set atmosphere (which is great news for me).
Most colleges are not cutthroat.
which ones are?
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To add to this, and using Williams as an example since you mentioned it … Williams admissions are tough because of such a low acceptance rate, cutthroat is the opposite of how I could describe the student body. My son will be entering his third year as a biochem major. The students are so collaborative and supportive, it’s wonderful. I actually notice this between the disciplines as well.
It would be a good idea to sign up for some virtual Q&A or student chat sessions if you can to get a better idea of the culture at some schools.
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Honestly I don’t really know of any! Maybe Wharton (Penn)?
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We have no personal experience, but I’ve heard Hopkins is cutthroat.
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I know at least a dozen current and recent Hopkins grads (none of them pre-med) and they have described an environment which is the opposite of cutthroat.
OP-- these “I’ve heard” statements need to be taken with a grain of salt!
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I don’t disagree that large grains/boulders need to come with these sorts of statements. We were, specifically, speaking with bio-engineering folks, which may impact the reality and/or impression a student has re: cutthroat.
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