<p>Our rising senior daughter is music geek, most particularly about choral music. She's not sure what she really wants to do with her life, career-wise, but music ed seems like a natural. (She plans to take a gap year, however, and could fall in love with something else in the time being!)</p>
<p>She is not terribly academic (3.6 GPA at a competitive suburban NJ high school), and is NOT a great test-taker (1590 SAT), but has decent extra-curriculars (sports, service orgs, etc., plus every music EC imaginable). She isn't picky about anything except the quality of the choral program -- we live in NJ but she would go anywhere, and she doesn't care about size. Won't need much if any financial aid. I WOULD like there to be some depth in other fields if she happens to wash out of music.</p>
<p>Anyway, we've looked at lots of choral programs -- Westminster, St. Olaf, Concordia, etc. -- but I'm not sure we've seen everything that we should. Anyone have any recommendations that might not have occurred to us? TIA.</p>
<p>Tell your D she might want to try the ACT test and retake the SAT. If she can get that score up she has a shot at some decent schools. St. Olaf, in particular, has an outstanding choral program and her GPA might work but the standardized score would need to improve.</p>
<p>Compared with Westminster and St. Olaf’s, virtually every other place you can look at is minor league. Some of the big state universities (like Florida State) also have very good programs. Her GPA and scores are more than sufficient for Westminster - they will look for the obvious other characteristics.</p>
<p>My neice is also an aspiring choral singer and looked at westminster, st.olafs, etc. but also liked McGill. Lucky for her, her stats are very impressive. But I think for McGill music you need to audition, etc. I don’t think stats are as important when applying there for music.</p>
<p>Hey, linxinsider, I’m a Rhodes grad! Heard the Singers recently and they sounded great (altho music was definitely not a strength when I was there). I don’t think she can get in with that score, however.</p>
<p>Mim, you ought to give admissions a call 800-844-5969 or email <a href=“mailto:adminfo@rhodes.edu”>adminfo@rhodes.edu</a>. The test score isn’t great, but with a strong GPA from a competitive high school, I don’t know that we’d be completely out of the question for you.</p>
<p>If she can get the math and reading up nearer to 1200, she should look at Luther College in Iowa. They have a strong chorale history, sort of like St Olaf. Her geographic diversity would be a plus and I believe they have rolling admission so she would hear back pretty soon.</p>
<p>I cannot believe she would be accepted at Oberlin, would she?? And don’t I understand that it is difficult to work between the conservatory and the college? (That’s true most places, I believe.)
We have looked at Luther, twomules, and I like a lot about it. Do you consider it better than Concordia? CC has a choral conductor who’s a bit of a star, and I’ve been impressed with their work.
Thanks for the input. It’s incredibly helpful.</p>
<p>I’ll second Luther College. I would say that its choral program is better than Concordia-Moorhead, and its choirs and orchestras regularly tour the U.S. and abroad, and PBS often broadcasts its Christmas Festival at Christmastime.</p>
<p>With her GPA, scores, ECs, and being from out-of-state, she should have a good chance. They also have rolling admissions so she can apply and get a response fairly quickly.</p>
<p>I’m back, with daughter’s applications complete and submitted, and acceptances/offers in hand. We have also visited and daughter has auditioned at a number of schools.
She is currently deciding between programs at Concordia (Moorhead, MN) and Luther (Decorah, IO), both of which she loves. Merit aid is about equal, and the schools seem similar to us in many ways (having visited both). If there are any experts here on these colleges, please weigh in with all insights and advice you might have. Daughter plans to be a music ed major, with emphasis on choral music; a travel lover, she is also interested in foreign languages (Spanish).<br>
Much closer to home, Susquehanna has also offered her a nice package. The choirs there are not of the Concordia/Luther stature, tho the music ed program seems solid. Any thoughts on that?
(No aid from St. Olaf so she is probably not pursuing that, as she is happy with these choices and worried St. Olaf might be too competitive for her.)</p>
<p>There is another poster on this forum whose son is considering Susquehanna, also with $$. You might want to send a PM to MaineLonghorn. I have heard wonderful things about the school.</p>
<p>Luther’s top choir director, Craig Arnold, is leaving at the end of the year, but they no doubt will hire or promote an excellent individual because choral music is so important to the college. One other thing I like about Luther is its 4-1-4 academic calendar, which allows study of one subject, at home or abroad, during the month of January. Because your daughter is interested in Spanish, she may be able to study abroad during that month.</p>
<p>You are right that Concordia-Moorhead is like Luther in many ways–it too has excellent choirs. It also has excellent study-abroad programs–but it is a “May term” instead of a “January term.”</p>
<p>Because you mentioned that the finaid packages are about equal, it really comes down to fit–Decorah is a small Iowa town, and Moorhead is a small Minnesota city. Congratulations to your D on her acceptances and best of luck with the decision.</p>