I’m a current junior and very interested in applying to selective Liberal Arts colleges with great Humanities and Social Science Departments, though I am up for exploring alternatives. I especially value an active student Theatre. I’m thinking of colleges with good city access (maybe within an hour or two from a major city), and great study abroad programs (to Southern Europe, UK, North Africa) matters. If you know of any colleges that fit that criteria (or are close), please help me out, thanks! :-bd
so far this is the list (I’ve self-divided, see what you think)
“Reach”
All Claremont colleges (except Scripps and H-Mudd)
Georgetown
Middlebury
Williams
Vassar
Wesleyan
“Match”
Occidental
Sarah Lawrence
Kenyon
Oberlin
“Safety”
Fordham
Temple
My basic stats include:
Gpa: 4.3 weighted (4.6 in junior year), 3.8 unweighted
Course Schedule: Rigorous. Maxed out on my school’s AP courses, and have taken several Honors
Extracurricular: Multiple leadership roles (Drama, MUN, Environmental club, school Ambassador)
Award Societies: National Honor Society, California Scholarship Federation, Boy’s State Rep.
I am an underrepresented minority (Hispanic)
You have a good list. If you want more options for low matches, check out Muhlenberg, Bard, Brandeis, Connecticut College, and Skidmore. Goucher would be a good safety.
Of your listed match schools, Kenyon would be ideal for your academic interests, perhaps the best in this regard from your entire group, but the school defines its setting by small village life much more so than by relative proximity to the populous Columbus.
Sarah Lawrence and Occidental would be potentially excellent fits for your criteria.
If you are willing to consider the PNW check out University of Puget Sound for a safe option that meets your criteria- proximity to Seattle, strong academics and well known student theater. Not sure if you have financial needs/constraints to consider but UPS is generous with merit aid that can stack an additional scholarship for theater students.
Not sure how the theater program is at Lewis & Clark but for sure consider it as well for a likely admit option with lots of merit aid. Amazing location, strong academics, well regarded study abroad program.
That list (#7) seems to be a repost of another CC member’s thoughts and methodology.
Forbes put their name on this analysis (so it’s sourced on at least one level) – which overlaps partially with your current choices (Williams, Vassar) – should it be of interest to you:
@Theatreguy999 I did not develop the list. I’m sorry for the confusion. It was developed through extensive research by PurpleTitan. He’s a prolific, highly respected and extremely knowledgeable CC contributor. I trust the list has been of some benefit. Good luck with your college search.
I’ll second U. of Puget Sound, where my son is. He’s been very happy there and the quality of instruction has been outstanding. Theater prof Geoff Proehl is apparently something of a legendary figure in his field (was just given a very prestigious lifetime achievement award by his peers), and the lowest rating any of the theater profs have on RMP is a 4.5.
Willamette, in Salem, Oregon is another nice Pacific Northwest LAC with a strong theater department and is about an hour from Portland. Looks like they just did a big, fancy renovation of their theater space, too.
Both UPS and Willamette are Colleges that Change Lives schools. If you’ve got the stats to possibly get in to your reach schools, you’d probably get nice merit packages from UPS and Willamette.
Check out UNC Wilmington. Fantastic study abroad programs, great theatre program, 10 mins from the beach and the historic downtown, 2 hours from a major city (Raleigh, the NC state capital, as well as Durham). Has everything you’re looking for, and you would be a candidate for some great merit.
@Theatreguy999, if you haven’t already done so, check out Hamilton College - the humanities/social science and theatre programs are great. Also, take a look a their new Kennedy Center for Theater and Studio Arts as it’s an amazing facility.
@Chembiodad yeah thank you, Hamilton College has been a recurring name. Do you know anything about the selectivity about the school, or even just its drama program?