Colleges to look into/tour?

Hi, I’m a sophomore in high school and I’m just starting to get serious about my college search. I haven’t yet found any schools that I think are a real match (although I haven’t toured any campuses either). Can anyone help me narrow down my search?

Here’s a bit about myself:

I’m definitely a “humanities kid”–I’m very involved in theater and orchestra, and I’ve always been interested in language arts. If I had to pick a degree right now, I would go English major, theater minor. I’m also very involved in social activism around my school (I’m the president of the feminist union) so I would prefer schools with a liberal bend.

GPA: unweighted 4.0, weighted 4.3

Since I’m a sophomore, I haven’t taken any standardized tests yet. The only one I have taken was the pre-ACT, I got a 33/36.

I live in Eugene, Oregon and would prefer to go out-of-state; even if it’s just in California or Washington. I would also like to be in/close to a bigger urban area.

Tuition is not really an issue, but obviously price should be considered in my pros/cons list.

Does anyone have any suggestions for me? There are so many schools out there, I want to make sure I’m not overlooking any that could be my perfect match! Thanks in advance.

What can your family pay and what is your EFC/what do a few NPCs say? Do you need merit aid? What size school are you looking for? Greek life? Sports? LAC or RU?

Clark, Tulane, and Oberlin are all known for social activism and/or volunteer work, and in or near-ish a city, though they’re very different.

Brown is also a great humanities- and activism-heavy school! Just make sure you have plenty of non-high-reached on your list too.

Check out the Claremont Consortium schools, Pitzer and Scripps comes to mind. Also, Emory, Rice, and Boston University. Now is the time to talk to your parents about finances, not guess. Get the exact number they are willing to pay. Then, ask them to help you with the numbers needed to run the Net Price Calculator available for all colleges. Getting in is only half the battle. You really don’t want to get a crush on a school that you will never be able to date.

There are tons of schools of many different types that should work for you. It is still early, but IMO the most constructive thing you can do at this point is to visit some different types of schools (a LAC, mid-sized school, and large university) and think about what type of environment you’d like to spend your college years at. Think about what you want in a college such as do you like big time sports, Greek Life, would you consider a religious college, do you want urban/suburban/rural etc. Try to narrow down what you want before you focus on specific schools.

Also talk to your parents about any constraints they may have on your college choice be it finances, geography or anything else.

You sound like you would like a lot of liberal arts colleges! I second the suggestion of the Claremont Consortium. Since you want to be near an urban area, you could also look into Macalester, Occidental, Reed (in-state but I think it would match a lot of your criteria), Colorado College, Swarthmore, Haverford, and Brandeis (not an LAC but it has a similar vibe and there’s a ton of theater and activism there!) If you’re interested in women’s colleges, there’s also Barnard, Bryn Mawr, and Wellesley.

Adding to the above–Bryn Mawr is in a consortium with Haverford and Swarthmore and you can also get approval to take courses at Penn. Similarly, you might be interested in the colleges at the Five Colleges Consortium (Amherst College, Smith College, Mt. Holyoke, Hampshire College, and the University of Massachusetts.

Definitely check out some of the top liberal arts colleges:

  1. Amherst
  2. Williams
  3. Brown

Brown is not a LAC.

Oberlin

Thanks to everyone who has made suggestions so far! I will definitely look at those! Further information: I’m not very interested in Greek Life, so whether or not a school has it doesn’t really matter to me (although maybe I wouldn’t want to go to a school with an active Greek system if I’m not going to be involved? I don’t know). I don’t play any sports, so that’s not a requirement, I just want strong theater and music. Size-wise, I think I’m mostly going to look for smallish to medium (2000-6000ish?), LAC types. In terms of tuition, my parents are willing to cover the costs if the school is right for me in my other criterion.

Does anyone know how impactful a college’s religious affiliation would have on its environment? In particular, a friend recommended the University of San Francisco, which seems awesome, but it’s a Catholic school and I am not Christian. Do you know if/how much that would matter?

Vassar maybe.

Importance of religious affiliation differs by school. At St. Olaf’s, for instance, it just means a required religion course, and they recommend that it’s about a different religion than your own. Others still require chapel, multiple bible courses, etc.

Oberlin & Bard ( Top LAC’s with emphasis in arts ) and the right size for your criteria Grinnell and Reed also.
Have to agree with the other post for Hampshire and the benefit of the consortium.

Northwestern has a one of the best undergrad theatre BA programs in the country.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKBdHtzlWPI

Williams is fantastic. They have a great facility and a world class summer festival:
http://62center.williams.edu/about/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWBvBFyxk18
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXiq8WQ6iGw

As others noted, Brown has a ton of student theater going on - here are some links:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0DomJsW9ls
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/10107369/#Comment_10107369
http://www.editiondigital.net/publication/?i=243688
A blurb from Wiki:

Six Brown Graduates won Pulitzer Prizes this year:
Daveed Diggs '04, Alissa J. Rubin '80, Peter Balakian '80 PhD, Kathryn Schulz '96, Stephen Karam '02 and Michael Corkery '97.

Also look at Smith. Barnard, Vassar and Fordham at LC.

Best of luck!

Vassar and Wesleyan are both great for music and theater! Aside from location (they’re both in smaller urban areas), they meet all your requirements.

Also, Sarah Lawrence might be a good option for a safer school. It has strength in the performing arts. is very close to NYC, and definitely has a liberal activist-y vibe. However, it is very small and is notoriously bad with financial aid.

Daveed Diggs did not win a Pulitzer, although he is currently in Hamilton, whose creator, Lin-Manuel Miranda, won this year’s Pulitzer for drama. Lin-Manuel Miranda went to Wesleyan.

Thanks for all the help, everyone! It makes me feel a lot better having a list of schools, as opposed to having the whole world of colleges to sift through.

In June/July, I will be driving through California with my family. I know I want to look at USF, Occidental, and the Claremonts (Pomona and Scripps mostly). Any other California schools I should add to my list?

As a safety school for music drama I always recommend Drew in madison NJ. My son’s best friend is a music major there and does lots of touring with a choral group. The NJ Shakespeare theater has it’s permanent home on the campus and they give out very nice scholarships including for the arts. Woody Allen sent his daughter/wife there. Madison is a pretty NJ suburban town with a commuter train to NY. Of course my son goes to Vassar and it seems like everyone is involved in theater so of course Vassar.

@elena83, you’ve put together a good CA list based on your current interests and profile!
If you do want to explore more in the Bay area:
Santa Clara University. It’s an AJCU like USF, but mostly known for business and engineering. And
Mills might be a good if you want a women’s college to compare to Scripps (although it’s not as selective).

In the L.A. area: Besides the 5Cs and Oxy, you could check out Loyola Marymount. It’s another AJCU institution, but with a pretty well respected performing arts/film program. As for “activism,” check out their Center for Service & Action.

Coming in late here…but I agree that Pomona and Scripps are good choices to look at. Also, you would probably qualify for a good scholarship at Loyola Marymount.