<p>My D. is looking for a liberal arts education, with the possibility of majoring in English Lit/Creative Writing or Comparative Literature.
She would like to be in a place where there is a music scene, either in the school or around town.
Her SAT score is 2290 and GPA is 3.85 UW, 4.4W. She has lopsided ECs, very heavily into music of different genres, but little else. </p>
<p>With this background, can some one please help in removing 4 colleges off from list below.</p>
<p>Skidmore, Sarah Lawrence, Goucher, Vassar ,Ursinus, Emerson, Haverford, Clark University,Oberlin, Tufts, Amherst.</p>
<p>Other Info.
She has done 3 APs and 4 college credit courses so far and is taking 5 APs this year.</p>
<p>So she would keep schools that have good music options on-campus if there were little/no options off campus? If she wanted to have BOTH - that would narrow it down a lot.
I know Tufts and Emerson have both for sure. Clark has fewer off campus options because Worcester is a smaller city, but it is livelier than most people think.
I would imagine a lot of the other LACs on her list would have few options off campus if there aren’t in or near a city?</p>
<p>Thank you so much, ncmentor and BeanTownGirl for replying.
ncmentor: I guess the list does look skewed because her stats are reasonably good , but her polarized ECs make the selective colleges look quite scary. If you think we are way off, please feel free to correct.</p>
<p>BeanTownGirl: It is more like, if the school does not have a music program, she will be okay if the nearby town has. Hence Ursinus because of Philly, and Oberlin because of the music program.</p>
<p>OK let me be a little more clear. Worcester is still a large city, but while Boston has a lot of people and a lot of interesting variety, Worcester just has a lot of people. (Over simplification, but…)</p>
<p>Ordinaryparent - My reaction was more about how different the feel and fit of the schools are. Tufts - a large campus off by itself a short walk to Somerville/Cambridge and short ride to Boston but kind of more formal schooling. Emerson - a artsy School in the middle of Boston’s funk and art. Clark - well Worcester doesn’t do it for me. To me thats what made it an “interesting list”.</p>
<p>Why do you want to take some of the schools off the list? If she is interested in Sarah Lawrence, Vassar , Haverford, Oberlin, Tufts, and Amherst, I certainly wouldn’t take any of them off–if you are interested in reachy schools, you need to apply to enough of them to improve your chances of getting into at least one of them.</p>
<p>I think a heavy focus on music (and academics) is not a negative at all. She loves music, she took advantage of a lot of opportunities to participate…that’s a GOOD thing!</p>
<p>You didn’t say she was looking for a lively town in general but rather for a music scene…still I’ll say I went to Vassar and Poughkeepsie is not a town to write home about at all. But it’s 1.5 hours by train to NYC. Oberlin…also not much around there but definitely a music scene at the college, due to the conservatory.</p>
<p>Based on Clark’s admissions stats it seems like a good “likely” for her. I’m interested in the BA/MA 5 year program for D.</p>
<p>I’m in favor of keeping options open at this stage of the game. You can reject schools later after finding out where you got in, what FA and merit awards you got, and based on campus visits.
Re: Clark, it might be the kind of school that would offer decent merit aid to a student of her caliber My son goes to college in Worcester (not Clark, but he has a friend who just loves being at Clark and is majoring in music) and now that I know more about the city, there are a lot more art/music/museums/events than I had thought. Great restaurants too! And there is the 13 college consortium to take advantage of (includes Holy Cross).
On the other hand, it certainly does not compare to Boston or Philly etc., for sure! But it is a great school. Unfortunately, it is in one of the crappier parts of the city. :-(</p>
<p>I think Tufts is a great choice though hard to get into (~21% acceptance rate), very nice campus. Can be in Cambridge in about 5-10 minutes by the shuttle bus or about 15-20 by walking. From Davis Sq. take subway in to Harvard Square and Boston. Great new performing arts venue on campus. It is an awesome school all-around!</p>
<p>Haverford is near a number of other schools and decent public transit. Ursinus is much farther, and the busses are scarce (and trains nonexistent). If you chose Ursinus, you’ll be limited to what’s on campus and what’s available by car.</p>
<p>Thank you all for the thoughtful responses.
The overall message seems to be to keep all the schools.
To be honest, both she and I are overwhelmed by the ECs of the students on CC. :-)</p>
<p>Can someone please comment on Skidmore too? </p>
<p>Ucbalumnus: She included Goucher, Ursinus and Clark from Colleges That Change Lives, hoping that they would be safety schools for her, and because they offer merit aid. We don’t know much about these colleges except what Ms Pope says.:-). Please share your thoughts.
HarvestMoon1: We did not look at Vanderbilt yet. Thanks for suggesting.</p>
<p>Focus on all the positives that your D brings to the table, OP. A 4.4 GPA and 2290 are great stats by anyones measure. I see a lot of long, long lists of EC’s here on CC. IMO it is better to have 3 or 4 quality EC’s that D has been involved with over a sustained period of time. Shows true and focused interest. I think ADCOM’s can distinguish between meaningful EC’s and “filler”.</p>
<p>I would actually add one higher placed reach to your list.</p>
<p>Having the same thought for D’15 about Goucher and Clark (and McDaniel). I wouldn’t even say “safety”, they might be ideal. I’m a big fan of CTCL schools though S didn’t choose one in the end.</p>
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<p>Luckily CC is not a typical sample of students applying to college </p>
<p>Absolutely one strong EC is better than lots of “shallow” ones. If she hasn’t yet, ask her to make a list of every music thing she’s ever done…school, church, just for fun, everything. My S found they added up to quite a lot and made a good case for a strong interest. None of it was state competitions or fancy summer schools, either…just a lot of time spent and some leadership roles. That list might surprise you.</p>
<p>If I had to remove several schools, they probably would come first from Goucher, Ursinus, Emerson, and Clark. That’s not because I don’t like the CTCLs. If you then want to add back another CTCL school, consider Lawrence University (which, like Oberlin, has a music conservatory). </p>
<p>I agree with HM1 that having one or a few well-developed ECs is preferable to a long laundry list of unfocused activities. Those are excellent stats, so it should not be necessary to include so many admission safeties (or near-safeties) … as long as you have at least one true admission and financial safety. </p>
<p>You may want to look at a few other LACs that are just a bit less selective than Oberlin. Check out the music scene at Colorado College, Macalester, or maybe Reed. Another school to consider is Kenyon (for the quality of its English and Creative Writing programs). </p>
<p>At the reach end, check out the music scene at Wesleyan (possibly as an alternative to Amherst).</p>
My son goes to college in Worcester (not Clark, but he has a friend who just loves being at Clark and is majoring in music) and now that I know more about the city, there are a lot more art/music/museums/events than I had thought. Great restaurants too! And there is the 13 college consortium to take advantage of (includes Holy Cross).
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