Help with choosing LACs with a good visual art dept

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Hi all. I've finally confronted the frightening task of looking for colleges. I'm at the point where I have a list of schools that interest me, but the problem is I'm having trouble narrowing it down. What I'm mainly looking for is a liberal arts college with a strong visual art department. I'd also like a school with little or no frats/sororites, no excessive partying, and a non-homogenous student body (i.e. the stereotypical rich, snobby, private school kids). But I'm willing to compromise on some of those. Most of these schools are primarily in the Northeast, and I'd like somewhere around there ( I live in TN, and want to get out of the South). Right now, the school I'm most interested in is Skidmore, but I'd like to find other possible choices. Also, I'm a pretty good student (3.9 GPA with adv/hon/AP classes), so I'm hoping most of these colleges won't be too hard to get into. However, I have to retake my ACT and SAT in Sept., so I don't know if I can get into any colleges via early decision...but I suppose that's another story. Anyways, here is my list:</p>

<p>Alfred U. (I realize this is a university, but it has a fairly small student body)
Carnegie-Mellon U. (same as above)
Connecticut College (heard there is a lot of drinking, but substance free dorms are available)
Goucher
Hamilton
Muhlenburg (preppy?)
Skidmore
Sarah Lawrence (a little scared by the intensity of the courses)
Dickinson
Bard (a lot of pot smoking and angsty indie kids?)
Vassar (will probably be a reach)
Carleton
Macalester</p>

<p>Feel free to make suggestions, tell me differently about a school, etc. Your help is much appreciated!</p>

2

<p>How about Oberlin?</p>

3

<p>nf, you have the start of a good list. Some other LACs with strong studio art are: Wesleyan, Conn College, Smith and Kenyon. My son just graduated from Williams with a degree in studio art and art history. The department is excellent and the facilities are wonderful. </p>

<p>Your gradepoint would certainly qualify you for admission to any college. Hopefully your scores will correspond. At LACs your essays and recommendations are very important. Art is a good EC as all colleges, even the most selective, need artists as well as football players.</p>

<p>You should plan to submit an art portfolio. You can usually get instructions on each college's website.</p>

4

<p>thank you very much momrath, your information was very helpful. But do you think you could help me narrow down the list above? I'm thinking about going to go visit some of the above colleges, so I would like to minimize the list to the places I would probably like the most. So far it's definite I'm visiting Skidmore. And I probably will visit Goucher, Bard, and Vassar. Other than that, I'm lost. Thank you again for your help. :)</p>

5

<p>nein, I can tell you more about my son's experience. First a few questions:
1. Is that 3.9 is on a scale of 4.0? If yes, then that's a very good academic record! Does your school figure a weighted average? What's your rank?</p>

<ol>
<li><p>What were your initial scores on the SATI and ACT? If they were weak don't overstress as this is just one element.
Don't forget the SATII's as some colleges require 2 of them.</p></li>
<li><p>Are you reasonably confident that you will have excellent essays and recommendations?</p></li>
<li><p>Are you in the financial position to apply ED? By that, I mean are you SURE that you either will get need based aid or are you SURE that you can pay full tuition? If you need to compare financial offers (they CAN vary widely) or if you want or need merit aid don't apply ED and be clear on which schools offer merit.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>I think your geographic location and artistic skills would be a big boost at any Northeastern LAC, but I don't know enough about the rest of your package to give you guidance. At ALL LACs, ED really helps as does demonstrating interest.</p>

<p>My son wanted a small school that offered strong art history and art studio. He concentrated on the Northeast as he wanted to have reasonable access to New York and Boston airports (and just in general). He didn't want a big frat scene, but was okay with an active social atmosphere. (He and his friends didn't drink much in highschool and from what I can tell they still don't but they are not abstainers.)</p>

<p>He was okay with either city or country but didn't want suburban. He appreciated diversity having always lived in very diverse environments, but understood that small LACs are not the most diverse.</p>

<p>His experience at Williams was off the charts. Williams has one of the most pretigious art history departments in the world and many of the directors and top curators of America's museums are Williams grads. There are three worldclass museums on or near campus and a very lively arts scene. The art facilities are beautiful and extensive. The talent and commitment of the instructors outstanding. </p>

<p>Williams has a reputation for being a sports/party school and while it's true that many of the kids are athletes or at least physically active and while they do love to socialize, it's mostly just kids having fun which you will get (hopefully) on any campus. The focus on the arts -- studio, music, dance, theater, writing -- is as intense as at any LAC, even the ones that are considery "arty."</p>

<p>Williams is very selective, however. So if you think it may be of interest, try to visit.</p>

<p>His other choices in rough order of preference were Wesleyan, Hamilton, Kenyon, Skidmore, Conn College. He was also interested in Yale and Brown which are respectively insanely selective and highly selective.</p>

<p>If Skidmore is one of your top choices then I'd try to visit Skidmore, Hamilton, Williams and Smith! (I forgot it the first time). In the New York area I'd see Bard and Vassar. If you can get to Ohio do Kenyon and Oberlin.</p>

<p>I'm not so familar with the others on your list so I won't comment. </p>

<p>It's hard to anticipate which schools you will like before visiting. If your goal is to end up with 8-10 choices you may have to visit 15-20. My son's list before and after visiting was completely topsy turvy.</p>

<p>Don't forget those safeties. They are the hardest to identify and learn to love, so concentrate on them first.</p>

<p>Good luck and let us know how you do.</p>

6

<p>I can't tell you how thankful I am for your help, momrath. I'm still a little uncertain about the whole college process, but you definitely cleared some things up.</p>

<p>Yes, I have a 3.9 on a scale of 4.0, but I'm pretty sure my school does not do weighted averages. I'm not sure what my class rank is...but I was invited to an "academic leaders" banquet (which was pretty much just an attempt to recruit students to UTK), which selected 20 students from my junior class (not sure of the size...maybe 300?) based on scholastic achievement. So...I don't know. I guess I'm in the top 20?</p>

<p>I don't really want to say what my SAT or my ACT scores were...they weren't bad, but I didn't study at all and I certainly could have done better. I'm anticipating taking them again in Sept., along with 2 subject tests.
And, I'm pretty sure I will be able to get some good recommendations & essays.</p>

<p>I didn't realize that about ED. I was just set on the fact I would have a better chance of getting in, and didn't think about the financial aspect. I probably will need scholarships to help me pay for college, so I will check the colleges' aid packages. I don't think I need too much financial aid, but I definitely need some.</p>

<p>Williams definitely looks appealing, but I don't think I'm the material for such a selective college. Even though I do well in school and have a bit of community service under my belt, I pale in comparison to some of the people in this forum! So Williams, Vassar, and Wesleyan will probably be reach schools for me. It seems colleges are becoming so much tougher to get into...even UTK, probably my safest bet, has become a lot more selective, with incoming freshmen having an average GPA of 3.6 or around there. </p>

<p>I'm not going to be able to visit many colleges...I wish I could though! My father and I are going up into the New England area soon to do just that. So, no traveling to Ohio or the like. I probably will only get to see 4 or 5 schools tops. So I suppose it will be something like Skidmore, Hamilton, Bard, Vassar, and Goucher (safety). If I can, I would very much like to see Williams, because from what you described, seems really great. Maybe throw in Conn College...wait, that's 7! Oh well. :)</p>

<p>Once again, thank you so so much!!!</p>

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<p>nein, The first thing you need to do is sit down with your parents and clarify your family's financial situation with regard to your college expense. Four years at a private college will be close to $200,000 so you really need to understand how the aid works before you even start thinking about making a list.</p>

<p>Perhaps your parents could use an on-line calculator to get a rough idea of how much need-based aid your family would be eligible for. If that's not enough, then you'll have to make up the balance through loans or merit aid. </p>

<p>Many of the colleges that you are interested in do not offer merit aid. On the plus side need based aid is can be quite generous and there are many fine colleges that do give merit aid. </p>

<p>The key here is to understand the system!</p>

<p>I would think that an artist from Tennessee with a 3.9 GPA, a rigorous courseload and rank in the top 5% of her class would be a person of interest to many colleges. You should be concentrating more on determining what you want, not on where you'll get in. In addition to living environment you should look at the learning environment. My guess is that you may be underchallenged academically at Skidmore. That's fine if that's your objective, but don't underestimate your ability.</p>

<p>Don't stress over the SAT/ACT. You'll be fine. You should be devoting your energy into putting together a topnotch arts package -- which could include your slide portfolio, a resume listing your accomplishments, awards and classes, a brief artist's statement, any newpaper/magazine articles about work (two at the most) and a supplemental recommendation from someone who can vouch for your talent and creativity.</p>

<p>A good loop through New England would be Vassar, Bard, Skidmore, Hamilton, Smith, Williams, Wesleyan and Conn College. Please don't discount Smith because it's all female. It offers a lot of what you're looking for and is one of the more generous schools financially. I'd definitely keep Goucher and the other PA/MD schools on the list, but that may be a different trip.</p>