In Range for Oberlin and WM&Mary, But...

<p>I would suggest Grinnell too, but it is sorta in the middle of nowhere. It’s where my son is a happy senior.</p>

<p>Perhaps the way to open up places for consideration is to figure out what it means to be “in the middle of nowhere.” </p>

<p>Some “nowhere” located colleges are productive for musically inclined students. Their students make their own lively performing arts community. If it isn’t a commuter school, students stay on campus most weekends and are inclined to set up cafes, concerts, impromptu jams and so forth. Students bring instruments and seek each other out. If there’s a music major, assume there will be faculty concerts, visiting national or regional artists and student recitals. See their annual events calendars to gauge how much and what kind of music happened on weekends this past year; likely a good indicator.</p>

<p>That’s an adjustment for a h.s. student who’s been gigging in his larger hometown, but might be stimulating musically if there are student-run cafes on weekends. What kind of audience will satisfy his “itch” to perform and enjoy an evening of music? If he wants the ebb and flo of public customers, then a city counts. If he just wants other agemate musicians, and more sets of ears on friends, he might find the “nowhere located” LAC satisfies. He can visit the student-run cafes at the LAC’s when he visits. </p>

<p>If that’s not going to satisfy, then it makes sense to go to schools in larger cities with a choice of commercial clubs to attend or perform. THe LAC’s I’m most familiar with in “nowhere” locations have musical students who enjoy seeing each other perform and support each others’ performances. They stretch and go hear things not normal to them, just because their friend is playing. If he finds student-managed cafes too amateur/dorky, then he won’t be happy. He could organize a student-run cafe as an EC…is that interesting to him? Getting good sound equipment is always the issue, but the colleges can free up venues and respond to student-initiated projects. </p>

<p>If he has a car and the “nowhere” LAC is within, say, an hour of even a small city, he can still find some commercial music there on weekends and bring friends. (Your wildest dream, right Dad? jk)</p>

<p>Thanks, W&M Admissions, for stopping by to share your perspective.</p>

<p>This is sort of off topic, but related to the how does making music work on campus. Recently the Tufts admissions officer said they were less likely to be “looking for the replacement oboist” when they make their admissions decisions, because they know if their orchestra should come up short on something there are a gazillion musicians in the Boston area who would be happy to play with Tufts students.</p>

<p>More on topic, Vassar made no secret that it was an advantage to be male. I think it’s still on the reachy end of things for your son. Bard however should be a good match if he likes it.</p>

<p>BTW my younger son had a sky high CR score but both Math and Writing were just under the magic 700 mark and he did much better than I had expected. He knew his stats were the weak part of his application and really worked on the things he could control. (Choosing the writing teachers for recommendations, having interesting outside school activities to write about, writing engaging essays.)</p>

<p>Check out Macalester College in St. Paul, MN. LAC in an urban setting, very cool. S2 liked it a lot. Would be a target/match with those stats.</p>

<p>Great minds think alike CD! Note my post #21. Mac is a great school and definitely worth a look.</p>

<p>blueiguana, we in no way intended to or desire to shut down conversations that exist on any CC forum. We simply hope to ensure that we are providing prospective students and parents with an open and honest account of our process and policies. We have found that information we provide on CC threads and forums oftentimes works to relieve anxiety and to stop misinformation from going farther than necessary and causing more stress where no stress is warranted.</p>

<p>You’re right, we do not know which person relayed the information to you about why they were not admitted nor would we likely remember the details of that conversation but we have never made a decision on a freshman application based on whether or not we feel the student would transfer. Additionally, because our process is holistic, there is never a specific single reason why a decision was made. It’s based on numerous factors and a comparison of that applicant to the applicant pool. So it’s very difficult for us to believe that any applicant would have been told that he/she was denied for the reasons you stated because a) that would never be a reason and b) that’s not how we address those kinds of conversations. </p>

<p>Regardless, we simply want to let parents know that that is not a part of our admission review. We again apologize if you felt the comment shouldn’t be placed on a parent thread. We generally do not participate in this thread to allow for open conversation and instead participate primarily on the W&M thread and it seems that students and parents are very receptive to our presence there.</p>