<p>Posted this on Bowdoin+ threads too...he seems to be "drawn" to JHU. Why JHU vs. a more liberal arts college experience? Is access to Peabody that important? Is it real access or only for conservatory students? How does campus life stack up vs. Bowdoin, Wes and Oberlin?</p>
<p>"Parent of son who's passion is MUSIC -- popular/jazz/electronic composition, recording, performing. Plays sax, guitar, piano, etc., plus vocal. At Lawrenceville School, jazz ensemble lead sax and guitar, lead baritone in vocal group Laurentians. He is and would be a regular at the local Coffeehouse, etc. Plays in bands/ensembles and has numerous original compositions/recordings ranging from acoustic pop to hard rock electric, jazz and electronic (think Trent Reznor!!) on net.) This past year, he discovered musical theater, too!! Academically, VERY strong...you get the idea. I rally think liberal arts makes sense with a music concentration vs. a conservatory (he visited Juilliard and pursued a more academic route...)</p>
<p>Waitlist Columbia (#1 choice) and accepted Bowdoin, Wesleyan, Oberlin, JHU, NYU Honors, and Rochester...</p>
<p>He visited Bowdoin and really liked it, recognizes strength of academics, loves the house system (similar to Lawrenceville) but it appears his concern is the perceived weak Bowdoin music program...</p>
<p>Can anyone weigh in on Bowdoin music vs. say Wesleyan, Oberlin, JHU?</p>
<p>More importantly to a parent, can anyone provide insight as to how important the music program is to the "quality" of the overall liberal arts academics??</p>
<p>THANKS!!!"</p>
<p>The Peabody experience is real–but varies depending on the Hopkins student’s abilities and interests. Peabody has two divisions–the Conservatory and the Preparatory School. The Conservatory is for serious students of music. It is mostly classical, although there is a small jazz program. Hopkins’ students can cross register for non-performance classes at the Conservatory (such as history or theory courses) and can take performance classes if they qualify by audition. Also, some basic music classes (non-performance) are offered at the Homewood campus by Peabody faculty. Some people do a double major–Peabody/Hopkins, but that is a very challenging endeavor. </p>
<p>Students can also take courses at the Preparatory school—which covers everything from beginner lessons right up to the Conservatory level. </p>
<p>But apart from Peabody, there is a lot a student can do musically at Hopkins. There are performance groups ranging from the Hopkins Symphony to a pleathera of a capella groups. To give you an idea of the possibilities, my daughter, who graduated Hopkins in '06–is very musical (voice and piano) but was not at the Conservatory level. She joined an a capella group (which she loved) and also joined a succession of bands (rock, alt-country, etc.) made up of Hopkins students who performed both on campus and off (clubs, music festivals, etc.). There are a lot of talented kids at Hopkins, and two of these bands were quite good. There is plenty to do if you make the effort.</p>
<p>Its hard to compare Hopkins with Bowdoin–both great schools but very different experiences. To me, Hopkins offers a great mix of things—small undergraduate population housed in a leading research university; beautiful, park-like campus in the middle of a large city, which itself is part of a major metropolitan area (the Baltimore/Washington Metroplex). Bowdoin and Brunswick are beautiful–but I’d go stir-crazy there for four years. That, of course, is a personal choice and reasonable minds can differ greatly on that. However, if Columbia was his #1 choice, I suspect that Hopkins would be a much more similar experience (minus the core curriculum) than Bowdoin.</p>