<p>Wondering if people have recommendations about LACs or small universities with good choral programs for kids who are not music majors? By "good" I mean they should sound good and be fun; both would be important. My daughter is an excellent singer with years of private training who takes music seriously, but she does not intend to make music her life's work.</p>
<p>St. Olaf is the school that leaps to mind, though many schools have good choirs. How competitive is she as an applicant and what does she want to major in?</p>
<p>2nd vote for St. Olaf … one of the best choirs in the country.</p>
<p>[St</a>. Olaf College](<a href=“http://www.stolaf.edu/]St”>http://www.stolaf.edu/)</p>
<p>Thanks. As to the how competitive part–reasonably, but not off-the-chart competitive. She currently has a 3.76 GPA and looks to be in line for around a 30/31 on the ACT based on practice test results. All of her ECs (such as they are) revolve around singing. I pushed St. Olaf a lot when we started doing our research. She was concerned about the Lutheran part, though I’ve been assured that it is a very friendly, open, engaged community at which many an atheist thrives. I may need to present it again as one of my “peremptory challenges” (this is what we’ve worked out: I can ask her to look again at any school that I think she should reconsider for her final list). From what I gather (based on Naviance data for her school) she’d have a reasonably good chance of getting into St. Olaf (her GPA a bit higher than the average of accepted students from her HS, her likely ACT results right in the middle).</p>
<p>Oh, and she wants to major in English with a minor in psychology. I translate that into: “I’m not sure what I want to be when I grow up.” Which seems reasonable given that she’s 16-going-on-17.</p>
<p>University of Northern Iowa might be an option. When we toured we were told non music majors could be involved in music groups.</p>
<p>[School</a> of Music - Ensembles](<a href=“http://www.uni.edu/music/ensembles/index.html]School”>http://www.uni.edu/music/ensembles/index.html)</p>
<p>What is your home state and how much can you afford?</p>
<p>I’m in Illinois. I’m imagining our EFC will be in the $25K range and I’m set to spend around that annually. (Yikes.)</p>
<p>Allegheny College has a very good choir. Anyone can audition. They are also strong in English and Psych. The only downside is that the director will be retiring in a year or 2. It is likely they will hire another great director, but you should be aware the choir will be in transition.</p>
<p>Thanks, shennie. Great to hear about Allegheny. That’s on “the list.”</p>
<p>Lawrence University in Appleton, WI. They have a great music program including choral and you don’t have to be a music major to participate.</p>
<p>I think that Concordia College in Moorhead could would offer good merit money for your daughter’s scores. They have a strong choral tradition. This is the college that runs the famous language villages. Moorhead - Fargo has a couple of big state schools, so lots of students in the area.</p>
<p>Another good choral school that should offer merit money is Luther College in a cute town in Iowa.</p>
<p>University of Dayton has a pretty good choral program and would offer some good merit aid. [url=<a href=“Admission : University of Dayton, Ohio”>Undergraduate : University of Dayton, Ohio]Affordability[/url</a>]</p>
<p>Might look at Holy Cross-very good LAC, 1 hour from Boston. Holy Cross is need blind for admissions-same as Ivies.</p>
<p>this question has popped up in the Music major thread…try posting your question there.</p>
<p>(Also look into Chapman in Ca. Their choral program has a great reputation.)</p>
<p>Hey, thanks, everyone. Very helpful information. I appreciate it.</p>
<p>Marie</p>
<p>Furman University in South Carolina also has a very good touring choir that is not restricted to music majors.</p>