DD is a junior and we looked at a few schools over the summer including Wooster, Gettysburg and Scranton. DD is interested in Biology but has really enjoyed Marching Band in high school especially for the social aspect/camaraderie it provides since she is not on any team sports. Wooster and Gettysburg are a couple of the only small LACs that have Marching Bands and she would like to continue that in college. However, she really liked Scranton. She is in a Catholic high school now and really liked the Jesuit component of the school - as well as the modern dorms, food and it being closer to home in NJ. Wooster is a bit far. We asked the tour guide as well as the admission counselor about music opportunities but both were not terribly familiar with the music programs at Scranton. The admissions counselor actually referred us to the website. Is anyone familiar with the music program/bands at Scranton and are they robust enough to provide any sense of community or camaraderie? DD does not play any sports and she wants some outlet to meet friends. She will also be interested in community service and retreats available at Scranton, but is concerned that won’t be enough.
Hi! I graduated a few years ago and was in the choir, so I can talk a bit about the music program. Also, Scranton does have a very strong biology program, and I can attest that the dorms and food are excellent. And many science students join music as well!
First, Scranton doesn’t have a marching band, and it doesn’t have a football team so there wouldn’t be games for the band to perform at. If your daughter is open to playing in other types of music groups, however, Scranton has a fantastic music program, even though it doesn’t offer music degrees. (Though if your daughter is interested in taking music classes, Scranton has a partnership with Marywood, another university in the city. Students are able to take some classes there.)
Scranton’s program is led by Cheryl Boga, who’s honestly the most passionate and hilarious person I’ve ever met. She goes by Boga, and Boga cultivates a very strong sense of community in performance music, even among alumni. I only think you might find an equally strong community on campus perhaps on some sports teams or particular campus ministry retreat communities. There’s a retreat called SEARCH that seems to have a particularly tight-knit community, but it’s such a popular retreat that only sophomores and up can go on it. You sign up on a list and hear back when your name comes up on it. I waited a year and a half. The organizers do make sure that all students who want to attend have the chance to go on it before they graduate, though. If your daughter ends up going to Scranton and has an interest in this retreat, she can sign up as soon as she gets on campus in the fall and she’ll probably get called her sophomore year. That said, Scranton is lucky enough to own its own retreat house, so there are retreats pretty much every weekend of the school year. The other retreats are easy to sign up for and only SEARCH has that kind of demand, so your daughter would have plenty of retreat opportunities in her first two years 
There are freshman retreats in the fall, so that could be a good way to make friends initially. If she likes community service, there’s a weeklong service program called FIRST just before move-in week, and I think a lot of people make friends there. There’s also something the school calls a “living learning community” called Cura Personalis. It’s students who live in the same dorm and engage in particular activities, and Scranton has several of them. CP is focused on service, justice, and faith. My brother was in it and had mixed feelings about the program as a whole, but did feel that it gave him a greater sense of community than a regular dorm, so he had some friends to start with. I think some of his close friends at Scranton today are people he met in CP.
Anyway, back to music… Boga also is like a mom in that she will look out for students and their well-being. She genuinely cares about everyone. Again, she really does foster a strong sense of community and a lot of the performance music kids are friends. Students perform music of varying genres and difficulty levels, and students do go to the state band festivals as well. In addition, Boga has many professional music connections, and musicians will come into town for recitals and performances at the university throughout the year, so your daughter would have the chance to hear great music as well as play it. There are opportunities for masterclasses as well. And the band and choir perform a brand-new, never-before-performed piece of music every year at the World Premiere concert, usually with the composer present.
The bands and choir perform in a former Baptist church that the university bought after it sat empty for years. The space has been refurbished, and the sanctuary is gorgeous. It includes a large pipe organ that has been restored. I think having a whole building just for the music program gives performance music an even greater sense of community.
I can guarantee that your daughter would have an absolute blast making music with Boga. Boga’s a fun person to be around (again, her sense of humor is unparalleled) but she also challenges you to be a better musician. I definitely learned a lot about music from her. Boga is also very friendly and frequently does talk with potential students as well as the new incoming freshmen, so I would encourage you to reach out to her through the performance music email, which is music@scranton.edu . She can provide more information on opportunities for your daughter. Definitely check out the site as well because there’s a lot of info on there (www.scranton.edu/music). I would also encourage you to arrange to visit the performance music building if you decide to visit Scranton again- either stop by for a performance or arrange to meet with Boga.
Good luck as your family navigates the college process and please feel free to ask me if you have any other questions about Scranton!
Thank you so much for such a detailed and helpful reply. It is greatly appreciated! We are excited to learn more about the school and plan on visiting again when school is in session.