<p>Thank you so much for all of your replies. I have added Muhlenberg, U of Roch, Kenyon, Emory, Bard, Wesleyan, Skidmore and Colorado College to his list of schools to investigate. I also had Knox on my list (I sent his scores there because I loved the description in CTCL!) but he ruled that out. Regarding NYU, he doesn’t want to go to NYC and isn’t interested in auditioning, since that would mean a level of commitment to theatre that he doesn’t want to make at this point.</p>
<p>We live in Massachusetts, but his rehearsal schedule is very intense, so he has decided to apply, and then visit based on where he is accepted. He visited many schools last spring and summer (Bennington, Emerson, Williams, Princeton, Amherst, BC, BU, etc.) but Brown was the only one he liked. His older sister warned him off William and Mary for the simple reason that her choir (Wellesley College) performed there during rush week and she thought there was too strong a focus on fraternities and sororities. She may be wrong, but her colorful description would be difficult for him to forget.</p>
<p>Gordon is an outlier, but we are very familiar with it and know many people there, so that’s why it’s on his list. He is a devout Christian, but doesn’t strongly about going to a Christian school even if it’s a good fit. </p>
<p>There are plenty of students who apply to all the Ivies, plus Stanford, Duke, etc… but who get rejected by every single one of them. I saw this happen twice right here on CC this past spring. Two young men (this seems to happen more with males) who applied to only elite schools but were completely shut out. One of them even had to give up a full tuition ROTC scholarship because he could not get into the school that the Navy assigned him to. His parents thought he was too good for Rutgers, the only school that accepted him. They were in a panic, until he got accepted off the wait list at University of Chicago.</p>
<p>Plus, your son needs to get into more than one college. He needs a real choice come April. He needs to get accepted into at least three schools that he likes. Then, he has choices.</p>
<p>By the way, Kenyon is a great choice for what you son wants to do. Also, I am not sure that a devout Christian would be comfortable at Oberlin.</p>
<p>^I’m not sure a devout Christian would be comfortable at NCF, either.
I agree wrt Kenyon!
I would replace Oberlin with Davidson or another moderate college (less highly ranked, moderately liberal: St Olaf in MN, Dickinson in PA; more like safeties for your son: DePaul in Chicago, LMU-LA in CA.)</p>
<p>Wow, that’s a solid cross section of wonderful schools. Aside from Brown, has he visited any of the schools on his current list? Most importantly, has he visited Gordon and New College?</p>
<p>I’m not sure adding Kenyon, Emory, Wesleyan, or Colorado College really helps your goal of making the list ‘safer’ or less dangerous. But, those are great schools.</p>
<p>What is Swarthmore like for theatre? How many productions do they have a year? Do they offer practicum classes? Do they have a vibrant student theatre scene?</p>
<p>Your son’s list is not at all dangerous. He’ll likely get into two schools that he personally likes, and has thrown a lot of lottery tickets into the mix, and maybe he’ll get a hit on one of them One doesn’t HAVE to have the Reach/Match/Safety mix. THere are kids who like no reaches, or matches and want schools that are all safeties. Where it gets dangerous is when a kid truly has no interest in any school other than reaches and no affordable safety on his list, or just one that parents or counselor threw into the mix. That’s going to be one disappointed kid. </p>
<p>It’s understandable to have reach heavy lists since the chances are low on reach schools, often for everyone, and to have more there does increase chances of getting into one. Doesn’t guarantee it, but one reach just might accept a kid. The only required school on the list is the affordable school that will take the kid, so that he has an option at the end of the season.</p>
<p>A lot of the other suggestions on the lists are still reaches IMO. Swarthmore is no one’s match in terms of admission. Look at Tulane, Rhodes, any of the schools where someone with his stat has a half a chance of acceptance or more if you want to cover the match ground. </p>
<p>My son’s list is low on matches too. Most of the schools he really likes are pretty much shoo ins for him, especially if he gets that app in early, which he did. He likes the bigger state schools and with his stats unless they are like UCs or UT AUstin or UVA with very low OOS allotments, he’s in. It would be a shocker if he were not. But that’s what he likes. Not going to bother filling that match category. He really doesn’t have many reaches either, but that’s up to him. Thought he’d like some match/reach schools that he just didn’t, preferring the safety to them. </p>
<p>You need to visit NCF before deciding to leave it on your list.
Great school but theater is studied only in conjunction with another field of study. Not traditional theater or music department in the least. Very different from the other schools on your list. For English and play-writing it may be fine. I would definitely contact someone there about size/curriculum/opportunities before signing up.
In fact not much is traditional at NCF. It’s really a love it or hate it type of school. Very liberal. Self-driven curriculum culminating in final thesis for graduation. No grades per se–written reviews. Vegetarian cafeterias.(In) Famous parties on Friday nights.
Campus is alright (just okay but Sarasota has best beaches around) but not the tree-filled, old building charm of Brown.<br>
I also question the Greek life disdain–for some colleges I guess it can be overshadowing but for the most part that is not what we’ve experienced. You either join or don’t and that doesn’t mean never the twain shall meet as friends.</p>
<p>Your D’s view of W&M was made during rush week–one or two weeks out of a year does not mean much. Rush week is intense on most campuses but doesn’t mean that greek life pervades campus life the rest of the year. Emory has greek life too–but that shouldn’t be a reason to cross it off. It’s not a safety either.
Your son has great stats but knowing how many kids with great stats don’t get accepted to the schools of their choice or wait-listed (a hell of its own) I would be looking for some happy safety schools.</p>
<p>You don’t need matches if you have a safety she will be happy to attend. My child applied to no reaches but that is because she did a lot of soul searching and didn’t want that. Most if not all of her schools she made application would be considered safeties and refused to apply elsewhere. We visited each and every school she applied to thus far. I also cannot stress how important it is visiting schools. My daughter disliked every LAC we visited. Schools that on paper seemed perfect were not once we visited. Just make sure you visit the safety that is probably the most important school to visit.</p>
<p>I would definitely check out Bard for your kid- They are a very artsy community with great focus on writing and lots of theater opportunities. Students there are also very driven an passionate and IIRC, the distribution requirements are minimal. </p>
<p>I think the issue here is less about religion and than political philosophy, and the current list skews pretty left. Oberlin has a number of very active faith based organizations where a liberal Christian would be very comfortable. For that matter, so do Brown and Kenyon.</p>
<p>But Gordon is the opposite of this. It sounds like Gordon is the outlier and based on his college choices, OP’s son may have trouble signing the creed in good faith, so even though it’s a certain admission, if push comes to shove, it sounds like a poor fit and a bad choice for a safety.</p>
<p>It doesn’t “sound like” Gordon is the outlier, @MYOS1634. Gordon is the outlier, as I said in my post #20. He had no trouble with the statement of faith. He’s also fine with a left-leaning school (most colleges are) as long as there is a Christian organization on campus.</p>
<p>I’ll add Kenyon to his list of schools to look at. He’s already griping about the supplements, especially Stanford’s, so that may be off the list, if he can convince his dad it is a waste of time. I’ll just nod and smile.</p>
<p>If the two safeties really are safeties (certain admission, certain affordability, certain that he will be happy attending), then what is “dangerous” about the list? He will have two or more suitable and affordable schools that he like to choose from in April.</p>
<p>Also, there is no point in applying to any school that he would not choose over his safeties.</p>
<p>Of course, if they are not really as safe as assumed, then that can be “dangerous” in terms of risking a shutout.</p>
<p>I agree, IF he has visited and really likes the safeties.</p>
<p>But if he hasn’t visited, that could be a problem. If he visited Bennington, Emerson, Williams, Princeton, Amherst, BC, BU, Hampshire and Vassar and didn’t like those schools, is he really going to like NCF after he visits? </p>
<p>I assume he’s visited Gordon, and if he really liked it then I suppose the list is somewhat safe.</p>
<p>Perhaps his benchmark was Brown, and that’s why he didn’t like all those other schools. Maybe, in looking at other schools he should compare them to Gordon, not Brown. In other words, forget Brown for a moment, and ask - would you prefer school X over Gordon? </p>
<p>A lot of the schools being advised are not match schools. He has two safeties. He has a lot of reaches, that he’ll take any of if accepted there. He really doesn’t need any more schools on his list with sure things that he likes. It’s just a matter of find other school he likes with a good chance of getting accepted. </p>
<p>It’s really too bad he’s ruled out Knox. It’s got a fantastic theatre program and award winning writing program and the student population is quite unique. My daughter has already performed in about 4 plays, directed a one act and will be directing a full play in the spring, has participated in a playwriting competition which allowed all participants to meet with one of the top playwrights from The Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago and have him critique the student’s play. All this without even being a Theatre or Creative Writing major! It’s truly a unique school and definitely worth his consideration.</p>