Need Help with Major (BA, not BFA)/College List for Student with Strong Academics/Visual Art

College Search & Selection
1

Would love suggestions from the CC brain trust for D (HS junior) with the following:

  1. potential major
  2. college list

Academics, etc:
IB Diploma, Mid-sized Public HS, Northeast (HL in Math Analysis, English, Studio Art)
GPA: UW: 4.1 W: 5.2, SAT (from one sitting): E: 740, M: 780, majority applicant, no hooks, full pay.

ECs:
School: 4-year varsity sport (non-recruit), Film Club, Service Club, Peer leader, etc (nothing special)
Outside School: 4-year, active volunteer (art and advocacy) for new social media app, stressing safety and digital wellness. Art business (digital designs/logos, etc. for profit and for good).

Honors:
High Honor Roll, NHS, Scholastic Art - Silver Key winner in Design
Black Belt - Tae Kwon Do

Must-Haves:
Welcoming/friendly/ students, non-pressure cooker, 4-6 hour drive from NY/NJ, greek life does not dominate social scene.
Nice-to-Have:
Suburb, relatively close to a city

Major/Career Interests:
She is really drawing a blank here. She wants an academic major (not physics-based engineering and not comp sci) that complements a studio art minor/double major and would give her practical, marketable skills. She struggled a bit in Physics this year and is not interested in coding or programming.
Strong in digital art/2D animation, design. Good writer, strong math skills.
Potential career interests: Hard to say…digital media, design, art director/producer, advertising, product design, etc?

Potential Colleges:
Tufts, Wesleyan, ???

Thank you!

2

Does that mean that CS that does not require physics is a possibility?

3

I worded that poorly, sorry. Not physics or comp sci-based engineering. She’s taking 3D modeling this year and likes it, but has no interested in coding. The only high school class she’s really struggled in so far is Physics.

4

Statistics or data science may be of interest, where the art can come into play in visually presenting the data and results.

3 Likes
5

Sarah Lawrence, Bard, Connecticut College, Vassar, Skidmore, Bennington College, Muhlenberg, Bryn Mawr, Mt. Holyoke all probably worth a look. Some more rural than suburban but all probably worth a look for her interests.

2 Likes
6

If your daughter really is interested in product design, that is going to be one of the more limiting majors, meaning that most colleges don’t offer it. Thus, look for colleges with that major, and then start narrowing down. Here are a few colleges that would appear to be in your desired geographic range. I’ve included in-state publics for NY and NJ as well.

Carnegie Mellon (PA ) offers majors in:

  • Architecture
  • Arts, Entertainment and Media Management
  • Design and Visual Communication
  • Digital Arts
  • Game and Interactive Media Design
  • Industrial and Product Design
  • Technical Theater/Theater Design & Technology

Drexel (PA ) offers majors in:

  • Architecture
  • Animation, Interactive Technology, Video Graphics & Special Effects
  • Web Page, Digital/Multimedia and Information Resources Design
  • Arts, Entertainment and Media Management
  • Design and Applied Arts
  • Digital Arts
  • Game and Interactive Media Design
  • Graphic Design
  • Industrial & Product Design
  • Interior Design

Kean (NJ) offers majors in:

  • Architecture
  • Design & Visual Communications
  • Industrial & Product Design
  • Interior Design
  • Technical Theater/Theater Design & Technology

Montclair State (NJ) offers majors in:

  • Graphic Design
  • Industrial & Product Design

Rochester Institute of Technology (NY) offers majors in:

  • Advertising
  • Digital Communication & Media/Multimedia
  • Animation/Interactive Technology/Video Graphics/Special Effects
  • Modeling, Virtual Environments, and Simulation
  • Medical Illustration
  • Digital Humanities
  • Commercial & Advertising Art
  • Graphic Design
  • Industrial & Product Design

SUNY Buffalo (NY) offers majors in:

  • Graphic Communications
  • Art Teacher Education
  • Public Health Education & Promotion
  • Data Analytics
  • Community Organization & Advocacy
  • Design & Visual Communications
  • Graphic Design
  • Industrial & Product Design

Syracuse (NY) offers majors in:

  • Architecture
  • Interior Architecture
  • Advertising
  • Animation, Interactive Technology, Video Graphics, & Special Effects
  • Art Teacher Education
  • Arts, Entertainment, and Media Management
  • Commercial and Advertising Art
  • Design and Visual Communications
  • Digital Arts
  • Industrial & Product Design
  • Technical Theatre/Theatre Design & Technology

Thomas Jefferson (PA ) offers majors in

  • Architecture
  • Interior Architecture
  • Landscape Architecture
  • Digital Communication & Media
  • Modeling, Virtual Environments & Simulation
  • Design & Applied Arts
  • Graphic Design
  • Industrial & Product Design
1 Like
7

Wow! Thanks for all of this.

1 Like
8

@jmjmm At small to medium sized liberal arts colleges, like Tufts and Wesleyan, your daughter will not have to declare a major until sometime near the end of her sophomore year. Though it’s reasonable to start with a general course of study, e.g., humanities, sciences, it’s not necessary to get specific on a career path as a high school junior. The classes she takes, the connections she makes, the mentoring she receives, the summer jobs and internships she holds, will help her focus her BA into the next step.

My son was interested in small LACs with good studio art and art history. He chose Williams and later went on to architecture, which has turned out to take advantage of his balance of visual and verbal skills.

His short list included Wesleyan, Hamilton, Kenyon, Conn College, Skidmore, Brown. (He looked at Tufts, but felt the Museum School was too far removed from Tufts’ campus.)

Williams may be more rural than your daughter prefers, but I would mention its excellent art studio and art history, three world class museums on or near campus, and wonderful career and graduate school advising. Williams also favors students who are accomplished academically, involved in the arts and participate in sports or outdoorsy activities.

1 Like
9

Thank you!