<p>My Junior high school daughter is starting to investigate colleges comparing music conservatories to LAC's with strong music depts. Any suggestions? She is also interested in acting/musical theater so LAC's seem like a more flexible option. She is also strong academically and enrolled in AP courses. Thanks for any ideas!</p>
<p>Vassar and Wesleyan are the most obvious but Amherst has the consortium which provides some additional options. Other top schools are going to have quite a bit to offer as well, so she might want to weigh the overall academic strength and not just select on the basis of the department. Check on the music theater major forum because there are threads on LAC strengths.</p>
<p>Check out Muhlenberg for musical theater; St Olaf for classical music/singing/sacred; Lawrence for the conservatory/LAC combo.</p>
<p>Not a LAC, but close enough to be like one is U of Rochester with the Eastman School of Music. It’s one of the few non-LACs my daughter is considering, though not for what your daughter is considering it for. </p>
<p>You can apply to either Rochester or Eastman, obviously Eastman is much more difficult to get in and its students follow a very different academic program, but Rochester students do have some access to Eastman programs, and it’s got a flexible enough curriculum that your daughter might be interested. They also have merit money, one of the few schools that highly ranked that does.</p>
<p>I second Vassar.</p>
<p>Hard to be very precise with no GPA/standardized test scores, But some ideas would be: Vassar, Oberlin, Wesleyan, Muhlenberg, Skidmore, Bard, Franklin & Marshall</p>
<p>Might look at some LAC’s like Bowdoin and Holy Cross.</p>
<p>for acting/theater muhlenberg or
for a larger school carnegie mellon not an easy chance at acceptance.
I would gladly attend either one of these schools.</p>
Ithaca College, SUNY Potsdam, SUNY Purchase, NYU Tisch, Lafayette, Muhlenberg, Marymount Manhattan, Emerson, Pace, Syracuse…there are so many options. Sorry that most of these are in NY, that’s where I’m from, so I tend to know colleges near me the best.
Bard College has both a fantastic music department and a fantastic theater department - but I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it for a student looking for mainstream Broadway type musical theater education. The arts at Bard are very cutting edge.