<p>Hey guys, </p>
<p>So I'm currently attending St. Olaf college as a general music major. I've recently come to realize that I'm just not happy here. There's great teachers, there's great opportunities here, and I've met wonderful people - but I'm just finding it difficult to really relate to people on a social, "real" level. Most people here come from the same small town/suburban, socioeconomic, racial background and it's just really bothering me. I also came to this school intending to go into choral music education and the program here was a huge draw, but I'm more interested in performing and believe there are better schools I can study performance at. </p>
<p>I'm planning on transferring after next year (as a Junior) and at this moment, my top choice of school is Oklahoma City University. I still want to go to a relatively small school that values the liberal arts, but also one that's diverse and in (or at least relatively close) to a city. I will sacrifice size just to be in a place that has diversity and is more urbanized. I am very interested in theater, and plan on going to grad school for acting after my undergrad, but I want to study music and work on developing my voice. The thing I love about OCU is their Bachelor of Music in Musical Theater program. It's a huge performing art school and I can study music, and still get classical training while doing musical theater, opera, and staged theater. It's also closer to home (I'm from Houston, Texas).</p>
<p>Unfortunately, I can't put all my eggs in one basket. OCU seems like the best school at this point, but I would look into a few other schools that might be as good of an alternative. I'm also looking into Southern Methodist University, and SUNY Purchase, even though SUNY would be difficult to do as a transfer. Does anyone have any suggestions for small-medium sized schools, with good music and performing art programs, that are diverse and urbanized, and "transfer-friendly"? Seems like a lot, but there's got to be some out there.</p>
<p>For the record, I'm also an above average but not really the exceptional student. So places like Rice and Carnegie Mellon are kind of out of the question. I am however, very passionate about the arts, hard-working, disciplined, and have an interest in arts for social change.</p>