Hi everyone, so I’m a junior in high school right now looking at colleges. I’ve used college search tools but they don’t work very well for me so I thought I’d try here. I also go to a 3-year high school in California so please keep that in mind.
ill just use the stats template: Objective:
[]SAT I (breakdown): 2170 (680 CR, 800 M, 690 W)
[]SAT II: 740 Chem, will take Bio M and maybe Math II again
[]Unweighted GPA: 3.889
[]Weighted GPA: 4.2
[]Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): school doesn’t rank
[]AP (place score in parenthesis): Chem (3), going to take bio and calc AB this year. school doesn’t offer too many APs
[]Senior Year Course Load: Symphony Orch, Physics Honors, Composition and Literature AP, Statistics AP, APGov/APMacroeconomics, AP Studio Art
[]Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): none
Subjective:
[]Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): school symphony (Co-principal 1yr, principal for 1 semester), youth symphony (highest level orch–co principal 1.5 years), Key Club (webmaster 1yr, new president for next school year), Literature and art magazine (Editor in Chief), photographer for school newspaper, robotics team (Media lead-2 years), CODA Honors Symphony 2 years-will do next year, CODA Honors Strings 1 year (Principal violist), CASMEC All-State Strings 1 year, started two quartets that get hired for gigs and play at competitions.
[]Job/Work Experience: Kind of? I run a magazine. I also take senior portraits, but I’m not sure if that counts as work experience.
[]Volunteer/Community service: volunteer regularly at local elementary school teaching at-risk students how to play instruments
[]Summer Activities: music camps
*and I will request financial aid
I’m looking for a school that:
–is not too large, maybe under 7,500 students, and as small as 1,500 students.
–has a good arts and music program. I don’t plan on majoring, I plan on continuing playing music and taking photography classes. Music and photography are really important to me.
–has a collaborative atmosphere, nothing too competitive or focused on grades
–is preferably on West coast or Northeast
–in a reasonable distance (2/3 hours away) to a large city to escape sometimes
I know it’s hard to tell at this point because my grades and test scores can change but I hope you guys can help me. Thank you so much!
Williams is strong in almost all forms of art. Albany, NY is not far, and Boston can be reached in just under three hours. Williamstown itself is an arts center.
Hamilton has what might be the country’s nicest theatre and studio arts building, a separate art museum, and a popular orchestra that tours regionally and internationally. The nearest fairly large city, Syracuse, can provide a change of pace when desired, but is not, of course, New York City.
Bard might suit you. However, the photography program (one of the top ones in the country) is very competitive and if you’re not majoring in it, it might be difficult to get into the classes. The music program in the college itself (separate from the conservatory) is fantastic and open to non majors. Tons of music on campus. Right size. Right distance from a major city (NYC.) It should be a match for you with your resume.
I second Williams - it is very strong in art and music - not sure about photography per se. But it would be a reach. I would also recommend Vassar and Wesleyan as other reach schools.
Williams, Vassar, Wesleyan, Bard and Skidmore are all good suggestions. Oberlin is a bit tricky for non-music-majors, as the conservatory is pretty walled off from the regular campus if you’re not pursuing a bachelor of music. Here’s a list of some of my other favorite LAC’s with very strong music programs that are accessible to non-majors, that also have strong academics. Not all of them meet your geographic criteria, but I think they’re all worth a look:
St. Olaf
Lawrence U
Gettysburg
U. of Puget Sound
Furman
You’d be a candidate for merit aid at all of those schools with your stats. You’ll have to do your own research as far as photography goes, as I don’t have any info on that.
Though the suggestions in this topic are all good, it does seem that when “arts” is mentioned in a title, the recommendations tend to tack in an “artsy” direction. A school can be very strong in the fine arts without having an artsy veneer.
Thanks everyone for your replies! My viola teacher and I have talked about Williams, Bard, and Wesleyan and are all at the top of my lists because of their strong academics and art programs, but I know these schools will all be reaches for me. Do any of the Claremont Colleges have good arts programs? I haven’t looked at them that much.
Does Brown fit the criteria I listed above (I know I’m not Ivy material because my stats aren’t that great)?
I agree that Bard would not be a reach - but the acceptance rate there, as with most schools it seems, has been going down (except for the Immediate Decision Plan and Early Decision) - 34% last year for what it’s worth. http://www.bard.edu/admission/discover/profile/ Lots of colleges have decent music and photography programs - the real question is do you want/need more than decent? Since you’re not intending to major in either music or photography - what academic area are you planning to focus on? That might narrow your choices further. You also need to decide if the music and photography programs you seek need to be open to all, or if you’re willing to do a version of auditioning for them - even as a BA second major. Some schools have much more demanding requirements for acceptance into those programs than others which will admit anyone who has an interest.
The Claremont Colleges are certainly worth exploring. Art and music courses are shared across the five campuses.
You’ll also find, as @merc81 suggests, that you can find good photography and music courses in colleges not known as artsy - schools like MIT, for instance, which has a terrific music department.
Seconding @merc81 on Conn College. Very strong visual arts (though I don’t know about photography in particular), and while I don’t know much about the overall strength of their music department, I can report that their orchestra conductor is terrific, as he guest conducted my son’s youth orchestra one time and my son loved him.
Do not overlook the University of Rochester. Their conservatory classes are open to all students who have met their prerequisites, and UR is located in a city that knows something about photography.
@SpiritManager: Thanks for the update on Bard. (I usually use year-old data because it’s standardized, but in Bard’s case this missed a major change.)
Fit is dependent on what the OP is like. And where s(he) feels at home. Bard, Oberlin and similar schools are not for everyone. They are extremely liberal, remote locations and eclectic students. Without knowing the OP except for music, photography, grades and test scores it is difficult to make recommendations.
Btw, almost every school in the Northeast is within driving (or train) distance from an incredible major city (New York, Boston, Toronto, Montreal . . .). It’s just a question of which one(s) and how far.
Located in Somerville, MA- a city with the second highest density of young people and artists in the country, and the home of the world’s smallest art museum, the Museum of Bad Art, the Honk! music festival and outdoor pianos
2 miles to Cambridge - a city with the third highest density of young people and artists in the country, and the home of the Harvard Art Museums and the Longy School of Music (now part of Bard College)
6 miles to Boston - a city with a world class symphony orchestra and Classical/Early Music scene as well as world class art museums.
The top small performance hall in New England with its own orchestra and programs as well as access to courses or a joint degree program (with separate admission) at the New England Conservatory in Boston
Studio art classes available on campus (taught by faculty from The School of the Museum of Fine Arts), or at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston as well as a 5 year joint degree program (with separate admission) at the Museum School.
Note: In December 2015, The School of the Museum of Fine Arts (which has 700 undergrad and 100 graduate art students) merged with Tufts creating a unique “Museum School within a University” environment…
